Peerkangai Thol Thuvayal / Ridge Gourd peel chutney

Its in my To-Do list for quite sometime now and finally prepared it. It is a great accompaniment for rice, idli, dosa, even rotis if you run of out time to prepare a subzi. I call it under my list titled "WEALTH OUT OF WASTE", actually the peel of ridge gourd is not a waste, it can be turned into Thuvaiyal or chutney.
The ridge gourd has several health benefits and its said to cool the body. Now being summer, its advisable to include in your menu at least once a week either in the form of stew, poriyal or chutney or thuvaiyal or however you like.

Ingredients :

Ridge Gourd peel - 1 cup (chopped)
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Urad Dal - 2 tbsp
Toor dal - 1/2 tbsp
Black Pepper - 1/2 tbsp
Dried Long Red Chillies - 6 ( i used kashmiri 3pcs and guntur 3 pcs)
Tamarind - small gooseberry sized
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Hing - 1 pinch
Salt - to taste

Method :

1. Scrape/peel the ridge gourd. You can use it for preparing stew or kootu.
2. Wash the peels thoroughly and chop it roughly
3. In a pan, add a tsp of oil and add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add urad dal, toor dal and fry until it turns golden brown.

4. Add black pepper, red chillies and hing. You can sense an aroma from the spices. Transfer this into a plate and allow it to cool down

5. In the same pan, add the peel, and saute it. It will start leaving water in 1-2 minutes time. Transfer this to a plate and cool it completely.

6. Add these to the blender, along with tamarind, salt and coconut; and grind it coarsely.
7. Serve it with rice/idli/dosa/rotis etc

Store it in an airtight container, this can be stored for 2-3 days and use a fresh spoon wiped off of water before using. This will enhance shelf life.

DIVI !!