Tug of wars are never easy, especially when they happen inside our brains. Today it was between the eagerness to watch the season finale episode of the HBO’s TV Series, GOT (Game of Thrones) and dishing out Parwals. It’s tough to mute the series buff in the head, but once I got to cooking, I completely forgot about the episode. Restraining from some indulgences, do pay off well at the end of the day. Here, in the form of a tasty curry.
Let me brief you about Parwals. Also known as, Potols in Andhra region, these are oval shaped summer vegetables from the family of cucumbers. My introduction to this vegetable happened few years back in a vegetable shop near my home in Hyderabad. Each visit to a vegetable shop or farmer’s market or a super mart, my head veers in all directions possible for interesting finds. It’s like a kid’s fetish for a new toy or that of gadgets or clothes as an adult. I found these vegetables in a tray filled with water. At first, I mistook them as an unknown variant of Dondakaya (Tindora). Found out its name and basic recipes using it from a fellow shopper then. I tried my hands to make Potato Parwal fry, which took a lot of time. Their skin is so hard that a simple fry would definitely take more time. Not ideal dish to make when you are short on time. Todays’ recipe is extremely simple in execution. Couldn’t recollect the source of this recipe, but the method is so simple, so went ahead with spices as per my taste. All you have to do is make a simple masala mix, stuff it into the Parwals, shallow fry them! Tying the stuffed parwal is so fun! While you wait for them to cook on stove, enjoy the smell of the roasted parwal in the kitchen, aaha, tempting!
Ingredients:
Parwals – 6 (Medium sized)
1 tbsp – oil
Masala Mix:
½ cup besan/ gram flour /senagapindi
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tsp fennel powder
½ tbsp coriander powder
½ tsp cumin powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
½ tbsp chilli powder
2 tbsp oil
Salt as required (I used ½ a tsp)
1 tbsp (approx) water
Method:
- Wash and chop the stalks on either side of parwal.
- Make a longitudinal slit on one side. Remove the pulp if the seeds are too hard.
- Take all spice powders mentioned in the masala along with the oil and mix well.
- Stuff the parwals with this masala. Tie the parwals with a thread. This ensures that the masala doesn’t get out of the veggies.
- Put oil in a frying pan and once the oil heats up, place the veggies in it.
- Cook covered in low heat for 5-6 minutes.
- Now, open the lid of the pan and turn with tongs and cook on low flame for 5 minutes covered.
- Keep an eye on the pan in between so that it doesn’t get burn.
- If the skin of veggies is too hard, add a spoon of water.
With closed lid, the masala inside the vegetable steams up and gets a unique taste. I like to consume these stuffed parwal as it is with rice. You can also make gravy alongside these stuffed veggies. They are delicious to eat as a snack too!
tadka tales 