LAUKI BAJKA (BOTTLEGOURD FRITTERS)

In an effort to give another delicious avatar to our otherwise plain vegetable lauki or the bottlegourd, I could not wait to share this quick yet tasty recipe that has always been a part of my lunch and my daughter’s too. I insist on mentioning my daughter’s choice because it is sometimes very tough to impress the toddlers especially when it comes to including any vegetable, that too a lauki. Usually eaten as a side dish, this fritter will surely capture anyone’s attention and in no time.

Ingredients:

1 medium long lauki

½ cup besan (chickpea flour)

½ cup rice (preferably fragnant arwa chawal or non parboiled rice used for payasam)

½ tsp red chilli powde (optional for kids)

½ tsp chaat masala

3 green chillies

½ turmeric powder

1 inch ginger

5 cloves of garlic

Salt

Oil for frying

Method: Peel and wash the lauki. Cut 5mm thin round slices. Soak the rice for 45 min. Drain and grind the soaked rice along with green chillies, ginger and garlic using enough water. Now pour the paste in a bowl and add the besan, salt and turmeric powder. Add water slowly and mix well so that no lumps form. Consistency should not be very thick but enough to coat the lauki slices.  

Heat oil in a pan. Take once slice at a time, dip into the batter so that it coats both the sides and slowly place in the pan. Turn when it gets a brown colour. Now you can also deep fry the slices in a kadai. Sprinkle with red chilli powder and chaat masala and serve with rice and daal.

Tips: Use tender lauki for best results as it takes less time. You can change the consistency of the batter as per your choice for the crust. Thin batter will give thin, crispy crust compared to the thick batters that will give dense and thick crust.

Alu-parwal(pointed gourd) ki sabzi

Available only for some time, parwal is must have veggie in any given home in UP or Bihar. During the season, parwal lovers just relish its simple bhujia or stir fried or gorge down spicy curry with roti of rice.  I have always liked mom’s no-frill curry with minimal spices yet so tasty that we would sit licking fingers even after we have devoured the last bite.

Alu-parwal(pointed gourd) ki sabji

Ingredients:

7-8 parwal skin scraped

3-4 boiled potatoes

2 onions sliced

7-8 cloves of garlic crushed

1 inch ginger grated

3-4 green chillies slit

3 medium tomatoes chopped

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbs sabji masala

2tsp black pepper powder

½ tsp garam masala

1 tsp red chilli powder

½ tsp jeera

2 bayleaves

Salt

2 tbs oil

1 tbs ghee

1½   cups of water

Method: Scrap the parwal with peeler. Now cut into half vertically. Make incisions in the half pieces length-wise from centre towards the ends but without cutting it fully. This way the gravy will penetrate well. Potatoes should not be over boiled.

Heat ghee in a pan. Add the parwal and fry on medium flame till it obtains a nice colour on the skin. They will shrink in size. Remove in a plate. In the same pan sauté the cut potatoes till they get a slight golden colour. Remove in a plate. In the same pan heat the oil. Add cumin and let it splutter. Add green chillies and later bay leaves. Sauté. Add sliced onions. Mix. Lower the heat and cover for 3 min. Give it a stir and fry till they get a light colour and turn translucent. Add the ginger, garlic and tomatoes. Add salt, turmeric, sabji masala, red chilli powder and stir. Cover and cook for 4 min. You will notice the tomatoes have softened and the oil has separated. Add the fried parwal and potatoes and mix well. Add black pepper powder, stir and cook for 2 min. Add the water and let it simmer for 5 min till gravy is of desired consistency. Sprinkle the garam masala and mix. Remove from heat. Serve garnished with coriander leaves.

Daal wali lauki (bottle gourd with red lentils)

Lauki or bottle gourd, though high in fibre and nutrients, has always been considered as a boring veggie fit for its die hard fans only. And I m no exception to it. So instead of detesting the very sight of it, I decided to try out an age-old recipe of my mom. The results were good and tasty for a change from the daily aloo and pyaaz recipes. My daughter like it too! Well I couldn't have asked for more from the humble lauki of ours.

Ingredients:

3-4cups of skinned and chopped lauki

½ cup of masoor dal or chana dal

1tsp cumin powder

1tsp coriander powder

1tsp black pepper powder

8 cloves of garlic

1 inch ginger

2 medium onions

2-3 slit green chillies

Few sprigs of green coriander leaves

1 tsp mustard seeds

2 bay leaves

½ tsp turmeric powder

2tbs oil

1tsp ghee

Salt to taste

Method:  Wash and drain the daal. I prefer to grind he powder along with the spices to give a smooth texture. Grind cumin powder, coriander powder, Black pepper powder, ginger, garlic and one onion to obtain a smooth paste. Slice the remaining onion.

Heat oil in the pressure cooker. Add mustard seed and let it splutter. Add bay leaves. Add slit green chillies. Sauté. Add sliced onion and fry till it obtains a colour. Now add the masala paste. mix. Add salt and turmeric powder and stir. Cover for 1 minute. Add 2tbs of water. Mix. Cover for 1minute. Check when the oil floats on the top. Add the soaked dal. Sauté for 2 minutes. Add chopped lauki. Mix well. Sauté for 2 minutes. Add ½ cup of water. Mix. Close the lid. Cook for 2-3 whistles (chana dal will take 2 more whistles). Garnish with green coriander leaves and ghee. Serve with rice or chapatti.

Tips: Cook the masala on low flame.

If you do not want thick consistency, add less water and cook for 2 whistles only. The lauki itself has lot of moisture in it. Choose the tender ones for better results.

Here I m

A journalist by profession, my schedule never allowed me to go for elaborate recipes. The age old trial and error methods had literally no significance in my kitchen as the time constraint pushed me to settle down with hasty cooking. Though I never compromised on the taste factor, a distant corner of my heart yearned for a peek into simple and yummy home-cooked food surrounding us tweaked here and there according to my palate and busy life. The yearning never saw the daylight until my daughter Koyal was born. All the restriction on certain food during my pregnancy and the former ghost of a chef had become a sort of hangover and never left me even during the nights. I was secretly determined to banish the ‘foody halo’ but waited because things were simply too much to handle.

I didn’t wait for long. When my daughter turned two and a half years and started exploring different types of food, I knew it was time to put all my thoughts into action. Now! you can’t fool a toddler with thousand extra taste buds than the adults(phew!). To spice up my predicament she had inherited everything from her dad except her taste buds. Yes it is happy feeling when I watch her gorge down full servings of my favourite paneer curries, light poha or upma for snacks and chapattis with sabjis for dinner. I detested strawberry and Koyal wouldn’t even taste a chocolate of that flavour. We both enjoyed paneer while my husband wished for something else on the menu. I pity those who do not like paneer and my husband is one of them.

Though I was fairly good at cooking, in crisis, I always turned to my gourmet guru, my sister and her guru, mom. I liked to try new cuisines but always felt nostalgic towards simple and typical bihari recipes cooked by mom passed onto her by grandma. My best memories from childhood revolved around piping hot curries, yummy pickles, snacks and sweets made by mom and I wanted my daughter to cherish those tastes and pass on to her next gen too. So here I m, with my 2nd baby ‘my blog’ longing for your encouragement. Yes my daughter has been the biggest driving force behind my new venture (though she disturbs the most) in blogging on my lifeline, cooking.