Bottle gourd sesame seeds curry

We call this dish as “kaddu til ka salan” (curry). In India, bottle guard is known as lauki in Hindi and kaddu in Urdu. The fresh fruit has a light green smooth skin and a white flesh. Rounder varieties are called calabash gourds. They come in a variety of shapes, they can be huge and rounded, or small and bottle shaped, or slim and more than a meter long. Bottle gourds are one of the favorite vegetables of Indians and have numerous health benefits. Cooked Bottle gourd is anti-bilious(prevents sickness). It makes one relax after eating. But one should not eat the vegetable raw as it can harm the stomach and intestines. Bottle gourd is not only rich in essential minerals, iron, protein and trace elements; it is also rich in fiber. Many varieties of curries and sweets are made using bottle guard in India.

     Sesame seeds are known as Til in Hindi or Urdu. Sesame is grown primarily for its oil-rich seeds. The small sesame seed is used whole in cooking for its rich nutty flavor and also yields sesame oil. The seeds of the sesame are a good source of calcium. Sesame seeds are used in cooking many curries and sweets.

    

    The following recipe bottle guard sesame seed curry is a very good combination of these two main ingredients. Many times we make this dish in our home. It is not that much popular but it is a very simple dish, easy to make and very healthy.

Bottle gourd

Ingredients for making bottle gourd sesame seeds curry:

Bottle gourd medium sized ½

Sesame seeds ½ cup

Green chili pastes 2 tbsp.

Red chili powder 1 tsp.

Salt to taste

Ginger-garlic pastes ½ tsp.

Turmeric powder ¼ tsp.

Chopped coriander 2 tsp.

Oil ½ cup

Chopped onion 1

Preparation of bottle gourd sesame seeds curry:

• First peel off the bottle gourd cut it into 5-6 long-long pieces and then remove its seeds(if found).
• Cut it into 2 inch pieces and keep it aside.
• Take the sesame seeds wash it using water (use a tea strainer).
• Now heat a pan and roast sesame seeds till the seeds puffs up and starts making noises like popcorns.
•  Now immediately take out these seeds and blend it into powder while it is hot.
• Then add little water and then blend it again to make a fine paste.

Curry:

• Heat oil in a pressure cooker and fry onions till translucent.
• Add bottle gourd pieces and all other ingredients for 2 min.
• Now add sesame seeds paste which we have made earlier.
• Add ½ cup of water and cover the pressure cooker and 
• let 3 whistles.
• After 3 whistles cook till the excess water is absorbed.
• Serve this dish with chapatti, roti, phulkas, puri, rice.

Mint\Pudine ki chutney

    Pudine ki chutney means mint chutney; pudina is Indian name for Mint. This chutney is very tasty and easy to make at the same time. We make many varieties of chutneys in our home. This one is my father’s favorite one.  We need few ingredients to make this chutney easily available in every Indian kitchen.

   This mint chutney is very different from others. It will be in brown color rather than green, because of coriander seeds and dried red chilies. This recipe taught to my mom by my grandmother. When I searched for mint chutney on internet I didn’t find this one or any other similar one, what I found was only green mint chutney. I would be happy if someone tries this one also.

   This chutney goes well with rice, chapatti, phulkas, roti, dosa, idli.

Ingredients for making Pudine ki chutney:

Pudina\mint leaves 2 cups

Coriander seeds 2tbps

Dried coconut (grated or chopped) 2tbps

Dried red chilies 5-6

Tamarind soaked in water for10 min. 4tsp.

Seasoning:

Oil ½ cup

Cumin seeds ½ tsp.

Dried red chilies 3

Garlic 4-5

Preparation of pudine ki chutney:

• Follow the given procedure exactly for making best chutney.
• First roast coriander seeds and dried coconut separately, then blend it in a blender.
• Heat 1tsp of oil and fry dried red chilies when you feel the aroma of chilies turn off the flame.
• Blend these chilies also in the same blender.
• Then mix soaked tamarind and blend, add water if you feel necessary.
• Then mix mint leaves, blend it into a fine paste.
• Take out this paste in a bowl keep it aside.

Seasoning:

• Heat oil in a pan.
• Add cumin seeds, garlic and dried red chilies fry for a few sec.
• Add the chutney we have made earlier.
• Cook it for a 2min. till the water is absorbed.
• Turn off the flame and serve.

Indian Bread\Chapati

Chapatti is a form of roti or rotta (bread). There are many different variations of flat breads found in many cultures across the globe. It is normally eaten with curries or cooked vegetables. Roti, chapatti, phulkas, etc, are all same, made using different ingredients such as wheat flour, Maiz (corn) flour, Bajre ki roti (pearl millet), jwari ki roti(sorghum), Ragi ki roti(Eleusine coracana, commonly Finger millet) all these kind of flours are easily available in Hyderabad, I don’t know about rest of the places.

   Chapattis and phulkas are same the only difference is that oil or ghee is applied on top of the chapatti. People who are diet conscious and those who want to lower their cholesterol level eats phulkas. We make chapattis and phulkas as breakfast daily in our home. These goes well with all type of Indian curries vegetarian or non-vegetarian or any kind off Indian chutneys. 

Ingredients for making Indian chapatti:

Wheat Flour 2 cups

Oil 1 tsp.
Water as per requirement

Preparation of Indian Chapati:

• Knead soft dough with above ingredients.
• Leave it for atleast 30 minutes.
• Divide the dough in to small balls.
• Roll with help of dry flour to a thin round shape.
• Roll as thin as possible.
• Heat tawa (flat pan) and place rolled dough on it.
• When dry on one side, turn it.
• When brown spots appear on second side, turn again.
• This cooked dough is now called as phulkas.
• Use a kitchen towel and lightly press the phulka, rotating at same time, it will puff.
• Apply oil\ghee on both the sides, When you apply oil to phulka then it is called as chapatti.  
• Make as crisp as desired.
• Serve hot.

Simple-Lady finger curry

     This is a very simple and easy to make vegetarian dish. Okra is known as Ladyfinger in English and Bhendi in Hindi (Indian language). We make this curry at least once in 15 days; it is very easy and cooks within no time. Very few dishes are made with okra because of its sticky nature. this curry is usually served with chapatis, phulkas, rice or puri.

Ingredients for simple-lady finger curry:

Lady finger 100 Gms.

Chopped onion 2 cups

Red chili powder 1 tsps.

Turmeric powder ¼ tsps.

Ginger-garlic pastes ¼ tsp.

Oil 4 tbsp.

Salt as per your taste

Green chilies 2

Chopped coriander

Preparation of lady finger curry:

• First heat oil in a pressure cooker and fry onions.
• Add red chili powder, green chilies, turmeric powder, salt and ginger-garlic paste.
• Fry all these for a few sec.
• Add 1 glass of water and pressure cook.
• Let 2 whistles or cook till the onion becomes soft like a paste.
• Clean the lady finger and cut it into 1-2 inche pieces.
• Add these lady finger pieces to the onions cooked earlier.
• Cover it and cook (don’t let any whistles after adding lady finger).
• Cook till the lady finger changes its colour and all the water is absorbed.
• Add coriander.
• Serve this curry with chapatti, phulkas, puri or rice.