Podale Cutlets

Description

Snake Gourd is called Podale in Konkani. Mostly this vegetable is stir-fried like poriyal or used with dal to make kootu varieties. But to my surprise.. one Goan restaurant served them as appetizer in a buffet and that's how I got the idea for this recipe. Well.. those were deep fried with semolina and stuffed with meat. You must have probably had a shot of these if you've already tried any of those Mangalorean style buffets.

Here in this recipe, I've opted for shallow frying with my own style of potato stuffing and covering with gram flour, use your immagination.. try new stuffing and give it a shot.

Stuffed Snake gourd / Snake gourd Curry / Podhalae / Podale / Podhale / Pudalangai / Potlakaaya / Pathola / Paduvalakaayi / Padavalanga

Ingredients-1
2 nos	Potatoes
1 no	Onion
2 clove	Garlic
2 nos	Green chili
¼ tsp	Cumin seeds
3 stks	Coriander leaves
2 tsp	Oil
½ tsp	Salt (or to taste)
¼ tsp	Turmeric powder

Ingredients-2
1 no	Snake gourd (1 foot long)
2 T	Gram flour
1 tsp	Rice flour
½ tsp	Red chili powder
1 pinch	Turmeric powder
1 pinch	Asafoetida
3 pinch	Salt
3 tbsp	Oil (for shallow frying)
2 tbsp	Water (approx)
4 stks	Coriander leaves - for garnishing

Instructions

Preparing the gourd: Wash the Snake gourd, gently peel or scrape some of its skin. Trim the edges, cut them into 4 big pieces. Gently run a sharp knife around the spongy stuff inside the gourd and see that its slips off, making a long hollow cylinder. If you wish you can quickly blanch in hot water to cook the gourd partially, just for few minutes to ensure it becomes soft but firm. This step is optional, ignore if you prefer little crunchier skin.

Stuffing (table-1): Wash and peel the skin off the potatoes and boil them until soft. Drain the water and retain the cooked potatoes. In a frying pan, heat oil, splutter cumin seeds, fry the chopped onions, minced green chilies and garlic till soft. Add the cooked potatoes along with turmeric and salt. Mash them with a spatula and fry until it becomes a thick mass. Sprinkle little coriander leaves and let cool completely. Now take little potato mixture and stuff those pre-cut gourds as shown and cut them into 3/4" pieces and keep aside. Use a sharp knife or else things will get real messy.

Flour mixture (table-2): In a bowl combine gram flour, rice flour, red chili powder, turmeric powder, asafoetida and salt. Coat each stuffed piece with the flour mixture as shown and keep them ready.

Final frying : Heat oil a large non-stick frying pan and line each piece leaving little space between them. Keep the flame little over low , cover and cook them for 3 minutes. Now sprinkle little water, flip them to the other side, cover and cook for another 3 minutes. With mature gourds, it could take little longer. Fry until the outer turns crispy and brown. Sprinkle with coriander leaves and serve as an appetizer with choice of sauce or serve as a side for rice.

Notes

Leftover potato masala can be used as a bed, the fried pieces can go over them before serving. Alternatively.. you can also add water to the flour mixture... something like bhaji batter, dip the stuffed gourd and deep fry in oil.

Yield: 2o pieces approx.