Snake Gourd

There are three vegetables known as parval or padval. Besides the snake gourd (Tri-chosanthes cucumerina) there is a parval that looks like a green tomato and a small, spindle-shaped one. The snake gourd is named for its length and its eccentric habit of growth. Some specimens look like fantastic wind instruments. I don’t know many parsis who cook parval, a vegetable regarded as tedious or unstylish in Bombay, but I love it. For the past few years, we’ve been getting it at our local farmers’ market, sold by Southeast Asian vendors. The specimens we see are baggable, not yards long, but their taste is similar. Even when it’s young, parval is hollow inside. Parval is an obliging vegetable that stands up to brief or long cooking.