Southekai Hasi Gojju - Cucumber in coconut sauce

A weekday evening and you’re home late and tired. And not to mention, hungry too. You have little energy left, but still don’t want to compromise on a nutritious meal with some veggie. Add to it, whatever you make should go with rice and with chapathis for different people in the house. What is your option then?

Mine, definitely is this Southekayi hasi gojju - cucumber chopped fine and mixed in an uncooked coconut gravy. Why? Because it is the easiest and quickest thing I can make provided I have cucumber in the fridge. And you want to make it still easier? Then you can just grate off the cucumber instead of chopping! All it takes is 10-12 minutes to get this dish done.

It goes well with rice, chapathis or dosas too. And there is no guilt of eating a junk food as you can have a large quantity of water-filled cucumber.

This is an authentic Karnataka cuisine, that mom used to prepare along with rasam for a Sunday lunch, but I prefer making it on a weekday evening mainly because of the little time and effort it takes.

Try it out yourself and see how simple, yet tasty and wholesome it is...

Southekayi Hasi-Gojju

Making time : 15 min
Serves : 4

Ingredients:
Cucumber - 2, medium sized
Coconut - 1/3 cup, grated
Green chilies - 5-6, depending on taste
Fried gram dal - 2 tsp
Curry leaves - 2 sprigs
Coriander leaves - 1 Tbsp, chopped
Cooking oil - 1 tsp
Jaggery - a small pinch (optional)
Tamarind - a small marble sized ball
Salt - ½ tsp or as per taste
Turmeric - 1 pinch
For Tempering:
Cooking oil - 1 Tsp
Curry leaves - A few sprigs
Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp
Asafetida - a pinch, powdered

Method:
• Wash the cucumber, and chop it fine. I like to retain the outer skin for that crunch. You may peel it if you don’t like it that way.
• Meanwhile, roast green chilies, curry leaves in a few drops of oil till they change color
• Allow to cool slightly and grind with coconut, turmeric, salt, tamarind, jaggery, coriander leaves, adding a little water if needed
• If you like to have more of gravy, add a tbsp of chopped cucumber and grind along
• Transfer the ground chutney to a serving bowl
• Mix the finely chopped cucumber
For tempering / tadka:
• Heat the oil in a pan, add mustard and allow to splutter
• Add curry leaves
• Garnish with tadka

Notes:
• Do not grind the spices too smooth – a little coarse consistency will give a better taste
• In place of fried gram, you can also roast an equal amount of chana dal and use
• Chopping fine is actually a simple task in case of cucumbers; just hold it perpendicular to the board and randomly hit with a knife perpendicular to it and then slice off the chopped portion; you’ll get fine chops easily this way
• If you want to make the process of chopping easier, you may even grate it in a big grater