Chayote or choko is a squash like vegetable. This can be found both in Indian as well as American Grocery stores.You can read more about Chayote here or here. They can be found in abundance during December through March here. In Karnataka especially in Bangalore it was available for most part of the year & is known as Seeme badane, I have no idea what it means, and I remember my mom using it in many kinds of preparations like Sāmbhar, BisiBele Baath and in sukke which is a Konkani cuisine which is a dry sabzi made using coconut, chillies and fried urad dal and coriander seeds and blended to a coarse dry paste and also yet another dish konkani dish called Butti which would be again using coconut, coriander seeds, tamarind. I will post a sukke and butti recipe one of these days. They taste very good!
But I had never tasted a simple upkari/stir fry till last year. I learnt this from my sister, and she learnt this from her good friend. I just loved the taste and I love these kinds of simple sautéed vegetables. It’s light and so tasty! I guess any simple upkari tastes just comforting and good after a busy day or just as an accompaniment to the regular daal, rice!
Ingredients:
2 medium sized Chayote finely chopped to small cubes
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp urad daal
½ tsp chana dal
2 red chillies (dry) torn into pieces
¼ tsp or even less asafoetida
5 to 6 curry leaves
1 tbsp grated coconut
3 tsp cooking oil
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Clean and core out the seed from the Chayote, and chop finely into small cubes.
2. Heat a kadai or a deep dish pan and add oil. When hot add mustard seeds, when they start crackling add urad dal, chana dal and stir fry for a minute. Add curry leaves, red chilli pieces, asafoetida and fry for 1 minute.
3. Now add the chopped chayote and stir fry on high for 2 to 3 minutes. Add grated coconut, salt & about ½ cups of water and cover and cook till tender and make sure the water is absorbed.
Serve with rice and daal or along side chapattis.
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