Sorakaya Kobbari Karam kura (Bottle gourd/ Lauki Coconut Curry)

It snowed the whole day today. Winter is going strong and is not tired even a little bit. But all of us have had enough and can't wait for some warm weather. The roads seemed treacherous today with the snow sticking to the ground and turning slushy, luckily we didn't have to go outside because the schools were closed and the husband worked from home.

Also, luckily I had the ingredients for today's curry already in the fridge and that's what we had a cozy lunch today. I watched this recipe on a Telugu cooking show recently and noted it down to try.

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Himachal Pradesh -- Auriya Kadoo (Pumpkin/ Butternut squash in Mustard sauce)

Blogging Marathon# 39 - Indian States: Day 10
State: Himachal Pradesh
Dish: Auriya Kadoo

Himachal Pradesh is a tsate in North India. It is famous for its scenic landscapes and aabundant natural beauty. The literal meaning of the state's name is In the lap of Himalayas. Himachal Pradesh is a multireligional, multicultural as well as multilingual state like other Indian states. Some of the most commonly spoken languages are Hindi, Punjabi, Pahari, Dogri etc., The state has both Hindu communities as well as tribal communities.

Cuisine: Day-to-day food of Himachal Pradesh is very similar to the rest of the North India. They have lentils, rice, vegetables and bread. Non-vegetarian food is preferred and the cuisine is dominated by red meat and wheat bread. Thick and rich gravy, with aromatic spices, is used in abundance as the base for many dishes.
Specialties: I was so happy to find thefoodfairy blog that has so many traditional dishes from Himachal Pradesh called the Pahari food. Pahari literally means mountains and since the author's family is mostly Pahari she has a wide array of little known Pahari food. This link has some very delicious looking dishes that hopefully, I can try in the near future.

Today's Dish: When I saw this recipe for pumpkin with mustard seeds, it sounded so much similar to an Andhra mustard based curry -- aava pettina kura. I wanted to give it a try to see how different or similar it would taste to what I'm used to. I have to say it tasted quite different since the spices used in both the curries are different, but I enjoyed this version as much I enjoy the Andhra version. It's spicy, tangy and very delicious. I used butternut squash instead of pumpkin since that is what I had in the pantry.

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Gujarati Lauki Muthiya (Doodhi Muthia)

Blogging Marathon# 37: Week 4/ Day2
Theme: Member's Choice
Dish: Gujarati Muthiya with Lauki (Bottle gourd)

For the second day of BM# 37 under member's choice theme I picked Gujarati Muthiya. This healthy & filling snack from Gujarat has been on my to-make list for quite some time. So when I saw it on the members choice list, I knew I had to try it for this week.
I wanted to make Palak (spinach) muthiya and mentioned it to my blogging friends. Vaishali came back saying that the traditional muthiyas are made with methi leaves (fenugreek) or lauki (bottle gourd) and all the other versions are not very authentic. So I changed my mind and made the lauki muthiyas.

'Muthi' means fist in Gujarati and the dish is named 'muthiya' because they are made into a cylindrical shape using the fist. They are first steamed and then pan fried until crisp. They are great when served hot as tea time snack.

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Sorakaya Thelagapindi Kura (Bottlegourd Curry)

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend. We are on our way to my cousin's place in Delaware for the weekend, so this is going to be a short post today.

I had a small piece of sorakaya (bottle gourd) in the fridge that needed to be used up before we left for the weekend and I also had thelaga pindi (powder made from sesame pulp after squeezing the oil) in the fridge. Luckily I remembered watching a cooking show where the chef  used both the ingredients in a curry and so that's what I made. Thelaga pindi can be used just like sesame seed powder to sprinkle on curries.

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Lau Bori (Bengali Bottlegord Curry with Vadi)

This is such a simple dish and can be whipped up in less than 30 minutes. After trying all these Bengali recipes here is my high level summary: most of the vegetarian curries (that I tried) do not have onion or garlic and are tempered with spices like cinnamon stick and/ or bay leaf and seasoned with grated ginger Bengalis absolutely love their poppy seeds. Well this curry doesn’t include poppy seed action, but the other 2 points from my summary hold true. This is another recipe that I got from Sandeepa’s Bong cookbook and I followed the recipe to the T.

Ingredients:

Bottle gourd – 1 medium, peeled and chopped into ¼” pieces
Tomato – 2 medium, finely chopped
Ginger – 1 tsp, grated
Green chilies – 2-3
Ground Cumin – ½ tsp
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Moong dal vadi – ½ cup, fried until golden brown
Salt – to taste

For tempering:
Bay leaves – 2
Cinnamon stick – 1” piece
Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

Method:

• Heat 1tbsp oil in a sauté pan; add the tempering ingredients and once the seeds start to splutter, add the tomatoes and cook covered until they turn mushy.
• Add chopped bottle gourd and turmeric and sauté for 2 minutes.
• Next add ground cumin, red chili powder and salt.
• Cover and cook, stirring once in a while, until the veggie is completely cooked and the curry is dry, takes about 15 minutes.
• Crumble the fried vadi on top and serve with steamed rice.

Lets see what my fellow marathoners have been cooking up today.
Curry in a hurry under 30 min: Aarthi, Divya, Jayashree, Kaveri, Pavani,
Seven Days of Indian Sweets:Gayathri, Priya Suresh,
Seven Days of Microwave Meals: Monika,
Seven Days of Regional Specials:Harini, Vaishali, Suma, PJ
Seven Days of Colorful Dishes Kid's Special: Kalyani
Summer Coolers: Jayasree, Kamalika, Srivalli