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?