CURRY AND SPICE: BATTER FRIED STUFFED TEASEL GOURD / KAKROL ER PUR BHAJA

Teasel Gourd again takes me down memory lane to a small township..... 100 km away from my hometown to our maternal grandparent's place. I was born there and brought up in that home for a pretty long time..... Our mom being married at a young age who became a mother while still in college, I was looked after by the rest, pampered and spoilt with love to the extreme.... I vividly remember everything about the positive environment I grew up in and deep within try to assimilate all the broken pieces till date. Where is that warmth lost? There is perhaps nothing called right or wrong in the world..... just a difference of perspective.

Just back from a movie few hours back, there is a question-answer session going on inside. The silly romantic went with certain hopes as her favourite subject is Relationship........ Watching it I could not digest what it had to say and eventually got disturbed, yes I get horribly disturbed when I fail to see emotional quotient in a relationship..... and I realise I am rigid and too old school right from a tender age.... I find myself screaming at the world.... leave me alone with my beliefs.... Looking at me, the senior says there is no problem with the world, all problem is within you... broaden your spectrum madam S..... He had no qualms with the subject of the movie and considers it to be quite normal..... well we accept and respect each other's differences of opinion.

Coming back to food; this teasel or spine gourd, kantola or kakrol... as we call it in India, were grown in abundance at our maternal grandparent's place.... they do not need any such care, they just grow in abundance during the monsoon. They are either eaten fried, in mixed veggies or as this..... batter fried with a stuffing. Mine is a purely vegetarian stuffing and then batter fried.... as I had long back at a friend's place..... this batter fried kantola was not that much common at our home, we mostly had it fried.

I followed my friend's mom's recipe as much as I could remember. Such an awkward incident happened that day that it is impossible to forget.... While aunty was batter frying the stuffed teasel gourds and the two sisters; Pampa & Shampa di and I were chatting.... suddenly we heard a hiss hiss sound under the bed. In those days middle class homes had good storage under the bed.... and there came out a snake from a 'hari' [patila, deep bottomed vessel].

I am extremely afraid of the reptile family, specifically snakes put me off. Before I fainted it was driven off, kudos to the sister duo. Both of them were strong & independent as compared to the spoon fed me. This feeble heart self did have this crisp and yum batter fried teasel gourd with a plateful of piping hot rice. Let us do this vegetarian dish together providing stepwise pictures for the same.....

INGREDIENTS : [ for the stuffing ]

Flesh of Teasel Gourd : From 6-8 of them
Shredded Coconut : 1/2 medium cup
Mustard Seed : 11/2tbsp
Green Chilli : 4-5
Salt : As required
Nigella Seed : 2-3 pinches
Turmeric Powder : 1/4 tsp
Oil : 2 tbsp [mustard]

INGREDIENTS : [for the batter]

Refined Flour : 1/4 medium cup
Gram Flour : 2tbsp
Rice Flour : 1medium cup
Salt : As Required
Sugar : 11/2 tsp
Water : As Required

INGREDIENTS : [ finally ]

Teasel Gourd : 6-8 [halved and scooped]
The cooked stuffing
The batter
Oil : 1big cup to fry...

METHOD :

Wash the teasel gourds, cut the ends..... half them... Scoop out the flesh.... Apply little salt and turmeric to the pieces. Keep aside. You can get rid of the skin of the gourds too.... I do not. I just shove off the spine like coverage lightly with a knife.

Wash the mustard seeds through a strainer. Blend all the ingredients for stuffing, in two batches except for the turmeric, nigella seeds and oil.

Heat the oil in a wok and temper with the nigella seeds. Add the blended raw thing, salt, sugar and cook till dry... it will take 10-12 minutes. Add the refined flour, stir.

Once done, transfer to a bowl.