Turya/Turia (Luffa squash) Curry (Turya nu shak)

Turya's or sometimes spelt Turia's English name is Luffa squash.  Wikipedia has come interesting information on this vegetable we call turya .  Turya is a ridged vegetable so it can be a bit off putting to some people but it is really tasty and also  one vegetable that cooks very fast.  These vegetables are only available at Indian groceries and supermarkets and my sister in-law managed to get some really fresh ones for me this week. Thanks to her we enjoyed this lovely curry a couple of days ago.  This is one of my mother in laws recipe.  It's simple and quick to make.

Ingredients to serve 2-3people:

Cooking time 10 minutes

1 medium potato -washed and cut into juliennes
2 medium size Turya (luffa Squash)

2-3  tablespoons oil (Most cooking oils are fine but try and use one which is low in saturated fats and trans fats)

4-5 cloves of fresh pressed garlic
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chili powder (or as required to your taste)
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
1 teaspoon of ground cumin (jeera) powder.
Half cup of pasata (you can use tinned or fresh tomatoes as well)

Method: 

1. Using a potato peeler – peel the turya until they look smooth and have a light green – almost white colour.  

2. Cut then into 4 -5 equal pieces. 

3. Slice them into juliennes and soak them in cold water.

4. Dice the potatoes into juliennes and soak them in cold water. 

5. Heat the oil in a saucepan.  For this vegetable, I used slightly more oil than usual as I don’t add any water to this curry.

6. Add the mustard seeds. They should start popping - if not, stir them with a wooden spoon and wait for them to pop.

7. Drain and add the potatoes to the saucepan.

8. Add the salt, turmeric, chilli powder, cumin powder, garlic (small pieces or crushed) and stir well.  I like to add extra garlic to this dish as it really compliments the dish.

9. Transfer this to the microwave and cook for 5 minutes.

10. Check to see if the potatoes have softened. Mine were bit if yours aren't  give it another minute.  Everyone's microwave is different so the timing could vary.  

11. Once the potatoes feel soft, add the turya and cook for 3 minutes. 

12. When you check the curry now you’ll notice that the turya’s have released moisture and the curry looks as though water has been added to it.  

13. Add the Pasata and allow to cook for 3 more minutes. For this curry - it's nice to use pasata as it helps to thicken the gravy.  If you don't want your curry to have gravy - cook it for a couple of minutes more.  Adding potatoes to this curry will help soak up some of the moisture.

 14. Your curry is ready to serve with hot chappatis. 

I tend to use the microwave for a lot of my cooking  but you can make this curry on the stove as well.  It might take 5-10 minutes more to cook the curry that way.

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