Spaghettini with Zucchini / Bottle gourd and its leaves

Spaghettini with Italian bottle gourd and its leaves

It needs to be eaten with a spoon.
I realised this only after I clicked the photo with a fork on the side. :(

You might think that I am crazy about bottle gourd. Considering my latest posts, you have reason enough to. However, to be honest, this one is just a coincidence. Well, let me begin from the beginning.

As you know, I went on a holiday last week. As many of you guessed it right here, it was Italy. More precisely, Sicily. ('Mafia' is the first word that comes to your mind? You are a well-read person then. :)) We stayed in the village of Trappeto, which is a part of the Palermo province. We went there on an invitation by this Italian friend of mine, Nina. She has a house there; it's her hometown. Although she is very much a resident of Düsseldorf for over forty years now, she enjoys staying in Sicily in the summer months. I don't blame her; Sicily is indeed beautiful. Will write more about it in another post.

One of the highlights of our stay there was Italian food. Home-made as well as restaurant-made. What I observed was that, like in India, in Italy too home-cooked food is quite different from restaurant food. Until then, I somehow very naïvely thought, that Italians cooked at home what they served in restaurants, or vice versa. But no. I found the home-cooked food much less spicy and much more wholesome. Like this dish. It is a perfect one-dish meal with a good amount of carbs, fibre, Vitamin C and lots more goodness in it. You'll agree when you see the recipe.

Before that, a few notes:

The 'Zucchini' that is used in this dish is actually bottle gourd in a different shape. (Maybe we could call it bottle-snake-gourd-zucchini. Or better still, zucchino, because that is the singular!) What they mean, when they call something a zucchino in Sicily, is this bottle gourd. The dark green zucchini that we know, are not to be seen there.

Also, the leaves are of the same vine, on which this gourd grows. They are sold regularly at the vegetable vendors there. Since I was sure, that I wouldn't find them easily outside Sicily, I asked Nina for a substitute. Well, there is no substiute really. Unless you want to try it out with spinach, she says. I haven't tried making this at home with spinach yet. Maybe you want to?

Besides, the Spaghettini that we used in this dish is like Spaghetti, but with slightly thinner and much shorter strands. If you don't have it at home, feel free to break regular spaghetti in 2-inch long strands. For this, you just have to hold the bunch of spaghetti that you want to use vertically in both hands and give it several twists. What you get is Spaghettini. Simple? :)

What they call zucchino in Sicily (R) and its leaves (L).
Only the smaller, tender leaves were used in the dish.

Recipe for Spaghettini with Zucchini/Bottle gourd and its leaves

Serves 5.

Ingredients:

One long Italian bottle gourd or a medium-size regular bottle gourd or two small dark green zucchini, as we know them
Leaves of the bottle gourd vine (Only the tender ones at the tip should be picked.)
250 g. Spaghettini (or spaghetti crushed as explained above)

2-3 tbsp olive oil
7-8 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut
4-5 tomatoes

water for cooking
salt & pepper to taste
grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese to sprinkle

Method:

1. Coarsely chop the tender leaves picked from the bottle gourd vine. Soak them in salted water for the tiny insects/worms to settle at the bottom. In case using spinach, first wash the leaves with plain water and then chop them coarse.
2. Peel the bottle gourd/zucchini. In case you are wondering what to do with the peel, see here. Chop it in bite-sized pieces.

Left to right: chopped bottle gourd, peeled bottle gourd and
picked & chopped bottle gourd leaves

3. Take the leaves out of the salt-water solution and give them a quick rinse.
4. Take lots of water in a large pan and bring it to boil. Then add the leaves as well as the chopped zucchini to it.

5. Cook uncovered until the zucchini pieces are soft.

6. Drain the cooked vegetables reserving the water in which they were cooked.
7. Now place the tomatoes in a shallow dish and pour some boiling water over them. Let them rest like that for a couple of minutes, then take them out into a plate and peel them. The peel will come out easily. Roughly chop these tomatoes.
8. Heat the oil in a pan. Add the garlic pieces. Once they turn a shade darker, add the peeled, chopped tomatoes and salt. Cook uncovered on high heat. Mash it with the back of a ladle while it is cooking.

Olive oil ready to sizzle the garlic
(That's a lot of oil, but Nina is not scared.
It is locally pressed oil from locally grown olives.
It can do no harm, she believes.)

9. In the meanwhile, heat the water in which the veggies were cooked. Once it starts boiling, add the spaghettini and some salt. Cook it uncovered until al dente. Once cooked, drain much of the water from it, reserving some in the pan.
10. The tomato sauce must be ready now with a smooth, homogenous consistency. Add it to the pan with the Spaghettini. Add the cooked veggies too. The dish should be rather soupy. Give it a stir and check the taste for salt.
11. Ladle it into deep dishes/bowls. Sprinkle crushed pepper and grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese over it.

Serve hot with some olives and warm Ciabatta bread on the side. Mmmmmmm....... Buono.... :)

I think, this makes a fitting entry for Meeta's Monthly Mingle with 'Holiday Cuisine' as the theme this time. Here I come, Meeta.....

Tags: Italian Food, Sicily, Pasta, Zucchini

Bottle Gourd Curry with Moong Dal & Yogurt

The curry is not as yellow as it looks in the photograph.
I think, I went overboard while trying to adjust the contrast. :)

I learnt this recipe from my mother. Also, I have only seen her making this preparation and nobody else. (Although I am sure that somebody in some corner of this world must be making it too. :))
Anyway, when she gave me the recipe, she just mentioned in passing that it is based on a Kerala recipe, although she did not mention which one. (As I have mentioned before, she has studied Home Science, in which the students get to learn a lot of cuisines. Hence the connection.)
Before I started blogging, my knowledge of the cuisine of Kerala was limited to 'Avial'. And I knew that this dish could not have been based on that. So I just left it at that.

Then, a few days back, when Indira blogged about 'Kaalan', a bottle gourd and yogurt preparation from Kerala, I was sure it was the mother of this preparation by my mother. :)
As you can see in the next pic, I made this curry with the beautifully round bottle gourd, which was in the guessing game yesterday. Here's how I prepared it.

Recipe for Bottle Gourd Curry with Moong Dal & Yogurt

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

approx. 500 g. bottle gourd/Doodhi/Lauki (3 packed cups, when diced)
1 tbsp Moong Dal, washed and soaked in about ¼ cup water for ½ hour
4-5 tbsp yogurt, beaten smooth
3-4 green chillis
salt to taste

1 tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
a pinch asafoetida powder

chopped coriander leaves for garnishing

Clockwise from top: Bottle gourd, green chillis, Moong Dal

Method:

1. Wash and peel the bottle gourd. (You need not throw away the peels. This chutney can be made using them.)
2. Dice the peeled bottle gourd. Cut the green chillis in ½ inch long pieces.
3. Heat the oil in a pan, and add mustard seeds once it is hot. Once they splutter, add the asafoetida powder.
4. Add the Moong Dal along with the water and quickly cover the pan with a lid. The water tends to jump high at this point, and may burn your fingers.
5. After about two minutes, open the lid, and add turmeric powder and bottle gourd dices to the pan. Stir and add ½ cup of water.
6. Cover and cook the bottle gourd on medium-high heat for about ten minutes.
7. Once the bottle gourd is cooked, add salt, yogurt and green chilli pieces.
8. Cook uncovered for 2-3 minutes, while stirring often, so that the yogurt does not separate too much.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve warm with phulkas/chapatis or rice & dal.

Tags: Bottle gourd, Moong Dal, Yogurt, Vegetarian

Bottle Gourd Peels Chutney

Idlis & Bottle Gourd Peels Chutney

One of the themes doing the rounds of food-blogosphere these days is 'Chutneys'. One of the main ingredients of it being peels of vegetables. I have blogged about one such chutney already. Here's another one. But it's not just another chutney, you know. It is not just eco-friendly but also very very tasty. Because it is made with peels of bottle gourd (Doodhi/Lauki).

Bottle gourd being peeled

And now that I am back from my trip to the Black Forest (with a postcard for the next BPW event by Meeta ;-)) , I can also share the recipe for this chutney. Here it is.

Recipe for Bottle Gourd Peels Chutney

Ingredients:

Peels of one biggish bottle gourd (I took 1½ cups.)
¼ cup dry-roasted sesame or ¼ cup roasted and peeled peanuts
or ¼ cup roasted Chana Dal (Dariya in Gujarati/Pandharpuri Daale in Marathi)
or a combination of any of these making ¼ cup
(I used 1/8 cup dry-roasted sesame + 1/8 cup roasted & peeled peanuts.)
¼ cup yogurt
2 green chillis (or to taste)
¼ cup chopped coriander leaves
1 tbsp sugar (or to taste, depending upon the heat from the chillis)
salt to taste

1 tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
heaped ¼ tsp asafoetida powder

From left to right: chopped bottle gourd peels, roasted & peeled peanuts, coriander leaves, sesame seeds

Method:

1. Chop the bottle gourd peels and green chillis.
2. Heat the oil in a pan. When hot, add mustard seeds. Once they start popping, add the cumin seeds, and then the asafoetida powder.
3. Add the chopped bottle gourd peels and green chillis. Stir. Sprinkle some water, cover the pan and let them steam-cook. (I usually use a non-stick pan for this, so I do not really need much water. However, if you are using a regular pan, you might need to add about ¼ cup of water, and also keep a close eye.)
4. Once the peels are soft (They fall apart easily when pressed with a ladle.), add sugar, salt and chopped coriander leaves. Sauté until most of the water has evaporated. Turn the heat off, and let it cool.
5. Once it is cool, add it along with the roasted sesame seeds or peanuts or the combination you are using and the yogurt to the jar of your mixie or food processor. Grind it till you get a fairly smooth paste. The chutney is ready!

Serve it with anything of your choice like Idlis, Dosas, spicy parathas or just with any regular meal. This mild-tasting chutney goes well with a lot of things. I served it this time for breakfast, with Idlis...so that I can send it to Nandita for her next 'Weekend Breakfast Blogging' event. :)

In case you are in a mood to try out more chutney varieties, you could check out these lovely recipes recently blogged by Madhu of Ruchi, Mythili of Vindu, Priya of Sugar And Spice and Shammi of Food, in the main...

In the meanwhile, here's wishing all of you a Happy Independence Day!

Tags: Chutney, Bottle gourd, Sesame seeds, Breakfast, Food