Cooking Simplified is Fun!!!

Video Recipe - వీడియో రెసిపీ

Ingredients:

• Sponge Gourd – 640gms

• Tomatoes – 640gms

• Green Chillies – 12

• Red Chillies – 3

• Fenugreek Seeds – 1/8tsp

• Black Gram – 2tsps

• Mustard Seeds – 1/2tsp

• Salt – To Taste (2 1/2tsps—Divided)

• Turmeric Powder – 1/4tsp (Divided)

• Tamarind – Small Piece {If Tomatoes Are Sour Then Avoid It}

• Asafoetida – 1/Of 1/8rtsp

• Oil – 4Tbsps (Take 3Tbsps In One Part And 1Tbsp In Another Part)

• Chopped Coriander Leaves – 2Tbsps

Preparations:

Take water in a bowl and add sponge gourds into the water. Wash gourds well rubbing between fingers. Take a gourd and cut in the centre horizontally. Similarly cut all gourds into two pieces. Take water in a bowl and add tomatoes and wash them well. Take a V-slicer and hold it in a plate in slant position. Take a gourd piece and shred using the V-slicer. Use the CAP that comes with V-slicer to protect fingers when the gourd which is being shredded reaches the end. Similarly shred all the gourd pieces and take them into a bowl. Take a tomato and fix it to the CAP of V-slicer and shred into pieces. Similarly shred all tomatoes and take them into a bowl. Wash green chillies and chop them into pieces and take them into a plate. Break red chillies into pieces and take them into a plate. Wash coriander and pat dry with a kitchen towel and finely chop. Take the chopped coriander into a plate and keep aside.

Method:

Take a bowl and place a sieve in it and keep it nearby. To make the chutney, here I am using a brass vessel. Brass contains copper and zinc. When we cook in brass vessel, food gets benefits from copper and zinc. So instead of taking zinc tablets to regain zinc in body, it is advisable to cook food in brass vessel so that zinc gets leeched into the food.

Heat the brass vessel and add 3Tbsps oil and heat oil. When oil is hot add fenugreek seeds followed by black gram and fry stirring the ingredients. When seeds start changing colour, add mustard seeds and fry till they splutter. Then add asafetida and green chilli pieces and fry stirring well. Green chillies when fried well in oil release flavor. When green chillies are slightly crisp in texture switch off the flame and add tamarind and red chilli pieces and mix well. The hot oil would be sufficient to soften tamarind and fry red chilli pieces. Transfer the fried seasoning into the sieve in the bowl. Oil gets collected into the bowl leaving the fried ingredients in the sieve. Transfer the fried ingredients to a mixie jar. Again heat the brass vessel and add the oil which is collected after draining the fried seasoning. Also add 1Tbsp of extra oil and heat oil. When oil is hot add gourd pieces and salt and turmeric powder and mix well. Salt helps in bringing out moisture from gourd pieces which helps in cooking them. Cover the vessel with lid and cook gourd pieces on high flame for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes stir the mixture and again cook covered on high flame for 3 more minutes. Observe that the gourd pieces are well cooked but to reduce the water content cook the mixture on high flame for 2 minutes without covering the vessel. Place the sieve in the bowl and transfer the cooked gourd mixture into it to separate liquid. Spread the cooked gourd pieces in a plate and cool. Place the brass vessel on stove and heat it. Add the tomato pieces, turmeric powder and salt and mix well. Cover the vessel and cook tomatoes on high flame for 3 minutes. Stir the mixture and again cook covered on high flame for 3 more minutes. Observe that tomatoes are fully cooked. To reduce the water content in the tomato mixture, cook on high flame for 2 minutes without covering with lid. Place the sieve in the bowl and transfer the tomato mixture into it and separate the liquid. Spread the cooked tomato pieces in a plate and cool.

Grind the ingredients in mixie jar. Add the liquid collected after cooking gourd pieces into the mixie jar and grind the seasoning. Transfer the ground mixture to a mixing bowl. Add some cooked gourd pieces into the mixie jar and grind coarsely using the PULSE button. Remember not to grind to fine paste as chutney tastes good when it has some texture. Transfer the ground mixture to mixing bowl and similarly grind the remaining gourd pieces. Now add cooked tomato pieces into the mixie jar and grind coarsely using the PULSE button and transfer the mixture to mixing bowl. Again take remaining tomato pieces into the mixie jar and add some liquid collected after draining cooked tomato mixture and grind coarsely. Transfer the ground mixture to the mixing bowl. Finally add the remaining tomato liquid into the mixie jar and grind so that the jar gets cleaned clearing the chutney inside it. Transfer the ground mixture to mixing bowl. Add some chopped coriander leaves to the ground mixture and mix well. Mix the chutney well to get flavorfully blended chutney.

Let us also see how to clean and maintain a brass vessel after using it for cooking dishes. After cooking rinse the brass vessel with water and add some dish soap powder and some citric acid and scrub well. Using the scrubber, scrub the vessel inside and outside also, to get the shine. Rinse the brass vessel well with water thoroughly to remove the soap. After rinsing the vessel wipe with a clean and dry cloth to remove moisture. Observe that the vessel shines as if it is a brand new piece.

When the chutney is mixed well, transfer it to a serving bowl and garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve the chutney with hot plain rice and ghee. One can also use this chutney as a dip with salad. Apply some chutney as spread on ghee toasted bread slices to have an amazing tasty toast. Make this chutney at home and enjoy the delicious taste.

Points To Observe:

• Do not peel the sponge gourds. Peels adds body to the chutney and fiber from this peel is also good for health.

• Cut vegetables into small pieces when making chutneys so that they cook fast. So only I have used a V-slicer to cut vegetables. Using a V-slicer, vegetables get chopped easily and evenly.

• Break green chilies into pieces so that they do not burst in oil. One can even make slits on green chilies and use them.

• Use tamarind only if tomatoes are not sour. Usually DESI tomatoes are sour---so if using them do not add tamarind.

• Use salt according to taste while cooking vegetables. Salt when added to vegetables while cooking oozes out moisture from the vegetables which helps them cook fast.

• Fry green chili pieces well in oil till they turn slightly crisp so that they release flavor without tasting hot and spicy.

• Red chilli pieces when fried in heating oil may turn dark in colour. So switch off the flame once green chilli pieces are fried well and then add tamarind and red chilli pieces. The hot oil also softens the tamarind.

• It is advisable to transfer the seasoning into a sieve immediately after frying so that it would be easy to separate grains from oil without changing the grains to dark colour.

• Gourd and tomatoes both have lot of water in them so cook them on high flame only to reduce the water content. But keep a watch while cooking on high flame as it may burn at the bottom of the pan.

• To ease the process of separating juice from the cooked vegetables, just add the entire mixture into a sieve with bowl underneath to collect juice. Similarly one can separate oil from seasoning by adding it to a strainer.

• It is important to separate juices so that one can avoid splatters while grinding mixture. Also when mixture is ground with juices then there is a chance of the mixture turning into a smooth paste. Chutney tastes good when there is a slight texture, so do not grind to a smooth paste.

• This chutney can also be made replacing sponge gourds with ridge gourds and it also tastes excellent though taste differs slightly.

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