Chatela (Spiny Gourd) Masala/Curry

• Servings: 4-5
• Preparation time: 14-15 minutes.
• Cooking time: 23-25 minutes.
• Total time: 40 minutes.

Rain poring continuously days and nights in Mumbai since last month; we enjoyed the rainy weather a lot but rainy season brings seasonal illness and flu too. Food nutritionist says that we should eat seasonal vegetables and fruits as they have unique nutrition value to get rid of seasonal illnesses.

Among many monsoon vegetables available in the market Chatela (Spiny Gourd) is one of them come with amazing health benefits that protects from seasonal flu.

Momordica dioica, commonly known as Chatela/Kakora/Kantola (Spiny Gourd) is used as a vegetable in all regions of India. It is also popular vegetable in Bangladesh too.

My husband and I both love, so I try to cook the vegetables frequently as many days as it is available.

There are two varieties of Chatela; one is small, which is local produce, another is bigger  that is commercial produce. The taste of small one is far better than bigger. If we have choice we always go with local inspite of smaller is expensive than bigger.

I prepare many varieties of recipes from the vegetable; “Chatela (Spiny Gourd/ ) Masala/Curry” is the recipe for today…

Traditionally masala/curry made from onion and tomato gravy flavoured with some spices. In the recipe. I used pumpkin seed too. By adding pumpkin seeds, the recipe becomes  more nutritious and also provide omega 3 fatty acid.

Ingredients:

• Chatela (Spiny Gourd): 250 gm.
• Onion: 1no. (Medium size)
• Garlic: 3-4 clove
• Ginger: 1” piece
• Tomato: 2 no. (Medium)
• Salt: 1 teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder: 1/2 teaspoon
• Coriander powder: 1 tablespoon
• Red chilli: 1/2 teaspoon (as per Taste)
• Pumpkin Seed: 1 tablespoon
• Coriander leaf; 1 tablespoon
• Cumin: 1 teaspoon
• Garam masala: 1/2 teaspoon
• Cooking oil: 50 gm.

Preparation:

1. Peel off and roughly chop onion, tomato, garlic and ginger, keep aside.
2. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a fry pan, when oil start to smoke; add chopped onion, garlic and ginger, fry on high flame for couple of minutes; add chopped tomato, continue to fry for couple of minutes or till it gets soft. Add pumpkin seed, continue  to cook for a minute. Keep aside to cool. After cooling make fine masala paste, keep aside.
3. Cut Chatela into two halves, keep aside.

Method:

1. Heat oil in a fry pan, when oil starts to smoke; add Chatela, fry on medium flame for 2-3 minutes with 1/4 teaspoon of salt (for  better flavour) or until half done (as photo) keep aside.
2. Add cumin in the same pan, sputter for few seconds, add masala paste into the frypan; let it fry on low flame for 4-5 minutes, add powder masala and salt, continue to cook for couple of minutes.
3. Add fried vegetables; continue to cook for couple of minutes, add a cup of hot water.
4. Cook for 2-3 minutes or until done, put off the flame. Add Garam Masala powder and coriander leaves.
5. Serve “Chatela (Spiny Gourd) Masala/Curry” with  Hot Steamed Rice , Paratha, Tandoori Roti etc.

Chatela (Spiny Gourd) Masala/Curry by Nag Ratna Sahu is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.