Banana delight

After a hot, spicy meal, my family likes to have a sweet dish to call it a day. They love ice cream and in summer have more than enough of it, day in and day out. But in winter, I like to serve ice cream with a warm element. Like hot, baked fruit. And what better fruit to bake in a jiffy, than the ubiquitous banana! It's a very easy dessert to put together and my family loves the hot-cold, sweet combination. It is a saviour when there are unexpected guests and there is no pudding in store!

Serves 4
Preparation and cooking time : 10 to 15 minutes
Ingredients

1. Firm and ripe bananas - 4
2. Sugar - 4 teaspoons
3. Butter or ghee - 2 tablespoons
4. Cinnamon powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees.

2. Peel and halve each banana lengthwise.

3. Smear the banana halves with some butter or ghee.

4. Smear the baking tin with the rest of the butter or ghee.

5. Place the banana halves on the buttered tin with the cut sides facing up.

6. Sprinkle the sugar and the cinnamon powder on the bananas.

7. Bake till the sugar caramelizes and the bananas look cooked. It will take about 10 to 12 minutes. The bananas should have a golden brown colour.

8. Take out and serve the hot baked bananas with a scoop of ice cream immediately.

Tips

Any variety of normal-sized, firm, ripe  banana that is easily available, may be used. Avoid the small varieties for this recipe.

While removing from the baking tin, it does not matter if the fruit breaks.

Cinnamon powder can be substituted with cardamom powder or a tiny tiny  bit of orange or lime zest, if you like the citrus zing.

I like to serve it with plain vanilla ice cream, though any mild flavour that you like would probably do.

Other toppings like toasted nut bits or chocolate syrup may be used, but I prefer it plain or with ice cream.

Keep the dessert plates ready, as this dish is best served quickly.

Kerala meat cutlets or minced meat croquettes 

Cutlets, especially the non-vegetarian variety, have a great fan following in our home. Whenever there is "kheema" or minced meat in the house, the first request is always for cutlets. If there are green peas ("mutter") at home, then there is a toss up between "kheema mutter" and the cutlets.  Anyway, my family loves cutlets at any meal, so I make the mix and stock it in the fridge for quick use. I find that having a greater amount of mashed potato in the mix, makes for a smoother cutlet. The covering is crisp, but the inside is not so full of meat or chunky. That is something my family enjoys....a non-stringy, easily eaten patty. This is achieved by increasing the quantity of potato and using mince made with lean meat and no gristle.  Most other recipes have a much greater meat to potato ratio than that I do, but since my recipe meets with my family's continued unstinting approval, I like to make the cutlets this way, and I have found many others prefer them too. This is what I do.

Makes about 8 medium sized cutlets
Preparation and cooking time: 45 minutes to 1 hour

Ingredients

1. Meat mince (raw) - 1 cup
2. Potatoes (boiled and mashed) - 1 1/2 cups

Items 3 to 8 measured after chopping very fine:

3. Onions   -  2  teaspoons
4. Ginger   - 1 teaspoon
5. Garlic   - 1/2 teaspoon
6. Green chillies  - 1/2 teaspoon
7. Fresh coriander leaves - 1 tablespoon
8. Curry leaves - 1 tablespoon


9. Fresh bread crumbs - a little more than 1 cup
10. Pepper powder - 1/2 teaspoon or according to taste
11. Red chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon or according to taste
12. Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
13. Garam masala powder - 1/2 teaspoon
14. Egg white beaten - 1 or 2
15. Salt to taste
16. Oil for tempering and deep frying 

Method

1. Wash the mince in a wire mesh strainer under running water. Let it drain for 5 minutes or so. Transfer to a thick-bottomed vessel and add item no.s 10, 11, 12, 13  and 15. Add 3/4 cup of water, if it is mutton mince. Stir well so that the spices reach all parts of the mince. Cook till the mince is totally dry.  No need to pressure cook. Turn off heat and leave the mince to cool in a large platter.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pan and brown item nos. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8. This need not be crisp. Add this to the mince in the platter.

3. Add the well mashed potatoes and chopped coriander to the above.

4. Adjust the seasoning and knead well.

5. Divide the mix into balls. Roll in beaten egg white and then bread crumbs. Makes about 8 balls.

6. Pour enough oil in a hot wok for deep frying. Let oil become quite hot, but not smoking hot.

7. When the oil is ready, take a mince-potato ball and flatten it a bit and slide it on the inside of the wok into the hot oil. Repeat with more mince-potato balls, making sure the oil is still quite hot and not crowded. The hot oil should reach above the cutlets, otherwise the cutlets could break. Turn over gently,  and remove each cutlet from oil when well browned and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper.

8. Serve hot with tomato sauce or just plain as a side dish. Enjoy!

Tips

The preferred meat used for these cutlets, in Kerala, is beef. Mutton/goat meat mince is a personal preference in our home here. If you are using beef mince, there is no need to add any water before cooking in step 1 as beef releases a lot of water and this needs to be boiled away to make it very dry.

Boneless beef cubes can be used for this recipe. Wash and drain and pressure cook as per step 1, without any added water. When its dry and cooled, mince in batches, in a dry grinder to get fine shreds of cooked beef mince. (You can mince this as fine or as chunky as you wish.) The recipe can be taken forward from step 2 onwards. (For this recipe, take 1 cup of raw beef cubes.)


I like to add one more step to this recipe to improve the flavour. My family loves these cutlets a bit more spicy. So, I take 1/2 tsp of black peppercorns, a 1/2 " piece of raw ginger, a couple of green cardamoms (whole),  1 whole clove, 1/2'' of cinnamon and fresh curry leaves from 3 sprigs and dry grind it with half a slice of bread. You will get a very fragrant bread crumb mix.  Add this at step 3. The added flavour is quite nice.

While flattening the mince-potato balls, make sure cracks are sealed back into shape.

It is important that the cutlets are fairly well immersed in the hot oil while frying. Hot oil seals the cutlets from all sides and there is less chance of them breaking and flooding the oil.

These cutlets can also be shallow fried, but then the sides remain pale. They can also be baked after brushing with oil, in a medium oven till brown. A lot of cutlets can be made ready at the same time without  much oil and standing near a hot stove.

Fresh bread crumbs are made by whizzing a few slices of (any) bread in a dry grinder for a few seconds. The remaining crumbs can be stored in the freezer.

I prepare cutlet mix from at least 6 or 7 cups of meat. All will not be used right away. So, I store the remaining mix in the fridge and use it over the next 2 to 3 days. I like the convenience.

Usually, the ratio between meat and potatoes is 2 cups of meat to about 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes.

This is an excellent recipe for hors d'oeuvres.  The cutlets can be smaller and served with a dipping sauce.

Important - It is imperative to follow some safety precautions while deep frying. I avoid dropping  the cutlets into the hot oil. Instead, these are slid down the sides of the wok into the oil or else placed gently into the oil to avoid a hot oil splash. 

Simplest Tomato "Rasam"

Simplest tomato rasam

"Rasam" is usually made with the stock of split red gram or "toovar dal" and some tomatoes, tamarind water or lime juice and easily available herbs and condiments like coraiander seeds, its leaves and garlic. There are many more types of rasam which are made by different communities but here I have a simple recipe to make this fragrant soup-like thin sauce that is a staple of South Indian cuisine. I have not used any gram or lentils or any rasam powder as is done usually, nevertheless, this "rasam" is appetising and aromatic. The recipe was suggested to me by my South Indian help when I wanted some "rasam" done in a jiffy.

Serves 3 to 4 persons
Preparation and cooking time : 20 to 30 minutes

Ingredients

1. Tomatoes - 1 very large or 2 medium
2. Unpeeled garlic - 6 flakes
3. Green chillies - at least 2 (medium sized) or according to taste
4. Cumin seeds (jeera) - 1/2 tsp
5. Black pepper - 1/2tsp whole corns or 3/4 tsp coarse powder
6. Asafoetida (hing powder) - 1/4 tsp
7. Dried red chillies - 2 or 3 (each torn in two)
8. Tamarind (imli) - 1/2 lime sized ball (soaked in water to yield 2 1/2 cups of watery pulp)
9. Turmeric powder (haldi) - a small pinch
10. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
11. Curry leaves - 1 sprig
12. Fresh coriander leaves (dhania leaves) - 2 tblsp freshly chopped
13. Salt to taste
14. Vegetable oil - 2 tsp

Method

1. Take items 2, 3, 4 and 5. Pound very well in a mortar or give it a spin in a clean coffee grinder (without water). The mixture should be coarse.
2. Warm 1 tsp oil and fry this mix till it starts giving out a nice aroma. Do not cook further. Nothing should be browned.
3. Take the tomato/es and crush and squeeze well by hand or give it a short spin in a mixie (without water) to make a coarse, chunky mix. Transfer to a vessel. Add the fried spice mix to this crushed tomato.
4. Add items 8, 9, 12 and 13 to the tomato mix.
5. Heat 1 tsp oil and temper the mustard seeds, hing, red chillies and lastly the curry leaves. The curry leaves need to be very lightly fried only. Add to the tomato mix.
6. Give the whole thing only a light boil. When it begins frothing up, turn off the heat, immediately. This "rasam" loses flavour if boiled any further.
7. Serve hot with rice.
8. Or strain and serve warm as a soup.

Rasam starting to froth up (step 6)

Tips

If you want, a 1/2 cup of boiled "toovar" dal stock may be added to improve the flavour, at step 5, before you boil the "rasam".


It is better to make just enough "rasam" for one meal.


A 1/2 cup of chicken stock may be added at step 5 if using as a non-vegetarian soup.


I like to prepare the "rasam" till step 5 and store the mix in the fridge. Then, when its lunch time, I do step 6 after giving the whole thing a nice stir. Fresh "rasam" is ready without having a lot of cleaning up remaining at lunch time.

Steaming hot strained rasam

I serve "rasam" when anyone at home has a running nose or cold. My family likes having it during the rains and winter.

"Methi Paranthas" or Fenugreek Leaves Bread

Methi paranthas with yoghurt

Time was when we were newly married. It was winter in Baroda and having come from Kerala where it was blazing hot, the cool climes were a treat! It was not uncomfortably cold....we could keep all the windows open to let the breeze and sunshine come in during the daytime. Winter in Baroda, I discovered, meant having certain seasonal vegetables in abundance, unlike Kerala where most veggies were available more or less all year round. The star attractions of the week were tender fenugreek leaves or "methi" and green garlic. Since I did not know what to even think when confronted with these two leafy things, I left the menu of the day to my knowledgeable sister-in-law, Jenny. She came to my rescue and I got to see, help cook and eat one of the yummiest Indian breads ever! Suffice to say that, I became a fan of this without any delay. This is how I make "methi paranthas".

Makes 12 to 14 paranthas depending on size
Preparation and cooking time : 35 to 45 minutes

Ingredients

1. "Methi" or fenugreek leaves cleaned and chopped finely - 1 cup
2. "Atta" or wole wheat powder - 2 cup
3. Curds - 2 tablespoons
4. Green garlic with leaves chopped finely - 1 tablespoon
5. Ginger chopped - 1 teaspoon
6. Spring onions chopped finely - 1 tablespoon
7. Green chillies chopped
8. Turmeric powder - a pinch
9. "Ajwain" or carom seeds - a pinch
10. Salt to taste
11. Water as needed
12. Oil or ghee for shallow frying

Method

1. First, the "methi" has to be prepared. "Methi" is sold in bunches and you have to handle each little plant separately. The two leaves nearest the roots are never taken and only the rest of the leaves are pinched off the stem. If the stem is tender, then the stem can also be used. Take a handful of leaves that you have pinched off and wash very well in 3 or 4 changes of water. Let drain. Take the drained leaves and holding as a bunch, chop as finely as you can. This should make at least a cup of chopped "methi".
2. Grind items 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 without water. It is ok if it is a bit coarsely ground.
3. In a large "thali" or plate where you can knead the "atta", place items 2, 8, 9 and 10. Mix without water.
4. Add the "methi" and the ground paste. Mix very well. Add a teaspoon of ghee or oil to the mix. Knead thoroughly. You will find that the ingredients come together easily. If its still powdery or dry, add water only in drops and knead well.
5. Place the "tawa" on the flame.
6. Make 12 to 14 balls of the dough. Quickly (this is important), roll out the "paranthas" (dusting with "atta") and shallow fry using oil or ghee on the "tawa", till there are reddish spots on both sides.
7. Serve hot with a dollop of home-made butter or some curds and pickle. There is no need for a side dish for this "parantha".

Washed and drained methi leaves

Tips

"Methi" leaves release a lot of water and the dough becomes increasingly wetter as it remains. So, we need not add too much water to bind the atta and other ingredients, unless the mix is quite dry. It is better to add water in drops. So, I like to make only as much dough as I need for one time.

"Besan" or chickpea flour can be added to the atta mix if you like. For 1 cup "atta", add 1 tablespoon "besan" in step 3.

These are very good to be used in lunch boxes or to be taken on picnics. I am told, these were favoured as food to be taken on long journeys in earlier days. May be the "paranthas" were drier or had other ingredients also, then.

These can be stored in the fridge for a day or so and reheated on a "tawa" to refresh.

I like to have it rolled up with a cup of hot, sweet "masala chai"....bliss.

Mutton Fry

Mutton fry

A dish that just happened when I had to make something for potluck to take to a friend's place. My husband wanted mutton, but in all my life, we have only had gravy based mutton dishes or "biryani", and so out of necessity this dry dish was sort of put together as we were already running late that evening. It is very simple and quick. Thereafter, whenever I have made this, its one of the first things on the table to get over......which to me is a huge compliment. Needs only a simple "raita" and some warm "rotis" (Indian bread) to go with it. A useful recipe to have in one's kitty.

Serves 6 to 8 persons
Preparation and cooking time: about 40 minutes

Ingredients

1. Mutton* - 1kg
2. Green cardamom (whole) - 5
3. Cloves (whole) - 3
4. Cinnamon stick - 1"
5. Whole black pepper - 1 tablespoon
6. Star anise - 1
7. Aniseed - 1 teaspoon
8. Curry leaves washed - 2 handfuls
9. Salt to taste
10. Ginger chopped - 1 tablespoon
11. Garlic chopped - 1 tablespoon
12. Green chillies - 3
13. Coriander powder - 2 teaspoons
14. Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
15. Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
16. Onions sliced long - 1 cup
17. Oil - 2 tablespoons
18. Water
19. Chopped coriander leaves and lime wedges for garnish

Method

1. Wash and drain the mutton pieces.
2. Grind items 2 to 15 into a smooth paste using some water. It does not matter if the paste is watery.
3. Combine the mutton and the watery paste and boil for about 15 to 20 minutes. Add a little water if the mutton begins to stick to the vessel. You may pressure cook it, however, I boil this in a thick-bottomed vessel. Take off heat.
4. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok and add the sliced onions. Let them brown well.
5. Add the cooked mutton and all the gravy and cook till the mutton pieces are rather dry.
6. Serve hot with the chopped coriander leaves and lime wedges as garnish. Goes well with " rotis", "paranthas" or any sort of Indian bread. Needs only some "raita" or a green salad to complete the meal.

Tips

*Goat meat has been referred to as mutton.
The curry leaves give this recipe a nice, fresh flavour.
The amounts of chilli powder and pepper can be changed according to taste.
Chicken can be substituted for mutton in this recipe.
I sometimes use boneless mutton or chicken in this recipe to make spicy hors d'oeuvres.

"Meen vevichathu" or the Central Travancore style of fish in red gravy

Meen vevichathu

There are as many ways of preparing this simple, elegant and classic dish as there are Kerala Syrian Christian households. Some do this with whole spices and others use powdered "masalas", each one extolling the virtues of his or her method! The proportions of condiments vary with the taste preferences of the family and finally the type of fish used also depends on personal favourites. Kerala fish curries are cooked in a clay pot called the "meen chatti". And if a "meen chatti" is not available, not to fret...you can cook this in any thick bottomed cooking pot. It is said that the clay pot imparts a certain inexplicable yummy flavour which is missing in other vessels. All in all, a dish that could be the barometer of a cook's expertise. In the end, this is just simply a spectacular dish which will transport you to culinary heaven (if you can take the spices!). It is one Kerala dish which has no use of any grated coconut though the oil is used to give it a nice, complete sort of aroma! Here is one of the simpler versions I do that always gets me a compliment or two from my family and friends.

Serves 8 - 10 persons
Preparation and cooking time approx: 45 minutes to 1 hour

Ingredients

1. Seer fish (preferably) or any large variety of fish that has firm flesh - 1 kg
2. Fish tamarind or "meen pulli" - 4 large pieces
3. Kashmiri (mild) red chilli powder - 2 heaped teaspoons
4. Pungent red chilli powder - 1 heaped teaspoon
5. Roasted coriander powder - 1 heaped teaspoon
6. Turmeric powder - 3/4 teaspoon
7. Ginger chopped finely- 1 1/2 tablespoons
8. Garlic chopped finely - 2 tablespoons
9. Onions or shallots (madras onions) chopped finely - 2 tablespoons
10. Coconut oil or any mild flavoured vegetable oil - 3 tablespoons
11. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
12. Roasted fengreek powder - 1 tsp
13. Curry leaves (fresh) - a handful
14. Salt to taste
15. Water
16. Coconut oil - a teaspoon or so (optional)

Method

1. The fish has to be prepared first. It may be skinned if you like. Cut into medium to slightly larger pieces approximately 1 1/2" thick pieces. Wash thoroughly under running water and keep aside to drain in a colander.
2. Clean the fish tamarind thoroughly of all grit under running water and tear each large piece into 3 or 4 strips. Place all the 12 or so strips in the clay pot along with a few washed curry leaves. Add a teaspoon of salt and pour a cup of water so that the tamarind soaks for sometime. The meen chatti, thus prepared, is kept aside.
3. Take items numbered 3, 4, 5 and 6 and mix together in a 1/4 cup of water to get a thick semi-solid paste.
4. Heat a wok or frying pan on medium heat, pour the oil and then add the mustard seeds. (The "meen chatti" is a delicate vessel and replacing a broken one is easier said than done, so I normally do not fry the masalas in it to reduce the wear and tear on the pot bottom.) When the seeds splutter, add the chopped ginger and let it turn a light brown, then add the garlic bits and stir till the whole thing becomes a darker brown. The garlic needs to become brown mostly around the edges only. At this stage, add the chopped shallots or onions. When the onions become a deep brown without burning, add the semi-solid masala paste. Stir and fry this till you can see the oil surfacing around its sides. This could take 3 to 5 minutes on medium heat.
5. When the masala has begun releasing oil, tip all of it into the prepared clay pot. Rinse out the wok with half a cup of water and pour this water also into the "chatti". Add another 1 cup of water. Set the "chatti" on the stove and wait till the water and masalas come to a rolling boil.
6. When the gravy is boiling hard consistently, add the fish pieces, one by one, so that no two pieces are stuck to each other while cooking. As the fish is placed in the "chatti", the boil comes down to a simmer. Wait for the gravy to boil hard again. Add a few more curry leaves. You will find that the fish has released a lot of water. The fish curry should never be stirred around while or after cooking as fish is prone to breaking. Adjust salt and let the gravy thicken to your preference. The fish has to be boiled hard for at least 15 minutes to absorb some of the taste of the masala. A light simmer will not do as the fish will remain insipid and the gravy will be watery. (The gravy can be of thick pouring consistency.)
7. Towards the end of the cooking, add the roasted fenugreek powder. Let it cook for a few seconds after that and then turn the fire off. The "chatti" retains a geat amount of heat and you will see that the gravy is still boiling well even when it is off the stove. Sprinkle the remaining curry leaves and add a dash of raw coconut oil, do not stir at all. Keep the lid shut for about 10 minutes. Open the lid a little so that the steam does not condense inside. Keep for at least half an hour. Serve warm with rice, tapioca or even with "rotis" (Indian bread).

Tips

"Meen vevichathu" can be kept for a few days (if it doesn't get over!) as the flavour improves vastly with time. This can be kept in the fridge. While reheating, I like to take only the required amount of curry and fish pieces and zap it for a minute in the microwave before serving it.

It is better to use larger, fleshy fish rather than small varieties as the masala can work its way into the pieces without making a mash of the whole thing.

A "meen chatti" is a good thing to have in your pantry if you plan on doing Kerala fish curries more often. You can buy one from a Kerala store or from Kerala itself! You can tilt the chatti this way and that to move the fish pieces around during cooking.

Fish tamarind aka "meen pulli" is available in South Indian/Kerala stores everywhere. Or you can get them through somebody coming from Kerala. This stuff keeps for ages.

Fenugreek seeds aka "methi" seeds can be roasted and powdered. After cooling, this powder can be stored in a bottle for use in different dishes.

Kerala boiled rice goes very well with this curry.

The key to a good "meen vevichathu" is fresh ingredients. Freshly caught fish, freshly picked curry leaves, fresh coconut oil, fresh ginger, garlic and shallots make a huge difference to the end result. This difference is felt when one has this dish in the village and the flavours that you experience there are not something easily replicated in the city.

Dal and Green Mango Curry

Dal and Green Mango Curry

Tart, green mangoes available in summer uplift the rather bland dal to give it a nice tingly, refreshing twist. This recipe hardly takes any time, thus saving you from a lot of discomfort near a hot stove. Chana dal or moong dal can also be used in place of arhar dal in this recipe.

Preparation and cooking time : 30 minutes
Serves 4 persons

Ingredients

1. Red gram/Arhar Dal - 3/4 cup
2. Tart green mango - 1/2 cup (peeled and chopped medium sized pieces)
3. Onion - 1/2 cup (sliced)
4. Green chillies - 3 or 4 (slit)
5. Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
6. Curry leaves from 2 fresh sprigs
7. Oil - 1 to 2 tsp
8. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
9. Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
10. Salt - to taste
11. Water - 1 1/2 cups

Method

Dal, sliced green mango, onions, green chillies and curry leaves

Pick and wash the dal. Put dal, mango and onions with water in a pressure cooker. Cook for only 2 whistles, not any more. Add the turmeric and salt and boil again till it is a little more thick.** In a small kadai or tempering pan, heat the oil and add the mustard and cumin seeds. When the seeds splutter, add the green chillies and the curry leaves. Saute for 10 seconds and add the tempering to the dal. Stir the dal well and shut the vessel for a couple of minutes so that the flavours mingle well. Open and serve hot with rice or roti.

**For those who like coconut in their curries, it is to be noted that a paste, of 2 or 3 tablespoons of fresh grated coconut ground with a quarter teaspoon of cumin seeds and a green chilli or two, added to the boiling dal before tempering improves the flavour.

Bottle gourd "theeyal"

A "theeyal" is a dark brown, mildly spicy, roasted coconut masala based vegetable curry. Traditionally, the vegetables used are just a few handfuls of madras onions or shallots. There are many other versions made with different vegetables. There is the green drumstick and raw mango theeyal, the aubergine theeyal, the bitter gourd theeyal so on and so forth including the shrimp theeyal amongst the non vegetarian varieties too! The USP of this delicious curry is the combination of roasted coconut and tamarind pulp that brings out the delicate, appetising flavour and colour of the theeyal. The oil to be used is coconut oil, but if for any reason this is not possible, then any other oil could do.

Serves 4 to 6 persons
Cooking time : 1hr 10 minutes (including time to toast the coconut)

Ingredients

1. Bottle gourd/ghiya/lauki - 1 1/2 cups (peeled, seeded and cut in one inch long and quarter inch thick pieces).It should preferably be fresh and tender without any black or brown markings, then one need not peel or seed the bottle gourd at all, just top and tail it before cutting it up.
2. Large onion - 1, sliced (approx. 1/2 cup)

For the gravy or "masala"

3. Coconut (grated fresh) - 1 cup (or if using dessicated coconut then just 3/4 cup)
4. Cumin seeds (jeera)- 1/2 tsp
5. Coriander powder (raw) - 1 1/2tsp
6. Red chilli powder - 1 1/2tsp or less according to taste
7. Turmeric powder (haldi)- 1/2 tsp
8. Tamarind(imli)- a small lime-sized piece
9. Garlic - 1 clove (optional)
10. Shallots (madras onions) - 3 for tempering
11. Curry leaves - 2 fresh sprigs
12. Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
13. Roasted fenugreek powder - 1 tsp
14. Dried red chillies - 2
15. Oil - 1 1/2 dessertspoons (coconut oil, preferably)
16. Salt - to taste

Method

1. Combine the chopped bottle gourd and large onion with one tablespoon of water and a pinch of little salt. Cook in the pressure cooker for only one whistle, not any more.
2. Roast the coconut in a frying pan on low heat till it becomes a fragrant, deep brown, taking care not burn it black. Cool it for sometime and while its still a little warm, powder it in a dry grinder (like a coffee grinder). Let it remain in the grinder.
3. In the warm pan, put half a teaspoon of cumin and roast on very low heat. When the cumin releases its aroma, add one and a half teaspoons coriander powder (raw) and roast this also. When the coriander powder begins to turn a deeper brown, add the red chilli powder and keep stirring these around in the pan for a couple of minutes. Transfer these into the grinder and powder well.
4. A couple of whole shallots along with a clove of garlic may be slightly browned in a drop of oil and added to the powder in the grinder. Add a little water and grind the whole thing into a thick smooth pasty mass.
5. Meanwhile, take a small (lime-sized) piece of tamarind and soak it in warm water. Mash and squeeze out the pulp and add a little more water to repeat and get more pulp. It should make a half cup of fairly thick seedless brown liquid at least. The sourness of the theeyal depends mainly on this.
6. Add all the coconut masala paste and the tamarind pulp to the cooked bottle gourd, with half a teaspoon of turmeric powder. Adjust salt.  Bring to a rolling boil, and cook for a few minutes till the curry has reached the consistency that you want. Take off heat.**
7. While the curry boils, chop remaining shallots into roundels. Heat a dessertspoon of oil, add a quarter teaspoon of mustard seeds, let them pop, then add a couple of torn, dried red chillies to brown slightly, and only then add the onions. Brown the onions on medium to low heat to a nice crisp. Finally add the curry leaves to the hot oil, let them sizzle for a couple of seconds to release some aroma and pour the whole tempered mass into the hot, cooked curry. Add a teaspoon of roasted and powdered fenugreek. Give the curry a nice stir and close the pot tightly to let the flavours and aromas mingle. Serve warm. Can be had with plain rice or rotis.

Tips:

This is slow cooking, as the coconut takes a while to brown nicely without burning, but the effort is worth every bit. One can, of course, toast and powder more batches of coconut and spices (excluding the onions and garlic),cool to room temperature and store this masala powder in the freezer for later use. Then, whenever any sort of theeyal is to be made, you will have the powdered masala all ready at hand.(If you have roasted coriander powder at hand, use this without roasting in Step 3.)

**This theeyal has a thick sauce or gravy because my family loves to have this with rotis! (It really tastes very good with fresh phulkas or paranthas!) But the gravy needs to be a little thinner to eat with rice, so  a 3/4 cup of water can be added before step 6, to get a nice, pouring (but not too watery) consistency of sauce.