Sunday, January 30, 2011

Shukto- Ultimately bong!

I was looking for a good karela recipe and I chanced upon a blog - Bong Mom's Blog

I had read about this recipe sometime back and I asked Niket how does it taste. He said he did not remember it very well, but he said it was good. He likes poppy seed dishes since they induce sleep and give a sort of drugged effect.

The recipe also made me wonder how would karela taste in a mix veg? And I decided we should give it a try, food is for experimenting isn't it? I varied the recipe quite a bit, cos I didn't have the ingredients the original recipe called for. Here is my recipe-

Ingredients-
Tempering- panch foran
Turmeric 1 tsp
Amchur - 1tsp
1 bitter gourd chopped
1 cup peas
1 cup lauki
1/2 cup grated carrot
1/2 cup capsicum
Potato – 2 chopped
mustard seeds powdered 2 tsp
vadi - 5-8 optional
Ginger garlic Paste - 1 tsp
Milk – 1/3 cup
Salt
1 chopped onion
1 chopped tomato
Mustard oil (This is one thing common to bengalis and biharis I think, we like our food cooked in mustard oil)

Method-
Heat oil in a nonstick kadhai, add tempering and add the karela and fry it till cooked (how you would make karela dry) Add haldi and amchur and salt. I think amchur adds taste to the bitterness of karela.
In a separate pan, fry the vadis and keep separate. Saute onions, add the ginger garlic paste and add the rest of the veggies. Cook till water separates from the lauki and let the veggies cook in their own water. This will take a bit of time, something like 10- 12 minutes.
Add mustard seeds powder and some water and milk and vadis at this point and let it cook till the gravy thickens. I think posto paste would add sweetness and help in a thicker gravy but I didn't have this at hand :( I served with rotis. The original recipe suggests serving with rice, I am def going to try it agai with posto :) This is a sure keeper.


No comments:

Post a Comment