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Receipe for beerakaya royyalu (Shrimp with Ridged Gourd). This dish is mainly cooked in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. Meat and vegetables are usually not mixed in Andhra dishes..so I thought this one deserves a blog entry.

Ingredients :

• Shrimp (uncooked, medium size)
• Beera Kaya (Ridged Gourd.. you can get it at an Indian grocery)
• Red Onions
• Red Chilli Powder
• Salt
• Ginger Garlic Paste
• Coconut Milk (check out the ethnic aisle in any grocery)
• Cloves
• Cardamoms
• Cilantro
• Garam Masala (ground spices..another thing you can get at an Indian grocery)
• Vegetable Oil

Preperation :

• Peel and cut the ridged gourd into medium sized cubes and the onions into small pieces.
• Cook the shrimp (2lbs) in coconut milk (3 tablespoons) and ginger garlic paste (2 teaspoons) without adding any water for ~20 minutes. There is no need to add water, since the shrimp has a lot of water in it. This process helps with cooking the shrimp and elimninating the “fishy” odour.
• Heat some vegetable oil in a skillet and fry the cloves, cardamoms. Add the onions after a couple of minutes.
• When the onions turn golden, add the shrimp.
• Add some more ginger garlic, red chilli powder and salt
• Wait for a couple of minutes and add the ridge gourd
• Let the whole disk cook for ~15 minutes (let the water evaporate).
• Add the garam masala and cilantro
• Serve hot with rice.

Visuals  :

Shrimp being boiled with coconut milk and ginger garlic

Chopped Onion and peeled beera kaya

Shrimp and Beera Kaya cooking together

Beerakaya Royyalu served hot with rice