Pur Bhara KaNkrole (Spiny gourd stuffed with paneer)

KaNkrole (Biological name Momordica Dioica, commonly known as spiny gourd.). My love for KaNkrole dates back to my childhood. Even today I always keep an eye open for the sweet cousin of the bitter karela. In Bengali it is known as KaNkrole or ghee-kawrola . Why ghee, don’t ask me.  I have tried finding answer to the question – to no avail. If you have, do let me know. In Maharashtra its known as Kantole´.  I love it by any name, any form and while my mom used to stir fry it, I have tried making a stuffed version to bring in a little variation.

Pur Bhara KaNkrole (Spiny gourd stuffed with paneer)

Ingredients:

KaNkrole: 4/5

For the stuffing:

Oil: 1 tsp

Jeera: a pinch

Paneer: 100 g

Chilly pdr: ½ tsp

Roasted jeera pdr: ½ tsp

Amchur pdr:

Salt

Turmeric

For the batter:

Besan: 1 table spoon

Rice powder : 1 table spoon

Salt: ½ tsp

Chilly pds: ½ tsp

How to:
Step 1: Cut the  KaNkrole lengthwise into half. Scour out the seeds, chop them and preserve.

Step 2: Smear a little salt and turmeric and keep aside.

Step 3: Mix all the ingredients of the batter with water and whip well in a mixing bowl. The viscosity should be of a cake batter. Not too flowy.

Step 4: Heat oil, throw in the jeera

Step 5: Throw in the scraped and chopped KaNkrole inners, with a little salt and turmeric. When they are done, add the paneer, chilly pdr, amchur pdr and the roasted jeera pdr, stir well and remove. Our stuffing is ready.
Step 6: Fill in the cooled stuffing, dip in the batter and shallow fry both sides in a non-stick pan.

Done ! Great with Dal rice or as an accompaniment with khichdi. I also like to have it just like that…..or may be with a cup of hot chai…

Of Navratan kormas and careless internet jokes...

Do you  order Navratan korma when you eat out ? I don’t. I mean I used to earlier, but have stopped ever since my boss told me his version of how the ill-fated korma was made. Ill-fated because it is subject to judgmental ridicule  by many people like me and my boss – I have never tried to verify whether what I doubt is true, and there is no reason to believe that the boss did so either.  Well, here’s what he told me…He said that left-overs from the previous 9 days are mixed to prepare the Navratan korma, and hence the nomenclature! Ridiculous as it sounds, it however has done what it was intended to do, it has stopped me from ordering the dish. Like many other colleagues I too felt safe avoiding it telling myself   “ Why take risk ?”

The Navratan korma fortunately has no career, no self-respect, no future and no family to feed, so it doesn’t matter. But it is just as easy to slam a human being, a company, a product or a service, and it can cost a life, and at times is capable of ruining several lives.

Let us be kind to all the Navratan kormas and pledge that we will  use the internet based or otherwise  thought-sharing platforms responsibly for good and harmless reasons. A joke, which may be funny for many, can be fatal for that one person at whom it is directed, and shattering for the family who depends on him in so many ways. Let us share jokes for the purpose intended- to entertain.

Mixed vegetable korma - A close country cousin of Navratan korma

Ingredients:

Cauliflower: 4/5 medium sized florets

French beans: 10/12 chopped into 1 inch pieces

Carrot :  1 grated

Cabbage : 1 cup thinly sliced

Capsicum: 1 thinly sliced

Tomato : 1 chopped

Potato: 1 diced

Ginger paste : ½ tsp

Ggarlic paste : ½ tsp

Green chillies: 2 slitted

Salt : 1 tsp

Garam masala powder : 1 tsp

Jeera (whole cumin seeds) : 1/2 tsp

Hing (Asafoetida): 1 pinch

Oil : any, 2 tsp

How you’ll do it :

Step 1 : Heat 2 tsp of oil in  a wok

Step 2: Shallow fry the cauliflower florets with a little salt and turmeric, and remove.

Step 3: Add cumin seeds in the remaining oil and let them splutter

Step 4: Add hing ginger garlic paste, garam masala powder and tomatoes.

Step 5: When the mixture is fried properly, i.e. oil shows separately, add all the remaining ingredients excepting the cauliflowers, mix properly, and cover.

Step 6: After about 7 mins, remove lid, and if the vegetables are moderately cooked , add the cauiflowers and mix properly once again. If it looks dry and sticks to the bottom, sprinkle a little water.

Step 7: Cover again and remove from heat after another 5 minutes.

Since this is a mixed vegetable curry, if one or more of the vegetables are missing, it’s okay, not to worry. Similarly,  if you have any leftover vegetable from your previous meal, you can throw in the same too.  I had a little alu-matar left, which I had tossed in. Great dish if you have to plan a meal suddenly, or on days when you have little bit of everything in your vegetable basket, but nothing enough to make a stand-alone dish.

Add-on: If you are  having guests, you could consider adding in a tbsp of cashew paste or watermelon seed paste to lend a rich texture to the dish. You can add it along with other ingredients in step 4. You will need to add more oil, or sprinkle water from time to time if you add this paste, otherwise it tends to stick to the bottom.

 Happy cooking !!!