Patoler Malaikari (Parwal in coconut milk)

I am grateful to the viewers of my blog. My friends are liking my blog more and more. They are getting tempted by my recipes and attempting those too. As I have told earlier, I am not at all a professional cook. Cooking is my passion and I love to treat everybody with food directly from my own kitchen. Thus, when I see that somebody else is getting motivated by my cooking… I feel myself on the cloud 9 !!! And what is most encouraging is that they are making their special requests to me !!!! Like one of my old buddies, Moumita has requested me for vegetarian recipes.

I apologize my friends… the recipes which I posted here are mostly non-vegetarian. But I am a fan of veg dishes also. After marriage, it was like a challenge to me to serve my husband some vegetables. But now, even my mother-in-law can’t believe her own eyes how he relishes all the vegetables in his plate !!

So here is a veg. recipe…. Patoler Malaikari (Parwal cooked in coconut milk gravy). It is with very simple ingredients…. but it tastes really great. Moreover, it is not a very common recipe so you can surprise your guests with this. And it is a veg substitute for a very famous Bengali Recipe, viz. Prawn Malai Curry (Chingri machher malaikari). So, let’s have a look at this unique and tasty recipe J

 

Preparation Time – 10 mins, Cooking Time – 20 mins, Serving – 4

Ingredients:

1. Pointed gourd (Parwal or pôţol in Bengali) –  8-10 pcs
2. Ginger paste – 1 ½  Tsp
3. Garlic paste-  1Tsp
4. Onion Paste – 1 ½ Tbsp
5. Whole Garam Masala (green cardamom, clove, cinnamon) – 2-3 each
6. Turmeric powder – ½ Tsp
7. Red Chilli Powder – 1 Tsp
8. Green chilli - 2 (slit lengthwise)
9. Tomato puree – 2 Tbsp
10. Coconut Milk – ½ cup (Thick milk)
11. Salt – to taste
12. Sugar – 1 ½ Tsp
13. Oil – as required

Method:

First, peel the parwal (not completely, keep some of it’s skin onto it. Normally we do it like this - peel off the skin lengthwise for a 5 mm width. Then leave the skin for a 3 mm width. And continue).

Cut each parwal into half lengthwise.

Heat some oil in a pan. Add the halved parwals and sauté until golden both side. Don’t overfry them.

Remove from the pan and keep aside.

In the remaining oil in the pan, add the whole garam masala. When aroma comes, add garlic and onion paste. Fry till golden brown.

Add ginger paste, tomato puree, turmeric, red chilli powder, salt and sugar. Add a little amount of water if required. Cook the spices well till the raw smell is gone.

After that, add the coconut milk. Add the fried parwals. At this stage, you can add water a little as per your required thickness of the gravy. (But remember, it tastes better in thick gravy. So don’t add too much of water, considering parwals get cooked very quickly, so not much water will evaporate during the cooking.)

Cover the pan and bring it to boil. When the parwals are cooked properly, remove them from heat.

Serve it with hot steamed rice. 

Will anybody say now he hates parwal ????? 

Note:

If you want to make it completely veg, i.e, without onion and garlic, don’t worry. In that case, after frying the parwals, add a little amount of ghee with the remaining oil. And your tadka (foron) in this case will be whole cumin seed and whole garam masala (believe me, this combination gives you a terrific aroma, goes very well in veg recipes). The rest of the process is same. You can add a pinch of garam masala powder at the end.