Superlative Subji - Ridgegourd Curry

ridge gourd curry with spinach and cottage cheese chappatis

Why is it that everything with little kids is in the superlative? Everything they say/do is a matter of extreme emergency.

Take this scenario - they are laying in the sun, enjoying the unusual warm weather. "I'm burning hot! My legs are on fire.."

or in the evening, when it turns a bit chilly and the windows are still open "Mom, its freezing cold!! I feel like I am turning into ice!!!"

As they burst in the through the door, back from school - "It is like 500 degrees outside... we have to play outside, it is the best day of the summer!!"

They never get just plain hungry. They go from "I'm so stuffed" to "I'm really starving...when's dinner?"

Are all kids like this? or have I been blessed with a couple of really super, really cute, really adorable, but really dramatic little rascals?

Well, I'm sure any mom in the world with agree with me that their kids are just the cutest, bestest, goodest (oh yes, those are real words, ask any 5 year old!!) kids in the whole entire world.

On that note, here is a superlative curry recipe. I have been on a quest lately to make super nutritious meal for my family. I'm trying to pack as much nutritive value into each meal because I'm convinced that in this season of colds/flus, every body needs to build up their immunity the natural way.

This curry is full of vitamin rich vegetables, cooked with very little oil and robustly flavored with sambhar powder. The sambhar powder is a key ingredient in this curry and imparts a really wonderful spicy smoky flavor to the dish. The jaggery adds a mellow sweetness and packs a lot of iron. This curry goes well with chappatis, rotis or plain steamed rice. I served it with spinach-cottage cheese chappatis to add some iron, protein and calcium into the meal.

So here it is... a super good, super easy, super nutritious, super yummy - ridgegourd curry.

clockwise from right: ridgegourd, baby new potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes

Ingredients:

1 medium ridgegourd or 2 small ones

2 small baby potatoes

1 small carrot

2 ripe tomatoes

1 small onion

1 tsp oil

1/2 tsp cumin/jeera seeds

3 tsp sambhar powder or curry powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 small lump of jaggery (or substitute 1 tsp brown sugar)

salt to taste

Method:

1. Chop all the vegetables into medium cubes
2. Heat 1 tsp oil in a wide pan
3. When it gets hot, add the cumin seeds
4. When the cumin seeds are roasted, add the chopped onions
5. Saute the onions well. Add the sambhar powder and turmeric powder.
6. Add the jaggery and salt and fry well. The sambhar powder should smell roasted and wonderful at this point. Be careful not to burn it.
7. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry till the tomatoes turn pulpy.
8. Add the carrots, potatoes, ridgegourd pieces and stir well.
9. Cover and let simmer in its own juices till all the vegerables are done.
10. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve with chappatis, rotis, parathas or naan.

Here are some more superlative ridge gourd curry recipes from fellow bloggers: Nupur, Indira, Laxmi, Santhi. I'm sure there are a lot more out there!!

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indian, curry, ridgegourd, squash, lowfat, vegan, vegetarian