Chithiyal Gogru / Turnip Mash is the main dish, made with onions, tomatoes, and turnips, in a Sindhi style. Fresh tender green garlic elevates the taste of this winter veggie.
Turnips have white flesh and have a zesty peppery flavour. While it is tender people love to eat it raw, the taste is quite like a radish. Due to its peppery flavour, a lot of people don’t like them. They should be washed, peeled, and boiled to cook to cut down that peppery taste.
It is important to choose the right quality of turnips to make a good dish. When buying turnips, choose those that are small and heavy for their size. The younger and smaller ones have a sweet and mild flavour. As they continue to grow or age, the flavour becomes spicier, and the texture will become rough and woody.
Coming back to Chithiyal Gogru, boiling them in an open pot is a must to get rid of that pungent taste. Once ready, one just needs to sauté onions and add the turnips and tomatoes. The basic spices go in, the fresh green garlic is added which is one of the most important ingredients of this dish. Chithiyal is the term used for mash, so after the turnips have cooked, they are mashed and served.
At times we add boiled green peas, or lotus stem slices after the dish is cooked. Served with Thoom wara Chawara or Khichadi, it makes a wonderful healthy meal. You could check for another version of this mash here.
Chithiyal Gogru
Ingredients
250 gms turnips
2 medium onions
1 green chilly
1” piece ginger, crushed
5-6 cloves garlic / 2 tbsp fresh green garlic
4 medium tomatoes
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp red chilly powder
1/2 tsp coriander powder
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp garam masala
Coriander leaves
Method
Peel and cut the turnips into cubes.
Boil them in a pan, for 8-10 minutes.
Drain and keep aside.
Add 1-2 tbsp oil in a pressure cooker.
Add finely chopped onions and sauté till light pink.
Add ginger and garlic paste. Sauté for a few seconds and add the drained turnips.
Add salt, turmeric powder.
Sauté well till the turnips shrink a little.
Add tomato purée, and sauté again till the moisture dries up.
Add red chilli powder and coriander powder and mix well.
Now add little water, and close the pressure cooker.
Simmer the gas for 5-7 minutes after two whistles.
Open the cooker once the pressure is released.
Check the turnips, they should be done.
Mash the cooked turnips.
Sprinkle garam masala and coriander leaves.
The Thali Platter Festival –Week 1 Everyday Thalis
Chithiyal Gogdu / Turnip Mash
Chithiyal Gogru / Turnip Mash is the main dish, made with onions, tomatoes, and turnips, in a Sindhi style. Fresh tender green garlic elevates the taste of this winter veggie.
Ingredients
- 250 gms turnips
- 2 medium onions
- 1 green chilly
- 1 piece ginger crushed
- 5-6 tbsp cloves garlic / 2fresh green garlic
- 4 medium tomatoes
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp red chilly powder
- 1/2 tsp coriander powder
- Salt to taste
- 1/4 tsp garam masala
- coriander leaves
Instructions
- Peel and cut the turnips into cubes.
- Boil them in a pan, for 8-10 minutes.
- Drain and keep aside.
- Add 1-2 tbsp oil in a pressure cooker.
- Add finely chopped onions and sauté till light pink.
- Add ginger and garlic paste. Sauté for a few seconds and add the drained turnips.
- Add salt, turmeric powder.
- Sauté well till the turnips shrink a little.
- Add tomato purée, and sauté again till the moisture dries up.
- Add red chili powder and coriander powder and mix well.
- Now add little water, and close the pressure cooker.
- Simmer the gas for 5-7 minutes after two whistles.
- Open the cooker once the pressure is released.
- Check the turnips, they should be done.
- Mash the cooked turnips.
- Sprinkle garam masala and coriander leaves.
Notes
Had no idea that turnip could be prepared this way. Could we substitute any other vegetable here?
What you mentioned is right. I love most of the smelly vegetables 🙂 but somehow feel the flavor of turnip is an acquired taste. I must try again following your tips to buy and boiling them in open pot and see how it goes.
Suma , we can use cauliflower instead of turnips , in that case chop the cauliflower very finely . You need not boil as it’s not pungent and follow the same recipe .
Do try this recipe , you will like it if you are fond of turnips .
This is surely an excellent recipe Vaishali. We use turnip in kurmas and somehow the smell goes off. Otherwise its quite hard to enjoy the dish because of the cooked smell..:)
I have never had any fondness to turnips because of the smell same with radishes but I agree it is an acquired taste. But the tips you have shared might be the way to go. Shall check it out sometime.
Mashed turnip looks so flavorful with ginger, garlic, green chilli and other spices. We make sambar and kootu with turnip. Would love to try this recipe sometime.
We used to get fresh turnips from Kodaikanal and mom always makes grated radish stir fry or add it in kurma. This is a new recipe for me and I will definitely try it.
I make similarly but do not add tomatoes to the mash. Will try next time. Thanks for the info on how to choose the turnip.