Last Updated on May 15, 2022 by Chef Mireille
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This Indian Ivy Gourd Rice is a deliciously spiced rice dish made with tindora, a popular Indian vegetable. This quick and easy pulao recipe is a great way to transform any leftover rice into a totally new dish.
Leftover rice is tossed with spices and a simple masala as well as some stir fried tindora (ivy gourd) and all of a sudden that leftover rice becomes a one pot vegetarian lunch.
What is Ivy Gourd?
Have you ever heard of ivy gourd? No? Neither did I until I started getting really adventurous when I went into the Indian supermarket. They have so many unique vegetables that are not available at American markets.
Every time I go to the Indian market, I try to pick up a new vegetable I haven’t tried before. The variety of vegetables you see there is an eye-opening experience to a totally different world when compared to American supermarkets.
Names of vegetables you’ve never heard before are printed on the signs like round valor, flat valor, dudhi, methi, karela, drumstick, and tindora. Even the ones with English names you most probably haven’t seen before like white pumpkin, ridge gourd, and snake gourd.
Even if you don’t choose a traditional recipe, just adding more varietal vegetables to your diet can never be a bad thing, right? Toss it in some olive oil and sprinkle Italian seasoning and tindora aka ivy gourd or kovakkai will be just as delicious.
Tindora looks like little baby cucumbers. However, unlike cucumbers which we often eat raw, ivy gourd must be cooked.
When you slice the ivy gourd, don’t be alarmed if some of them are red inside. This does not mean that they are bad. These with the red interior are simply more ripe.
Where to find Tindora
You will find Ivy Gourd, aka Tindora, in Indian supermarkets. In the US, start by looking for a local Patel Brothers if you haven’t visited any Indian supermarkets before. They are the largest national chain of Indian supermarkets.
What is Pulao?
Pulao is basically a variation of pilaf. Most food historian believe the origins date back to Persia. However, this one pot rice dish of rice, spices, vegetables and/or meat has spread around the world and is very popular in West Asian, Middle Eastern, South Asian, Southeast Asian countries as well as some Caribbean islands like this Chicken Pelau.
Depending on the cuisine, it can be spelled many different ways like pelau, pilau, pulao, plov and more….
While the spices used may vary, it always combines into a delicious one pot dish.
Traditionally, the rice is usually added raw and cooked in water with the spices and other ingredients. However, this easy version adapts leftover cooked rice into an instant Pulao.
Variations
- What’s great about this dish that transforms leftover rice is that it can be easily adapted to other vegetables. Even if you do not have tindora, you can substitute the tindora with green beans, sweet peas, cabbage or other vegetables.
- You can add fresh ginger and garlic with the onions instead of the ginger garlic paste, if you prefer.
Now let’s check the pantry to get our ingredients ready.
Tindora Rice Ingredients
- mint leaves
- cilantro leaves
- green chiles
- grated coconut
- oil
- tindora
- ghee
- cinnamon stick
- cloves
- green cardamom pods
- bay leaf
- star anise
- onion
- ginger garlic paste
- ground coriander
- ground cumin
- red chile powder/cayenne pepper
- ground turmeric
- cooked Basmati rice
- salt
- lemon juice
How to Make Veg Pulao
- Prepare the masala paste.
- Saute the tindora.
- Cook the spices.
- Add the sauteed tindora and the cooked rice.
- Toss well to coat the rice.
Just add a few simple ingredients and rice gets transformed.
What a delicious Indian recipe to add to the repertoire!
Make it a Meal
- Kori Gassi (Mangalorean Chicken Curry)
- Green Mango Dal
- Paneer Payasam (dessert)
Tindora Rice – Ivy Gourd Pulao
Equipment
Ingredients
Masala Ingredients
- 5 mint leaves finely chopped
- 5 tablespoons cilantro leaves chopped
- 2 green chiles chopped
- 2 1/2 tablespoons frozen grated coconut defrosted (or freshly grated coconut)
Rice Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 8 oz. tindora ends trimmed and split in half lengthwise
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 cloves
- 1 green cardamom pods
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 star anise
- 1 onion thinly sliced
- 2 teaspoons ginger garlic paste
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon red chile powder cayenne pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 2 cups cooked Basmati rice
- salt to taste
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Combine mint, finely chopped cilantro and green chiles in a coffee/spice grinder.
- Add. coconut with 2 tablespoons water until you have a fine coconut masala paste.
- Heat oil in a deep skillet.
- Add tindoora/ivy gourd and saute until well browned, about 10 minutes.
- Remove to a plate.
- Add the ghee and melt it. Saute for another 3 minutes.
- Add cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf and star anise. Fry for 1 minute.
- Add onions and saute until they start to change color.
- Add ginger garlic paste and masala. Fry for about 5 minutes.
- Add cumin, coriander, cayenne, tumeric and tindora. Cook on low heat for another 5 minutes.
- Add cooked rice and toss well. Cook for about 3-4 minutes until the rice is well coated with the spices and heated through.
- Add salt and lemon juice.
- Garnish with more cilantro leaves, if desired.
Video
Nutrition
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I don't know Ivy Gourd but you are so right fasinating cuisine… so many flavors.
I love the rice is cooked… looks delicious.!!
wow delicious one pot meal
Nice…
wow thats super flavorful and tempting rice variety 🙂
Wow, that rice with tindora looks soooo good. Love the clicks Mir, they are making me want to try this dish right away.
I live a good one pot dish. Especially one with a rich and flavorful outcome!!
so glad you enjoyed it!
This looks like a delicious option to mix up my rice repertoire!
It definitely is a flavorful side dish for any meal
I am excited to make this because the flavors sound like they’re going to be amazing together. In terms of the green chiles, do you mean jalapeños, serranos?
these are chillies I get an Indian supermarkets, but the closest thing would be bird’s eye chillies, but if not, serranos are the best substitute.
I’m always looking for new rice recipes to make and I’m definitely adding this to my to-make list. Looks amazing!
I am sure you are going to love it with all of the spices
Definitely an easy and delicious recipe for dinner!
it makes a quick side dish in a jiffy!
This rice is so delicious and full of flavor! Thanks for a great recipe!
I am so glad you enjoyed it
This sounds absolutely flavorful! I can’t wait to give this a try. Adding these items to my grocery list for this week!
great. It is so good and you will love it for sure!
This recipe was so flavorful! The masala with the rice and the tindora was amazing. The flavors were so complimentary to each other. This recipe made for the perfect dinner and the leftovers were even better the next day!
yes leftovers are always better when there is time for the flavors to develop.
This was such a flavorful and easy rice dish to make! A keeper for sure!
so glad you liked it and yes I totally agree!
Oh my gosh! I could make this again and again and again! It was sooo good and super flavorful! Thanks for the recipe!
you are absolutely welcome and I am so happy you enjoyed it so much!
I was able to find all the ingredients easily with just a couple of store visits and so glad. This rice will be on repeat in my house!
you should try your local Patel Brothers if there is one near you. It is a one stop shopping for Indian food products.
My current obsession with baby cucumbers is going crazy right now. This recipe was perfect to use up some that I had on hand. Super flavorful, was fairly easy to make thanks to your instructions.
so glad you like this veggie as much as I!
I love how a humble ingredient like rice can take on so many different flavors like and still be amazing. Thanks for introducing me to this Indian version. It was a great dinner for us last night.
It is so true – rice can take on so many flavors. Every culture of the world spices up rice in different and unique ways.
Basmati is my favorite rice and I love anything from the gourd/squash family so I knew I was going to love this recipe. The blog post was so informative and the directions were so easy to follow! Thank you for sharing!
so glad you were easily able to do this recipe. it’s an easy addition to weekly meals!