This Snake gourd curry is a staple in my kitchen. This post was published in 2009 and I have finally got around to update it in 2020. I used to buy frozen snake gourd at the time. But things have changed for the good in these years and we now get fresh snake gourd in Indian grocery stores.
Pudalangai | Snake Gourd:
Snake gourd aka Potlakaya aka Pudalangai belongs to the gourd family and is native to southeast Asia, some parts of Africa and Australia. It is called ‘snake’ gourd because of it’s long snake like shape. Interesting part is the ones we get in US are much shorter than the ones in India (see step by step photo #4). It has a mild, crisp taste almost like cucumber. I love simple veggies like that don’t need too much oil or too many spices to cook with. Other examples of veggies that I like are bottle gourd (sorakaya), ridge gourd (beerakaya) etc.
Potlakaya Kura:
Traditionally snake gourd is cooked as a simple stir fry with fresh grated coconut. It is generally kept as a dry curry that is not too spicy. Sometimes milk is added to the curry to make a little gravy that is great to serve with both rice and roti. But my husband prefers some spice in his curries, so I made this spicy snake gourd curry for him. It is a basic curry with onion-tomato base with roasted sesame seed powder (nuvvula podi). I also add some rice flour whisked in milk to add thickness to the curry. This potlakaya koora is great to serve with both rice and roti. The same curry can be made with zucchini, pumpkin, bottle gourd or ridge gourd.
