A bottle gourd or calabash cucumber which is pale green on the outside, creamy, yellowish-white inside and looks like a cucumber with a bulge at one end. Only the very young gourds are used for cooking. When older they are most commonly known as calabash and develop a hard, woody shell which may be used for making bowls and musical instruments.
Lemon or lime. These seem to be interchangeable. Since the lime grows much more readily than the lemon in India this is more likely to be a lime.
Rue. A very bitter herb, best added to cooking and removed quite rapidly. The better part of its flavour is then imparted and the bitterness reduced.
Split black gram lentil. Hulled, it is a creamy white, which is why it is sometimes called white gram.
