WELCOME TO SPRING 2022 (September – November) and a season when the Asian green grocery stores are stacked with ash gourd|Kuvalo or winter melons. Some like it stewed, some like it stir-fried, some like it in the raw. I like to cook chunks of this vegetable into an authentic Mangalorean style vegan curry, with a coconut and spice based sauce. This curry is called Ash Gourd Polov|KuvaloBafat, which is served at many Catholic celebrations particularly pre-wedding anointing ceremonies called “Roce” or “Ros”.

I like to make it for a weekend treat, as it is easy to make with ‘Bafat Powder’ and a good dash of coconut milk.

There are two traditional versions to this curry:

• Non-Vegetarain version – Ash Gourd Polov|Bafat where chunks of mutton (goat meat) are added and simmered to a coconut and spice based curry.
• Vegetarian|Vegan version – Ash Gourd Polov|Bafat – which is a curry stew, where chunks of ash gourd are cooked in a coconut and spice based curry without adding any meat.

Winter Melon goes by many names: Kuvalo|Ash Gourd|Wax Gourd|Ash Pumpkin in Mangalore, Togan in Japanese, Tung Gwa in Chinese and many more!

Ash Gourd|Ash Pumpkin|Winter Melon is unique to India, parts of South East Asia and China. It grows on a vine and a mature gourd is pale gray in colour, coated in distinctive white ash. The flesh of the melon is thick, firm and white with many small seeds. It is interesting to note that although it is called a melon, the flesh is not sweet.

Melons come in two groups: Dessert (sweet) and cooking melons (not sweet). Cooking melons need to be cooked before eating. One popular variety of cooking melon is the Winter Melon.

The name Winter Melon or Ash Gourd or Ash Pumpkin comes from the winter powder or dust on the surface of the dark green melons|gourds at harvest time, which looks like frost or grey ash.

Did you know that Ash Gourd has a very long shelf life – as much as a year!! When I was growing up, my mum used to store the matured melon for up to 12 months, to be used during the monsoon months (June to September). It was secured tightly with a rope and hung from an exposed beam either in the kitchen or the store room. Sweet memories that never seem to go away!!

In Australia, winter melon seeds are sown from mid spring to early summer (October to January) and the mature fruit is harvested only after 14 to 16 weeks of sowing seeds, as the plant takes a long time to grow and produce fruit.

Winter melon can be bought in Chinese stores where it is sold in large slices but it can be easily grown in a backyard garden. I buy this vegetable at my local green grocer throughout Winter and Spring in Sydney.

I love Ash Gourd, however, I only have limited recipes to choose from. If you should have some, I would appreciate getting them!!!

Ash gourd is a very mild vegetable and has virtually no taste and flavour of its own. It tends to absorb the taste of the curries or sauces it is cooked in. Because it has no flavour, it is very easy to incorporate into curries which we do so in South India.

In North India, it is also used for making a sweet called Petha, juices and salads.

This vegetable is first cooked with a blended mixture of coconut and spice based paste (bafat powder). What adds a lot of flavour to the final dish is the addition of the coconut milk and seasoning|tempering after the curry is cooked.

This is a vegan curry, but meat eaters can add cooked lamb or mutton (goat meat) and simmer with the melon as in Lamb|Mutton Polov.