Pointed Gourd Bhaji

Click on the image, above to submit to Pinterest.

Pointed Gourd Bhaji

Pointed Gourd Bhaji is a traditional Anglo-Indian recipe from the 1860s for a classic snack or starter of pointed gourd marinated with turmeric and chilli that's fried in mustard oil until beginning to crisp. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic Anglo-Indian version of: Pointed Gourd Bhaji.

prep time

20 minutes

cook time

15 minutes

Total Time:

35 minutes

Additional Time:

(+40 minutes soaking)

Serves:

Rating:

Tags : Curry Vegetarian Recipes Spice Recipes Fusion Recipes British Recipes

This is a traditional Anglo-Indian recipe redacted from the volume THE INDIAN COOKERY BOOK: A Practical Handbook to The Kitchen in India (author unknown), published by: WYMAN & CO., HARE STREET CALCUTTA circa 1869.
.

Original Recipe

89.—Pulwal Bhahjee

Take a dozen or more pulwals—a most excellent and wholesome native vegetable,—scrape or pare
away very finely the upper green coating, divide them lengthways into two pieces, clear away all the
seeds, &c, wash, drain away all the water, and steep them in ground turmeric, chilies, and salt for
half an hour or longer; then fry them quite crisp in melted mustard oil. They are much liked by some
Europeans.

Modern Redaction

I've checked lots of recipes for these and even confirmed with my Bangladeshi friend and these are invariably not pared. It looks like the author of this book used the European practice of paring everything and applied to native fruit and vegetables.

As not, I am not paring the pointed gourds here, but you can if you wish.

Ingredients:

12—16 young pointed gourds, halved lengthways, de-seeded and washed well
2 tbsp salt
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp chilli powder
60ml (1/4 cup) mustard oil

Method:

Place the prepared pointed gourd pieces in a bowl. Measure out enough water to cover them completely. Whisk the salt, turmeric and chilli powder into the water then pour over the gourd pieces. Set aside to soak 40 minutes to 1 hour.

After this time, dry the gourd pieces and set aside in a colander. Place a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the mustard oil and when hot use to fry the gourds for about 15 minutes, until tender and starting to blacken and crisp.

Serve hot.

Find more Victorian Recipes Here and more Curry Recipes Here. For the original version of The Indian Cookery book see my The Indian Cookery Book main page.