Has this ever happened to you? .
You go to a restaurant so often that the waiter, the owner, the chef, (cannot be sure about the help who loads the dishwasher), all know you a little more than you would like them to know :) As soon as the waiter glances at you entering the restaurant, you can almost feel his 'all knowing smile', soon you are seated and in a very nonchalant manner he says, "chole bhature, madam" !!!! A part of you wants to bury your head on the shoulders of whosoever is next to you, but another little part says, hmm, now I do not need to waste 15 minutes going over the menu & you just nod your head, Yes, whilst trying to keep a straight face!
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Well this happened to me in a restaurant frequented by me & my family a little too often! There was this one time (I promise only one time, it was) when we ended up going there Three days in a row ;-) The third day I pretty much walked in, (in)conspicuous, hidden behind a pair of dark glasses & an over sized hat :) The red radiating from my cheeks matched the paneer tikka masala on the adjoining table. Well, you gotta' eat to live, right!! How do you explain to the smiling waiter that you have had a long day & had no energy left to cook, not that he asked you to explain. Anyway, it was at this restaurant that I tasted the unique combination of Kale Chane & Parval, am not sure if it a regular of any particular region, but for me it was a first! I was happy looking at just the kale chane, when I tasted the subzi, I knew I had a keeper. And then the oft repeated story repeated itself, I recreated the dish in my kitchen :)
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Here is my creation for you: Parval aur Kale Chane ki Subzi. Parval in hindi, is tondli in marathi, tindli in gujarati, kovakka in malayalam & dondakaya in telugu and so on.
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1 cup Kale Chane soaked overnight
1 cup parval sliced length wise
1 onion finely chopped
1 dry red chili
2 garlic cloves minced (optional)
2 tbsp coconut
1.5 tbsp oil
Tadka: mustard seeds, jeera(cumin seeds), hing, curry leaves
1 tbsp coriander powder, turmeric, 1/4 tsp garam masala
2 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
Garnish: chopped coriander leaves & grated coconut
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Cook soaked kale chane till done, I use a pressure cooker.
Heat oil, add mustard seeds, jeera(cumin seeds), hing, curry leaves & red chili. Add chopped onion & garlic(if using). Fry for 2 minutes, add sliced parval, coconut, salt, red chili powder & turmeric powder, stir well.
Cook till done, but still crunchy, add boiled, drained kale chane along with coriander powder & garam masala. Cover & cook till masala blends well. Garnish with coriander leaves & coconut.
Do not throw away the water left over from cooking the kale chane, it is supposed to be pretty nutritious.
Serve the subzi with roti & curds. If serving with rice, you can make kadhi or dal to go with it or just enjoy by itself!
The combination of Kale chane and parval is too good to be missed, do try it out. . .
And now as promised here is a 'P'eek at this delicious 'P'alak 'P'aneer Fritata (and eggless at that!) baked by a dear friend who is an awesome baker of savory & sweet stuff, will get the recipe soon :).
Till then feast your eyes.......
36 comments:
Thiis is new to me .. Have never tried Parwal.. Thanks for the recipe ... Love the colors
there's parwal in my freezer and i've never cooked this veggie before. i'll try this recipe. stop rolling your eyes, richa. i'm not the only one who has frozen parwal.
He he, Richa-i totally understand what you mean ;). Am glad that such restaurants exist on this earth that serve kala chana and parval!! Where was this one, btw. I would be really surprised if you said, here in the US-if so i would love to visit that place!
Lovely recipe, dear. Simple and delicious. Tuhada preview vi bahut wadhiya e. Recipe jaldi hi post karo :). am waiting!
That's a nice idea, I never know what to cook with parwal except a stir fry - we don't get it that often! And the frittata looks delicious!
I was never very fond of parwal..... but your combo is making me think again!! :)
And the fritata is gorgeous!!! Catch hold of the recipe soon!!
A very unusual combo,and that too served in a restaurant :)))But the recipe looks simple and delicious.What is Fritata?
Parwal aney chana? novelty che...aa try karvu padse...and frittata paan bahuj saras lagey che, its eggless you say :) even better.
have a lovely weekend!
-trupti
So you finally did look at the menu card?
The dish looks really good, Kale Chana is one of my favs. Good protein without a lot of sweat. But what is Parwal?
thanks ayesha! now is the time to try parval if u hv never tried it before, this is a good combo to try.
enjoy
bee, are u sure about that :)
anyway, this is a must try for kale chane lovers, good way to try the parval.
thanks musical! yes you are right, e ajjkal de jamne wich bhi milda haega ;) mae bhi vekhke chaunk gai sigi, but it is one must try.
kale chane naal kuch bhi vadhiya hunda e'.
dujji recipe thuadde lai jaldi arahi haegi :)
enjoy...
thanks sra. yup, it is always a welcome change to try something new with the vegs. out here we get it 12months.
yup, loved the fritata.
enjoy
thanks coffee, do try this. if you are not too fond of parval, this might be the way to go.
yup, the fritata was YUM!
thanks archana, yes this is a unusual combo, was a first for me as well.
Fritata is a baked dish(similar to a pie without the crust) and is usually made with eggs, cheese & some veg etc. it is a much loved breakfast, very filling.
enjoy.
thanks trupti, yup navi item che, try it :) u can even omit garlic if u do not prefer it. fritata pan tasty hatu.
enjoy
thanks isg! kale chane is a much loved protein for many :)
Parval is also called gherkin in english, looks like a mini cucumber, light green in color with vertical stripes on it. check out ur desi grocer, they definitely carry it, other names mentioned in my post. there is one more type which is bigger & darker than parval, do not use that for this dish.
thats new to me
my grandma used to do parwal and chana dal combination
Hay sounds new to me...But it looks as a healthy dish. It is a colourful one. NICE
Ha ha ha... nice story, but sadly something that happens to us all the time... Both Siv and I if we like a dish in a restaurant, have the tendency to just order the same thing again and again... and the restaurant staff will start cooking the dish as soon as we enter the restaurant... this happens at multiple restaurants... :)
Your dish looks amazing, another colorful dish from Ms.Richa :D. Love the black chane, but I don't know what parval is, what is the English name for it?
At one of my favorite neighborhood places in NYC, they would bring a huge platter of "nachos with the works" as soon as I got there :D totally understand where you are coming from!
Love that dish :) Thanks for sharing!
hi anusharaji, do try this one, kale chane gives a very nice flavor, ur grandna's chana dal parval combo sounds good, do post it sometime. still so much to learn about all these beautiful combo's that our elders made.
thanks
thanks sukanya, yes you are right & that, it is one healthy colorful dish. kale chane brings out excellent taste in anything that it is paired with.
enjoy
hey sig, oh! so you too are in the same boat :) no sooner do we enter our usual haunts, than our "pre-cooked" food is served to us !!!!
gotta' keep the economy going :)
BTW, parval is also called gherkin in english, you wud not know 'coz there arn't any drinks made out of poor old parval :)
it is like a mini cucumber, light green in color and has vertical stripes running thru. here it is available all year round. also there is a similar veg which is slightly bigger & darker in color, make sure u r buying the right stuff. will try to upload a pic for u.
enjoy
thanks nupur! am happy to know i've good company in this field :)
do try this combo, a very healthy dish.
enjoy
ha ha ha richa....u r so funny! but at a serious note there was one chat corner in b'lore where everytime i used to eat dahi batata puri and waiter used to directly get one plate of dahi batata puri for me even before taking order from others!!! i guess my condition was worst than urs;) he he he....
Yes, yes and yes to all your questions in paragraph 1 of your post (lol). I've even been known to only want to sit at a particular table! :)
So did your Parwal aur Kale Chane taste similar to the one you have at the restaurant?
Something new and somehow doesn't like the taste of parwal. Dry curries are always light. Nice entry too. Viji
been there!! been there!! a restaurant in denver knew how much i love chole bhature :)):))
this one looks so good. never tried the combo. thanks girl!! is this dish patent of that restaurant ;)
Lol, no drinks, then no wonder :D
I got it now, gherkin is Kovakka in Malayalam. I am not particularly fond of it, but I can tolerate it. :)
thanks sia. aha! dahi batata puri, i see you have fine taste :) it is one of my fav too :) so the waiter got ur order before others, LOL! that's too funny! i'm sure people accompanying you were not too thrilled about that heh!heh!
enjoy dear
thanks viji, yes it was a first for me, nice n healthy dry curry.
enjoy
thanks reena! good to know chole-bhature is ur fav too :) great minds, great taste heh!heh! guess what i have soaking for todays brunch ;-)
nahi yaar, no patent thingy here, just a first try for me. do try it out
sig, good to know it's kovakka in malayalam. if u can just @ "tolerate" it, but i know u like kale chane, u shud definitely try it, maybe reduce the amount of kovakka but do try it :)
enjoy
enjoy
Ha ha next time order a take out, masking your voice of course :)
My Mom makes a parwal with kale chana but that also has pumpkin in it. I have never tried making it.
Lovely dish. Never eaten this before
great recipe; parwal(bengali - potol) is not gherkin; it is similar to gherkin in appearance, but is very different in taste.
Thats a new recipe of parwal and kale channe ..got to try it..
And I agree with you..some restaurants are too good to be visited more often :-) Lucky to find them in US where choices for real authentic indian food is limited
sandeepa, that's too funny, but shud seriously try doing that heh!heh! post ur mom's recipe sometime.
thanks
thanks suganya, do try it.
thanks meena, yup looks like this veg confused a few, isn't it? gherkins,ivy gourd there's even a bigger & darker similar veg one might mistake it for. anyway hope now it is all clear. thanks for ur input.
thanks sushma! do try it :)
yup, some restaurants get visited more than others, isn't it :)
enjoy
wow!!!!simple and too good one ...
Really, I don't think I have seen it on any menu of restaurants here. I would love to visit the place! I love the recipe - healthy and nutritous.
I just tried out this recipe today. YUMM!
hi dhana, i'm delighted to know that you tried my recipe and liked it. did you take any pictures? would love to see how it turned out in your kitchen :) enjoy
What a combo Richa? Never had this before. There is only one parwal dish that I always do and it does not have anyother vegees in it. Your presentation looks so great as usual. Fritata looks hm..hm..good. Awaiting the recipe.
Is parwal by any means called tindora... nice combo of tindora and black channa. looks good Richa.
thanks kribha, do try it!
enjoy
thanks prema, glad u liked it.
Yes parval is also called Tindora/Kovakkai, I think u had published tindora masala recipe some time back.
do let me know if you try it.
enjoy
HI Richa,
The combination sounds unusual and intriguing...will give it a try.
But hey, Parwal is not Tindora, not is it kovakka, nor is it tendli...they are two different veggies...yes they look similar on the outside, but the inside is a different story. Parwal has round white spherical seeds, whereas tindora, tendli, kovakka, giloda, gherkin is like a miniature cucumber with the tapering eliptical seeds arranged radially.
So, that correction notwithstanding, I have to say I find your blog and your recipes very interesting and your thanks for your spirit in cooking and sharing.
Its a manglore speciality dish. On most of the festival and puja times we preparte this dish. but the vegetable is not parval, its Ivy gourd. Some people call it Tendli or kundru.
thanks
shubhalata
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