Dishes made with stuffed vegetables like brinjals, bitter gourd, lady’s finger, ivy gourd and ridge gourd, tomatoes, bell peppers are common in Indian cuisine, especially down South and in particular Andhra. Gutti Vankaya Kura (stuffed egg-plants curry) is a classic example of a stuffed vegetable curry that is an Andhra speciality. Today, I prepared a stuffed curry using ridge gourd, a recipe which I first tasted at a friend’s place which had a wonderful lightly sweet, mildly spiced, tangy flavor.

Ridge gourd is a vegetable which is cooked by us Andhras usually as a pachadi, stir fry (vepudu), cooked in milk (Beerakaya Paalu Posina Kura), with lentils (Beerakaya Pappu, another classic Andhra dish) or cooked with prawns/eggs.

Beerakaya when prepared as a stuffed vegetable with a zesty filling made from spices like sesame seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and red chillis that are roasted and ground to a fine paste along with ginger, garlic, onions and tamarind, has a mingling of flavors :- sweet-spicy-tangy. A delicious stuffed curry that goes well with both rice and rotis!