How to bring main-character energy to ash gourd

If vegetables had a pageant, and "Miss Blandness" was a title, ash gourd would win it hands down, with lauki (bottle gourd) as the close runner-up.

- NANDITA IYER

If vegetables had a pageant, and "Miss Blandness" was a title, ash gourd would win it hands down, with lauki (bottle gourd) as the close runner-up. These are the wallflowers of the produce world—pale, watery and lacking strong opinions. Yet Indian kitchens have infused main-character energy into them. It seems like a vengeance move—take the blandest vegetable and turn it into a superstar.

Why else would the humble ash gourd find itself in festive feasts, temple kitchens and iconic sweets?

Most children don't like gourds. They won't eat it unless mashed and sneakily blended into food. I'm guilty (and proud) of regularly smuggling mashed pumpkin into my son's weaning meals. Later, it found its way into pasta sauces, parathas and khichdis. Controversial opinion, but I believe it's every parent's birth right to sneak veggies into any dish until the child is old enough to appreciate flavors for what they are.

As a kid, I didn't need ash gourd to be disguised. I was (and still am) a die-hard fan of avial, where ash gourd plays the lead role. On the mornings I woke up to see my grandmother (ammama) sitting on the kitchen floor with her aruvam-anai (a traditional curved blade on a wooden base) with an assortment of vegetables, I knew what was coming for lunch. Ammama would tackle a large wedge of ash gourd slicing it into perfect batons.