Potal / parwal is very common in oriya food. I normally make potal kurma, alu parwal masala or alu potal bhaja. But one day when googling i found this recipe in
Suparna's Food Fascination. Its a bengali delicacy. In many ways oriya & bengali foods are similar, may be because of geographical proximity. I tried it out with little changes to suit our taste buds & it came out great.
Ingredients:
4 to 5 Potal/ Pointed gourd/ Parwal
¾ cup curd, whisked
½ tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
3 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 bay leaves
1 tsp garam masala
Salt and sugar to taste
4 tbsp oil
Recipe:
Wash parwal. Peel the skin every 1/2" inch apart.Trim the edges. Make ½” slit at both ends (do not cut them into halves). Deep fry the parwal one by one and set it aside. Heat 1 tbsp oil in the Kadai add bay leaf, ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, salt, chilli powder.
Keeping the flame low add curd, parwal, sugar and sprinkle some water cook uncovered for 5-6 minutes stirring occasionally. Add garam masala, mix so that the masala coats the vegetable evenly. Cook till done. Serve hot with rice or roti.
This is a very simple recipe, using very few ingredients & can be made within 15/20 minutes if u have everything in place.
Bheemeswari is around 3 hours journey from Bangalore. From there Shivanasamudra Falls is around 45 minutes. Though Bheemeswari was disappointing but trip to Shivanasamudra Falls and the coracle ride made my day. We passed under the fall in coracles with water splashing all around us. It was simply stunning and would cherish for longtime to come.
We had started early in the morning. As planned our potluck breakfast consisted of Dahi Vada, Puri, alu mutter, dum aloo, peetha and many other delicious odiya dishes. We reached there by 9:30. When i got down the tempo traveller i was mesmerized by the view. We spread our mats near the river. Started to serve our dishes & then....... We had company. We were surrounded by monkeys. They outnumbered us. With every passing second they were drawn closer by the food. Most of us gulped down the breakfast which we would have liked to relish. The jungle resort at Bheemeshwari organizes rafting & fishing camp. They were overbooked due to holidays, and fishing camp is only in the morning. This we would plan some other day. So after breakfast we went to the river, spread our mats and sat near it. But within one hour we were bored by the scenic beauty. So we decided to leave for Shivanasamudra falls. I would describe the journey to Shivanasamudram some other time.
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