Ivy gourd is the vegetable loved by most. It is one of my favorite vegetables. I love it in any form. ‘Fried ivy gourd’ is a very easy to make and amazingly delicious dish. I was not very fond of this dish when I was a kid, but recently I have become a big fan. It tastes great when it is fried till the ivy gourds become almost black and you can’t even say those are ivy gourds. Hot rice, a simple daal and these fried ivy gourd is a complete meal I would cherish anytime.
Earlier we used to smash one tendli at a time in mortal and pestle. It would take a lot of time to prep them. Now I just cut the ends, take them in a ziploc bag and smash them using a meat tenderdizer/pestle.
‘Talasani’ are the dishes prepared by frying the vegetables in oil. So water should not be used at any point. The other popular talasani is ‘batate talasani‘.
Aayi’s version does not include garlic in this. But my brother tasted this dish at one of his friend’s place and they had used garlic. So he started using it in this dish. I love both the varieties. Although aayi does not use curry leaves, I like to use it.
The other ivy gourd dish I make frequently is tendli upkari. We use these in different types of daals and sambars also.
Ingredients:
Ivy gourds(tendli) 2 cups
Red chili powder 3/4 tea spn
Turmeric a pinch
Oil 1 tbl spn
Mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn
Asafoetida a pinch or garlic cloves 2 (4-5 if Indian garlic is used)
Salt
Increase the chili powder if required.
Method:
Remove the ends of ivy gourds and crush them slightly.
Heat oil in a nonstick pan and add mustard (add curry leaves at this point if using). When they start popping, add asafoetida (or crushed garlic). Add the gourds, turmeric, chilli powder and salt.
Fry on a low flame till the gourds turn dark brown/black.
Serve hot with rice and daal.
Serves : 2-3
Preparation time : 20mins
PS: These should be fried on a very low flame. If they are not fried till dark brown/black, they remain tender from inside and do not taste good. These taste great when made spicy.
Originally posted on Octbober 9, 2006. Reposting by adding a video(demonstrated by my 6 year old).
Yum! One of my all time favorites!!! We use garlic in it. You make me very nostalgic.
I always prepare this vege in a regular boring way.This time i’m glad i can try ur recipe.Thanks
Hi Shilpa — this looks really delicious! I haven’t bought these fresh in a long time — now I will look for them again. BTW chocolate cake looks great even with melted icing 🙂
Yum. I make this but cut into quarters to even the frying..I too recently started liking this vegetable.
Simple recipe but looks great Shilpa.. Thanks
I love tendli taLasaNi with garlic…yummy 🙂
Hi Shilpa, Nice recipe. Ever tried microwaving? Just rub some oil and spices and microwave it. Thats how I fry my bhindis and karelas (refer to my vendakkai pachadi post). Less time and less oil. I’ll give it a shot sometime and let you know how the tendli is handled by the Microwave.
this is one of my favorite vegetables.
i cut it into thin long pieces and follow the same recipe. actually most times i use the frozen tendli.
yummy
Thanks all for the lovely comments.
Shaheen, SL, when u use the whole tendli the taste becomes a bit different than cutting them. Do try this method next time.
Hema, never tried microwaving tendli. May be next time I will try :). Thanks for suggestion….
shilpa-
i was wondering if young bitter melons might be cooked this same way too?(i have lots…) this looks very good by the way- it is strange for me to think of frying young cucumbers…the only thing my family did with them was pickle them in vinegar…but then i was reading that this vegetable most likely originated in india! from there it’s use spread to the middle east and then to europe and the americas…but for some reason, gherkin pickles(dill pickles) are much more popular here in U.S. than in europe…i remember my mother washing large quantities of them in her old ringer-washer for pickling!!!
Hi Shilpa,
tried fried gherkins toady… turned out good… thanks a lot… it was very less laborious as there’s not much pre-prep involved…
I have tried both frozen and micro-waved fresh tendlis, and you get excellent results with very little oil… still crispy and crunchy..
Shilpa,
Bee, Jai and Manisha uncovered the truth that, although tendli and gherkins/cucumbers are related, it is distant- not the same at all! Do forgive my offering of wrong information; I was misinformed. 🙁
Cucumber/gherkin- Cucumis sativus
Tendli/ “Indian gherkin”/ Ivy gourd- Coccinia grandis
Hi Shilpa,
I tried this recipe Fried ivy gourds(Tendli talasani) and it was really awesome. Thanks a lot.
Vanessa
i loved this recipe im 12 a boy and i love to cook if you havent tried it u realy should
Hello!
This receipe is very nice. Even we can use this ivy gourd to make receipes like brinjal curry or masala or kurma. try it out. u can get very tasty receipes out of this vegetable. Enjoy cooking dear!!!!!!
its really fine receipe!!!!!!!
hi shilpa,
tried this recipe. absolute yumm. except it took lot more than 20 minutes. 2 hrs approx
Hey, this talasani has Ishaan’s magical touch!!
I too love Tendli/ tondli. The best part is, you get superb taste in minimal spices.
Shilpa this needs to be cooked covered or uncovered..Tried this as soon as i saw your post 🙂 But i cooked it covered so it was not black as u mentioned but still tasted good.Thanks for the quick & yummy recipe
Shweta, I usually cover it and cook till the tendlis are almost done. Then I uncover and fry them for few minutes till they get slightly burnt color.