Just a little color dabbed on the cheeks can do wonders to a pale, lifeless face. Same thing, small dose of vibrant chilli sauce can do wonders to otherwise bland, mild flavored chayote. Just add a dash of chilli and a pinch of spice. Sprinkle some tamarind juice and touch of tadka – here we go. Utterly lip-smacking yet not at all overblown. Impressively energetic but balanced with a persistent sweetness from chayote. Another traditional, savory and scrumptious sabji would be ready. We usually have this sabji with sorghum roti or with chapatis.
Cubed Chayote and Powdered Ingredients for Chilli Sauce
Recipe:
1 chayote – peel, slice to half, remove seed and dice to bite-sized cubes
1 onion – finely chopped
For chilli Sauce:
5 dried red chillies
2 tablespoons – dalia (pappulu, bhuna chana)
1 tablespoon – grated coconut (fresh or dried)
1 tablespoon each – powdered jaggery and tamarind juice
1 teaspoon – mustard seeds
½ teaspoon – cumin
¼ teaspoon each – salt and turmeric
Take all of the above and grind to smooth in a blender or spice grinder.
For popu or tadka:
1 tsp each – oil, minced garlic, curry leaves, dried red chilli pieces, cumin and mustard seeds
In a wide skillet, heat oil. Add and toast the popu or tadka ingredients in the order mentioned above.
When the mustard seeds start to dance, add onions and chayote cubes. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.
When the chayote starts to soften, add the powdered chilli sauce ingredients and one cup of water. Mix. Have a taste. Adjust the salt and jaggery sweetness level to your liking.
Cover and simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes until the chayote becomes tender and chilli sauce thickens and coats the spoon.
Serve warm with a cup of yogurt or tea on the side. Taste great with sorghum roti/chapati/naan. (Not that good with rice.)
Chayote Kurma with Naan and a Cup of Tea
Looks yummy!! I am definitely going to try this. Thanks for sharing Indira!!
Comment by Vijju — January 24, 2007 @ 6:40 pm
Indira,
Ek doubt, do we need to dry roast the sauce ingredients or grind as such?
Hi Lakshmiammal, it is not necessary but if you like to do, please go ahead. Sometimes, the ingredients we get here are not that fresh, in such cases, dry roasting will definitely bring some extra kick to the dish.
—-Indira
Comment by Lakshmiammal — January 24, 2007 @ 7:49 pm
Good one, Indira. I am so happy to read your blog – now more than ever 😀
Cheers,
Mythili
Comment by Mythili — January 24, 2007 @ 10:37 pm
Hi,
Can you let me know what is chayote? Is this an English name? Never heard this before.
Cheers,
Jeff
Comment by Jeff — January 25, 2007 @ 3:47 am
Hi Indira – I don’t what Chayote is either? Is is like muli?
Thanks
Comment by Mallika — January 25, 2007 @ 6:08 am
Nice chilli sauce Indira, going to make it this way now
Comment by sandeepa — January 25, 2007 @ 7:11 am
Hi Indira,
First time here. Great website and wonderful recipes. I prepare Chayote the same way except I fry red chilli n jeera in oil and grind with other dry spices and also omit garlic and chilli for garnishing. Try this for a change. You are right it never goes well with rice.
Again great work. Mightbe I should come here instead of google for great recipes.
-Nandini.
Comment by Nandini — January 25, 2007 @ 9:47 am
Fantastic photographs and I like this food combo with Naan.
Comment by Idiyappam Kurma — January 25, 2007 @ 11:05 am
Yummy recipe of chayote squash.I am going to prepare this with sorghum roti.thank you for sharing.The terracotta bowl in the previous post looks so nice.
MB
Comment by MB — January 25, 2007 @ 11:17 am
Hi Indira,
thanks for replying to my previous comment.
I am gladthat you are willing to participate in Republic day Event. I am waiting for your email with the picture you would like to display in round up . Its an honour for me to get your entry for the theme of the week. 🙂
oops… forgot to mention that this dish of bangluru vankaya looks delicious. and i am goons try it soon .
thansk for sharing .
-Pooja
Comment by Pooja — January 25, 2007 @ 6:59 pm
Just a note to say, “You have a great blog here, the nice thing about it is, the recipes not only lead to tasty dishes but also healthy ones. Keep up the good work!”
Comment by Ramya — January 25, 2007 @ 7:04 pm
Hi Indra,
Great website,Great recipes !!!.I did not have Chayote.So i tried the recipe with bottle gaurd(sorakayya).It turned out good.We had it with aloo parathas.
Veena
Comment by Veena — January 26, 2007 @ 6:15 am
This looks wonderful! I have always been fond of chayote,or mirlintons,as they are sometimes called here, but felt I did not have a recipe that really did them justice.
Happy Republic Day!
Comment by the chocolate lady — January 26, 2007 @ 6:51 am
what a beautiful intro you given to this recipe!
My dad’s working at a big mansion as a gardener, he got himself some space (actually a small hillside) and had chayotes grew allover, the moment I seen it I love this veg even more!
Indira, I just made your sarson da saag yestersday, me and my husband empty the whole thing! Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
Comment by gattina — January 27, 2007 @ 3:01 am
hi mahanandi
i am big fan of u cooking !!!i just saw the pillibury bake off contest…wud let u know about it hope u can pass it around and u all take part in it …all the very best of luck too!!!!
regards
Comment by madhavi — January 27, 2007 @ 9:36 am
I tried this at home the other day and it turned out fantastic! I never ate banguluru vankaya before but this recipe has added one more vegetable to our diet. Thanks Indira! your blog is very nice.
Comment by Krishna — January 27, 2007 @ 5:36 pm
Indira
I saw one of your pictures on this site -http://thatskannada.oneindia.in/recipe/culture/250107breakfast.html
please notify the author not to use your pictures.
Indira replies:
Thanks DS! I have written an email in addition to leaving a comment on the post.
I hate these newspapers for stealing and this is not the first time.
Comment by DS — January 28, 2007 @ 11:33 am
wow…it looks delicious…
Comment by haripriya — January 28, 2007 @ 8:54 pm
Hi Indira, have been a regular reader of ur blog for over 6 months now. Not much of a cook , but you’ve got me interested 🙂
I tried your other recipe for chayote with chilli-coconut and it came out excellently. And I always thought this was a boring vegetable !
Comment by apu — February 1, 2007 @ 4:07 am
Hi, I ran into your website while I was browsing for Indian recipes – I tried this recipe and it came out great! I prepared this without onion due to some reasons – but I plan to try it out with onions too once.
Thanks
Comment by Raghu — February 6, 2007 @ 12:34 pm
Hmm.,
Tonight this is going to be in my dinner menu. But, instead of Chayote(which i finished last night itself), Iam going to use Suraikkai and see how the result comes….Anyway, if not explored how would we have different cuisines?
Comment by Anisha — February 15, 2007 @ 1:43 pm
Hi Indira,
That was yummy…I substituted Broccoli and Surakkai for the kurma…..wow…it was great with roti and with leftover rice too..!!
Thanks for sharing a wonderful meal…
Comment by Anisha — February 16, 2007 @ 10:23 am
now i can’t stop to write u. i tried both recipes related chayote & my hubby asked me hey neetu what u cooked today . its simply delicious. after that i am continue buying chayote. i made dal with chayote also. i really appreciate yr work shipa. thx a tons to u for introducing this great veggi to me.
Comment by neetu — March 7, 2007 @ 9:49 am
sorry i typed yr name wrong.
Comment by neetu jain — March 7, 2007 @ 10:42 am
tried this dish today.felt tht the dalia was a bit overpowering.next time i will reduce the amount and try:)
Comment by sweta — March 19, 2007 @ 9:57 pm
I tried Chayote for the first time with this recipe but without the sugar/coconut as I didn’t have them on hand. Nice, simple flavor with lots of sauce. This is a great way to make sauce-using dalia. I was looking for a way to make lots of sauce other than using tomatoes and this works just great.
Comment by Archana G — March 21, 2007 @ 12:42 pm
Could you give me an idea of how many people this will serve? If each person has 4 chapatis, for example? Thanks!
Comment by Aparna — May 30, 2007 @ 11:24 am