Dondakaya Curry | Tindora Curry
Updated: July 23, 2022, By Swasthi
Dondakaya Curry made in Andhra style is a simple side dish of ivy gourds cooked with onions, tomatoes and plenty of spices. Serve this simple, nutritious and healthy curry as a side, with Rice-Rasam, Rice-Sambar or simply with roti or chapati. While there are numerous ways to make this curry, this dondakaya curry is made in typical Andhra style.
Dondakaya Curry
Ivy gourd also known as Tindora, tendli, kovakkai and tondekayi in India, is a fruit of a vine grown in tropical climates. Dondakaya is the Telugu name for ivy gourd. It is an everyday vegetable cooked in Indian cuisine.
Various dishes like curry, chutney, stir fry and rice dishes are made with this veggie. This is one of the veggies well known for its laxative properties and its ability to normalize the blood sugar levels. So this is also eaten by people trying to control their diabetes. However more research is underway.
Dondakaya curry can be made in numerous ways. A lot of people also make this with a stuffing of spiced peanuts, coconut and chilies. My recipe is simple enough to make and needs no grinding of any masala. Basically it is a fast recipe which is also delicious and you would make this for a healthy and comfort home style meal.
I often make this curry and feel chopping ivy gourd takes some time as they are small. If your hands are large, holding these tiny gourds and chopping is really hard. I often chop these in a onion chopper that has a dicing attachment. A food processer with a slicing attachment also works.
But the slices won’t be of even sizes. Still that works. On occasions I even mince the ivy gourd and use in this recipe like the way I have used in this Dondakaya vepudu and Dondakaya chutney. We don’t mind the minced texture in the curry but love this way because it is so much faster and easier.
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Recipe Card
Dondakaya Curry | Tindora Curry
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
- 250 grams ivy gourd / dondakaya / tindora
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds (optional)
- 1 Pinch turmeric
- 1 Pinch hing
- 2 onions medium , finely chopped or sliced
- 1 tomato large ripe , chopped (½ cup pieces)
- ½ to ¾ teaspoon red chili powder (adjust to suit your taste)
- ¾ teaspoon garam masala powder or sambar powder (adjust as needed)
- 2 tablespoons coriander leaves chopped finely
- ⅓ teaspoon salt (or as needed)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons coconut Fresh or frozen grated or peanut podi (optional)
Instructions
How to Make Dondakaya Curry
- Add ivy gourds to a large pot filled with water. Add 2 teaspoons of rock salt and a few tablespoons of vinegar. Let them rest for 5 to 10 mins. Rinse them well under running water.
- Nip off both the ends and chop them to desired size. An easier way is to slice them in a food processer (with a slicing attachment) or dice them in a onion chopper (with a dicing attachment).
- Heat oil in a pan, Add mustard and cumin.
- When the seeds crackle, add curry leaves, green chilies and hing.
- When the curry leaves turn crisp, add onions and fry until they turn slightly golden.
- Add tomato, salt and turmeric. Saute until they become mushy and blend well with onions.
- Add ivy gourd and fry for 2 to 3 mins on a medium high heat. Add red chili powder and saute for another 2 to 3 minutes.
- Cover and cook on a very low flame stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
- When the gourd is half cooked, add garam masala and saute for 2 mins. Taste test and adjust salt.
- Cover and simmer until cooked & tender. Sprinkle coriander leaves and coconut. Stir well. Serve dondakaya curry with rice or chapathi.
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
About Swasthi
I’m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthi’s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me
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Comments
Hi Swasthi,
Thank you VERY much for your recipes. We have just eaten this along with your Lamb Nihari and have thoroughly enjoyed both dishes. I have Vetiver roots everywhere…another package came today which we hadn’t ordered!
Ivy gourd is maybe my favourite gourd and this recipe allows its flavour to come through. Again, 200% from you.
I have some Ridge gourd for your Pappu recipe which I’ll cook tomorrow.
Paul
Hi Swasthi,
I’m really happy to see that you include recipes that use typical Indian vegetables and gourds on your blog. I can buy many of these locally here in England.
I really enjoy browsing your site, not to mention your emails so Thankyou.
Paul
Hi Paul,
So glad to read your comment. Yes I guess I have recipes to cook almost every Indian vegetable. Hope you enjoy making them!
Hi there, I have tried this recipe and it came out fabulous. I advise that it’s better to steam onions for about 1-2 mins and ivy guard for 4-5mins depending on the quantity in the microwave before adding it to the pan. That way it takes a lil less cooking time and still tastes nutritious. Also adding more tomatoes will also make the recipe tastier on overall.
Hi Vijaya
Thanks for rating the recipe and sharing the details. It will surely help the readers.
Hi Swasthi,, Thanks for the dondakaya curry recipe. I tried it and the curry turned out really good. Dondakaya takes a very long time to cook. So I sprinkled some water after sauting them and covered the pan with a lid. Green chillies are not included in the list of ingredients but shown in the method of preparation. It is stated in the recipe that the qty. indicated serves 25 persons. Please clarify. Thanks.
Thanks for the mention. I will fix it.
Thanks again for trying