Parwal (Pointed Gourd) Stir Fry
Parwal is not a South Indian vegetable and many wouldn’t be aware of it too. In my 15 years stay in Chennai, I hadn’t see much of this vegetable here in the local vegetable shop. I was quite surprised when I saw it in the nearby vegetable shop few months back. I was skeptical to buy it, thinking whether hubby and Neha would like or not. Way back In Mumbai, my dad used to bring it and mom would make simple stir fry and we used to enjoy it too. It used to be a seasonal and an expensive vegetable, which would shrink a lot after cooking and wouldn’t be sufficient to feed a 4-5 member family 🙂
Last year one day, Neha told me that her Oriya classmate brings a side dish with chapati, which is a bit similar to Tindora/Kovakkai/Ivy gourd/Coccinia with small crispy balls (she was talking about the small seeds inside the vegetable). I realised that she is talking about parwal and the I bought some the next time I went to buy vegetables. Neha loved it a lot and since then I buy it whenever I see them and make this stir fry for her which she enjoys in her lunch box along with phulkas. The sale girls in the shop even asked me “Mam, what do you make with these? How does it taste? etc” I explained to them that I simply stir fry it and that my daughter likes it a lot 🙂 So, here is a simple recipe.. I am sorry for a very poor picture of the sabzi. Didn’t get much time to click a better one in the morning rush. Will upload a better picture next time I make these. Now comes the simple recipe….
Ingredients:
- Parwal 250 gm
- Onion 1 medium
- Salt to taste
- Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
- Chilli powder 1 tsp
- Curry leaves 2 sprigs
- Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
- Refined oil 1-2 tsbp
Method:
- Scrape the skin of the parwal and wash them well. Cut it open and discard the big seeds. You can retain the smaller tender seeds, they taste yum after fried. Cut it into long pieces.
- Slice the onion and keep it ready.
- Heat oil in a heavy iron kadhai and add the mustard seeds.
- When the mustard seeds splutter, add the onion and curry leaves and saute well.
- Add the parwal pieces, salt, tumeric powder and chilli powder.
- Stir well and cover the kadhai with a lid and cook on low flame till the vegetable is cooked well.
- Open the lid and stir fry it till it becomes crispy.
- Serve it with hot phulkas and enjoy.
