Culinary Chronicles
By Yasmin Rahul Bakshi
Disguise and abhorrence!
A scant few ingredients are barred in my kitchen for personal preferences of the family. “Parwal” is one that all three of us dislike.
Maybe due to the unappetising overdose of these while we dined for months in the Officers’ Mess at Guwahati Cantonment.
Keeping the benefits of this vegetable over health, I thought of introducing it in a new camouflaged avatar with an Assamese meal.
“First tell me what this is and do not lie,” said my Cub.
“Chutney!” I pretended to be innocent. “Chutney of what?”
Asked the little sleuth.
“Pointed gourd. Just try it, you will like it.”
“Hindi name please?” A question with raised eyebrows.
“Don’t know actually,” I replied sheepishly.
Instantly she googled pointed gourd to find out that it was – The Parwal.
Then what… the entire meal was rejected. Flared around, suspecting the humble stir fried potatoes to be some vegetable not of her liking. Rung up her maternal grandmother to complain about me and called it the highest level of sleaze leaving behind all political corruption.
Kept giving me scowling looks until tranquility was made by serving her a Kashmiri meal post the “Great Parwal War” (about which I shall pen down next week). The only way I could think of to pacify her after she felt deceived.
Ingredients:
- Parwal – 250 gms
- Onion – 1 medium (finely chopped)
- Whole red dry chilli – 1
- Mustard oil – 1 tablespoon
- Salt – according to taste
- Coriander leaves – 2 tablespoons (chopped)
- Lemon juice – 1 Tbsp
Method:
- Peel the parwal and cut off the ends.
- Boil them with ¼ cup of water in a pressure cooker (1 whistle).
- Cool and mash them with a fork.
- Dry roast the whole red dry chili and crumble it with fingers.
- Add the salt, lemon juice, chopped onions, coriander and crumbled red chilies.
- Drizzle the raw mustard oil on top and mix. If you do not like the pungent smell and taste of the raw mustard oil, then smoke the oil and pour over it.
- Serve as a side dish with a rice based meal.
(Yasmin Rahul Bakshi is an accomplished senior consultant Chef and a food historian. A widely travelled Army wife from the Mussoorie hills with exposure to international cuisines & preserving recipes with the medium of food photography and digital content creation in the form of stories.)
