Low Carb Doi Potol of Kolkata
Doi Potol is very popular dish of Kolkata. Potol or parwal which is called as pointed gourd which is a seasonal vegetable. In summers market gets flooded with fresh pointed gourds. Its majorly cultivated in Odisha, Bihar, Chattisgarh and Bangladesh.
This is full of vitamins and minerals. Lets see what are the benefits you will get from this green vegetable (Pointed Gourd).
- Its good source of vitamins
- helps in proper digestion
- controls blood sugar level
- controls cholesterol level
- keeps heart healthy
- treats constipation (seeds)
- low carb vegetable helps in weight management
- purifies blood
Oh, I think I shall write a separate post on benefits of this super healthy vegetable Pointed Gourd. Come back to read the health benefit of Parwal/ Potol/ Pointed Gourd.
Now I will straight come to our favourite topic "the recipe". This is a low carb vegetable. This is slightly different from authentic traditional doi potol recipe. The authentic doi potol is made by deep frying the parwal and then adding to the gravy. This is rich and consumes too much oil in the process. So here is my mom's magical trick to use less oil in the recipe.
Do you want to try healthier version of the recipe? Yess.. Right?
The same I have followed here. In fact in place of deep frying any vegetables you can use the same method. I will share some more in some other post.
I have boiled the parwal in turmeric and salt mix water for 3 - 5 minutes till the time they are par boiled and cooked. Then shallow fry them in just 1/ 2 tsp oil maximum. Can you compare where you are using one cup oil to deep fry and how much oil being used while deep frying. And at the same time you will shallow fry in just 1 - 2 tsp oil. You will get the crisp in the 2nd method as well. But since they are added to the gravy more crunch does not make sense to me. So I like the second way. Trust me you are not compromising on taste by this.
One more thing I like about eastern cuisine is the use of mustard paste in curry. It has some strong distinct flavor I just love it. So I have added that as well in the curry to give it an authentic flavor. You can skip this step if you don't like mustard paste in your curry. Use mustard oil in sted. (In fact mustard oil is way healthier than any other refined vegetable or seed based oil. I ll post the facts in some other post in future)
What I have done here is soak 2 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds and 4 dry red chilli in water for 10 - 15 minutes. Then grind them to a fine paste. Add 1/2 inch ginger and 5 garlic pods while grinding the mustard paste.
So lets make this yummy doi potol with some simple ingredients.
Low Carb Doi Potol of Kolkata
Ingredients
- 250 gms Parwal/ Potol/ Pointed gourd Cut into halves (vertically)
- 200 gms Beaten Curd
- 2 Tomato Pureed
- 2 tsp Mustard Seeds
- 1 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds 1 tsp for mustard paste & 1/2 tsp for curry
- 5 - 6 dry red chillies
- 3 Garlic Cloves
- 1/2 inch Ginger
- 1 tbsp Coriander Powder
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- 1 small Onion chopped
- 1/2 inch Cinnamon stick
- 2 Cloves
- 2 Green Cardamom
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 4 Black pepper
- 3/4 tsp Salt or as per taste
- 3 tbsp Oil (shallow frying + Curry)
- 1 tbsp Coriander leaves finely chopped
Instructions
- Soak mustard seeds and cumin seeds and dry red chillies in water for 15 minutes. Then strain out from water and grind to a fine paste adding cloves and ginger.
- Heat 1 cup water in a sauce pan. Add a pinch of turmeric powder and a pinch of salt. Boil the pointed gourd for 3 - 4 minutes till they are par boiled. Don't over cook.
- Remove from hot water and pat dry with a tissue or kitchen towel or air dry for 2 minutes.
- Heat oil in a pan. Add in the par boiled parwal/pointed gourds. Shallow fry them till they are light brown in color and slightly crisp.
- Once done remove from oil and keep on a paper towel.
- In rest of the oil, put 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, bay leaf, cloves, black pepper and saute for half a minute. Then add chopped/ grated onion. Saute till translucent.
- Add tomato puree and again cook till it gets completely cooked. Add dry spices (except salt) and mix well. Add the boiled and shallow fried parwal into the curry pan. Give it a nice stir.
- Then add in beaten curd mix well. Add 1/2 cup water and let it simmer. Once it starts boiling add in the mustard paste and stir well.
- Let it simmer on low flame for 5 minutes with lids covered. Season with salt and coriander leaves. Turn off the gas and serve hot with any flat breads or rice.
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