Snake Gourd in the Milk of Knowledge

Podalangai Pal Koottu & the Milk of Knowledge!
Snake Gourd in a Milky Gravy

My uncle and aunt visited us after a very long time, and the recap of all the events in our families were exchanged with great enthusiasm and gusto. We sat around the huge dining table for a grand dinner spread, chatting and passing the dishes to one another. Uncle then told us that his son-in-law attended a Vipassana Meditation session. The Vipassana Meditation technique is taught over a 10-day period, where attendees follow a very stringent code of discipline, including not speaking, avoiding any kind of entertainment and so on. Attendees could only eat the simple vegetarian food provided. Podalangai or Snake Gourd, he said, was served very often, as it was believed to expand ones Gnana or Knowledge. As we listened in solemn attention, my brother suddenly took the moment to a lighter vein with a “Pass me some of that Gnana Koottu”. Laughter broke out at the spontaneous new name given to the Podalangai Koottu (Snake Gourd Gravy) that was prepared by my sister-in-law. The name turned out to be all the more apt, as the koottu happened to be a rather unusual ‘Pal Koottu’ or Milk based Koottu, and Uncle remembered the following story.

The sthala poorana (literally means history of the place) at SIRGAZHI in Tanjore district, states that Goddess Parvathi breast fed an infant who lay crying at the temple pond with ‘Gnana Pal’ or the 'milk of knowledge'! Eventually the child became none other than the child saint Thiru Gnana Sambhandar.

image source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirugnana_Sambanthar

Well Gnanam or Agnanam (opposite of Gnanam), like any other native vegetable, snake gourd too possesses great medicinal properties!

Snake gourd can be used to prepare a variety of dishes. Among them, a dish with a black colour base, and one with a white colour base, on the same table may kindle ones curiosity. Follow the recipe here to prepare a pepper and tamarind gravy, and add sautéed snake gourd, to make Podalangai Milagu Kuzhambu.

Here is the recipe for the white Gnana Koottu or Podalangai Pal Koottu.

INGREDIENTS:
Snake gourd – 1 large (2 cups when chopped)
Whole black pepper -. ½ tsp
Cumin seeds – ¼ tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Milk – 1 tea cup
Rice flour – 1 tsp
Cooking oil – 1 tsp
Curry leaves – a few

METHOD:
1.Chop off the ends of the snake gourd and slit it lengthwise. Scrape off and discard the fibre and seeds from the centre. Chop the snake gourd into pieces.
2. Heat oil and add coarsely crushed pepper and cumin.
3. When the pepper is fried, add curry leaves and the snake gourd.
4. Stir in only a pinch of salt, cover with a lid and cook on low fire. This ensures that the lovely green colour of snake gourd is retained.
5. The vegetable must be cooked but still a bit crunchy.
6. Mix the rice flour into the milk, and add to the snake gourd .
7. Let it boil for a minute, and then blend in the remaining salt.

Remove from fire and the Gnana Pal Koottu is ready.

Re: It's the Economy Stupid

Just ran across this article, at Kitchens.com. It's a synopsis of a discussion by a group of economists at the 2009 International Builders Show.

One paragraph caught my eye:

• Getting a home equity line of credit (HELOC) for a remodel is tough, Nothaft (Frank E. Nothaft, chief economist of Freddie Mac) said, because banks don’t want to offer what amounts to a second mortgage. Depending on when you bought your home, you may want to consider a cash-out refinance of your first mortgage instead.

This says it all for homeowners who plan to remodel but don't have all the cash they need to accomplish the task.

Peggy

Palakkai Kootu (Tender jack fruit gravy) for RCI:Chettinad

When RCI-Chettinad was announced, I didn't do much googling, since I knew where to head, to get some authentic Chettinad recipes. On googling, I found more of non-veg recipes. At Solai Achi's kitchen there are wonderful choices of vegetarian recipes. I tried Kathirkkai mallipachadi from there. It too, was tasty, but could not take pictures. Its the season of tender jack fruit or idichakkai as it is called, here. Normally it is cooked as stir fry at home and occasional as semi-gravy with black eyed peas called 'puzhukku'. When I saw a sambhar like recipe using jack fruit, I wanted to try it. Though the ingredients look similar to sambhar, the taste is unique, probably because of the jack fruit in it. Above all, this a one dish gravy and can be cooked in less than 20 minutes. The only pull back factor is chopping the tender jackfruit which is quite a messy job. For those of you who have the option of buying chopped, frozen packets, then this gravy can be cooked in a jiffy.

Ingredients
Tender jackfruit chopped into small pieces - 1 cup
tuvar dal 1/2 cup
turmeric a pinch
sambar powder - 2 tspn
Onion - 1
tomato -1
water - 2 cups
slit green chilly -1 nos

Method

Chop onion and tomato into small pieces. Take the tender jackfruit pieces, chopped onion and tomato, green chilly,tuvar dal, turmeric powder and sambhar powder in a vessl. Add water to cover the ingredients. Pressure cook for one whistle and cook for 10 minutes on low flame.

When the pressure is fully released, take out the vessel. Stir well. Add salt. You can add some chilly powder if you want it spicier. I did not add any. Bring to a boil and simmer for few minutes. Season with mustard, cumin seeds, red chilly and urad dal. Garnish with curry leaves and coriander.

Serve with rice. It can make a good side for rotis too.

This is my entry to RCI-Chettinad Vegetarian hosted by Srimathi at Few Minute Wonders.