Dosakaya Iguru

So, I do not have a green thumb. In fact I have the opposite of a green thumb. I can kill anything…so imagine my surprise when I noticed this creeper where there wasn’t supposed to be any growing! I wasn’t sure what it was so I let it be and soon it started flowering pretty yellow flowers and I knew it was not just a weed. Asked around and got many guesses that ranged from cantaloupe to watermelon to cucumber…I got it off the ground and onto the fence and watered it regularly till it covered the whole fence and is now creeping onto the other side as well. Anyway…big surprise…my mom was the only one that got it right.

 

It turned out to be Dosakaya AKA Lemon Cucumber. It is only my most favorite vegetable! A member of the cucumber family, it is tart and can be cooked in numerous ways both as a vegetable curry or with meat.

Here I made a simple everyday vegetarian curry that goes well with rice.

Dosakaya/Lemon Cucumber: 1 large, chopped
Onion: 1, chopped
Green Chillies: 2, slit
Tomato: 1, chopped
Turmeric: 1/2 tsp
Salt and Chili powder to taste
Milk: 1/2 cup
Water: 1 cup
Oil: 1 tbsp

Tempering:

Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
Garlic pods: 2 crushed
Spilt urad dal (split black gram): 1/2 tsp
Chana dal (split bengal gram): 1/2 tsp
Dry red chillies: 2, broken into bits
Curry leaves: 1 stalk

Heat oil in a saucepan. Once hot, add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Next, add all the rest of the tempering ingredients, taking care not to let it burn.

Add chopped onions, green chillies and turmeric powder and caramelize till light brown. Add chopped tomatoes and cucumber pieces and mix well and sauté covered on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add water, bring to boil and cover and cook further on medium heat till almost all the water has evaporated. Turn the stove to high and add milk. Stirring continuously cook further till milk is almost cooked up. Do not let it dry up too much.

Serve hot with rice.