Chow Chow Poriyal (Thoran) / Vegan Chayote Squash Stir-fry.
Easy and healthy South Indian Tamilnadu style recipe for Chow Chow poriyal / thoran without coconut. Steamed Chayote squash tempered with indian spices. Includes step by step pictures.
This is an everyday Chow Chow Poriyal / stir-fry recipe. The vegetable is first steamed and then tempered the Indian way. It makes for a quick, easy side-dish and can be served with roti or rice. It makes for a very healthy meal too. And to top it, its Vegan. Here is how to do the stir-fry. First clean the Chayote squash and peel them. Cut them into half and take out the seed from the middle with a help of a spoon.
After peeling and de-seeding, dice them and steam them. I steam them in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles or roughly about 3 minutes on medium flame. Do not cook for more time as it might turn into mush. I place some water in the cooker and place the veggies in a bowl inside them like shown below. By this way there is no need to add extra water to the veggies and it retains the vitamins. Its quick too. I steam all my veggies this way.
Once the steaming is done, a little tempering is added. Chop an onion, couple of green chillies, curry leaves and some coriander leaves. For the tadka, we will use mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin and dried red chilli.
Heat some oil in a pan and add in the mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin and dried red chilli and wait till the dal turns into brown and the mustard seeds splutter. Add in the curry leaves and onions. Saute till the onions are soft and translucent.
Add in the green chillies and the salt. Saute for a minute. Add in the steamed vegetable and coriander leaves and stir everything to combine. Remove off heat.
Serve hot with rice.
Â
- 2 medium Chow Chow
- 1 teaspoon peanut oil
- ½ teaspoon mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon urad dal
- ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 dried red chilli
- 1 sprig curry leaves, coarsely chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped fine
- 2 green chillies, chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves
- Clean the Chow Chow, peel, dice and steam them. Set aside.
- Heat some oil in a pan and add in the mustard seeds, urad dal, cumin and dried red chilli and wait till the dal turns brown and the mustard seeds splutter. Add in the curry leaves and onions. Saute till the onions are soft and translucent.
- Add in the green chillies and the salt. Add in the steamed vegetable and coriander leaves and stir everything to combine.
- Remove off heat. Serve hot with roti or rice.
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