Ivy gourd (tindora)

Coccinia grandis · Fruit vegetable

40 pairings

Ivy gourd (Coccinia grandis) — known across South Asia as tindora, tendli, kundru or kovakkai — is a small, smooth, oval cucurbit eaten as an immature green vegetable. Picked young it is firm and crisp with mild, faintly green-cucumber flesh and many soft white seeds; left to ripen it turns scarlet-red, soft and sweet.

Picking a good onedrag

Small, hard, striped deep greenFlushed red and soft

Full greenThe all-rounder: stir-fried with spice, curried, stuffed or boiled. Seeds are still small and soft, so nothing needs coring. Taste a cut one first and reject a sharply bitter fruit - wild forms run bitter, and cooking will not talk it round.Everyday best

SkinEven green, the gloss dulling, still smooth

SqueezeFirm, the barest give under the thumb

Stem endStub dry and pale, shoulder tight around it

Cut one and taste itWhite flesh, soft seeds; mild, faintly cucumber

What to look for, from small, hard, striped deep green to flushed red and soft.

Preparing