Dosakaya Pachadi (Cuke Lemon Chutney)

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter D
Theme: A-Z Vegetarian Dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: D for Dosakaya Pachadi 

Letter D stands for veggies like Dondakaya (ivy gourd), Dosakaya (cuke lemon). D also stands for dishes like Dappalam which is a spicy, tangy stew made with toor dal and an assortment of veggies. Daddojam, spiced curd rice or Dalcha, a Hyderabadi lentil dish and so on.

I decided to make a traditional chutney recipe using dosakaya (cuke lemon). This is a very quick and simple chutney to make. Dosakaya is not cooked, it is finely chopped and mixed into ground tempering. A spicy, tangy and very tasty pachadi.

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Dosakaya Pappu

Everytime I think of dosakaya (cucumber), I always remember this story. One of my Aunts from a small town in AP had to move to Delhi after marriage. She found out soon enough that Delhites don’t sell Andhra style cucumbers (round yellow ones), but preferred the long green ones. During that time, much to the happiness of my aunt, my dad planned our family vacation to Delhi. So what do you think we were all carrying; almost 10kgs of dosakayas on our 26hr journey from Hyderabad to Delhi.

Here is my mother-in-law’s way of making dosakaya pappu.

Ingredients:
Toor dal (or Masoor dal) - 1 cup
Dosakaya (cucumber) – 1, peeled and diced
Tomato – 1 small
Onion – 1 small
Green chilies – 3
Red chili powder – 1tsp
Turmeric – 1/8 tsp

For tempering:
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Curry leaves – 4
Red chilies – 2
Asafetida – pinch

Method:

• Put the first 7 ingredients in a pressure cooker with 1tsp of oil. Cook till done (number of whistles depend on your cooker, mine I need at least 6 whistles).
• Heat 1tsp oil, add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and wait till they pop, then add red chilies, curry leaves, asafetida. Add the tempering and salt to the cooked dal and cook on low flame for about 10minutes.
  

Serve with hot rice and ghee. Yum..