Karela Subzi with Kalonji
केल्याने देशाटन, पंडित मैत्री, सभेत संचार, मनुजा चातुर्य येत असे.
Wisdom comes from worldwide travels, association
with scholars and proximity of peers.
The last 18 months have been one long tour of
the world through food, photos and friends on Facebook. I have reconnected with
long lost friends and family, learnt and laughed with and also found new
buddies. Actively interacting with hundreds
of likeminded people in dozens of groups, I have nurtured interests ranging from
culinary arts, comedy, to classical music.
And that’s what this Marathi maxim is all
about.
Facebook has become almost a whole-of-life
experience for so many. The food groups on Facebook in particular have been a
fun-n-learn experience. We read and try out so many new recipes. It’s good to feel
validated when others cook like us or like what we cook. We learn so much about
ingredients and processes and exchange notes and tips. We give in to the
juggernauts; the fad Chinese tangzhong bread or the laadi pav that sees a
groundswell, or the epidemic of idlis that smites the pages.
Such inspiration and impetus, chatting and
plotting, lauding and ribbing…
I joined a Facebook food group on impulse,
without receiving any caveat that I would be hooked for life. In the beginning,
I only saw updates on my newsfeed, and contributed my two cents once or twice.
But I was largely at the receiving end.
Once I recovered from my disdain of mustard
oil (and how much of it!) and got used to discounting and re-calibrating the
10-15 green chillies, a tablespoon of Kuti Lal, plus a few dried red chillies
in the recipe, I began this tryst and trials with new tastes, textures and techniques.
How else would I have learnt about how
timur (a Himalayan cousin of the Szechuan pepper) tingles the tongue! Would I
have dared boil a can of condensed milk in water for over 2 hours for the Dulce
De Leche, or bake a Chrissy cake for 4 hours without fear of setting off the
sprinklers in the apartment! And the knowledge geek in me was hugely happy to
discover that Banarasi kalonji baingan gets its name courtesy the masala with
the five-spice tempering called panch- foran, and not just the one, the kalonji!
The dish I am presenting today was inspired
by my friend Atul Sikand, progenitor of
the phenomenal Facebook group (yes, the first one I joined) Sikandalous
Cuisine. Atul had made a Bharwan Karela (stuffed bitter melon) with kalonji
(nigella) seeds. I had never really had known the use of kalonji, having eaten
the fragrant black seeds only on occasional peshawari naans, and maybe a dish
here and there previously.
The unassuming little black seed takes the
dish to new heights of savouriness with the perfect blend of bitter, sweet,
salty, sour and the onion like taste lends the umami – and activates the
10,000 odd taste buds on your tongue in the process -indeed a whole-of-life
experience in itself!
I would say wisdom comes from worldwide travels, association with scholars and proximity of peers... and karela subzi with kalonji.
Karela Kalonji Sabji
Ingredients
2 cups of karela, seeds removed if they are
hard and cut into an inch squares (the karelas in Oz are not very bitter at
all, so I don’t remove its juice…)
½ cup chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon tamarind paste or amchur powder
or lemon juice as per taste
1 teaspoon kalonji seeds
1 tablespoon gur (or more)
1 teaspoon chilly powder (or more)
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
½ teaspoon turmeric
A pinch of hing
2 tablespoons oil (or more)
Salt to taste
Method
Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds
to splutter. Add turmeric and hing the sliced karela and sauté for a few
minutes until tender. Add the spice powders, chilly powder and the kalonji
seeds. Add a little water and cover and cook until almost cooked. Now add the
tomatoes and cook further till they become soft and saucy and add gur,
tamarind/amchur/lemon juice, salt to taste and cook until all the tastes come
together.
Switch off the heat and serve hot. This
subzi dish goes well with rice or rotis/jowar rotis or phulkas. Tastes better the
next day when all the flavours deepen!
Great Blog!! Karela is really good for health. Your thought processing is wonderful. The way you tell the thing is awesome.
ReplyDeleteherbalhills