Peerkangai muttai pirattal | Beerakaya egg vepudu
Ridge gourd egg fry – A simple 15 minutes stir-fry recipe, made with Ridgegourd (peerkangai/beerkaya), eggs and Indian spices.
Peerkangai is a versatile vegetable that has a slight blunt sweet taste which may not be appealing to many taste buds. But it definitely can become pretty tasty by the way you cook. I love these gourd veggies for their simplicity and versatility. Ranging from simple stir fry, Ridgegourd gravy, cutlet, Ridgegourd pakora you can make numerous Indian foods using this veggie. Moreover, Ridgegourd can simply blend with anything like eggs, prawns, mutton and chicken. I have listed a few interesting peerkangai recipes below this post in the Related posts section.
How to find and avoid harmful Ridgegourd?
All gourd vegetables are prone to get bitterness at some point. Examples are bitter melons, bitter cucumbers, bitter bottle gourd and bitter snakegourd. Bitter tasting ridge gourd or any other gourd veggies, for instance, may give nausea, vomiting and other unpleasant effects on our body. Hence it is best to avoid them. To find the bitter-tasting ridge gourd, unfortunately, there is no other way than to taste a pinch of it before cooking. Yes! Scrap a little bit of the inner flesh of the vegetable and taste it. If it is bitter then please discard the full ridge gourd.
You may like to try Peerkangai chutney,
Check out the video uploaded in the recipe card and please subscribe if you like to see more videos from my channel. The method with stepwise pictures below for beginners.
Ingredients used for Ride gourd egg fry:
Ridge gourd – A medium-sized non-bitter Ridge gourd. Peel the ridges and you can retain some of the skin if it is young. The same goes for seeds, remove if they are visibly old. You can use Snake gourd instead of Ridge gourd in the same recipe.
Eggs – Use two or three eggs for one vegetable.
Spices – Some chilli powder for the heat & color, and pepper is the main spice here. You can completely avoid chilli powder and use only freshly ground pepper. Some turmeric powder as an antibiotic.
Flavoring – Ginger garlic paste & fresh curry leaves, Seasoning – Mustard and cumin seeds, Base – Browned onions.
Preparation:
- Clean a medium-sized ridge gourd and peel the outer ridges and chop into small pieces.
- Chop onions and keep aside.
Recipe and Method:
- Heat 2tbsp of cooking oil and temper with 1/2 tsp each of mustard seeds and fennel seeds. Let the mustard crackle and release its flavorful oil.
- Add 1/2 cup of chopped onions or shallots and saute well for 3 to 4mins until the onions become soft and brown. Next, add a tsp of ginger garlic paste and saute well with onions until the raw smell of garlic goes off completely.
- Add in the spice powders, 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder and 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder.
- Quickly saute few seconds and add the chopped ridge gourd and mix well with the masalas. Sprinkle some water(not more than 1/4 cup). Remember ridge gourd has its own water and can be cooked quickly. Cover with a lid and cook just for 5mins in the medium setting.
- Open the lid to see perfectly cooked vegetables. Now make space in the pan using a spatula-like this to cook eggs.
- Add two or three whole eggs and cook in that space separately for few seconds. Cook the eggs by whisking to make the scramble(you can add a tsp of oil if necessary).
- When the eggs are 3/4th done, mix with the ridge gourd on the other side of the pan. The moisture and oil from the vegetable cook the eggs further.
- Add a tsp of salt and 3/4 tsp of freshly ground black pepper powder. Mix well. Also, throw in some fresh curry leaves.
- Each piece of the ridge gourd will stick/coat with egg and the curry will be a nicely blended sabji.
- Switch off and serve with rotis, dosa, and rice.
Tips:
1) Use young non-bitter Ridge gourd. Take off only the ridges and seeds if not young and keep some of the peel along with the flesh.
2) Scale-up the measurements for double or triple quantities exactly. You can use more than 2 eggs for one ridge gourd as per your preference. Just adjust the spices especially salt and pepper accordingly.
3) Mustard gives a nutty spice taste to the stirfry. You can skip mustard and use only fennel or cumin seeds if you wish.
Ridge gourd Egg fry | Peerkangai muttai pirattal
Equipment
- Shallow cooking pan
Ingredients
- 1 medium Ridge gourd
- 2 Eggs
- 2 tbsp oil
- ½ tsp Mustard seeds
- ½ tsp Fennel seeds
- ½ cup Onion chopped
- 1 tsp Ginger garlic paste
- ¼ tsp Turmeric powder
- ½ tsp Chili powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- ¾ tsp Pepper powder
- Fresh curry leaves
Instructions
Preparation:
- Clean a medium-sized ridge gourd and peel the outer ridges and chop into small pieces.
- Chop onions and keep aside.
Recipe and Method:
- Heat 2tbsp of cooking oil and temper with 1/2 tsp each of mustard seeds and fennel seeds. Let the mustard crackle and release its flavorful oil.
- Add 1/2 cup of chopped onions or shallots and saute well for 3 to 4mins until the onions become soft and brown. Next, add a tsp of ginger garlic paste and saute well with onions until the raw smell of garlic goes off completely.
- Add in the spice powders, 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder and 1/2 tsp of red chilli powder.
- Quickly saute few seconds and add the chopped ridgegourd and mix well with the masalas. Sprinkle some water(not more than 1/4 cup). Remember ridgegourd has its own water and can be cooked quickly. Cover with a lid and cook just for 5mins in the medium setting.
- Open the lid to see perfectly cooked ridge gourd. Now make space in the pan using a spatula-like this to cook eggs. Add two or three whole eggs and cook in that space separately for few seconds. Cook the eggs by whisking to make the scramble(you can add a tsp of oil if necessary).
- When the eggs are 3/4th done, mix with the ridge gourd on the other side of the pan. The moisture and oil from the vegetable cook the eggs further.
- Add a tsp of salt and 3/4 tsp of freshly ground black pepper powder. Mix well. Also, throw in some fresh curry leaves. Each piece of the ridge gourd will stick/coat with egg and the curry will be a nicely blended sabji.
- Switch off and serve with rotis, dosa, and rice.
Video
Notes
1) Use young non-bitter Ridgegourd. Take off only the ridges and seeds if not young and keep some of the peel along with the flesh.
2) Scale-up the measurements for double or triple quantities exactly. You can use more than 2 eggs for one ridgegourd as per your preference. Just adjust the spices especially salt and pepper accordingly.
3) Mustard gives a nutty spice taste to the stirfry. You can skip mustard and use only fennel or cumin seeds if you wish.
