The Indian Cucumber

Indian Cucumber (Cucumis Sativus)

For me gardening is a hobby – an activity that keeps my fingers nimble and body free of aches. I try to grow plants with minimal inputs like some of the best (and brilliant) Indian farmers. On the Internet, particularly on YouTube there are many nice videos that explain about gardening, about growing anything except hair on the head. I learned gardening from my mother with a rusty kitchen spatula (the tool used to turn dosas) and watching countless amateur gardeners. Luckily I got good training from horticulture professors also. In these posts I try to put out useful information for the readers. In some instances I’ve kindled interest in a few friends too. I do not have the last word on any plant or gardening technique. We all learn by sharing our failures and knowledge with others. At most hobbyists try to share fun and joy around. That’s all.

Now let us come to this unique simple vegetable. We call it “Dosa-kaya (దోసకాయ)” in Telugu. There is another closely related variety of this spherical fruit (vegetable) in south India. That one is more like the American football in shape, sort of an ellipsoid but has the same yellowish color when fully ripened. Here, many years ago all the Indian vegetables used to be very precious and scarce. There used to be one Asian grocery store and all the Asian countries’ culinary spices and vegetables (Korean, Indian, etc.) were lumped into one little store or corner isle. There we would find some eggplants and one or two Indian vegetables – that too if we were lucky. Now much has changed and we have several grocery stores catering exclusively to Indian customers. So, now we have the luxury of getting betel leaves, dosakaya, and many other things from the subcontinent. 

I find growing this vine (creeper) much easier than the common American cucumber. Compared to the ubiquitous common cucumber, this Indian dosakaya is pest free and asks for very little extra care. Originally we got this plant through pure chance. I must have sprinkled a few seeds into the pot during winter. Due to the snow and severe chilly weather there is no outdoor gardening in winters here. We keep several indoor (container) plants for flowers (hibiscus, jasmine, crossandra, geranium, etc.), couple of herbs (marjoram), and some foliage plants. Ideally one should plant the seeds in tiny pots with peat moss (coconut peat, vermiculite) about four weeks before the spring. That way we get heads up and can have nice three months for this dosakaya vine to grow. Anyway, we got several seedlings growing nicely in the indoor plant. In the beginning we didn’t know anything. I could not identify the plant because we never had any contact with this strange vine. It went on growing by leaps and bounds.

So, one day I just transplanted the seedlings to a nice big pot with a bit of compost. I added a tomato steel cage to provide some support for the wandering vine. Suddenly we found ourselves with tiny yellow flowers and small round yellow colored fruits. In Telugu kids used to call this vegetable as “nakka dosakaya”. That is it is referred as “Fox Dosakaya”. This may be because the farmer collects all the green fruits and puts them into a big pit in the ground. They are covered with dry leaves for a bit of ripening process. Eventually the fruit gets yellow color and now it is ready for the market. The fox also lives and raises its family in a cave or underground burrow. Hence the name “nakka dosakaya (నక్క దోసకాయ)”!    

We mostly use this vegetable to make subji with dal or chutney. The reader can find lots of recipes on the Internet. Also in many Andhra marriages this dosakaya is served as a freshly made hot pickle. Normally people use the pickle for three or four days and usually it gets exhausted by then. Not like the other pickles like mango, gongura, lime, citron, red chilli, tamarind, or amla. But with the advent of fridge one can keep this dosakaya pickle also for months without any spoilage or dulling of taste. 

This humble vegetable has quite a few medicinal uses. It acts as diuretic and is beneficial for urinary troubles (burning, dripping). The fruit is helpful for treating piles and easing thirst. In some situations the patient is advised to limit the intake of fluids (especially heart patients). Fully ripened fruit may produce diarrhea, so one should be careful. Antidotes for dosakaya are: ginger, saunf, salt, honey, black pepper powder, wheat flour, and ganuga seeds decoction. Tender dosakaya works for nausea and it boosts energy. Seeds and seed powder are also useful for medicinal purposes. Earlier seeds were used for typhus fever. Copyright 2023 by the author