As a child, I hated the ridge gourd vegetable and so my Aai (mom) used to make this chutney from the peels of the ridge gourd and make me eat the vegetable along with the chutney. We tend to throw away the peels of many vegetables when they have the most nutritional value. So every time I make the ridge gourd curry, I preserve the peels and make this chutney. A very simple recipe of chutney, my mom’s recipe…

Ingredients:

Peels from 1/2 kilo ridge gourd (also known as Toree, Turai, Dodka, Shirale, Heeraikai, Peerkangai),

3-4 green chillies; slit vertically,

1 tbsp white sesame (til),

Salt to taste,

Oil for tempering.

Method:

Wash the ridge gourd and then peel them. Pat dry the peels with paper towels. In a pan heat 1 tbsp oil and add all the peels to it. Roast on low-medium flame, stirring occasionally.

When they begin to brown and turn crisp, remove from flame. Grind them to a coarse powder. Add salt to it and mix well.

In a small kadhai or pan, heat oil for tempering. Add white sesame and cover immediately. Else the sesame seeds will splutter all over the place. Uncover after few seconds and add green chillies.

Stir and add the ground peels. Mix well, cover and cook for a minute or two. Serve hot with chapatis or dal-rice.

I was visiting my in-laws and had some guests over for dinner. We were around 15 people and I and my mom-in-law were cooking. We decided to prepare 2 types of chicken curries and 2 types of vegetarian gravies, along with a fresh green salad, rotis, meat biryani and Trifle pudding as dessert. One of the recipes we prepared was Vegetable Manchurian and everybody loved it. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients: (Serves 10)

1 medium size cabbage; finely grated,

3-4 carrots; finely grated,

1 cup cauliflower florets; washed and pat dried, and finely chopped/coarsely ground,

4-5 scallions; chopped,

2 tbsp garlic paste,

1 cup or as required corn flour,

Salt and pepper to taste,

Any vegetable oil for deep frying.

For the sauce -

1 tbsp very finely chopped garlic,

1 tsp very finely chopped galangal (or use ginger),

3 scallions; finely chopped,

1-2 green peppers (optional) (you can use red/yellow peppers too); chopped,

1/2 cup red chilli sauce,

2 tbsp dark soy sauce,

Salt and sugar to taste,

1/4 cup corn flour mixed with some water to form a paste,

1/4 cup olive oil (or you can use the same vegetable oil you used for frying),

1 tbsp white wine vinegar,

Water as required.

Method:

Combine all the ingredients for Manchurian balls and knead into a dough like mixture. Grease fingers and palms with some oil and make balls. I made around 32 balls from the above mixture. The number may differ upon the size of the balls. Meanwhile place a wok on a low-medium flame and heat oil in it.

Once all the balls are rolled and oil is hot (not smoking hot). Drop a small piece of the mixture into the oil and if it surfaces to the top of the wok, then the oil is at the right temperature. Drop few manchurian balls into the hot oil and fry them at a golden brown color and crisp texture (see picture below). Drain them on paper towels and fry the next batch.

When all the manchurian balls are ready, we will prepare the sauce.

For preparing the sauce -

If using the same vegetable oil, reduce the quantity of oil in the wok to up to 1/4th cup, else in another wok heat olive oil on a low-medium flame for a minute. Add chopped ginger and garlic and sauté on low flame until fragrant. Then add peppers and scallions and stir fry on medium flame. Then add soy and chilli sauce and combine. Add some water, enough to prepare a medium thin gravy. Then add salt (soy sauce has some amount of salt in it, so adjust as per taste), sugar, vinegar and stir. Stir in the manchurian balls and let the gravy simmer for a few minutes. This way all the sauces and flavors will be incorporated in the manchurian balls. In the end, add the corn flour paste, stir and you will find the gravy thickening instantly. Turn off the flame and serve hot over noodles or boiled rice.

NOTE: The sauce in this recipe is not very thick, so that it could be eaten with rice.

Serving Suggestions -

1. Fried Manchurian Balls can be served as a snack or appetizer (starters).

2. The sauce can be very thick and lesser in quantity (reduce the amount of corn flour paste) to prepare a dry manchurian.

This is one of the most simple recipes of curry I have made. My mom-in-law taught me this recipe. She told me, she used to make it often when in a hurry to go to University (where she taught). As a working woman, I too find it tough to prepare elaborate curries in the morning. So I too started making this one.

‘Ridge gourd’ is known by different names in different regions of India. In Hindi it is called ‘Toree’ or ‘Turai’, in Marathi ‘Dodka’ or ‘Shirale’, in Kannada ‘Heeraikai’ and ‘Peerkangai’ in Tamil.

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo ridge gourd; washed, peeled (do not throw away the peel, use to make ridge gourd peels chutney) and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices,

2 onions; halved and sliced,

2 tomatoes; halved and sliced,

1/2 tsp jeera (cumin seeds),

1/2 tsp turmeric powder,

1 tsp red chilli powder,

Salt to taste,

Oil for tempering.

Method:

Heat 4-5 tbsp oil in a kadhai. Add jeera and let it splutter. Then add sliced onions and sauté until they become translucent. Then add turmeric and red chilli powder. Fry for a minute and then add tomatoes. Cook covered until tomatoes soften. Then add sliced ridge gourd, stir, cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the vegetable has cooked. Not need to add water while cooking as ridge gourd tends to leave a lot of water while cooking. Lastly season with salt and garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

I saw a recipe called ‘Moong Dal ki Goli’ on a television show. It sounded interesting as we often prepare daal from moong dal, I occasionally prepare ‘Dhirda/Dosa’ from moong dal, but ‘goli’ was more like koftas. Though I couldn’t note down the recipe, I did not remember the exact ingredients, but one night I realized, I was falling short of vegetables for the next day’s lunch. Since I had to rush to work early in the morning next day, I knew I won’t get time to go to the market to buy vegetables. This recipe came to my rescue. I soaked the moong dal at night and next morning prepared these wonderful koftas. These koftas unlike other Koftas are not dipped in a curry. It is a dry preparation, so that the taste of curry/gravy does not spoil the taste for koftas. Here’s the recipe;

Ingredients:

For the koftas-
1 cup moong dal with chhilka,

2 green chillies,

1 tsp ginger-garlic paste,

Few coriander leaves,

Salt to taste,

Oil for deep frying.

For masala-
2 onions; very finely chopped or ground to paste,

1 large tomato; very finely chopped or pureed,

1/2 tsp rai (mustard seeds),

1/2 tsp jeera (cumin seeds),

A pinch of heeng (asafetida),

1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste,

1/2 tsp turmeric powder,

1 tsp red chilli powder,

1/2 tsp garam masala (option),

Salt to taste,

Oil for tempering.

Method:

For koftas-
Soak the moong dal for 4-5 hours. If not soaked for so long, add boiling water to the dal and soak it for 30 minutes. Drain and remove all the water. Then coarsely grind the dal along with the ingredients for koftas. The batter should be thick but of dropping consistency.

Heat oil for deep frying in a kadhai(wok). When hot reduce the flame to medium and the drop few koftas into hot oil. Fry them at a light brown color.

Fry all the koftas in batches and drain them on Kitchen paper.

For the masala-
Heat a pan/kadhai. Use the same hot oil in which we fried the koftas earlier. Add mustard and cumin seeds, asafetida, onions and ginger-garlic paste. Sauté on low-medium flame until onions become pinkish in color. Then add turmeric, red chilli powder and garam masala. Fry for a minute. Then add tomatoes and cook covered until a thickish gravy is formed.

Add salt and give it a nice stir. Its time to add koftas to the gravy. Once koftas are added, give them a nice stir to coat them properly with the masala. Cover and cook until 1-2 steams and they are ready to serve.

Serve hot with chapatis or dal-rice.

Ingredients:

500gms gobhi (cauliflower), cut into florets,

200 gms (around 2 large) aloo (potatoes); parboiled, peeled and diced,

1/2 cup yogurt, well-beaten,

1 tsp jeera (cumin seeds),

1 tbsp chopped ginger,

2 green chillies; slit lengthwise,

1/4 tsp turmeric powder,

3/4 tsp red chilli powder,

1/2 tsp coriander powder,

1 tsp garam masala,

Salt to taste,

Ghee (clarified butter) for tempering.

Method:

Heat around 2-3 tbsp ghee in a kadhai. Add jeera and when it splutters add ginger. Roast for 2 minutes. Then add green chillies, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and give it a stir. Then add beaten yogurt and stir continuously until the fat starts separating. Then add cauliflower florets and diced potatoes, and stir properly so that they get coated with the yogurt mixture. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Then add coriander powder, garam masala and salt. Stir, cover and cook until vegetables are completely done.

Serve hot with chapatis or parathas.