Tindora/Tendli/Dondakaya Ivy Gourd Rice

I remember what my mother would say about cooking: “thinking is the hard part, while the actual cooking and cleaning is the easy part”. I did not think of it much then, but now that I shoulder the responsibility of cooking I totally understand what that means. First of all coming up with a menu that satisfies everybody’s taste is challenging, and then factoring in conditions like, “will the menu item 1 go well with menu item 2, will the kid eat it, will it be time consuming etc” Phew! Then it is totally going in circles.

As a result many evenings I make something that is new and easy, that way it is a change (not always a good one though) from the usual, breaks shackles from the routine cooking and saves me some ‘complicated’ thinking. J

One such dish is this Tindora Rice (Ivy Gourd). I had some Tindora in the fridge that was demanding attention but the quantity was not sufficient enough to make a Tindora Fry. So I decided to use it in rice instead. Rice is cooked and flavored with masala, then long strips of tindora are fried separately and then added to the final rice preparation. This way the Tindora not only maintains its crispness but also enhances the flavor of the rice by imparting its flavor.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup rice (regular or Basmati)

• Handful of Tindora/Ivy Gourd

• 1 medium onion

• 1 medium tomato

• 2 Tbsp pulav masala ( I used MTR pulav masala)

• Coriander leaves

• jeera

• Curry leaves

• Mustard seeds

• 2 Tbsp oil

• Roasted cashews (optional)

Prep Work:

• Pressure cook the rice with enough water, making sure the grains remain separate.

• Chop the onion and tomatoes into small pieces and the tindora into long strips.

• In a pan, heat some oil, add the tindora and fry until it cooks turns brown in color. Keep aside.

Procedure:

• In the same pan, heat some more oil add the mustard and when they begin to splutter, add curry leaves, jeera, onion and sauté until transparent.

• Add the diced tomato and stir until cooked. Add the pulav masala and mix well.

• Add the cooked rice, salt and mix thoroughly.

• Add the chopped corrinder leaves, roasted Tindora.

• Finally garnish with roasted cashews for color and crunch. (optional)

Server hot! This can be eaten as is or served with yogurt based raita.