A dry curry made from kachri — a small wild melon that grows in the Haryana and Rajasthan desert fringes. The tart, slightly bitter kachri is dried and then cooked with onion and spices into a tangy, unique vegetable preparation found nowhere else in India.
Ingredients
200 g kachri (dried wild melon — buy at Haryanvi and Rajasthani specialty stores; substitute with dried raw mango pieces + 1 tbsp tamarind paste if unavailable)
2 tbsp oil (mustard oil preferred in Haryana)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp asafoetida
10 curry leaves
2 dried red chilli
1 large onion — finely chopped
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
salt to taste
coriander leaves for garnish
Method
Rehydrate the dried kachri: Place the dried kachri pieces in a bowl. Cover with warm water. Soak for 20 to 30 minutes until softened and slightly pliable. Taste a piece — it should be sour and slightly bitter. The sourness will mellow during cooking. Drain and squeeze gently. Keep aside.
Heat mustard oil: Heat 2 tbsp mustard oil in a heavy pan until smoking, then reduce to medium. If using regular oil, heat until hot but not smoking.
Add tempering: Add mustard seeds — wait to pop. Add asafoetida, curry leaves and dried red chilli. Stir 15 seconds.
Cook the onion: Add finely chopped onion. Cook on medium heat stirring every 2 to 3 minutes for 10 minutes until deep golden.
Add ginger and garlic: Add ginger paste and garlic paste. Stir continuously for 2 minutes.
Add spice powders: Turn to low heat. Add red chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric. Stir 2 minutes on low heat.
Add the soaked kachri: Add the drained, softened kachri pieces. Stir gently to coat with the spiced onion mixture. Add salt.
Cook dry: Cook on medium heat stirring every 2 to 3 minutes for 10 to 12 minutes. The kachri sabzi is made dry — no water is added. The kachri pieces will absorb the spiced oil and become slightly caramelised.
Taste and adjust: Taste the kachri. It should be tangy from the natural kachri sourness, well-spiced and slightly caramelised. Add more salt if needed.
Garnish and serve: Scatter coriander leaves. Serve with bajra roti or wheat chapati and a small bowl of yogurt.
Note: Kachri is a wild melon that grows on the fringes of the Thar desert — in the districts of Fatehabad, Hissar and Sirsa in Haryana and across the border into Rajasthan. It is harvested in summer and dried for year-round use. The dried kachri is used as a souring agent and a vegetable across this arid belt. Its tangy, slightly bitter flavour is unique — no other ingredient can substitute it exactly. Kachri is also used as a meat tenderiser — it contains an enzyme similar to papain.