Ivy gourd is the vegetable loved by most. It is one of my favorite vegetables. I love it in any form. ‘Fried ivy gourd’ is a very easy to make and amazingly delicious dish. I was not very fond of this dish when I was a kid, but recently I have become a big fan. It tastes great when it is fried till the ivy gourds become almost black and you can’t even say those are ivy gourds. Hot rice, a simple daal and these fried ivy gourd is a complete meal I would cherish anytime.
Earlier we used to smash one tendli at a time in mortal and pestle. It would take a lot of time to prep them. Now I just cut the ends, take them in a ziploc bag and smash them using a meat tenderdizer/pestle.
‘Talasani’ are the dishes prepared by frying the vegetables in oil. So water should not be used at any point. The other popular talasani is ‘ batate talasani ‘.
Aayi’s version does not include garlic in this. But my brother tasted this dish at one of his friend’s place and they had used garlic. So he started using it in this dish. I love both the varieties. Although aayi does not use curry leaves, I like to use it.
The other ivy gourd dish I make frequently is tendli upkari . We use these in different types of daals and sambars also.
Ingredients: Ivy gourds(tendli) 2 cups Red chili powder 3/4 tea spn Turmeric a pinch Oil 1 tbl spn Mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn Asafoetida a pinch or garlic cloves 2 (4-5 if Indian garlic is used) Salt
Increase the chili powder if required.
Method: Remove the ends of ivy gourds and crush them slightly.
Heat oil in a nonstick pan and add mustard (add curry leaves at this point if using). When they start popping, add asafoetida (or crushed garlic). Add the gourds, turmeric, chilli powder and salt.
Fry on a low flame till the gourds turn dark brown/black.
Serve hot with rice and daal.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 20mins
PS: These should be fried on a very low flame. If they are not fried till dark brown/black, they remain tender from inside and do not taste good. These taste great when made spicy.
Originally posted on Octbober 9, 2006. Reposting by adding a video(demonstrated by my 6 year old).
Lauki Thalipeeth
Thalipeeth is a famous Marathi dish. It is prepared with a variety of flours and roasted till it is crispy. There is a specific way to roast the thalipeeth but I just make it like a akki rotti/pita bhakri . It comes out good. Traditionally little holes are made in thalipeeth after it is spread on tava and oil is added to it. I tried it this time but did not execute it properly!. Bottlegourd/lauki was not used much in our cooking. Then suddenly this vegetable became popular in India, thanks to Baba Ramdev ‘s yoga programs. He often told people to eat lauki, drink lauki juice etc. I started using it after everyone was talking about it. I make ambat , khadi/burfi , paays and many more. Few days ago, I thought of adding it to thalipeeth. It came out great. I grated the lauki with its skin, which gave a bite to this.
Pictorial: Take all different flours in a bowl.
Add chilli powder, cumin seeds, salt.
Peel and grate bottlegourd.
Add to the mix, add water a make a thick mixture.
Spread on a hot tava. Make few holes in it and add oil.
Ingredients: 1/2 cup wheat flour 1/2 cup rice flour 1/2 cup besam(gram flour) 1/2 cup almond flour 1/2 cup ragi flour 1 tea spn chilli powder 1 tea spn cumin seeds 1 cup grated bottlegourd(lauki/gardudde) Oil Salt Method: Mix all the flours in a big bowl. Add chilli powder, salt, cumin seeds. Peel the bottlegourd and grate it. Add the grated bottlegourd to flour mixture. Heat tava and spread the mixture on it. (if possible, make some holes in the thalipeeth and add oil to make it more crispy). Add few drops of oil and roast till it is crispy. Serve topped with butter and with a side of coconut chutney. Serves :4-5 Preparation time: 30mins
Lauki Thalipeeth
