Zucchini Pachhadi / Chutney

Hey everyone.. Zucchini Pachhadi today.. a surprisingly delicious dish! Great find for me!

 

Fig. 1. Zucchini Pachhadi

 
I like Zucchini as a vegetable. It is like french beans or green peas for me. It has a fairly neutral taste. Goes well with anything. So I use it as a filler vegetable to add body to my mixed veggie dishes. I don't think most of the family like the name Zucchini. So it is very important to disguise it. But they all happily eat it, no questions asked, when mixed with miscellaneous vegetables.

My grocery store, for some strange reason, prefers to stock items in batches. You have to buy a whole bag of several zucchinis at a time. No single pieces. But, I just need one or two pieces. Not more than that. Sorry, no such option. So I have to get a whole bunch at a time. I do easily use up about two in some or the other mixed vegetable dish, dosa, etc. But there are only so many of those to be made in one week.. so then I have to rack my brains as to how to consume the remaining zucchini!! Unfortunately zucchini goes bad fairly rapidly.. I would give it a week at most. By the end of 7 days the Zucchini in the refrigerator is already screaming for attention.

I had noticed Priya's Zucchini Pachhadi a few days ago and kept in mind for the next time I have excess zucchini. Rare (and risky) for me to try a zucchini-only dish. But that is the best way to consume a whole bunch of it at once! Can darling Zucchs pull off flying-solo?!! Priya confidently stated in her writeup that even her husband liked this one. I figured that was good enough for me. Let's give it a shot! :)

And voila...!! This pacchadi is truly worth its salt! The garlic and seasoning give it a very fragrant and flavourful taste. Totally worth the trial! Thanks for this recipe, Priya! My family consumed this pacchadi quite happily. And given my grocer's incorrigible habits, I will certainly be making this pachhadi again! :)

On to the recipe.. this is almost exactly the same as Priya's recipe. However I like to have it all in one place, so I re-write these recipes! ;)

Ingredients:
Zucchini ~ about 3 medium sized, chopped.
Turmeric - 1/4 teaspoon
Tamarind concentrate ~1/4 teaspoon paste
Curry leaves - 7-8  leaves
Chana Dal - 1 tablespoon
Udad Dad - 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Red chili flakes - 1 teaspoon
Garlic cloves - 4 large ones, peeled and roughly chopped large
Oil- 1 teaspoon
Salt to taste

Procedure:
1)Heat oil for tempering. Add all the ingredients (except zucchini, salt, tamarind and turmeric) and roast.
2) Add unpeeled, chopped zucchini with salt, tamarind concentrate and turmeric and cook. 
3) Cool and grind into a coarse paste. Add salt and water to taste.

Zucchini reduces quite a bit after cooking and grinding. So this made a fairly small amount of pachhadi.. about 3/4 of a bowl. Was just enough as a really good accompaniment with rice and some other leftover bhaji.

Since this recipe helped me consume leftover zucchini making space in my crisper this post goes to Blog Bite # 4, What's Lurking in your Kitchen? where Nupur of One Hot Stove wants  to check out how we clear up our refrigerators and pantries.

Cheers and happy cooking everyone!