Have you ever heard of Spine Gourd? Not many people are familiar with this awesome seasonal vegetable. It is nutritious and low in calories. The spiky green vegetable is commonly seen during the monsoon season in India. It belongs to the bitter gourd family and tastes quite different from bitter gourd. If you’ve never tried this unusual gourd, this is a simple and wonderful tasting recipe that you can get your culinary feet wet with.
Spine Gourd
Spine Gourd Availability
First off, being a seasonal vegetable, the best crop is not in grocery stores all through the year. Even during the season, you’ll need to make sure you pick the right ones – make sure they are green and firm to touch. The ripened ones are somewhat hard to tell, even to a trained eye. Though they may be green on the outside, they may be bright red inside with hard seeds. I’ve had to chuck a few in the trash can because of that. I prefer the ones that are almost whitish green inside with very soft seeds.
This Recipe
Not only is this recipe easy to cook, it has just 3 key ingredients-spine gourd, mustard seeds and cayenne pepper! Cutting and removing seeds is somewhat challenging but the rest is simple. While I’ve cooked this in an Instant Pot (IP), this dish is also easy to sauté in a pan. You want to make sure the vegetable is cooked to the right amount of softness, in order to retain its nutrition.
Spine Gourd is considered to have cooling, analgesic, sedative, and diuretic properties. It balances all the three Doshas. In Ayurveda, it is used as a dietary measure to cure many diseases as urinary disorders, respiratory disorders, and immune dysfunctions related to inflammation and fevers.
Check out some of our other delicious and nutritious sautéed veggie recipes here:
- Carrot, Green Bean, Coconut Sauté
- Cluster Beans-Coconut-Ginger Sauté
- Broad Bean Eggplant Sauté
- Sautéed Asparagus
- Fresh Fenugreek Eggplant Sauté
- Easy Sautéed Green Beans
- Spicy Cilantro Ginger Eggplant Sauté
- Sautéed Asparagus
- Snake Gourd Coconut Sauté
- Sautéed Okra
- Easy Sautéed Tindora
- Delish Bell Pepper & Eggplant Sauté!
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Spine Gourd Sauté
Ingredients
- 1/2 Pound Spine Gourd - Cut to small pieces
- 1 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- 1/2 Teaspoon Red Chili Powder - or cayenne pepper
- 1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil - Cold pressed, organic
- 1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt - or to taste
Instructions
- Set up Instant Pot (IP) on sauté mode, add oil and wait for the 'hot' sign to show up (if you're cooking in a pan on a stove top, add oil and let it heat up for a minute on medium heat). Add mustard seeds, allow them to splutter and add the cut spine gourd and salt. Mix well and let it cook for about 5-7 minutes. Keep stirring occasionally. Add chili powder (or cayenne pepper) and mix well.
- Sprinkle about 1/8th cup of water, mix well, set the IP lid and change to 'steam' mode for 5 minutes (in a regular pan, set the lid on and leave for a couple of minutes before removing the lid and stirring - repeat a couple of times till the vegetable softens). Remove lid, set back to 'sauté' mode and stir till moisture evaporates.
- Transfer to serving bowl and serve hot.
