Recipe for a Simple Poddolim/Padwal/Snakegourd Foogath
Recipe for a Simple Poddolim/Padwal/Snakegourd Foogath
FOOGATH is a simple No fuss Goan Coconut base vegetable without any spices. It is usually prepared as a side dish to go with A Goan Fish, Meat or Chicken curry. The entire funda behind cooking a foogath is to cut the spices of the curry. The blend of the curry and the foogath is a magical burst of flavour in each Morsel that you take!In my case, I have beautiful memories of Foogath especially Cabbage. Since My Mum was always busy in the Mornings due to her catering business, she would very rarely get time to cook us anything separate(our tiffin boxes usually consisted of what went out from our home kitchen on that particular day) and whenever she would, it used to be a Foogath and Chaps mainly because it was quick and No fuss.. It used to be my favourite because I could very easily roll the Veg it into my Chaps, gapao it fatafat in less than 10 mins and get my remaining 30 mins of the break to play in the back garden… So that’s exactly what I do even now! I love to make foogath because its super quick and No fuss…just that the Game and Place, both have changed now! Hahahah
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 500 gms Snakegourd
- 1 Onion chopped fine
- 1 Green Chilly slit
- 3 Tbspn Fresh Grated Coconut
- ½ Tspn Salt
- ½ Tspn Turmeric Powder(optional. The traditional foogath doesn’t call for turmeric powder)
- ¼ Cup Water
- 1 Tspn Oil(I like to use Coconut Oil for Coconut base veggies)
Instructions
- Wash the snakegourd and cut it vertically into twoNote: you can take a Potato peeler or a Knife and very randomly run it through the outer skin of the Snakegourd and scrape off the white layer on the surface. It’s optional. I don’t scrape it off I just thoroughly wash the snakegourd
- With the help of your Thumb, slide the seeds and cotton like substance from inside the Snakegourd and Now, thoroughly wash the Snakegourd
- You have three options1) To slice it as it is2) To further cut the vertical halves into 4 and then slice it(if the Snakegourd is wide in size, I cut it into 4 verticals)3) Cut 4 verticals and further cut the Snakegourd into cubes
- In a vessel, add the Coconut, Onion, Chilly, Salt, Oil and Water and Turmeric Powder if using, cover the vessel and place it on medium flameNote: When I make a foogath of any other vegetable like Cabbage, French beans, Long Beans, Cluster Beans and Cauliflower, I put all the ingredients into the vessel and cook it all together. But, vegetables like Snakegourd, Bottlegourd, Ridgegourd and Yellow Pumpkin cook really quick. So, if you’re going to cook it all together, the Coconut and Onion will take time to cook and the vegetable will cook quicker and the entire foogath may turn extremely soft and mushy and will loose texture. Hence, I cook the coconut, onion, etc. first
- Once the water reduces, add the cut snakegourd and cover the vesselNote: Most Gourds release a lot of water when it is cooked. And most veggies release water when Salt is added. So do not add any more waterAlso, Most veggies reduce in quantity after cooked. So, what may look like a lot when it’s just cut and kept, will reduce to almost half. So, plan your quantity well.
- Mix the Veggies well and let it cook for about 5-7 minutes and then take off the lid
- Allow the foogath to cook until all the water is evaporated.Once the water is evaporated, turn off the heat and enjoy your foogath with either Hot chapatis or as a side dish with a nice spicy Goan Fish or Meat or Chicken curry! Yumm!
