When I go shopping, I have a habit of picking up any vegetable that catches my fascination. Most of the time, I don’t even know what I am going to do with it. Few days ago, I picked up some bitter gourds from Indian store. After they sat in fridge for a while, I asked aayi if she has any new recipe with it. She gave me the recipe for “ Karathe Bendi ” (D in bendi is pronounced as ‘th’ in ‘this’) – A Konkani dish, which I had never tasted before. Unfortunately I did not write it down, by the time I started cooking, I remembered only some parts of the recipe. So I cooked this based on some guess work. It came out really good. Finally I have found something with bitter gourd that we both enjoy.
Ingredients: 1 cup bitter gourd( karathe ) 1/2 cup onion 1 tea spn chilli powder 1/4 tea spn tamarind 1 tea spn jaggery(optional) Oil Salt
Seasoning : 2 tea spns chopped garlic Oil
Method: Cut bitter gourd into small pieces. Add some salt and keep aside for 15mins. Squeeze off the juices (this step removes the bitterness, but removes a lot of health benefits of this vegetable too. For this dish, this step is not actually necessary). Heat oil and add onions. Fry them till they turn brownish. Add bitter gourd, salt(if it was added before, be careful while adding salt again), red chilli powder and fry till bitter gourd is cooked. Add tamarind and jaggery. Mix well and cook till jaggery is melted and mixed well. In another pan, heat oil and add chopped garlic. Fry till they are brownish. Add this to the bitter gourd. Serve hot.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 20mins
Few months ago, our friends Sunil and Piyu had called us for dinner. They had made a big spread and my favorite among them was this very delicious, sweetish, mild pulav. Corn and raisins give a sweet taste, all the whole spices give a nice aroma. I am not sure if they used green chillies in their version, but when I prepared this at home, I added them to give heat to it. I simply love this pulav. Thanks S & P for the great dish.
Ingredients: 1 cup basmati rice 1 and half cups vegetables (peas, carrots, green beans, corn) 1/4 tea spn black pepper 1″ cinnamon 3-4 cloves 1 tbl spn cashews 1 tea spn raisins 2 green cardamom 1 black cardamom 5-6 strands saffron + 2 tbl spn warm milk 3 green chillies 4-5 strands coriander leaves Ghee Salt
Method: Soak the saffron in warm milk. Heat ghee . Add pepper, cinnamon, cloves, black and green cardamom. Fry for few minutes. Then add cashews, raisins. Fry for a minutes, add rice, green chillies and vegetables. Add the saffron with milk. Add salt and 1 and 3/4 cup water and cook on low flame till completely done. Garnish with coriander leaves.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 25mins
