Tindora/Kovakai/Dhondakai Curry

Its saturday time and it's time for the old classics...Kovakai is one of my favourite veggie..It belongs to the gourd family..It's very popular in Andhra called as Dhondakai...For those of you who don't know how it looks like...

Ingredients:

- Tindora/Dhondakai/Kovakai - 250gm
- Uridh Dhal
- Channa Dhal
- Jeera
- Mustard
- Turmeric
- Chilli powder
- Tamarind
- Jaggery
- Salt
- Curry Leaves / Coriander

Method:

- Cut the Kovakai into thin longitudinal pieces
- Soak 1 cm of puli in hotwater
- Heat Oil in tava
- Add mustard seeds, uridh dhal, channa dhal
- Fry till the mixture become brown
- Add the cut kovakai in tava
- Fry for 6-7 minutes
- Add turmeric, Chilli powder, jaggery, tamarind water
- Mix it well, add some water and cover it for 5 mintutes
- Check if the vegetable has boiled
- Add salt as per taste
- Garnish well with curry leaves/Corainder

Yummy curry is ready!!!

The curry is very simple to make and goes well with dhal rice, curd and chapathis. This veg can be cooked along with dhal or stuffed kovakai is also equally tasty!

Spring Onion and Tomato curry

I caught hold of a bunch of Spring onions also referred to as Scallions in USA when i visited the farmers market yesterday. In India, tradionally spring onions are used to garnish fried rice or vegetable noodles, little did i know that i could toss up this mildly flavored onions with tomatoes to make a delectable and simple curry. Here goes my recipe!

Ingredients:

• 2 Bunches of Spring Onions
• Tomato
• Turmeric powder
• Sambar or Curry powder
• Salt
• Mustard seeds
• Jeera
• Tamarind
• 3-4 small green chilles
• Coriander

Recipe:

1. Finely chop spring onions, tomato and green chillies.
2. Soak gooseberry sized tamarind in hot water.
3. Heat oil in tava and add mustard seeds &jeera
4. Allow the mustard seeds to splutter and add the chopped spring onions and green chillies.
5. Fry the onions for about 5 mts and add tomatoes.
6. When the spring onions and tomatoes are partially cooked add a pinch of turmeric,salt and sambar powder.
7. Now add the squeezed tamarind water and allow the mixture to cook till the curry thickens.
8. Garnish it with finely chopped coriander leaves.
9. Enjoy the curry with chappathis or rice.

North Indian twist:

You could grate ginger and garlic pod before adding the spring onions and replace sambar powder with garam masala powder. This gives the curry a typical north indian flavor.