Chayote Peel Chutney

IMAGERY:

Whenever it comes to idli/dosa, we always look for the side dish. A question from Kids and even most of us will be "Maa, What is for dinner?" followed by "Side dish". Being from South, most of the time, the aroma in every house will be that of idlies and dosas. The side dish plays a main role in our dinners. So to the regular coconut chutney, here comes the twist of adding Chaayote peel. 

Chayote was one of the several foods introduced to the Old World during the Columbian Exchange. In Tamil Nadu, South India, chayote is known as Maerakkai/chow-chow in Tamil and widely used in everyday cooking for recipes like sambar, kootu, poriyal, thuvayal, chutney and mor kulambu. Chow-Chow is the common name used in the markets. I thought of making Chow-Chow Peel Chutney as a side dish for dosa in one of my dinner menu. Whenever mom makes kootu, she preserves the peel of this vegetable so that we can make chutney thereby we never waste the health benefits from it. Lets jump into the recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

Chow-Chow peel                -                 1 cup (from 2 chow-chow)     

Water                                  -                  To cook the peels      

Coconut                              -                  1/4 cup 

Urad dal                              -                  1 table spoon

Red chili                             -                   As per taste. I have used 1 long chili

Oil                                      -                   1 tsp

Salt                                     -                   As Required

For Tempering:

Mustard seeds                     -                  1 tsp

Urad dal                              -                  1 tsp

Curry leaves                        -                  a few

Oil                                       -                   1/2 tsp

PREPARATION:

• Take the Chayote peels in a vessel and add little water to cook the peels. Let the water boil and you will find the color change of the peels.
• Drain the water and keep the cooked peel aside.

• Heat oil in a wok and add urad dal. Saute the urad dal until mild brown and then add the cooked peels.

• Saute for a while and add coconut and red chili. Let the coconut and red chili be sauted well. You can either saute the coconut and red chili separately or add along with the peels.

• Let them cool and once done, grind them to a fine paste by adding little salt. 
• Temper with sputtered mustard, urad dal and curry leaves.

•  Best to serve with dosas/Idlies. You can even add garlic to enhance the taste.