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.

Fried Shrimp Masala

This is one of the easiest foods to prepare although the only thing that will just slow you down is when you clean it. I really don’t like removing shells and de-veiling it since it does sting me no matter how careful I am. But I was so hungry at that time so I have helped hubby in cleaning it. Hands do stink naturally after cleaning prawns or shrimps and you needed a good hands sanitizer and soap for this one. Anyway so much for complaining, what we just prepared for our shrimp is putting masala into it.

Fried Shrimp Masala


It consists of turmeric powder, red chili powder and salt. Marinate the shrimp for quite some time before frying it in a hot pan. You don’t need to put a lot of oil when frying shrimps. Just an ample amount of oil will do and shrimps will juice off water so expect that your pan will get watery before it drains and cooks well with that oil. Anyway as long as you don’t put the stove into high flame and you should really stir it well so that your shrimp will be cook well.

I do like to pair this recipe with any vegetable dish and curry. Just one reminder to all who eats shrimps or prawns, never ever take anything in between which is rich in Vit. C. You can eat that fruit which has vitamin C after an hour you consume prawns or shrimps. Why? It’s because our body will have a bad reaction producing arsenic in the body which can be fatal. So Shrimp + Vit. C = POISON. I don’t know if you may call it a fallacy, but better to take care of our health rather than to say this as a hoax.

Egg Curry

No options left since it is almost end of the week and hubby’s off will be by two more days so I won’t be able to go to the grocery to refill our food stock. What was just left in the fridge were dozens of eggs so he decided to cook me an egg curry for lunch.


Egg Curry for Lunch!



I was really not in the mood to cook since I have difficulty eating what I prepared so good thing hubby gets up earlier for a haircut and then cooked our food. I was just the one who boiled the eggs and prepared cutting the necessary ingredients like onions, garlic, preparing the masala, placing the remaining coconut milk and then the rest is for my dear to cook it.

At least it wasn’t that spicy hot unlike the mutton curry he prepared. Some egg curry would just include yogurt, but this one, we did not put any since we need to use the remaining coconut milk so that it won’t get spoiled. Now if you can see some seeds in there, they were mustard seeds and jeera or cumin seeds. The rest of the leafy parts would be the curry leaves and coriander leaves.

After boiling the egg for ten minutes remove the shell and cut the egg into half before frying. This will make the egg hard enough not to mush on the curry itself. But when you need to get the creamy part done, be sure you have included enough masala and coconut cream for the right taste. This means adding salt is up to you. By the way, hubby grinded the onions and green chili until they become like a paste to give more texture to the curry.

Some curry will be reddish in color due to red chili powder that was included although we didn’t put much and the turmeric gives more of the yellowish color which embeds the coconut milk. So the end result when cooked was that it turned yellowish. Egg curry is great to combine with papad, lentils or chana masala dish... Bon Appetit!