Methi Aloo

Ingredients

Methi/ Fenugreek Leaves, cleaned and chopped - 4 cups
Potatoes - 2 medium
Lime juice - 1/2 a lime or approximately 2 tablespoons
Green chillies - 1 or 2
Cumin - 2 teaspoons
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida - a pinch
Salt
Oil

How to make Methi Aloo:

1. In a wok, heat about one tablespoon of oil and add the cumin seeds to it. Follow this up with the asafoetida and green chillies. 
2. Ten seconds later, add the potatoes and stir fry till the edges of the potatoes have browned slightly. 
3. Salt the potatoes and add the turmeric - cook covered for about one minute. *Alternatively, you can parboil the potatoes in salted water with turmeric added to it and then sauté it.
4. Add the Methi leaves, lime juice, stir and let the mixture cook uncovered till the leaves start to wilt and release their moisture. 
5. With the heat turned low, cover the wok and cook till the potatoes are cooked. 

Serve with rotis, parathas or rice and dal.

Dum ki Lauki

The bottle gourd is high on my list of favorite vegetables.
However, when I tell people how I like to eat it, they usually look at me like I'm a total nutcase.
I like my bottle gourd boiled. No salt. Nothing. Just boil it and give it to me and I will eat it. Whats more I will be grateful and happy.

Now try that with my husband. I guarantee he will have ordered a pizza so fast your head will swim.

And so I conjure up ways to introduce this harmless, almost tasteless gourd into his diet. For you see, the health benefits of it are many.

According to Ayurveda this particular gourd (aka opo squash or calabash) helps to:
1. Alkalize the body
2. Cool our bodies in the summer months
3. Detoxify (high fibre and liver cleanser)
4. Acts as a diuretic

And while I do suppose the best way to get these benefits out of it would be to eat it the way I do, or possibly make juice out of it ... let us for now focus on getting the good stuff into the picky eater.

Dum ki Lauki 

I discovered this recipe in India Cookbook by Pushpesh Pant and modified it to a point where it might seem more appropriate to call it "inspired by" as opposed to "adapted from". The original recipe calls for Garam masala and dry ginger powder (soonth). It also does not include the dry mango powder (amchoor). The proportions of the spices added are different too.

I have used:
1. A 10 inch long bottle gourd cut into bite sized pieces
2. Coriander leaves (Cilantro) - Chopped fine
3. Green Chillies - 2

Spices:
1. Cumin - 1 tbsp
2. Fenugreek Seeds - 6 little grains
3. Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
4. Grated Ginger - 1 tsp
5. Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp 
6. Turmeric - 1 tsp
7. Paprika - 1 tsp
8. Dry mango powder - 1 tsp 

How I went about it:

I took my trusty ol' frying pan (kadai) and added cumin seeds to 1 tbsp of hot oil. Followed this up with the grated ginger and asafoetida.
Fifteen seconds after the ginger and asafoetida, I added the gourd and stirred them around.

Then came the spices.

With everyone in the pot, I covered the whole thing with as tight-fitting a lid I could find and turned the heat on as low as possible. It was ready in about 30 minutes at which point I added the chopped coriander leaves and tossed them around once again.