Low calorie Ridge gourd curry

Ridge gourd is low in calorie and with plenty of fibre. It has got high moisture content. It is very good for weight watchers and diabetics. Tender ridge gourd can be eaten raw and it tastes sweet.

During summer season ridge gourd tastes bitter. This bitterness is due to the presence of a compound called Cucurbitacin. In small quantity, Cucurbitacin gives flavour to the vegetable. During summer concentration of Cucurbitacin becomes high, hence the bitterness. Usually ridge gourd with deep ridges will not be bitter.

While buying ridge gourd select those that are tender and deep green in colour. It should be heavy and firm. Avoid the ones that have dark spots and blemishes. Ridges should not be brown. I prefer ridge gourd which are straight and not twisted. Usually twisted ones will have blemishes inside. If the ridge gourd is spongy and fibrous it is not fit for cooking.

 After washing it is better if we taste the vegetable by tasting small pieces here and there all along its length and then start peeling. This enables us to cut the portion which is bitter and use the rest.

In this recipe I have not used coconut or cashew for thickening agent. I am only using vegetables which are low in calories.

   
   

Ingredients

Ridge gourd  1kg      

Tomatoes  4

Onion  3

Turmeric powder ½ tsp

Chilli powder 1 tsp. or to taste

Coriander powder 1 tsp.

Cumin powder ½ tsp.

Garam masala powder ½ tsp.

Salt to taste

Oil 2 table spoon

Cumin seeds 1 tsp

Coriander leaves chopped 2 table spoon

Method

Wash, peel and dice ridge gourd in to small pieces. Cut onions and tomatoes in to small pieces.

Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds. When it becomes aromatic and brown in colour, add onion and 

fry till they golden brown in colour. Now add tomato pieces and fry till they become soft. Add masala powders one by one and fry till the raw smell reduces. Since we have used less oil we cannot see the oil getting separated. 

Add ridge gourd pieces and a spoon of salt and mix well. Ridge gourd releases lot of water and hence there is no need to add extra water.

 Cover with a lid and cook over a low flame till the vegetable becomes soft. Take out 2 or 3 ladles full of the cooked vegetables and  allow it to cool. Grind it to a smooth paste and mix it with the rest of the vegetables in the pan. This gives body to the gravy. Add salt to taste.

 Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

EASY METHOD OF PREPARING HUNASE KAI RASA

Raw tamarind is called Hunasekai in Kannada. Tamarind pods are brown in colour with a shell like covering. Inside, the seeds are covered by pulp and strands of fibre. The pulp of the young fruit is green and sour. Raw tamarind pulp is used to make Tamarind Tokku (Hunase thokku) and Hunase kai  rasa or extract. Hunase kai rasa is used as base to prepare many types of pickles such as Makali beru/ Swallow root, Mavina kai shunti/ Curcuma amada, Bettada nalli kai/Indian gooseberry and mixed vegetable pickle. The thokku should be prepared when seeds are tender. Hunase rasa  can be prepared when the seeds are hard (but not brown).

Extracting the juice and separating the outer covering, seeds and fiber (Naru) is a tedious process while preparing Hunise kai rasa. The typical procedure followed is to crush tamarind in a pestle and mortar, taking care not to crush the seeds .Then the juice is extracted adding boiled and cooled water. My friend Rajalakshmi taught me a simplified procedure, which I am going to share with you below.

HUNISEKAI RASA

Ingredients required:

 Hunase kai or Raw tamarind  500 grams

Pieces of Bettada nalli kai/ Indian gooseberry, Makali beru/ Swallow root, Mavina kai shunti / Curcuma amada

Byadagi chillies   Sun dried  250 Grams or to taste

Mustard 2 table spoon full

Salt to taste

Asafoetida powder

Oil   4 table spoon

Turmeric powder 1 table spoon

Instructions 

Wash raw tamarind 3 to 4 times with clean water and dry them by spreading on a clean towel. Break each tamarind into 2 pieces by hand, do not use knife. Remove the strings by pulling the same with your hands as much as possible.

Tamarind pieces with fiber

Place the cleaned tamarind in a pressure cooker and add water such that it covers the tamarind. Cook for 5 minutes.

Allow the contents to cool. When you open the lid, you will see that the hard outer layer of tamarind has become loose and separated from its pulp.

COOKED TAMARIND

 Remove the hard shell by separating them slowly without crushing. 

SHELL IS SEPARATED

 Take out the pulp and squeeze and remove the seeds from the pulp. If needed add some more boiled and cooled water.  Mix it with the juice in the pressure cooker. Strain it to remove small bits of fibre and outer shell pieces. Grind red chillies along with mustard seeds, asafoetida and turmeric powder in to a smooth powder. To this powder add required amount of tamarind extract and grind it to a smooth paste. You can also use boiled and cooled salt water or vinegar for grinding. Add the chilli paste to the remaining tamarind extract and mix well.

HUNASE KAI RASA

 Heat required amount of oil in a pan for tempering. When the oil is heated, add mustard seeds and asafoetida. Cool it and add to the Hunese kai rasa or tamarind juice.

 Hunase kai rasa is ready!

 It will be very tasty if you mix the rasa with hot rice and Ghee or gingelly oil and eat.

You can add sliced green chillies, green pepper, and pieces of gooseberry, Makali beru , mavina kai shunti.

Mixed vegetable pickle can be prepared by adding pieces of mixed vegetable to this juice.

Methods of cooking rice

There are many methods of cooking rice. Quantity of water used varies from method to method and verity of rice. If we want cooked rice to be soft we have to add more water. For Chitranna, vegetable bath, Vangi bath and Puliyogare rice grains should be separate so quantity of water used will be less.We can find out exact quantity of water needed by cooking the rice once or twice.

Ingredients

Rice     1cup

Water   3½Cups

Method 1

Wash rice well and transfer it to thick bottomed vessel. Add required quantity of water and allow it to boil. Reduce the flame, stir well and close the vessel with a lid.Cook till rice is done.You can test it by pressing a rice grain with your thumb and fore finger.Add one more cup of water, cover the vessel with a lid, hold the vessel and plate together using a kitchen towel and drain out the water from the rice in to another vessel. (Water drained from the rice is called “annada ganji".Do not through it. it is very nutritious.) Once again keep the cooked rice on a slow flame and cook for a few minutes. In this method there will be nutrition loss.

Method 2

Rice    1 cup
Water 3 cups

In this method amount of taken   is ½ cup less than the previous method. Rice is cooked in the same manner as in method 1 but water is allowed evaporate completely and no extra water is added. Here there will be no nutrition loss.

Method 3

Rice    1 cup
Water 3 cups

 In this method rice is cooked in a pressure cooker. Take washed rice in a cooker separator add 3 cups of water. Boil 1 cup of water in a pressure cooker. Place the cooking rack or grid in the cooker. Place the vessel containing rice on the cooking rack and close the lid of the cooker and place the cooker on high flame. Steam gushes out of the nozzle of the cooker. Place the weight of the cooker on the vent and press. When the cooker whistles, reduce the flame and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow it to cool. Open the lid rice will be ready to serve.

Method 4

Rice    1 cup
Water 3 cups

In this method rice is cooked directly in a pressure cooker. It is a quick method. Quantity of rice that can be cooked in this method is less as we cannot fill the cooker more than half.

Take rice and water in cooker and place it on a high flame. When it starts boiling close the lid. Steam gushes out of the vent. Place the weight of the cooker on the vent and press. Do not wait for the cooker to whistle. Reduce the flame. And cook for five minutes. Open the lid when cooker cools down. Rice will be ready to serve.

Bisibele bath pudi

Bisibele bath pudi

Ingredients

Bengal gram dhal                 ½ cup

Black gram dhal                   ½ cup

Coriander seeds                   1 cup

Byadagi chillies                   200gms

Dry coconut grated             1½ cup

Cinnamon                            2” pieces 4

Cloves                                 4

Cardamom                          2

Poppy seeds                       1 table spoon

While preparing Bisibele bath  1 table spoon of Sarinapudi is also used.

Method

Fry all the ingredients using low flame till with little oil using medium flame one by one. As you fry they give out aroma .Stop frying when the colour turns to golden brown. Transfer the spice to a plate and spread so that it cools. Crush fried chillies with your hand so that its volume reduces. Mix all the spices together and powder them in a mixer grinder. Let the powder be little coarse. Mix it with coconut gratings and grind again for a few minutes so that coconut mixes uniformly with the powder. Let it cool. Store it in an airtight container.

Pudi kutti hakida palya

ಪು ಡಿ ಕು ಟ್ಟಿ ಹಾ ಕಿ ದ  ಪ ಲ್ಯ 

Palyada pudi / vegetablebath na pudi

ಪಲ್ಯ ದ  ಪುಡಿ/ವಾಂಗಿ ಬಾತ್  ಪುಡಿ  

Bengal gram dhal                 1 cup

Black gram dhal                   ¾ cup

Coriander seeds                   1 cup

Byadagi chillies                    200gms

Dry coconut grated              1 cup

Cinnamon                             2” pieces 4

Cloves                                   4

Fry all the ingredients using low flame with little oil using medium flame one by one  As you fry they give out aroma .Stop frying when the colour turns to golden brown. Transfer the spice to a plate and spread so that it cools. Crush fried chillies with your hand so that its volume reduces. Mix all the spices together and powder them in a mixer grinder. Let the powder be little coarse. Mix it with dry coconut gratings and grind again for a few minutes so that coconut mixes uniformly with the powder. Let it cool. Store it in an airtight container.

This powder is used to make palya which is called pudikuttihakidapalya "ಪುಡಿ  ಕುಟ್ಟಿಹಾಕಿದ ಪಲ್ಯ"
Vegetables used are Brinjal,Capsicum,Ivy gourd " ತೊಂಡೆ ಕಾಯಿ"cabbage, knol-khol and with mixed vegetables.
This powder is also used to prepare vegetable bath. Vangibath is very famous

sihi kumbala kai ( sweet pumpkin) mosarubajji

Sihi kumbalakai ( Sweet pumpkin) Mosarubajji

This is a simple recipe and also tastes good. You can also prepare it very fast.

Ingredients

Sweet pumpkin     ½Kg

Curds                    2 cups well beaten

Salt                        to taste

Coriander leaves -   chopped 2 table spoons

For seasoning

Oil                       1 table spoon

Red chillies         2 or 3 cut into pieces

Mustard seeds    ½ teaspoon

Cumin seeds       ½ teaspoon

Asafoetida          1 pinch

Curry leaves        2 sprigs

Method

Peel Pumpkin and cut in to big pieces and cook in a pressure pan for 3 to 4 minutes with ½ teaspoon of salt and ¼ cup of water. Allow to cool. Mash pumpkin well.

To this add beaten curds and salt to taste.

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds cumin seeds and red chilli pieces. When seeds splutter add curry leaves and mix.

Pour this seasoning to the pumpkin and curd mixture. Mix well. And garnish with coriander leaves.

If you want mosaru bajji to be spicy you can use green chillies instead of red chillies.

This type of Mosaru bajji can be prepared with sweet potato and potato.