Turai Dal and crispy fried fish

Today, I was busy making some bead earrings and totally forgot to keep track of the time. But the time I turned to look at the clock it was almost 12 o'clock and I didn't make any preparations for lunch and my kiddos were getting hunggy (typo on purpose)
                      Anyway, so I made an effort to get lunch ready as soon as possible. And while things were still simmering I started feeding my kids so I forgot to take proper photos. So...the menu was Turai (Ridgegourd) with toor dal and papd or appadam and crispy fried Pollock fillets

Turai Dal (Ridgegourd with yellow pigeon peas)

Turai Dal

Ingredients:

1. 2-3 medium sized ridgegourd peeled and give it as taste test to check for bitterness
2. 1/2 cup yellow pigeon peas dry roasted
3. 1 tablespoon oil
4. 1 heaped tablespoon chopped onion
5. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal, asafetida, finely chopped garlic, turmeric
6. 2-3 dried red chillies broken
7. few curry leaves

After peeling the turai save the peel for Ridge gourd peel chutney
Slice the ridge gourd into thin quarters and in a pressure cooker, cook the dal and turai for 4-5 whistles with a cup of water and turmeric. Open the cooker after the steam escapes and mash the dal
In a pan heat the oil and add cumin, mustard seeds, urad dal and chana dal and fry for 2 minutes. Add onions and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and fry for a few more minutes. If the pan is big enough add the turai dal to this or add this to the dal and simmer till it gets to the consistency of your liking. Garnish with handfull of chopped cilantro and enjoy with hot steamy rice and ghee.


Crispy fried fish (Pollock fillets shallow fried with spice rub)
Ingredients:

1. 3 pollock fillets cut into 3 pieces each
2. 1/2 teaspoon each of salt, chilly powder, turmeric, coriander powder, ginger garlic paste
3. Oil for frying

Mix the spices together. Pat dry the fish and spinkle the spices on both side and set aside. Heat about 1/2 cm oil in a pan and drop the fish and fry for 5-6 minutes on each side or until fish gets crispy. Serve as is or with rice

Tindora moongfali and Turai Chilka dal

Tindora or Kanduri or Dondakaaya or Ivygourd is one of those vegetables which takes forever to cut and prepare for cooking. Ofcourse there is the frozen Tindora but it doesn't even come close in the yummy taste to the fresh Ivygourd cut. And again there are two ways of cuttin it. Into round circles or into vertical julienne cut. My mom was a firm believer in the later and so am I. This fry I made today is the most simple and the most delicious one

              To go with this dry curry and rice I made Dal with Turai or Beerakaaya or Peerkaay or Ridgegourd peel.

Tindora Moongfali Tallan (Ivy Gourd Shallow Fried with ground peanuts)

Dondakaaya Fry

Ingredients:

1. 1/2-3/4 lb Ivy gourd ends cut and julienned into about 6-8 pieces
2. 3 tablespoons oil
3. 1/2-3/4 each of teaspoon salt. chilly powder
4. 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
5. 2 tablespoons peanut powder (recipe follows)
6. 1/4 teaspoon cumin

Ingredients for peanut powder*:

1. 1/2 cup peanuts dry roasted
2. 1 tablespoons sesame seeds dry roasted
3. 1 teaspoon cumin dry roasted

Grind all the ingredients for peanut powder and set aside

In a pan heat the oil and fry the cumin for 3 minutes. Add the Ivygourd cover and fry for 10-15 minutes. Add the spices and the peanut powder stir to combine, and continue to fry without cover for 5 more minutes. garnish with Cilantro and enjoy

*The peanut powder can be made into a big batch and stored in a air tight container in the refridgerator can used when needed. It gives amazing taste to any fry

Turai Chilka Dal (Ridge gourd peel with lentils in Tamarind juice)

Beerakaaya tokku Pappu

Ingredients:

1. Peel about 2 medium sized ridge gourds (discard the hard peel) save the rest
2. 1 cup toor dal dry roasted
3. 3 cups juice from a small lemon sized tamarind
4. 1 tablespoons oil
5. 1 garlic chopped fine
6. 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, mustard seeds, turmeric
7. 3 dried red chillies broken
8. few curry leaves
9. 1 teaspoon salt

Chop the ridge gourd peel roughly and wash well. In a pressure cooker cook the dal with the peel and turai and 2 cups of water for 4-5 whistles. Let it cool and grind to a fine paste. In a pan heat the oil and add cumin and mustard seeds and dried red chillies and curry leaves for 3 minutes. Add garlic and fry for a couple of more minutes. Add the ground dal and all the other ingredients and bring to a boil. Continue to boil for 10 minutes. Serve

Also try Ridge gourd peel chutney