Snakegourd Pachadi

Snakegourd Pachadi

Snakegourd is a ‘naatu kai’ i.e. vegetable indigenous to India. Mom used to cook it often as my dad liked it. She would sauté it and season it and mix it with rice and ghee for him. My husband, on the other extreme just does not like this vegetable. My mother-in-law says when she was pregnant with my husband, she always got sick when she went anywhere near snakegourds and looks like that has just continued. I ould not get away with making snakegourd curry so had to disguise it. To be fair, it is not a vegetable with a distinct or strong flavour, atleast for me. I came across this recipe at vahrehvah.com and gave it a try. I made it as a side dish to pulihogare as I do not like a meal without vegetables and this was a good combination. The good news is that it went down well my my better half as well. Here is the recipe...

2 cups chopped snakegourd

1 teapsoon mustard seeds

1 teapsoon urd dal

Few curry leaves

3 dry red chillies

Asafoetida

Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

1 cup yogurt, whisked

Cooking oil

Heat some oil and add the snakegourd. Add little salt, turmeric powder and asafoetida and cook. Covering will quicken the process.

Add the whisked curd and bring to gentle boil. Add remaining salt that is required

Heat little oil for the tempering. Add the mustard seeds, once it splutters, add urd dal, curry leaves and dry red chillies. Once dal turns golden, add it to the snakegourd yogurt mixture and it is ready to serve.

Pumpkin Pachadi (Pumpkin curry)

Pumpkin Pachadi (Pumpkin curry)

When I was a child, I was not at all a fan of pumpkin and preferred ash gourd. Over time, I relaise my taste has changed and now I quite like pumpkin. It is a shame that I do not get it all through the year. I barely see it in the supermarkets here and if lucky, I get my hands around it or my brother and his wife buy it for me from Indian shop. I usually buy a full pumpkin, cut it and freeze. The lovely colour of the pumpkin flesh simply means it is very good for us. It contains beta carotene which has anti inflammatory properties and also contains alpha carotenes which can slow ageing and even prevent tumor growth. It has vitamin E which promotes healthy skin and could also prevent some cancers. It is also rich in fibre. Having said all the good stuff about this lovely fruit, it is a shame that it is normally seen only during Halloween, that too for carving. Anyway, this particular dish is a traditional dish and ayurveda based. You can pair this with any other dish that may be slightly bitter so the sweetness complements. Here is the recipe...

1 teapsoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon urd dal

Asafoetida

Turmeric powder

2 cups pumpkin, cubed

½ teaspoon tamarind paste

½ teaspoon chilly powder (optional)

1 tablespoon crushed jaggery

2-3 dry red chillies

Salt to taste

One sprig curry leaves

Cooking oil

Heat little oil and add mustard seeds, urd dal, asafoetida, turmeric powder and dry red chillies. Allow the seeds to crackle

Add the pumpkin and sauté for couple of minutes

Add little water and tamarind paste and cook until pumpkin is done

Add the chilly powder, salt, jaggery, curry leaves and simmer until raw smell goes

Serve

Radish Raita/Radish Pachadi

Radish Raita/Radish Pachadi
Radish was always far down in my list of vegetables I like. Mom use to make radish sambar but I would so dislike the smell of radish and never bothered to give it a try. It was after wedding that I gave it a shot in my mother-in-law’s place. She had made a salad which my husband usually enjoys. I then revisited my list and moved radish up. My mom used to get a bunch of fresh white radish just uprooted from the ground from a field adjacent to the place where she would go for morning walks. Just the sight of those fresh radish would be tempting enough but there is another great reason why love for radish is well worth it. And that is because it is called free food...hold on, you got to pay to buy it but it is free to eat i.e. it is almost empty on calories with just about 16 calories per 100g. Isn’t that great? The Tesco here stocks Mooli, the white radish but they are not as good as the ones I used to enjoy in India so I buy the British radish. These are small turnip shaped red-pink coloured radishes. Despite their size they are so rich in nutrition including vitamin C, folates and minerals like iron, magnesium, copper and calcium. If all this goodness is not enough, this dish does not need any cooking and is quick to make.
1 packet of radish (about 10-15 radishes)
¼ teaspoon cumin powder (jeera powder)
¼ teaspoon coriander powder (dhania powder)
Salt as required
1 cup yogurt/curd
Wash the radish in cold running water. Cut the root end and holding each of them by the side where the leaves would have been, grate the radish. There is no need to peel the skin. Once salted the radish give up water and could make the raita watery so do the rest of the preparation just before serving. Add curd and salt (if required) and the cumin and coriander powder. Raita is ready for you to enjoy.
I love this raita and can finish a bowl of it all by myself. It goes very well with a variety of rice and breads especially if you have spicy side dishes. Hope you enjoy it.

Tomato Pachadi / Raita

Tomato Pachadi/Raita

Tomato is an everyday vegetable in our household. I would normally feel very uncomfortable if I had anywhere less than 4 tomatoes in stock. I think it is such a versatile vegetable and possibilities are endless with tomatoes. In a way, tomato does amaze me. I was always used to having cooked tomato. My husband was insisting on me eating more fresh vegetables in the form of salads and so one fine day I tried adding tomato to the channa sundal when snacking at work. Few minutes later my mouth felt funny and kind of itchy and burning. I thought it may be the tomato but just ignored it. Couple of years later when I was tested for allergies for a different reason they found that I was allergic to uncooked tomatoes. I found it quite strange coz I seem to be bothered only when I eat uncooked cut tomato but tomato juice does no harm.

My mother-in-law does a far simpler version of tomato raita wherein she mixes cut tomatoes with curd and seasons. However, due to my allergies and preference to my mom’s raita recipe, I always do it my mom’s way.

3 big tomatoes cut into bite sized cubes

2 green chillies

1 cup yogurt/curd

Mustard seeds

Few curry leaves

Turmeric powder

Chilly powder

Cooking oil

Asafoetida

In a kadai heat oil and put the mustard seeds. After the seeds stop spluttering, add some turmeric powder and curry leaves and ensure they do not get burnt. Add the green chillies and tomatoes. As I prefer to have the tomatoes a bit chunky in the raita but at the same time I want it to be well cooked with in its own juice, I add a little bit of salt at this stage. Once the tomatoes are cooked, add some chilly powder. Cook for a couple of more minutes and season. Add the yogurt/curd and if desired garnish with coriander leaves.

I make this recipe atleast once a week to go with lime rice. It tastes great when mixed with plain rice and even curd rice.

Tomato is supposed to be rich in Vitamin A and C and is one of the five-a-day veggie. I find this a yummy way to have the healthy and beautiful tomato !! And as I understand, tomatoes are considered as fruit and not veggie !!