KADDU KI SABZI (Pumpkin Vegetable)

KADDU KI SABZI

(Pumpkin Vegetable)

you my pumpkin pumpkin, hello honey bunny

After years of cooking, I still regret that I have never been able to produce the flavors my mom puts in her cooking. I know her main ingredient is love. Even if I follow the exact recipe and season ample amount of love, dedication and discipline in my food. At the end of the day, the recipe is not yet perfect.

My mom visits me twice a year, every time I request her to cook Kaddu ki Sabzi and Bharwa Paratha. She makes a perfect blend of sugar and tanginess of tomatoes.

Well, It started this way, that my friends planned a hangout at Drive-in cinemas along with dinner. One of my friend is little fussy about eating vegetables. I chose to prepare this recipe and asked him to trust me and try it. Amazingly he liked it. (considering he is a blunt man and gives only honest opinions. I am not gonna name him here, but il tag this link to his wall J).

Here goes the recipe:

Pumpkin medium riped 250gms (peeled & chopped in one inch cubes)

Tomatoes medium size 2 in number

2 tsf sugar

Quarter spoon fenugreek seeds (methi ke dane for tempering)

Salt, chilli flakes, turmeric powder for seasoning.

2tsf vegetable oil

In a pan, heat the oil on medium heat. Add fenugreek seeds, sauté for a minute. Add chopped tomatoes. Stir occasionally till they get tender. Add sugar. Wait for a minute. Add the seasoning. In the last add pumpkin cubes. Mix well. Cover the pan with lid. No need to add water as pumpkin releases its juices. Wait for ten minutes with occasional stirring. The recipe is ready if the pumpkin is nicely tender and juicy.

Garnish with coriander.

Best goes with paratha, poori, thepla.

My notes:

My mom is the best cook ever.

You can avoid peeling the pumpkin, it adds roughage to recipe.

The correct blend of sugar, tanginess of tomatoes and exact amount of salt is learnt with time. (don’t get disheartened if it doesn’t turn out well in first trial)

Handva

I always get fascinated by the variety of farsans (snacks) savored in Gujarati families. The names are endless, khakhara, handava, khandvi, dhokla, patra etc. and lemme tell you, they all taste unique and awsome.

The curiosity is in the process which is widely in use, these days because of diet awareness and increasing tendencies of obesity among Indians. they use the steam process for the preparation of variety of snacks like dhokla, patra.
Although the snacks are quite healthy and rich in proteins. but, the heavy tempering full of cotton seed oil ruins the charm of low calorie snacks. not to forget that tempering obviously increases the flavor of snacks.

Today I tried Handva (handvo) in my kitchen. I tried making it low calorie (being a diet conscious).
its a very healthy hearty recipe full of proteins and give a fuller effect on satiety. people sometime replace it with the meals. In some gujarati thali, its a part of platter.

Here goes the recipe:
Ingredients:

1 cups rice 

1/2 cup toovar (arhar) dal

1/4 cup urad dal (split black lentils)

1/4 cup moong dal (split green gram)

1/4 cup chana dal (split Bengal gram)

1 cup sour curds

2 1/2 cups grated bottle gourd (doodhi / lauki) other vegetables like carrots, potato can be used.

4 tbsp oil

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp soda- bi-carb

1 tbsp sugar(optional, for contrast)

1 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)

3 tbsp green chilli-ginger paste

salt to taste

for tempering optional: 2tsf oil, hing(asafoetida), mustard seeds, sesame seeds, chopped green chilli, chopped coriander.

soak the rice and pulses for few hours. grind them in mixer. add sour curd and ferment for 3hrs (in summers,time for fermentation can be reduced). add the rest of ingredients in the batter. 
spread the batter in a baking dish. bake it on 180.C in preheated oven for 30-40min untill the crust becomes golden brown. 

after that, tempering can be done, in a pan, heat oil, add hing, mustard seeds, sesame seeds, green chillies. heat it untill the seeds start crackling.
another option is, that tempering can be mixed in the batter itself before baking 
garnish with coriander. serve with imli chutney.