Round Gourd with Potato in Chili Flakes

This time it’s another veggie meal. I have posted before some recipes about round gourd or what we call in tagalog as Upo. This dish that I wanted to share with you is from India since it needs to include some spices like chili, mustard seed and cumin powder. It is just easy to prepare especially if you’re in a quick mode to prepare a meal for lunch or for dinner.

Round Gourd with Potatoes in Chili Flakes, garnished with fresh coriander


I have never eaten round gourd with potatoes before. It was my first time to try this recipe and for me, it is just fine since it does not complicate the taste. Round gourd is watery unlike potatoes; it absorbs water so I guess these two veggies are good to combine. You can’t go wrong with it if you wanted to sauté it with fried fish for this meal. But since I don’t have fish in stock, I did not include any but still it taste great so without further due, here is the recipe for cooking Round gourd with potato in Chili flakes.

Ingredients:

Round gourd (cut into bigger chunks)
Potato (1 medium size and cut into quarter size)
Onion (chopped)
Mustard seeds
Cumin powder
Ginger-garlic paste
Tomatoes (medium size, chopped)
Turmeric powder
Curry leaves (5-6 pieces)
Fresh coriander leaves (for garnishing)
Salt
Water
Chili powder
Chili flakes
Vegetable oil

Preparation/ Methods on Cooking Round Gourd with Potato in Chili Flakes:

Step 1: On a pan heat oil and put the mustard seed. Once it crackles you can now put half a teaspoon of cumin powder.

Step 2: Next you need to put the onions and put salt into it so that it can easily fry. After this you can now put a pinch of turmeric powder and one teaspoon of ginger-garlic paste. Stir well so that it won’t stick at the bottom of the pan. When your onion is already light brown in color, you can now put your chopped tomatoes.

Step 3: If the tomatoes are already mashed a bit, you can now add your curry leaves and half a teaspoon of chili powder. After this you can now put the round gourd and potatoes together and stir it carefully so that the ingredients are all mixed well.

Step 4: Sprinkle some chili flakes as you add about one cup of water. Put the flame into medium heat and simmer the veggies for 2 minutes. Check the taste if it needs more salt. If the veggies are not yet done, wait for additional 4 minutes and don’t overcook your round gourd.


Step 5: Garnish with fresh coriander leaves to make it more appealing. You can also include fried fish for this recipe right after you simmer your round gourd and potatoes with water. Serve hot with rice and with any fried meat or fish. I do hope you enjoy and try this delightful meal.

Potol with Aloo

I have remaining potol (pointed gourd)and aloo (potatoes) in the ref so it was just timely to cook this recipe. I do have researched some recipes concerning this one but I cannot do it since the ingredients calls for some spices that I do not have. Luckily there was this recipe posted by a lady from the south that she delighted to share this dish. The only ingredient I lack was sesame seeds which she added. Anyway no big deal for that one since the rest of the ingredients I have here and I would also like to share to you.

Potol with Aloo (Pointed gourd with potatoes)



By the way if you would ask me where in the world can you buy pointed gourd or potol or parwal, it’s in every sidewalk market of India. I haven’t seen this veggie in Philippines yet, even if I try to visit bigger groceries and malls, they don’t sell such. So just in case you would like to try this recipe, I suggest you can also check an Indian store for this one, who knows they might have it. Here are the ingredients on how to prepare Potol with Aloo masala.

Ingredients:

Potol (pointed gourd) 5-6 pieces
Aloo or potatoes (one medium size)
Onion (medium size)
2 cloves of Garlic
Rai or mustard seeds (one teaspoon)
Jeera or cumin seeds (one teaspoon)
Lemon juice
Coriander powder
Red chili powder
Green chilies (slit)
Salt
Ground black pepper
Sesame seeds (optional)
Turmeric powder (a pinch only)
Ginger-garlic paste (one tbsp.)
Coriander leaves (for garnishing)
Cooking Oil
Water


Method/ Preparation on how to Cook Potol with Aloo:

Step 1: Scrape off the potol by scrubbing it with a knife. This removes the outer skin of the veggie. Cut it into halves and then slice it vertically. You can remove the seeds if you think it is too hard or if the potol you bought was already old.

Step 2: On a pan heat the oil, and then sprinkle the mustard seeds. If it crackles, then it’s time to put the jeera or cumin seeds. After this you need to put the onions and sauté them. Once the onions turned light brown, you need to put turmeric powder and then your ginger-garlic paste.

Step 3: Next step will be the coriander powder and chili powder. If you have put these powders be sure to put a few drops of water so that you don’t get to burn the powders. After this you can now put the potol veggies and simmer it to two minutes.

Step 4: Put the flame into medium to slow heat and then add your aloo or potatoes. You can now add some salt and black ground pepper to taste and add some more water to keep the potatoes softer as you cook it. Cover the pan and cook the veggies till it gets tender. Garnish it with fresh coriander leaves. If you happen to add some sesame seeds into this dish, you can add it once you have put your potatoes.

Spicy Aloo Bhindi Recipe

Aloo means potato and Bhindi means okra in Hindi. These two are always present in every Indian dish since most of the people here are vegetarians and they have a lot of recipes concerning these two wonderful veggies. I know some people don’t like to eat okra because it is too slimy. But potatoes will always be a natural favorite since it is one of the easiest to prepare and you can do a lot of great recipes using potatoes.

Spicy Aloo Bhindi Recipe




Spicy Aloo and Bhindi is one of which I favored to eat because it captures the taste of the masala you use. It is also easy to prepare as long as you have the ingredients like spices at home. Well you can visit any Indian stores in your place to look for this spices that I am going to share in this recipe. Here is the instruction of how to cook Spicy Aloo Bhindi recipe:

Ingredients:

1 large Aloo (potatoes)- Chopped into smaller cubes
¼ kilo of bhindi or okra- cut into small rings
1 medium size onion
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
Turmeric
Ginger-garlic paste
Salt
red Chili powder
Coriander powder
Jeera or cumin powder
2 green chilies (cut into small rings)
Hing or asoefetida
Coriander leaves (fresh)
oil

Preparations/ Methods on How to cook Spicy Aloo Bhindi Recipe:

Step 1: Heat oil in pan and put jeera powder, hing and then garlic. Once it is light brown you can now add the chopped onions and green chilies. Put salt in your onion so that it can be cooked easily. Once the onion is golden brown you can now add your turmeric and then put ginger garlic paste.

Step 2: Next you need to put the coriander powder and red chili powder and put 1tbsp of water so that your powder would not be burnt in taste. Then you can now put the chopped aloo or potatoes and add some more tbsp. of water and simmer it for 10-12 minutes. Once your potatoes are half cooked, you can add the bhindi or okra and cook it for another 5 to 8 minutes.

Step 3: If you think that it still lacks taste, just sprinkle salt into your potato and okra. Just don’t put a lot of water so that it will not get slimy and the taste of the masala will stick to your veggies. Keep the flame slow and I hope you just use a non-stick pan for this recipe since this dish is supposed to be dry and not saucy.

Jeera Aloo ( Cummin Potatoes )

I was thinking on what to prepare on our potatoes since we bought it last week and I don’t want to spoil it by just letting it sit there together with our remaining onions. Well I have found the best and one of the easiest ways to cook it and that is Jeera Aloo or Potatoes with Cummin seeds.
The scent of jeera or cumin in the kitchen was really awesome whenever you try this recipe. The taste is also delicious and what I like is that I don’t have to sweat to prepare this meal since it is just simple and does not need a lot of ingredients. If you just have your spices at home, then this will be perfect for your potatoes. Here is the instruction on how to prepare Jeera Aloo recipe:
Delicious Jeera Aloo Recipe



Ingredients:
Medium size potatoes (boiled and cut into bigger cubes)

Boiled Potatoes
jeera seed
jeera powder
coriander powder
masala powder
turmeric
curry leaves ( 5 pcs. )
green chili (what I used was bird’s eye chili)
coriander leaves
salt (to taste)
vegetable oil

Procedure / Methods on how to cook Jeera Aloo :

As I have said boil the potatoes first and slice it into bigger cubes. After this set it aside and heat up a pan and put oil. Once your oil is hot, you can now put your jeera seeds, one teaspoon will be enough but if you have more than 3 big pieces of potatoes, then you can add more of your jeera seeds.

Garnish Jeera Aloo with Coriander leaves


Once your jeera seeds started to crackle, then put some of curry leaves and chopped green chili, and then followed by the following powders like jeera powder, coriander powder, a little bit of masala powder and turmeric. Don’t burn the powder so stir it well and put the potatoes. Be sure that the flame was put into slow flame only and stir the ingredients to blend well with your potatoes. Cover the pan and simmer for 2 minutes and now you can garnish it with coriander leaves or cilantro. Just taste your potatoes if you needed to put more salt, then just add. Hope you enjoy this dish.