Growing a Southern Indian Garden (Wherever You Are)

An article in Rochester's Democrat and Chronicle featured Indian immigrants who have started growing kitchen gardens as a way of reconnecting with their native culture and cuisine.  For those interested in exploring India's cuisine without leaving home, here are some of the most popular Southern Indian edibles with the corresponding Malayalam (the language most commonly spoken in Kerala) name:

Cow peas (achinga) are long, thin beans that are harvested when still tender and cooked with the shell on. The cow peas are often used in mezhukkupuratties, or vegetable side dishes stir-fried in oil.

Okra (bendakaya) is familiar to cooks in the Southern United States and also in India. Indians commonly refer to okra as lady fingers. They can be fried, stuffed and used in stews and curries. Green and burgundy varieties are also available.

Red spinach (cheera) is technically part of the amaranth family, but tastes similar to spinach and can be used wherever spinach is called for, from thoren (stir-fries with shredded coconut) to stews. The plant has bright red stems and purplish-red leaves, grows a couple feet high and matures within a month of direct sowing.

Winter melon (kumbalanga) is also known as ash gourd, and is an oval-shaped vegetable that, like winter squashes, will store for months after harvest, thanks to a waxy coating that naturally develops on its watermelon-green rind. In Kerala, winter melon is the basis for olan, a curry with beans or lentils, squash and coconut milk or yogurt.

Bitter gourd (pavakka or karela) has a similar shape to cucumber with a peculiar warty texture and light green rind. The long-growing vine is set on a trellis so the gourds can hang off the ground as they grow. The seeds are discarded and the plant is usually salted before cooking to draw out some of the bitterness. The rest of the vegetable is then cooked in a thoren. It is also sliced and dehydrated and then fried. Many Indians swear by bitter gourd as a way to control diabetes.

Bottle gourd (churakka) is another mammoth gourd (up to 4 feet) with a mild flavor. Bottle gourds are used like winter melons, in olan (a creamy vegetable custard dish with coconut milk), curries and dals. The vines will often search out trees to climb.

Snake gourd (padavalanga): This long (sometimes up to 6 feet), striped slender gourd comes from an endless vine that often grows up trees. Like bitter gourds, they are grown on a trellis. The flesh has a mild flavor that is used in thorens or in curries, with shrimp.

Curry leaves (karivepila) are an herb used prolifically in Indian cooking to add a citrus-like zing to curries, thoren, dal, stews and a host of other dishes. The long, glossy, slender leaves grow on bushes. In this part of the country, people often leave their curry bushes in pots and bring them indoors in the winter.

Text and photo source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle