Chowchow(Chayote squash) thugaiyal

Here I am with another recipe of my mom.I used to hate ChowChow or chayote squash.Whether its the thorny outer skin or the taste,i dont know..somehow i didn't like it until my mom found a wonderful way to make me eat it.Yep,she started making chow chow thugaiyal.Now-a-days i even like the chow chow poricha kootu.Chow Chow puli kootu was another way my mom followed to make me eat it..will write about it another day.The truth is I have started craving for my amma's kootu's.
Well,here is her thugaiyal recipe.

Ingredients:

Chow Chow(chayote squash) - 1 medium sized(peeled and cut into small pieces)
Tamarind(lime-sized) or
Tamarind paste - 1 Tablespoon
Shredded Coconut - 1 Tablespoon
Mustard seeds - 1 Teaspoon
Black Gram seeds - 1.5 Teaspoon
Bengal gram seeds - 1.5 Teaspoon
Red (dry) Chillies - 4 or 5
curry leaves - few

Heat a spoon of oil in a skillet,put mustard seeds and when it starts crackling,add asafoetida(perungayam),turmeric powder,black and bengal gram seeds(ulutham paruppu and kadalai paruppu.)When it starts changing its color,add chillies,coconut and curry leaves.Roast the chow chow pieces along with them.Let them cool for sometime and grind them all into a smooth paste with tamarind paste and two teaspoons of salt using very little amount of water.Now the chow chow thugaiyal is ready to be eaten.
I poured the tamarind paste in skillet while roasting and added half a bunch of cilantro(kothumalli) for the flavor.
This thugaiyal tastes better with plain rice,curd or lemon rice and with idlis.



chow chow thugaiyal with brown rice and asparagus curry