Water melon rind gojju

My little one loves watermelon and every week I buy a huge one, so that it lasts for a week. This time the one I bought had a thick rind, So decided to make some use of it. I know they normally use in sambar but I had never tasted it, so wasn't sure of the taste. I used few pieces in sambar and couldn't tell the difference between lauki and the rind. So I used the rest to make gravy with coconut or Gojju as we call in kannada.

What we need:

2 cups cubed Water melon rind
1 large onion
1/2 cup coconut
1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
2 cloves
1/2 inch cinnamon
Few strands of cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon coriander powder
2 teaspoon red chilly powder
2 tablespoon tomato puree
1/2 teaspoon mustard
1 table spoon oil

How it's made:
Peel the green portion out of the rind, cut the white portion into small cubes. Grind onions, coconut, cilantro leaves, clove n cinnamon into a fine paste. Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add the ground masala, ginger garlic paste, tomato puree and cook for a while. Add chilly and coriander powder, salt and the cubed water melon rind and cook till done.
The fastest  way to cook this is in pressure cooker, put every thing together and cook for one whistle.
Serve with roti or white rice. It tasted like bottle gourd/ lauki to me, I am surely going to try more recipes with this now.

Healthy carr-lett juice

The heat and humidity is just soaring and its been really hard on my health. To top that haven't been getting enough sleep. However, I need to keep myself up and have enough strength to run behind my little one. I have been gulping down juice every few hours on weekend. Wanted to try something new and healthy. I had this iceberg lettuce in the fridge which needed to be used, I am not the one who likes salad, so I used it along with some carrots and made this nutritious refreshing juice.

How I Made :

Took Half iceberg lettuce and 1 big carrot along with some water and blended it. Strained it and added some honey and a pinch of salt, added some ice cubes and enjoyed the drink. May be next time I will add some mint to make it more refreshing. By the way iceberg lettuce is known to have mild opiate like effect which aids sleep, which I was in badly need of.

What happened to the strained pulp, it went into my dal.

Stuffed Brinjal

Brinjals or eggplant are not something that I really like, but once in a while I do cook brinjals, that too if I am able to get some fresh ones in Indian store. This recipe of stuffed brinjal is from my mom and I just love this combination of peanuts and onions in the masala with the tanginess of tamarind. I guess she learned this recipe from her friends from Dharwad. Normally they don't make this variety of stuffed brinjal in the Mysore region.
Anyway, wherever its origin is, it is a nice combo to have with akki (rice) roti or jowar roti.

What you need:
4 small sized brinjals/ eggplant
1/4 cup peanuts
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1/4 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup finely chopped red onions
1 teaspoon red chilly powder
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 teaspoon tamarind paste
2 tablespoon copped cilantro leaves
salt to taste
1/4 cup oil

How its made :
Dry roast the peanuts and sesame seeds seperately and grind it into course powder. To this powder add chilly powder, turmeric powder, salt, onions, cilantro and finally the tamarind paste, mix well and set aside.
Wash the brinjals, pat it dry, cut of the stem part and make a  slit in the form of plus such that the brinjals are divided into four parts but still held at the bottom. Fill the stuffing in between the slits and set aside. Heat oil in a pan,add the stuffed brinjals and the remaining stuffing masala and let it cook in the oil. Keep flipping the brinjals often or else it will burn on one side. If required drizzle some oil over it while cooking, this will help the masala inside the brinjal cook well. When almost done sprinkle some water, close the lid and lower the heat. The brinjals will get cooked in the steam generated.  Serve hot with rice/ jowar roti. or as a side dish with rice and dal.

Some people grind the masala into a fine paste for stuffing. For a less oil version you can start off with 1 tablespoon of oil, add brinjals and later add water and steam it. I personally like with more oil. The peanut masala tends to get crispier with frying in oil and goes well with the mushy brinjals.