Chayote/Chow Chow skin thogayal

I strongly believe in the saying "It's FUN to have Food but it's SIN to waste Food". Even from a cook's perspective its really painful to see the food we prepare putting so much effort to get wasted. But in practical day to day life we can't always make the exact quantity of any dish. Also sometimes we discard some edible parts unknowingly. Hence I decided to start posting some "left over recipes".My mom always says the skin of any vegetable is highly nutritious. This thogayal I learnt from her.It goes very well with idly dosas or as side dish for curd rice. Tastes great even when mixed with plain hot rice paired with any curry. Sharing the recipe and I hope readers find it usefull too!

Chow Chow skin Thogayal

Cuisine: Indian Category: Side dish Difficulty level: Easy Prep Time: -- Cook time: 10 mins Servings: 4

Ingredients Chow chow or Chayote skin From 1 big Chow Chow Grated coconut 2-3 Tsp Urad dal 3 Tsp flat Asafetida A generous pinch Dry Red Chili 6 Tamarind A small pinch Salt 1/2 Tsp flat Oil 1-2 Tsp To Temper Oil 1 Tsp Mustard 1/4 Tsp Urad dal 1/4 Tsp

Method             1.     Peel the skin of Chow chow and assemble all the ingredients. In pan add oil and roast the urad dal along with red chili, tamarind asafetida and grated coconut for few minutes. Once the dal is roasted well switch off and cool down the ingredients.      2.     Roast the chow chow skin with little oil for few minutes. The skin tend to get bit dark and start browning at the edges. Cool down and add all the roasted ingredients along with salt to the mixer. Grind to a thick paste by adding water little by little.      3.Temper with ingredients mentioned. Serve with rice or idly/dosas!!                                         Notes

·         Compound asafetida is highly recommended for thogayal. If you use powdered asafetida add it lastly after roasting other ingredients.      ·         Black urad dal with skin also adds great flavour. In case of non availability you can use ordinary urad dal too.       ·         Adjust spice according to your preferance.      ·         Tempering is optional and since we added Asafetida while roasting I didn't add while tempering.      ·         Fresh skin works best. I usually make kootu/ poriyal and make this thogayal evening for dosas.

I personally love it lot along with godumai dosai or rava dosai :).