Birayaka Menthem (Turai and Methi)

This is one of my favorite all time comfort foods. I love to eat this anytime of the day and on any day. I used to ask my mom to make this when I got sick in my childhood. I felt that eating this would make me energetic again. Somehow, I like all the curries made with Birakaya. I don’t know if this curry is an Andhra recipe but it is Hyderabadi for sure.

This tastes delicious when cooked with fresh ridge gourd. And it goes very well with both chapathis and rice. I ate this two times in a day already. For breakfast I ate with chapathi and for lunch with rice. You see how much I love this, but I regret that it was not made by my Mom, and that would have been much tastier. I grow Methi at home 2 or 3 days before I plan to cook this curry. Fresh methi makes a huge difference (we cook with small methi and not the big one-I never tried with the big one).

To make this you’ll need…

1 medium birakaya/ turai/ ridge gourd, skin removed and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 cup water
½ cup methi
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
¼ tbsp turmeric
¼ tbsp garam masala
3 tbsp oil
Salt to taste

1. Heat oil in a cooking pan and add onions and cook until they turn brown.
2. Add birakaya and cook for 2 mins.
3. Add tomato and methi, mix everything and cover the dish.
4. Cook until the birakaya is cooked well. Keep mixing in between.
5. Add turmeric, red chilli powder, ginger garlic paste and cook for a minute.
6. Add water and cover it. Simmer it for 5 mins.
7. Add salt at the end and remove.
   

Serve hot either with chapatis or hot rice.