The refreshing summer vegetable

Actually, I had meant to post this article earlier, this summer, to introduce you to some of the summer foods of India.

The first in this series was about Daddaojanam (curd rice – which I wrote about in my earlier post) Today I will tell you about one of the Andhra dishes made with cucumber, Dosakai pacchadi (Cucumber chutney)

Summer and cucumber are synonymous! Known as Khira in Hindi and Dosakai in Telugu, these exist in primarily two varieties in India – the light green one and the dark/shaded dark green version.

The pale green colored cucumbers have thinner skin thus are preferred to make salads and raita. Raita is yogurt based dish, in which diced cucumber is added and/or diced onions and tomatoes. This is a wonderful side dish to be savored along with pulao (steamed rice along with a mix of various vegetable and spices) During the summers, this variety is abundantly available in Goa.

Cucumber basically belongs to the same plant family as melons, pumpkins and squash. It is regarded as a holy fruit in the Northern part of India.

These vegetables are low in calories, containing approximately 95 % water, however are packed with nutritional benefits. They aid in counteracting hyperacidity, gastric and duodenal ulcers.

Worldwide, cucumbers rank 9^th among the vegetable crops with multiple uses.

As both the ends of the cucumber, contain bitter tasting chemical substances, the top, half inch and the lower, half inch is discarded.

Tip: Sometimes to retard the spoilage of the cucumbers, it may be sprayed with wax.

During the summers, my mother used to make Dosakai pacchadi, every week for lunch. This was one of our favorite dishes to be relished along with cooked toor dal and rice, or simply mixed with hot rice with a dab of groundnut oil (the preferred oil which renders a pleasant aroma to rice)

Ah! Who can resist the tangy pacchadis? One of the most tempting and motivating dishes …

I would like to share my mother’s recipe of this tasty cucumber chutney :

Dosakai Pacchadi (Cucumber chutney)

Cucumber (the darker version) – 2 medium sized, finely diced

Turmeric – a pinch

Til (sesame seeds) powder (or nuvullu podi) – 2 tbsp

Chilli powder – 1 tsp or red chillies – 2

Tamarind pulp – 5 tsp (to be adjusted as per taste)

Mustard – 1 tsp

Asafoetida – a pinch

Salt – ¼ tsp or as per taste

For mustard paste: Soak 2 tsp mustard in 10 ml of water and grind to a paste in the handy small mortar.

Procedure: Add the diced cucumber in a vessel. Add to it, the following ingredients (for quantities, refer above) turmeric, til powder, chili powder or two chilies (broken into pieces and fried in little oil), salt and tamarind pulp. For seasoning, fry mustard and asafoetida in little oil. Add this seasoning to the main vessel. Mix well and savor!