There is a saying, that goes be careful of what you ask for since you might get get. This is indeed all too true for me. I have often wanted to be able to get to India frequently for short snappy trips so that I can continue to stay in touch with the country and all the changes. Well, I have in the last year been able to do that, thanks to among other things the gracious accommodation of my employer. However, the reason for these frequent trips are to be able to see my frail and ailing father frequently. Do I still love getting back, absolutely! This time round, I actually want to blog about the sights and sounds of Kolkata, let me see if I manage to make the time. The other day, I found some fresh ridge gourd so named because of the sharp ridge like edges. These are called Jhinge in Bengali and Tori in Hindi.
This time of the year, since the garden is rather sparse, I catch up on exploring and cooking fresh vegetables from the Indian Grocery. So I made this recipe with small shrimp. Ideally, the best is to be able to use small shrimp, but since I did not have any at home, I chopped the medium shrimp to get the right size. So this is basically how I did this,
Ridge Gourd with Shrimp – Jhinge Chingri
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 35-40 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 medium sized ridge gourds
1 tablespoon salt (kosher salt is good for this)
½ cup warm water
1 ¾ inch piece ginger
2 green chilies
3 tablespoons oil (preferably mustard oil)
½ teaspoon nigella seeds
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
1 small onion, cut into a dice
1 tomato, cut into a dice
½ cup small shrimp or large shrimp
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon sugar
1-2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Method of Preparation
1. Cut the tips of the ridge gourd and peel the ridges, leave the remaining skin on, it can be scraped a little if desired.
2. Cut the vegetable into small 1 inch pieces, rub with half the salt and set the vegetable aside in a colander to drain( for 15-20 minutes) out some of the water.
3. Soak the water, coriander seeds and the green chilies for about 15 minutes (can be longer). Grind these into a soft smooth paste. A small grinder like the magic bullet is good for this purpose.
4. Heat the oil and add the nigella seeds and the cumin seeds and cook for about 1 minute until the seeds begin to sizzle.
5. Add the onion and reduce the heat and saute for about 2 minutes, until the onion softens and turns transluscent.
6. Add the spice paste and cook for a minutes, drain some of the water and add the ridge gourd and fry for 5 minutes.
7. Add the tomato and the remaining salt and cover and cook for 2-3 minutes.
8. Rub the shrimp with the turmeric and add the shrimp into the vegetables, stir in the sugar and mix well. Cook the mixture until the shirmp turns pink
9. Stir in the cilantro and serve with rice.
About rinkub
