Tindora
Tindora, or coccinia grandis, is a tropical vine grown for its small edible cucumber-like gourds, each about the size of a little finger, which are eaten immature and green, or mature and deep red. The plant’s young shoots and leaves are also eaten as greens.
Tindora is also known variously as tondli or kundsru or dondakaya in India, as well as manoli, tindla, gentleman’s toes, tendli, thendli, thainli, ivy gourd or little gourd elsewhere.
Tindora is commonly eaten in Indian cuisine. Natives of Thailand, Indonesia, and other southeast Asian countries also consume the fruit and leaves.
Cultivation of ivy gourd in home gardens has been encouraged in Thailand due to its being a good source of several micronutrients, including vitamins A and C. It is also rich in beta-carotene.
In India, it is sometimes eaten as a curry, deep fried and stuffed with masala, or boiled and then fried.
Tindora is also used in sambaar, a lentil soup.
Tindora, or ivy gourd, is sometimes recommended to diabetics as a means of regulating blood glucose.
In Hawaii and the southern United States, among other regions, ivy gourd is considered an invasive plant.
