Turai sabji

Turai, as is called in North India for Ridge Gourd is a regular vegetable side dish in a Sindhi diet. This vegetable is not so popular because of lack of ideas about its preparation and due to its neutral taste. By adding basic Indian dry spices, its taste can be elevated to an unimaginable level.

Turai / Ridge Gourd, 500 gms

 

INGREDIENTS :

(1) Turai / Ridge Gourd (Washed, peeled and chopped) - 500 gms

(2) 3 large Onions finely chopped

(3) 3 medium sized Tomatoes, pureed

(4) 3 green chillies, finely chopped

(5) 1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste

(6) 1/4 teaspoon of Turmeric powder / Haldi

(7) 1 teaspoon of Red chilli powder

(8) 1 teaspoon of Cumin seeds / Jeera

(9) 1 teaspoon of Coriander / Dhania powder

(10) 1 teaspoon of Kitchen King Garam Masala powder

(11) 5 tablespoon of Cooking / Vegetable oil

(12) Salt to taste

Cuisine : Indian

Serves : 4 persons

Time required : 30 mins approximately

METHOD :

(1) Wash the Turai / Ridge Gourd thoroughly under water to clean them. Then peel them and chop them into bite sized cubes as shown in the image.

Chopped Turai / Ridge Gourd

(2) Finely chop Onions and green chillies. Grind the tomatoes using a mixer to form a puree.

(3) Set all the ingredients together as given in the ingredient list.

(4) Heat 5 tablespoon of cooking oil in a wok / kadhai. 

Add 1 teaspoon of Cumin seeds / Jeera to the warm oil and when it changes colour, add the finely chopped Onions and green chillies.

Saute until the Onions turn golden brown in colour. 

(5) Add the Tomato puree, mix well and sauté till they get cooked.

(6) Add Ginger garlic paste, mix well and sauté till the raw smell of it disappears.

(7) Add all the basic Indian dry spices like Turmeric powder / Haldi, Red chilli powder, Garam masala powder and Coriander / Dhania powder. Mix well. Saute for 2 minutes.

(8) Add 2 glasses of water and salt to taste. If you want a curry form of sabji, add water or else if you want dry sabji, you need not add water as Tarai / Ridge Gourd itself leaves water while cooking and this water itself is enough for the cooking of this sabji. 

(9) Add chopped Turai / Ridge Gourd to this gravy and mix well. Cook for 10 minutes on a medium flame with lid closed. Stir in between to prevent it from sticking and burning at the bottom of the wok.

(10) After ten minutes or when the Turai is cooked, turn off the flame. The sabji will have turned out to be of thick consistency.

The Turai sabji is ready.

(11) Serve the Turai sabji in a serving bowl as shown.

(12) This yummy sabji can be had with any Indian bread like Chapatis / Phulkas / Puri. My personal review is that it tasted great with Phulkas.

Turai sabji is very low in calories and fat and hence very useful for those trying to lose weight. It is high in fiber and hence useful for lowering cholesterol and improving digestion.

Mango Frooti

Mango season is going on and the mango lovers make different recipes using it during its season. During off season, we fulfill the desires of mangoes by using ready made juices from the stores. One such example is of Mango frooti. My kid loves this Mango frooti like anything. So during this mango season I thought of preparing Mango frooti at home and this is quite easy and interesting. When prepared at home, it is without additives and preservatives. You may use the sweet mangoes of your choice. Taste the mango before preparing this recipe to understand the amount of sugar to be added to the juice you prepare. If the taste is sour, then you may need to add some sugar while preparation of this juice or else normal water will be good.

I had prepared Mango Milkshake without ice cream during the last season and you may refer my previous post for the same.

INGREDIENTS :

(1) 2 ripe Mangoes (washed)

(2) 1 raw Mango (washed)

(3) Sugar - 200 gms

(4) Water - approximately 1 litre

Serves : 3-4 persons

Time required : 20 minutes to prepare ingredients and 10 minutes to cook = 30 minutes

METHOD :

(1) Rinse the mangoes thoroughly to clean the mangoes. 

(2) Peel the skin of the mangoes and cut the pulp of the mangoes into small pieces and discard the seeds.

(3) Take a deep utensil and put 500 ml of water into it. Add 200 gms of sugar to the water. Also add the chopped mangoes to this. You may add the quantity of sugar depending on the sweetness of mangoes or as per sweetness required.

(4) Mix it well and cook on a medium flame for 10 - 12 minutes or till the mangoes become soft. Cover with a lid during the cooking process.

Second method is put the chopped mangoes along with sugar in a pressure cooker with 2 glasses of water. Close the lid and cook for 2-3 whistles.

(5) Once the mangoes become soft, turn off the gas flame. 

(6) Using the ladle, collect the cooked mangoes in a separate large bowl. 

Don’t discard the remaining mango water. Keep it aside.

(7) Let the cooked mangoes cool down to room temperature before grinding them.

(8) Once the cooked mangoes have cooled down, put them in a mixie / blending jar and grind it into a smooth puree.

(9) Mix the mango puree with mango water kept aside.

(10) Mix well. 

(11) Add 500 ml of water or as per the required consistency and depending on the sweetness required.

(12) Strain the mango water got in step 11 to collect the mango frooti. The fibre will remain in the strainer. Discard the fibre.

(13)  Cover it and keep it in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours to make them cool. Mango frooti is ready to serve.

Serve it in a serving glass as shown.

Palak / Spinach Curry

I have published some recipes using Spinach / Palak in this blog like Palak Paneer, Dal Palak, etc. In all these recipes Spinach / Palak is infused with another ingredient to make it even better.

Today I am going to share a recipe in which Spinach is the main ingredient and solely cooked with Onion Tomato gravy and very few Indian spices to form what is called Palak Curry and this is quick and easy to prepare.

INGREDIENTS :

(1) 2 bunches of Spinach / Palak, cleaned and chopped

(2) 2 large or 3 medium sized Onions, finely chopped

(3) 2 medium sized Tomatoes, finely chopped

(4) 4 Green chillies

(5) 10-12 cloves of Garlic, minced

(6) 3 tablespoons of Cooking oil

(7) 3/4 teaspoon of Mustard seeds

(8) 1 teaspoon of Cumin / Jeera powder

(9) 1 teaspoon of Coriander / Dhaniya powder

(10) 1 teaspoon of Garam Masala powder

(11) One fourth teaspoon of Turmeric powder

(12) Half teaspoon of Kashmiri lal mirch / Red Chilli powder

(13) Salt to taste

All ingredients set together for the preparation of Palak Curry

Cuisine : Indian 

Serves : 4 persons 

Time required : 20 minutes for preparation (Chopping spinach, onions, garlic, tomatoes and green chillies) and 20 minutes for cooking = 40 minutes. 

METHOD :

(1) Rinse the Spinach / Palak thoroughly in running water till all the dirt goes away and cut off the stem part. Then, chop them into medium sized pieces as shown in the image.

(2) Chop the Onions, Tomatoes and slit the green chillies. Mince the garlic cloves.

(3) Heat 3 tablespoons of cooking oil in a kadhai / wok on a low flame. Then add 3/4 teaspoon of Mustard seeds to the warm oil and allow them to splutter. Once the spluttering stops, add Onions and green chillies and sauté till the Onion turns golden brown in colour.

(4) While sautéing Onions, add minced garlic and sauté along with the Onions.

Take cooking oil in a Kadhai / Wok

Add Mustard seeds and allow them to splutter

The mustard seeds finished spluttering

Add chopped Onions

Add green chillies

Mix well and saute

Add minced garlic and keep sauteing till the Onions turn golden brown

Onions have turned golden brown

(5) Add Tomatoes and sauté till they turn soft and mushy.

Sauteing Onion Tomatoes will take 5 minutes in all.

Add chopped Tomatoes

Stir fry till the tomatoes turn soft and mushy

Onion Tomato Garlic mixture is ready

(6) Add all the dry Indian spices like Cumin / Jeera powder, Coriander / Dhaniya powder, Garam Masala powder, Turmeric powder and Kashmiri red chilli powder in measures as given in the ingredients list.

Mix well and stir fry for 2 minutes till the spices get cooked.

Add basic dry Indian spices

Mix well and cook for two minutes

(7) Add chopped spinach to the Onion Tomato garlic mixture and mix well.

Add Spinach / Palak to the Onion Tomato Garlic mixture

Mix well

(8) Add salt as per taste required and mix well. Cook covering the lid of the wok. The Spinach will release water and in that water itself it will get cooked. If needed you may add a little water to cook the spinach.

Add salt and little water if required, cook with lid covered till spinach is cooked

(9) Once the spinach is cooked, turn off the gas stove.

The Spinach / Palak Curry is ready.

Spinach / Palak curry is ready

(10) Transfer the Palak curry into a serving bowl.

(11) Serve hot with rice or rotis.