Dumbbells (Stuffed snakegourd)

I am not sure how this dish got its name, because this is a part of the Konkani cuisine, so cant imagine how this word crept its way in, but if you look real hard, you can see it resembles the little dumbbells from the gym, perhaps !



Snakegourd dishes aren't exactly the most inviting ones, but in this avatar, it sure is...
Dumbbells are basically potato patties encased in a snakegourd shell...

Simple recipe, looks nice, tastes great, that's reason enough to make it !!



What you need -

1 long snakegourd/padavalangai/paddul
4-5 potatoes
2 green chillies
3-4 pods of garlic
1 tsp cumin seed powder
2 tsps chopped coriander leaves
1 cup bread crumbs
salt to taste
oil to shallow fry

What you do with it -

Cook the potatoes, peel and keep aside
Scrape off the skin of the snake gourd with the edge of a knife
Don't use a peeler here, it takes away too much
Chop the snakegourd into about 1.5" pieces
Bring water to a boil in a large pot with a little salt
Once the water comes to a boil, drop in the pieces of snakegourd. Take the pot off the heat and cover with a lid. Leave aside for 5-6 mins
This helps the snakegourd pieces get steam cooked, but they are still firm and will take lesser oil while shallow fry
Grind the garlic and chillies with salt. Add the cumin seed powder and chopped coriander leaves
Mash the potatoes and add the ground paste and mix well
Fill this into the snakegourd pieces
Cover both sides of the snakegourd pieces with bread crumbs
Heat oil in a shallow pan and shallow fry the pieces on both sides

Mango in Coconut milk / Ambe Rasayan

The good thing about being here in Ahmedabad is that we get mangoes for almost 4 months in a year...The last of the season is the 'kesar' which comes from Junagadh in Gujarat and is almost as good as the famous Alphonso mango...They are really sweet and its still available in the market !!

If mangoes are not in season, you can make this with bananas, honeydew melon, or a combination of grapes and bananas



This is a classic Konkani recipe that uses mangoes, coconut milk and jaggery. Can be eaten as a dessert or as the main meal with puris.
Ma has made this when we were in Bangalore and my son relished the combination of the mangoes and coconut milk...

What you need -

2 ripe mangoes
1 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp jaggery (add more if you want it sweeter)
1 cardamom powdered

What you do with it -

Cut the mangoes into bite size pieces
Add the jaggery to the coconut milk and mix till it dissolves well
Add the mango pieces and cardamom powder
Mix well and refrigerate
Serve with hot puris