A delicious meal that is made from watermelon rind that normally would have been thrown away. It tastes a lot like gourd (kaddu) and reminded me of sweet and sour kaddu that we ate with puris back home in India.

I was given this humongous watermelon by a friend of ours. So I ate bowls and bowls of it, drank Watermelon Pana/juice and also made Watermelon popsicles out of it!! I had so much of the peel left over that I decided to try out this dish. Not only is it easy and tasty, its economical and good for the environment!

If every there was a contest on makeover of scraps-this dish could easily win the prize! The dish tastes exactly like gourd (Kaddu in Hindi), no difference at all, my hubby surely couldn’t tell the difference! You can also use the rind to make Tutti Frutti(candied peels) for use in cakes and desserts. Here is an easy recipe to make Whole Wheat Eggless Tutti Frutti Britannia Style Cake using the home made tutti frutti.

Moving on to the recipe, Here is the written recipe followed by the step by step pictorial one-

Watermelon Rind Curry

Aanchal Gupta

A delicious way to use leftover watermelon peel. Not only is the Rind edible, its actually very tasty! Its easy,delicious,economical and good for the environment!Makes a lipsmacking meal that goes really well with Rotis.parathas and Dal.

Print Recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 25

Total Time 35

Servings cups

Ingredients

9 cups Watermelon Rind chopped
1/8 tsp Fenugreek seeds/Methi dana
1/2 tsp Mustard seeds/Rai
1/2 tsp Cumin seeds/Jeera
1-2 Dry Whole Red Chilies optional
8-10 curry leaves washed
Pinch of Asafoetida Hing
3 Tbsp oil
1/4-1/2 tsp Red chili powder/lal Mirch
1/2 tsp Turmeric/Haldi
1/2 tsp Paprika/kashmiri lal Mirch
2 1/2 tsp Coriander powder
1 tsp Black salt/Kala Namak
Salt as needed keeping in mind we are adding black salt
squeeze of lemon/lime optional
1 tsp sugar optional

Instructions

Remove the Green skin of the watermelon and discard. Chop the tender white Rind into pieces,
In hot oil, add Fenugreek seeds/Meth dana and cook till golden in color
Add Mustard and Cumin seeds and let them splutter
Add pinch of Asafoetida,curry leaves and dry whole Red Chilies
Add chopped watermelon rind,red chili powder,turmeric,paprika,coriander powder and black salt and cook on high for 5 minutes
Cover and cook over medium for 5-7 minutes
Remove cover and cook till rind is cooked and water dries up.
Adding a squeeze of lemon/lime and a spoonful of sugar is optional(I did not add any)

Notes

The Rind has high water content. No water is added during cooking. Due to high water content, the water dries up to yield 2 cups. Adding sugar and lemon juice is optional.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Here is the step by step pictorial recipe-

Peel the green skin from watermelon and discard. Chop the white,soft rind.