Ingredients:

Ridge gourd/ribber gourd/chinese okra 1 medium sized
cooked chana dal, 1 cup
Salt
Turmeric powder 1/4 spoon
Ghee few spoons.

To be Fried in Ghee and Wet-Ground to Paste:

Ghee
Black pepper 1 spoon
Dry red chilies 4
Urad dal 2 spoons
Coconut grated 2 spoons
Cumin seeds 1 spoon.

For Tempering:

Mustard seeds 1/4 spoon
Cumin seeds 1/4 spoon
Urad dal 1/4 spoon
Asafoetida 1/4 spoon
Curry leaves few
Ghee few spoons.

Method:

Slightly scrape the ridges fromt he gourd and finely chop them.

Pressure cook dal with salt, turmeric and ghee. When dal is done soft, remove from heat.

Now bring the gourd in a deep pan. Add the above cooked dal to it. Cover and cook.

When the vegetable is done soft. Add the fried and wet-ground spice paste to it. Continue cooking for 5 more minutes.

In a shallow pan, heat ghee. Fry all the tempering items said above. Run this seasonning over the ‘kootu’ prepared.

Serve warm a side dish to Soutn Indian Meals.