Wax gourd belongs to tropical vegetable family. Wax gourd has many names, like ash gourd,white gourd, winter gourd, tallow gourd, ash pumpkin, winter melon, but mainly this veggies is known for its whitish, waxy coat which gives the distinctive look. I was not very fond of the taste of the wax gourd as a child, but since I haven’t had it for a long time and when I luckily found it last week in a Bangladeshi shop in Denmark, I could not help but bring it in my kitchen!

We call in Chal Kumra (চাল কুমড়া) in Bangladesh, where Chal could either means roof (of a village house) or means rice grain! So I don’t know what the name actually imply, may be the housewives of Bangladeshi village grow them on roof of their house, that’s how the name comes, Chal Kumra (gourd from roof). Or it could be the texture, crunchy as rice grain, so its called Chal Kumra (Rice like Gourd)!

The stir fry recipe is very simple and easy to make! You can also make curry, fry round piece (chak-bhaji) or lots of other delicious recipes with this veggie. before we start cooking, we need to prepare wax gourd.

Wax gourd has a green and waxy layer outside, so first peel the layer. Then cut in quarter sized piece. As you can see in the picture, the gourd has the middle soft layer with seeds. What you have to do is take a spoon and scoop them off. the outer skin gives the typical stripped look on this peculiar vegetable. Many people prefers to keep the layer, if the gourd is not so mature. Otherwise the seeds do not taste very good.

After scooping out the seeds, cut them in longer piece and slice them very thin with knife. As there will be no water used in this recipe, so it is important to slice the gourd very thin.

Chop an onion, garlic and chili. You can avoid garlic in this recipe.

Now its time to cook. In a pan, warm 2 teaspoon of vegetable oil under medium heat. When the oil is warm, add black cumin seed and sliced onion and fry onion until golden brown. Then add chopped garlic and cook until golden brown.

Now add sliced wax gourd, salt, chili and turmeric powder. Mix everything well and stir fry for 5 minutes in medium low flame.

After 5 minutes of stir fry, cover the pan and simmer in low flame for 10 more minutes. This step ensures that wax gourd gets properly cooked.

After 10 minutes of simmering, you will see some water released. Check with spoon if gourd has gotten soft. Stir fry them for few more minutes.

You can see that gourd started to become more translucent. If you stop cooking at this point, the gourd will be cooked but will have some texture. I will cook for 5 more minutes in medium flame until they looks more reddish and soft.

After 5 more minutes, you can see the colors changed to deep yellow and the gourd has become softer. So take them off the heat and serve with rice or ruti!

Recipe: 4 Servings Prep time: 10 minutes, Cooking time: 25 minutes

Ingredients: 1 Chal Kumra/Wax Gourd/Ash gourd/… 1 Medium onion 2 Green Chili 1 teaspoon Black cumin 1 teaspoon of Turmeric powder 20ml Vegetable oil 1teaspoon Salt

Instruction: 1. Peel and cut wax gourd in quarter and scoop the seeds. Slice cleaned gourd very thin. 2. Warm oil in a pan and add black cumin seeds. When bubbling add, sliced onions. Fry until golden. Then add chopped garlic. 3. Add sliced wax gourd, salt, turmeric powder and chili. Stir fry for 5 minutes in medium heat. 4. Cover the pan with lid and simmer for 10 minutes in low heat. 5. After 10 minutes, uncover and stir fry until the vegetable changes color and oil starts to separate. Take out of heat and serve with rice or ruti!