Southekayi hasi gojju is a very simple curry made of cucumber and a handful of ingredients, that needs no cooking and can be done in 10 minutes. This can be served with akki rotti, chapathi, dosa or with steamed rice. For a hot summer afternoon, it is indeed very soothing and just so light on your tummy to have a bowlful of southekayi hasi gojju.
A Sunday afternoon when all four of us were home, was probably the happiest time that I can never ever get back to. Simple comfort meals with love, laughter, and togetherness were what Sundays were all about. The lovely aroma of ghee-based oggarane (tempering) making its way into the piping hot fresh rasam, some super tempting side dishes like gojju, palya, mosarubajji, tambooli all done and waiting for us to relish, and not to forget, the deep-fried happala (pappad), sandige, pheni (fryums) that kept getting over much before lunch actually began. As Amma was doing all these in the kitchen, Pappa and the two children were involved in other activities. Oh ya, I confess that I never really helped amma much with her cooking and I so regret it now. But, I am glad my brother and I had our special moments of fun, sessions of scoldings and advice with Pappa. Ha Ha!
Can someone please take me back to those times?? :’) Yes, I already see a lot of you who would love to tag along and simply get back to our respective good-old-days!
Gojju in Kannada basically means a curry made of a vegetable or fruit generally with a ground coconut based mixture and is slightly towards the tangy side. Karnataka cuisine offers a varied number of gojju recipes, which is a must in our weddings, festivals or any other feasts.
In our families, traditional gojju recipes contain NO ONION-NO GARLIC. Although I do relish the ones with onion or garlic, my heart goes to simple homely gojju varieties which I grew up eating. A simple lunch of rice, saaru (rasam) and gojju or palya had (has) always been the meal my family enjoys the most! And of course, my taste buds are well accustomed to this.
THIS is exactly what I call comfort food/soul food!
With the temperature being so crazily increasing these days here, I swear by soothing, light-on-tummy kinda food. And when I was writing down my weekly plan of recipes for the blog, the first recipe that came to my mind was this ‘Southekayi Hasi Gojju’.
Hasi Gojju simply means that this is a raw, uncooked curry!
Except for tempering, you don’t even have to turn on your stove, chop a lot or do prior preparations and make your counter messy with n number of ingredients. Yes, you read it right!
This is an extremely simple recipe that even a beginner can whip up in no time. How long would it take to finely chop a cucumber? 5 minutes at the most? Apart from this, you need JUST 10-minutes or even lesser to grind the ingredients and do the tempering. And that’s it, your super delicious Southekayi Hasi Gojju or Cucumber Raw Curry is ready in a jiffy!
So, with no further discussion, let us now move on to the recipe, shall we??
I hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy it as much as I enjoyed preparing it and writing it down for you all. I would love to hear your feedback on this. When you try it, kindly post your valuable comments below or share it with me personally on Instagram / Facebook, or post it by tagging me. You may also pin it on Pinterest.
Southekayi hasi gojju- Pin it for later (Click on the image)
Similar Recipes you might want to try:
Mavinakayi Gojju (Raw Mango Curry)
** Standard Measurement: 1 cup= 250mL
Southekayi Hasi Gojju | Cucumber Raw Curry Karnataka Style
Ingredients
- 1 medium sized cucumber - , or half English cucumber
To Grind
- 1/4 cup fresh grated coconut
- less than 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
- 5-6 sprigs fresh coriander leaves
- 4-5 nos. green chillies - , or as required
- small gooseberry size tamarind
- 1/2 tsp jaggery powder
- 1 tbsp roasted chana dal - (hurigadale/bhuna chana)
- a pinch of turmeric powder
- salt - to taste
For Tempering
- 1 tsp cooking oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/4 tsp asafoetida
- 4-5 nos. curry leaves
Instructions
- First, soak the tamarind in some water such that it gets soft and easy to grind.
- Next, wash the cucumber well. Follow the everyday hack of chopping the ends of the cucumber and rubbing it slightly to remove the bitterness in it. Peel the skin and chop the cucumber finely. (retain the skin if you like the crunch) Transfer the chopped cucumber into a mixing bowl.
- Transfer the soaked and softened tamarind along with water to a mixer jar. Add in all the other ingredients mentioned under 'To Grind'. Add about 1/4 cup water and grind to a smooth paste. Do not make it very smooth and fine, a little finer than chutney should be enough. Also, DO NOT increase the quantities of mustard and cumin seeds, as they will make the gojju bitter.
- Transfer the ground mixture into the bowl with chopped cucumber. Mix well, check for salt and add if required. Add more water if required to get the desired consistency. You can keep the gojju either thin or thick. I added a little less than 1/4 cup.
- Prepare the tempering by heating oil in a small pan. Once it turns hot, add in the mustard seeds and let them crackle and splutter. Add in asafoetida and curry leaves. Turn off the heat and transfer the tempering to the prepared gojju. Mix it and serve it with rotti, dosae, chapathi or steamed rice.
Notes
- Adjust the number of green chillies as per your taste.
- You can either peel off the skin of the cucumber or retain it. I prefer peeling it off for this recipe.
- DO NOT increase the quantities of mustard and cumin seeds, as they will make the gojju bitter. Please follow the measurement.