Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Tendle Bhutti (Kovakkai / Tondekai / Tindora / Ivy Gourd in coconut masala)

The most popular tendle dish in Konkani cuisine is, of course, the tendle-bibbe upkari.
This bhutti has a nice fresh masala which I really like with chapatis and dal.

bhutti

When we were kids, I was not so big on tendles - I never did fuss over food, but this was not on my 'favourites' list. Actually the only vegetable I really cared about, was the magnificient potato !!

Anyway, a few years back, when my brother had called and we were talking about food (we talk a lot about food - he is on his way to becoming a really good cook !!) and he mentioned this tendle bhutti which ma had made. He made it sound so good, that the next thing I did was to make tendle bhutti. It was really nice. The masala is ground coarse and gives you a taste of all the ingredients that go into it.

Tendle Bhutti

Recipe Source - Rasachandrika, the ultimate Saraswat cookery book

What you need -

250 gm tendle
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of asafoetida
1 tbsp grated jaggery
small ball of tamarind
salt to taste

For the Masala -
5 red chillies
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp black gram/ urad dal
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
5 cloves of garlic
1/2 coconut grated

What you do with it -

Wash the tendles, slice off both ends and cut them into small pieces
Heat oil in a pan and prepare a seasoning with mustard seeds and asafoetida
Add tendle pieces, salt, jaggery and a little water. Cover and allow it to cook
Roast the grated coconut
In oil, fry the red chillies, coriander seeds, urad dal, garlic and fenugreek seeds
Make a coarse paste with the coconut and the fried ingredients
Add the masala to the cooked tendles and stir well on heat, till all the water is absorbed

14 comments:

  1. I love thendli- we just make normal palya with it have to trythis....

    ReplyDelete
  2. You should try it - its a nice combination of ingredients and since its ground coarse, you can feel each flavour when you eat it !

    ReplyDelete
  3. I usually make tondli in one simple way..stir fry,but after joining blogosphere i am learning so many more ways to eat this fav. of mine
    This sounds really nice,would love to try it out :-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love Tendlis, whenever I see them, I grab them! :D

    Your masala sounds great to me, will try with other veggies.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi arch,
    My fav. veggie is tendli and I love the tendli talasani and ambat :) Amma used to make it more often on my request :) Yummmmmmmmm..bhutti is special to me as I love to have it with bread (sandwich) ooooo..my friends used to freak out at school. This is a long forgotten dish, u made me nostalgic :) Thanks for the recipe dear.
    TC

    ReplyDelete
  6. this looks so good, but seriously I don't know what half the ingredients are! haha! guess I'll just have to go to an Indian restaurant...or your kitchen!

    ReplyDelete
  7. The masala sounds really good. I hardly experiment with this vegetable, its usually a stir-fry or steamed version. Will try this one next time.

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Alka, Priya, do try it out, its a very typical Konkani dish

    @Asha, try it will cabbage or beans, works just as well

    @Suparna, Welcome dear girl, some dishes really take us back in time, right ? tomato saar and bhende upkari is one such for me !

    ReplyDelete
  9. @Sophie, you are welcome to my kitchen, anytime ! This is very home-cooked kind of food, which you perhaps may not get at an Indian restaurant !

    ReplyDelete
  10. i usually only stir fry this veggie..thanks for a differnet recipe :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. love kovakkai and this is a different recipe for my collection. yum!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Is the upkari is same as palya ..

    for palya recipe i used the fresh coconut.Next time i have to try with the fried coconut..Your curry looks good...

    ReplyDelete
  13. made this today, will post soon :)

    ReplyDelete

Hi there ! Hope you liked reading my post. Its always nice to know what you think about it, so feel free to drop in a line here