Lauki Thepla/ Bottle gourd parata

Generally thepla recipes I see online have wheat flour and besan as main ingredients. This recipe uses bajra flour. I just loved the flavor of it. And bajra is healthy too. Lauki makes it more tasty and more healthy. Do try!

Bottle gourd(Sorekayi) masala curry

 I always look for new ways of cooking Sorekayi(bottle gourd). Sorekayi sambar is something I don’t want to make. I don’t like the bland taste of it. So this recipe I tried is from a blog I follow on FB(link given below). The uniqueness of this recipe is bottle gourd is marinated before cooking. This gives bottle gourd so much flavor. 

This curry tasted and looked more like Andhra/ Tamil Nadu cuisine, then there’s garam masala too. It has a strong coriander flavor. I added more tomatoes to the curry which complimented the flavors very nicely. It is similar to dal-less gojjus from Karnataka. And most important thing - this  gets done in less than 30 min. Do try!

Don’t throw away peels and pulp. Make sorekayi chutney with it(link below).

Some other ways of cooking sorekayi -

• Bottle gourd chana curry
• Bottle gourd dal
• Bottle gourd peel chutney
• Bottle gourd Barta 
• Bottle gourd majjige saaru 

Chana Dal with Lauki(Bottle gourd)

Dals/ tovve are my favorite. I never knew that dal can be made with chana dal also. I’m also not too fond of bottle gourd in traditional south Indian sambars. This recipe is an amalgam of both, in good ways. Extremely tasty and easy. Have it with rice, ghee and pickle and some fryums(sandige) and enjoy your winter break! 

Do try!

Happy holidays! Happy New Year!!

Sorekayi/Lauki/BottleGourd Peel Chutney/Sambanda

Modern day Tortoise and Hare Story

One fine morning, Ms.Tortoise was driving back home after dropping her baby tortoise to school. The traffic was crazy. But Ms. Tortoise was very relaxed. She was looking forward to the peaceful morning, and the freshly brewed coffee she was planning on having after going home. 

Then there comes this rabbit “dude”, who evidently was late to his office. You see, usually in the mornings the speed of the car is directly proportional to how late you are to your office. He started tailgating Ms.Tortoise wanting her to move out of his way.  

But the very experienced Ms.Tortoise, who clearly was driving at what she thought was an optimal speed for the road - not too slow that she disturbs the traffic, not too fast that she becomes what she calls “the cop food” (aka getting a ticket), didn’t want to give way. She believed in not changing lanes so frequently. She knew hurriedness will get you nowhere. Changing lanes like how you’d play in a video game is not for the real world. Sticking to the same lane yields the same result minus the stress you’d encounter otherwise.... she knew! 

But ‘The Dude’ was definitely not ready to follow her. So off he goes to the next lane, cuts back in Ms.Tortoise’s lane almost missing her car and zips through the lanes vanishing into the horizon before her eyes, much to the lovely lady’s dismay. She started doubting herself, wondering whether her old thinking would indeed give her any results these days. Before she could finish her thought, long ahead of her she saw the Dude’s car waiting at the signal. 

As she approached the signal, her 'left turn' signal turned green before his.

Ms Tortoise smiled... it was a sweet smile of victory... :)

Coming to the recipe..

This chutney is called “sambanda”(literal meaning - relation) in Kota region. What “sambanda” this name has with this chutney nobody knows :D

This chutney is made out of pulp and the skin of Sorekayi which you'd generally throw away otherwise. And boy! does it taste good.

This chutney goes very well with the rice. It can be made with ridge gourd skin too. This is my amma’s recipe.