Kudri Aloor Jhol

Ivy Gourd, known as ‘Kudri’ in Bengali is very common vegetable cooked in every Bengali households in day to day basis. ‘Kudri Aloor Jhol’ is basically what we call in Bengali to the ‘Ivy Gourd Curry’. The vegetable markets are filled with Ivy Gourds all around the city in every season, however, it is found in abundance during the winter season. And we Bengalis find this vegetable suitable for our lunch or dinner in any form that we prepare, especially the fried ones are very famous among the Bengali recipes. We also prepare it along with poppy seeds, which is known as ‘Kudri Aloor Posto’. Well to be precise Ivy Gourd is prepared with no hustle bustle, it is one of the simplest Bengali recipes of all times.

Ivy Gourds

The Ivy Gourd belongs to the gourd family. It very closely resembles the ‘Parwal (Pointed Gourd)’, just that the size differs. One of my close relative from a different place also mistook Ivy Gourd as the Baby Parwal, since they had never seen Ivies in their life.There are several names to this tiny finger sized green vegetable which I came across such as Kundru, Tindora, Tendli, but I am not sure about its Kannada name, even though I lived in that place for several years, as we could hardly find these Ivy Gourds in Bangalore city. I didn’t mind googling around to my curiosity and I’m really very thankful to Google Search that helped me cracking thousands of my queries within minutes and the Kannada name is Tondakai. Well, I knew that ‘Kai’ means basically fruits or vegetables, and I still remember the very first word that I learned in Kannada was ‘Maavinkayi’, a child yelling in the platform, I was just a kid and then we had no Google, that was how we used to learn new things.

Kudri Aloor Jhol

Anyways, now coming to the recipe that I am sharing today is the very basic Bengali Kudri recipe, which is quite often prepared in our kitchen. I’ve used a pressure cooker for this recipe, but most often it is prepared in the kadhai by my mother. I happen to make the recipe much shorter. Preferably dry red chillies are used in the recipe, however, I usually bring out a bit of twist in my recipes, so I’ve used red chillies freshly plucked from the kitchen garden. Kudri Aloor Jhol can be paired with chapattis or serve it along with hot steamed rice. Below is the recipe instructions, quick and very easy to prepare in less than 30 minutes and enjoy it hot in this chilling weather.

[Veg]

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Course: Side

Cuisine: Indian/ Bengali

Serves: 4

Measuring Items: 1 cup = 150 ml; Teaspoon

Ingredients:

1. Ivy gourd (Kudri)- 300 grams
2. Potato- 3
3. Onion- 1 big sized
4. Ginger- ½ inch
5. Garlic- 4 cloves
6. Chili- 5

Spices:

1. Mustard oil- ½ cup
2. Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
3. Clove (Laung)- 5
4. Red Mirchi powder- 2 Tsp
5. Turmeric powder0 1 Tsp
6. Cumin powder- ½ tsp
7. Coriander powder- 1 Tsp
8. Salt (as per the taste)

Method:

How to prepare ‘Kudri Aloor Jhol’ with step by step pictures and instructions:

1. Wash the ivy gourds properly with water.
   
2. Chop the vegetables in the desired manner.
   
3. Heat oil in a pressure cooker, once the oil is hot enough, start adding cumin seeds and cloves. Wait until they splutter.
4. Now add sliced onions, chili, minced ginger, and garlic. Sauté until they turn slightly brown in color.
   
5. Add the chopped potatoes and ivy gourd, mix them well.
6. Put the spices now- turmeric, mirchi, cumin and coriander powders. Finally, add salt and keep mixing them with the cooking spud until the spices mixes along with the vegetables say for about 4-5 minutes.
   
7. After 5 minutes add 1 ½ cup of water (the level of water should just be at the same level with that of the vegetables, as shown in the picture).
   
8. Close the lid of the cooker and wait for the whistle.
9. Just one whistle is enough to cook the vegetables (as soon as the second whistle blows, switch off the flame).
   
10. Remove the pressure and open the lid. Now for two minutes simmer in a medium flame and then it's done.
    

Serve hot Kudri Aloor Jhol along with steamed rice, green chutney, salads and of course fish, as Bengalis lunch or dinner would be incomplete without fish on the menu. Enjoy cooking, serving and eating!!

Paromita Pramanick ©2017. All Rights Reserved.