everyday subzi : bottle gourd stew in coconut milk | lauki coconut milk subzi | Lauki Olan

Bottle gourd is the best suited vegetable for summer season and I try to make the most of it. Even if you don't know how this vegetable helps in Indian summers you would realise once you eat it 3-4 times a week during hot summer months.

Lauki or bottle gourd is watery vegetables that fills up the plate, satiates hunger, hydrates the body and keeps the digestive system healthy. The only reason why many people avoid eating this humble vegetable is that they don't like the bland taste and mushy texture. But trust me you can make the most of it's mushy texture and bland taste, just flavour it the way you like the bottle gourd wont disappoint you.

Try this Bengali style Lau shukto if you want to experiment. And this coconut milk lauki will be another in the same category.

This curry is inspired by the Pumpkin Olan I make. Not the authentic Kerala Olan but a tweaked version that I find very delicious. Adapting the Kerala Olan recipe again with lauki, it is made using the Ash gourd (Petha gourd) in Kerala but since we rarely find Ash gourds here it is better to use some lauki.

One can use up any mature lauki that was bought a week ago too for this recipe.

ingredients..
(2 large servings or 4 small servings)

Lauki (bottle gourd) peeled and cubed in bite sized chunks 600 gm
coconut milk 150-200 ml
ghee or coconut milk 1 tsp
pinch of hing (asafoetida)
mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
methi (fenugreek seeds) 10 grains or so
whole dry red chillies 2-3
curry patta 5-6 springs, leaflets separated
salt to taste

procedure ...

Cook the cubed lauki along with salt and 1 cup water till the pieces get soft. You may need very little water if the lauki is tender, this one was a week old lauki so I Used water to cook. This step can be done in pressure cooker to save time but take care not to cook the lauki to complete mush.

Add the coconut milk and simmer for a couple of minutes.

Prepare the tempering by heating the ghee or coconut oil, add the hing, methi, mustard seeds, chillies and curry patta in that order and let them get aromatic. Add all of this at once to the cooked curry and give it a good stir.

Serve as required. We like it with roti or some rice but I can eat these curries on their own so it becomes a one pot meal for me mostly.

You may want to serve some beans or okra stir fry with this curry to round off an Indian meal along with rice and roti etc.

In Kerala this kind of Olan is a part of a huge meal spread called Sadya. Such light curries make sense when there are too many dishes on the table.

turai keema recipe with coriander greens and coconut milk

Turai is the ridge gourd that is a summer squash in India. In southern India this gourd is available for a longer duration as there is lesser marked winter over there. Another common gourd in summers is the sponge gourd (nenua or chikni turai) that has a smooth skin and a little different flavour, another gourd that I found recently is called Ramturai which looks a bit stout and is heavier than these tow. We really have a great variety of gourds in India.

I prefer eating loads of gourds during summer as these watery vegetables are good for this season. The simpler way of cooking these gourds is along with sliced onions or radish slices or with some fried and crushed badiyan. These gourds are cooked with either chana daal or kala chana too and many people have written to me that these are their favourite summer subzis. I think kids don't care for such mushy curries but adults somehow start loving them. The body tells them what feels good and not just the palate.

I sometimes cook ridge gourds with mutton keema (minced mutton), we call it turai keema to have with chapati for our dinner. And I keep changing the turai keema recipe as per convenience, the vegetarian turai recipes are so diverse we love them as they are.

This summer I tried a turai keema with coriander paste and coconut milk added and loved it so much we had it twice last week. One reason is that we both have been traveling a lot and simpler home cooked meals feel comforting. I want to make them more and more simple for the sake of convenience, it works wonders if you know what you like in terms of flavours.

ingredients..
(3 large meal servings with chapatis and one side dish)

ridge gourds 400 gm
mutton keema 200 gm
coriander greens chopped 1 cup
garlic cloves 3
green chillies 2
ginger root grated 1 tsp
pepper corns 1/2 tsp
cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
coconut milk (cream) 100 ml
mustard oil 1 tsp
salt to taste

procedure..

Make a green paste using coriander greens, ginger, garlic, green chillies, pepper corns and cumin seeds. Keep aside.

Peel the ridge gourds, wash and cube them in small pieces.

Heat the mustard oil in a pressure cooker pan and dump the keema in it. Scramble and fry for a couple of minutes to make the keema loose so it doesn't clump together in the curry. Add the green paste and stir fry for a minute.

Add salt and cubed ridge gourds. Mix well, add 2-3 tbsp water and cover the lid of the pressure cooker. Cook till the whistle blows. Let it cool and open the lid.

Pour the coconut milk, simmer for a few minutes to get required consistency. Serve hot with chapatis.

We had it with ragi roti and plain red chilly smoked baingan ka bharta.

The baingan ka bharta is just flame grilled round brinjals mashed along with chopped onions, chopped green chillies and salt. Served with a dash of raw mustard oil this bharta or chokha is a great vegetable dish that can replace a salad. To smoke it with red chilly I just brush one red chilly with mustard oil and burn the chilly over gas flame a little. Then insert the chilly into the mashed chokha and cover for a while. It gets nicely smoked with a chilly whiff.

This turai keema with coriander and coconut milk is very subtle sweetish aromatic dish that one can enjoy even in peak summer. I like it a bit thin but you can adjust consistency as per requirement or choice. You can add more coconut milk or cream and make it a bit rich but we liked it lighter and mellow without much chilly heat.

Let me know if you try this recipe. I might cook this with regular mutton on bone sometime at leisure. Mutton on bone needs longer cooking time and I cook it sparingly these days.

everyday subzi: kundru pyaz nariyal ki subzi | ivy gourd stir fry with shallots, coconut and curry patta in sambar masala

Kundru is the Ivy gourd, Tendli or Tindora in different parts of India. It is one of those convenient vegetables that don't need peeling so the preparation time is really suitable for most urban cooks. Just rinse the kundru and slice them, it cooks faster than many vegetables unless you want to change the texture. I like it with a bite so almost half cooked is good for me. Kundru has great nutritional value too, read it all here.

Everyday subzis cannot be simpler than this. Kundru ki subzi is not a very welcome dish in most families but I have always loved this slightly sour little gourd. The most frequently made stir fry with ivy gourds was this kundru ki lasuni bhujia that we always love with our daal chawal meals. This recipe with coconut was introduced to me by a senior in my research days. She used to bring it in her lunch box and we used to share our food, not to mention that I always loved whatever she brought just because it smelled of sesame oil and had loads of coconut in it always.

After so many years when I started making this kundru with coconut and southern spices, I had very little memory of what I tasted back then so I resorted to this quick stir fry with ready made sambar masala. It didn't disappoint me at all.

ingredients
(2 servings)
sliced kundru 1.5 cup (250 gm)
sliced shallots (or baby onions) 100 gm or 3/4 cup
curry patta about 12 strings or a generous handful
grated fresh coconut 2 tbsp (I used frozen)
sambar powder 1 tbsp
salt to taste
sesame oil 1 tbsp

procedure

Heat the sesame oil in a kadhai. Preferably cast iron kadhai or a thick base pan would be good. Tip in the curry patta as soon as the oil gets hot, followed immediately by onions and sliced kundru.

Add salt and keep tossing the vegetables, lower the heat after a couple of minutes and keep cooking for about 5-8 minutes or till the kundru gets cooked and the onions get nicely caramelized.

Now add the sambar powder and the grated coconut, stir and cook for a couple of minutes and take the pan off the stove. Serve hot or at room temperature, this stir fry tasted great any way.

This is a good subzi for lunch box and keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days.

kachhe kele aur nariyal ki bhurji | raw plantain scramble with coconut

Raw plantain is one of my favorite starchy vegetables. Not only it is a healthy substitute of potatoes, it is a great variation on the count of taste as well. This kachhe kele aur nariyal ki bhurji (or scramble) is a tasty way to enjoy the vegetable keeping your diet plans intact. Yes it is a carb rich vegetable and I am adding a lot of coconut in it too, still we are getting loads of nutrients and good fats in this curry scramble.

And I always use the whole plantain with skin. Only the stalk and the flower end is discarded, any black blemished parts are also scraped off and the whole of this lovely vegetable is ready to be cooked. Retaining the peel adds more value to the curry or fries we make with plantains, more Vitamins (A, C and B complex), more minerals (potassium, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus) and more fiber of course. Cooking it with curry patta and coconut adds more nutritive value for sure.

ingredients:
raw plantains (kachhe kele) 3 large or 400 gm
curry patta 2 dozen springs
sesame oil 2 tbsp
fenugreek seeds 1/4 tsp
rai seeds (small mustard seeds) 1 tsp
salt to taste

To be made into a coarse paste
scraped or grated coconut 1/2 cup or more
ginger roughly chopped 1 tbsp
dry red chilly 2-3 or as per taste
cumin seeds 2 tsp
black pepper corns 1 tsp
turmeric powder 1 tsp

procedure:

Clean the plantains, discard the stems and the tips. Scrape or peel any black spots and chop the plantain in small cubes by slitting it twice through the length and then chopping transversely to make cubes.

I always use an Iron kadhai to make plantain subzi and it makes the curry a bit blackish, but that's the way we like it. You can use any thick base or nonstick type pan for this.

Heat the sesame oil, add fenugreek seeds and rai seeds. Wait till they become fragrant and then add the curry patta. Tip in the cubed plantains almost immediately. Add salt and cover the mixture to cook on low flame. Stirring in between after every 3-4 minutes or so.

In the meanwhile, make the paste with the ingredients. Add this paste into the cooking scramble whrn the plantain cubes start getting dull in colour. Mix well and keep stirring till the mixture gets completely cooked and a pleasant aroma or cooked coconut and cumin etc emanates. Thrash the plantain cubes a bit so it looks like a scramble.

Serve right away. it tastes great when hot, but not bad when you eat it at room temperature too. So this can be a good lunch box subzi along with ghee smeared chapatis and some dahi.

Or just serve with daal chawal meal. A raita on the side is a must or just make a nice buttermilk and have 2-3 glasses of it during the meal.

Oh now I want to have a refreshing glass of buttermilk. This scramble I can have as a meal if there is a nice glass of buttermilk or even plain dahi.

okra stir fry with coconut and ginger | bhindi nariyal ki subzi...

Okra or ladies fingers are called bhindi or bhendi in Indian languages. This is a favorite vegetable in my household for two reasons. One I don't have to peel them and secondly the husband likes them. Ah and there is another reason too, both of us can eat this vegetable on it's own most of the times. So I cook a lot of okra when I do and we rarely have any leftovers.

This is one of those okra recipe that you can eat in large servings. More so if you love coconut. And this is one of those okra recipes that don't get slimy after cooking, even if you just cook the vegetable mildly, not fried to death.

ingredients...

okra/ladies fingers/bhindi 400 gm
dry red chilies 2-3 broken
sliced garlic pods 2 tsp or to taste
ginger julienne 1 tbsp or more
grated fresh coconut 3/4 cup
turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
mustard or sesame oil or use olive oil if you wish 1 tbsp or a little more depending on what kind of pan you are using

lime juice to taste (optional)

procedure...

Wash and drain the okra and let them get dry before chopping them. Remove the cap (the stalk) and slit lengthwise twice at cross angles so it is quartered. Chop the whole thing from the middle if the okra is too long.

Heat oil in a pan (or kadhai) and tip in the broken red chilies and sliced garlic. Wait till the garlic gets slightly aromatic and pinkish (not brown) and add the sliced okra. Add salt and stir fry on medium flame for about 5 minutes.

Add the salt and turmeric powder and stir fry for another 5 minutes or so. The okra shouldn't brown but get cooked.

Add the grated coconut and ginger julienne, mix well, cook for another couple of minutes and take it off heat. Serve hot or at room temperature. Lime juice can be added after adjusting seasoning.

Goes well with an Indian meal as a side dish. Simple flavors, freshness of coconut and ginger is the first thing that this brings to the palate, the mild heat of chilly and garlic complements really well.

Kerala style shrimp curry : prawns or shrimp curry in coconut milk...

Since I love coconut milk based curries and cook my prawns almost all the time in one or the other coconut milk recipe. Be it the bengali chingri malai curry or the kerala style prawn curry. This coconut milk based shrimp curry inspired from Kerala nadan chemmen is enjoyed by both of us and whosoever has tasted it till now. The spice content is toned down from the authentic version as I have burned my hands with a good purist recipe once. It was so high on spice level that the delicate coconut milk and shrimp flavor got lost. I have mellowed down the spices since then for this particular curry.

I am using the names prawn sand shrimps interchangeably, but both are different species. In the lot I got this time had both of them. I don't find the taste too different so use the name interchangeably.

Getting the prawns or shrimps whole is the best way to start with them. The shells make a great stock to cook the peeled shrimps. If you get frozen, don't worry, you still get great tasting curry.

ingredients...

large sized prawns/shrimps 400 gm
coconut milk 400 ml ( I used 4 heaped tbsp of CM powder)*
curry patta 5-6 mature springs
broken dry red chilies 3-4
whole black peppercorns 1-2 tsp
fennel seeds 1/2 tsp
fenugreek seeds 1/4 tsp
4 cloves
an inch piece of cinnamon crushed
4 green cardamoms lightly crushed
one small black cardamom lightly crushed
turmeric powder
salt to taste
roughly chopped onion 1/2 cup
grated ginger 1 tbsp
coconut oil 1 tbsp
chopped coriander greens for finishing

preparation...

Clean the shrimps, discard the dorsal vein but reserve all the heads and shells. I prefer retaining the tails attached to the shrimps. Some of the heads too as it gives a nice taste in the curry.

Smear all the cleaned shrimps with salt and turmeric powder.

Simmer all the shells of shrimp and heads with a liter of water for an hour or more. Decant or sieve the stock and reserve. About 500 stock will be made.

Make a smooth paste of ginger and onion, keep aside.

Heat coconut oil in a deep pan or kadhai, add the curry patta, the whole spices and onion and ginger paste and fry for a minute or so. No need to brown this paste. Just cook it lightly.

Tip in the shrimps and toss it for a couple of minutes till they start turning pink but not cooked. Pour the stock at this time and simmer the mix for 5 minutes. If using coconut milk, add at this stage, half the quantity diluted with water or the thin extract. The thick extract or half the coconut milk will be added after five minutes of boiling.

Add a slurry of coconut milk powder and simmer for a couple more minutes.

Serve hot with plain boiled rice, garnished with chopped coriander greens.

Very delicately flavored, richly coconut and very very fragrant. Mild whiff of fennel and green cardamom, very faint hint of fenugreek and the peppercorns are a teasing kick.

This is something you would look forward to leftovers and still wont have. The dish will be polished off however you plan for leftovers. That good.

The spicing has been adjusted to my liking after 3-4 trials of the authentic recipes and may be the purists find it too mild. I suggest to try this this proportion of spices if you are having this curry for the first time. Adjust to your taste after the first trial. The stock adds a lot of flavor so try and do that if possible.

I am sure you would love this flavorful classic curry. Do let me know if you try.

Vegetarians can cook a mix of vegetables in this curry or just potatoes and baby onions.

Cheers.

Malwani fish curry...

If you have been reading my blogs for some time you would know how much I like coconut. Both for desserts and for curries. Most north Indian curries and UP style curries never use coconut and the gravies are darn brown to, light brown to creamy white or red in color, owing to various degrees of bhunoeing the masala, caremalising the onions and quantity of tomatoes. And then I see those curries of many of our southern states where you just stew the vegetables or meats with a coconut based spice paste. Believe me, I did not grow up eating them but those coconut based curries ahve become my comfort food since I started cooking them at home. This Malwani fish curry is one of those stewed curries where you don't have to bhuno the masala and deglaze it till it releases oil. And there are no exotic ingredients involved.

But yes, since I had some Tirphal that Rekha had gifted me some time ago when she brought it from Goa. This peppery spics has a nice depth to it's flavor and adds a unique touch to this Malwani fish curry. My recipe is based on this description of Goan fish curry where there is no use of Tirphal.

Ingredients...

4 large steaks of any seafish or alarge Pomfret cut in convenient sized pieces (about 500-600 gm)

to make a paste..
half a fresh coconut chopped into bits or scraped
an inch piece of garlic chopped roughly
5 cloves of garlic
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
4-5 Tirphal peppers
10 black pepper corns
4-5 fenugreek seeds
3-4 whole kashmiri red chilies
salt to taste

one large green chilly ( Jalapeno or any sweeter variety)
curry patta and coriander greens for garnish

1/2 cup of finely chopped onion and 1 tbsp of coconut oil to saute the onions if required
1/2 cup coconut milk is you want a richer flavor 

procedure...

Make a paste of the above ingredients just like the picture collage and pout the paste in a pan. Add the chopped green chilly to this paste and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. If you want the gravy thick and smooth you can sautee the above mentioned chopped onions and then add this past and simmer. Some coconut milk can also be added to enrich the flavors.

Add the fish steaks in the simmering mixture and coat them all well. Simmer again for 8-10 minutes with cover , add the curry patta and coriander greens and take the curry off the stove.

Do not add the fish steaks before cooking the coconut and spice mix as this can cause splitting of the gravy. Though it does not alter the taste but he curry might look a bit curdled.

Serve hot with plain boiled rice.