Lauki Halwa

Festive season !!!. SALE is ON everywhere with heavy discounts online and offline both. Ha Ha good for shopoholics.

Today is the sixth day of Navratri. For nine days people worship nine forms of Goddess Durga. Tenth day is celebrated as Vijayadashmi or Dusshehara signifying victory of good over evil. 
People observe fast for eight days and on the ninth day the fast is broken. 
During fasts people are not supposed to eat salt, onions, garlic and anything that belongs to the cereal group .One can consume fruits, vegetables and milk products. but ya in place of salt rock salt can be used. 
Many people observe ekasan where you can eat the regular meals sitting in one place once a day.
Anyways there are so many fast or vrat recipes flooding in these days that you dont really get bored of eating only fruits. Pizza hut has also introduced its vrat special pizza, I haven't tasted it yet..

Lauki(bottle-gourd) halwa I made while fasting .

2 cups grated bottle gourd
1/2 litre milk and 100ml condensed milk )
3 tbsp ghee
1/2 tsp cardamom powder or crushed cardom seeds
1/2 tsp saffron dissolved in 1 tsp milk(optional)
5-6 broken cashews
almond and pistachio slivers for garnishing.

Heat ghee and saute grated lauki for 5 min. 
Then add milk and simmer stirring frequently until the mixture is reduced. Do not let the milk stick to the bottom of pan it gives a bad smell, so keep stirring, scratching the bottom of pan. 
When reduced completely add condensed milk and simmer again until it thickens. 
sweetness can be adjusted to one's taste. If you want sweeteer add a few spoons of sugar.
Add the remaining ingredients and serve warm or cold.

To make without condensed milk Replace it with 1/2 litre milk and 1/4 cup sugar. First boil one liter milk, simmer it and reduce it to near about 1/2 the quantity and then follow the same procedure.

Pea shells curry

मटर  के छिलके की सब्जी 

After a long gap I'm back with another recipe to utilize vegetable peels.

Pea shells curry is an age old recipe popularly made in Rajasthan.
In our marwadi homes you will find at least two different vegetable curries for lunch-- one to be eaten with fulkas(chapati) and the other curry (like madras cucumber, cluster beans, spring onions, tinda, sangri etc. the list goes on) with either bajra(millet), moth. or besan roti(bengal gram flour).
 Fulka and atleast one type of any of the above mentioned rotis is a must for lunch. My dad or father-in-law and sometimes my husband too still follow the same routine. So whenever my dad visits I have to have atleast one veg with fulka and one veg for other flour roti followed by curd and moth khankhara and at last roasted papad. Papad signifies end of a meal.
 Pea shell sabji is also one among the curries traditioanlly eaten with besan ki roti. But for me it tastes as good with fulkas or rice.

To make this veg choose fresh pea shells.its a must. Else your curry is a total failure. You need to peel the peels once again and its a time consuming process. So peel the shells when you have time and store in a refrigerator. Peeling is necessary because there is a thin film underneath the shell which is difficult to chew, We need only the soft flesh from the peels.


 To peel the shells separate the pea-pod into two,  take one part and bend the upper corner and slide it downwards as shown in the pic.

Wash the peels thoroughly.

Being marwadi we prefer it quite oily and spicy but its all upto one's own taste. The quantity of oil or spices can be altered as per one's taste.

ingredients:

1 cup peeled and chopped pea shells

3 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds/jeera

a good pinch of asfoetida/hing

1/4 tsp turmeric powder/haldi

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp corriander powder

1/4 tsp black onion seeds/kalonji

1/2 tsp dry mango pdr/amchur

1 tsp sugar (optional)

salt to taste

Heat oil in pressure cooker.
Add cumin and kalonji. add hing.
Add the peels along with the turmeric pdr, red chilli powder, corriander powder and salt.
Saute for a min and add about 1/4 cup of water. put the lid and pressure cook for 1 whistle.
After 5 min when the steam escape from the cooker open it check if the peels are cooked, if not cook a little more. Usually tender ones cook very fast.
Add sugar and amchur powder. sugar is optional, if you like it a little sweet and sour in taste add it else skip. cook for another min. and ready to serve.