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Recipes: Less-Loved Sabzis

Last updated on: December 14, 2022 11:47 IST

Before the kilo-adding holiday season arrives, plan a week or so of simple meals -- dal, roti, sabzi stuff.

Sabzi made the right way, with a light baghar or tadka and not overcooked, is the healthiest fare you can have and that's the beauty of Indian cooking.

Some sabzis are easier to like than others -- bhindi, alu, cauliflower. But Indian spices bring out the best in even not so likeable vegetables.

Featuring today recipes for two less-loved vegetables -- tinda and kadoo or kadu (pumpkin).

Tinda is often hard to find. They look like green tomatoes and belong to the gourd-melon family and are not anyone's fave veggie. But made with this recipe -- that was given to me by long-standing friend, the always ebullient Abhishek Mande Bhot, who loves to talk but does some mean Maharashtrian vegetarian cooking when he isn't talking -- you will grow to enjoy Crunchy Tinda with hot chapattis, I assure you :).

Years ago I sampled a recipe of kadoo at a South Indian thali 'hotel' named Dasaprakash in cold, cold, misty, Ooty. I call it my Dasaprakash Kadoo. It goes well with rice too and is lightly seasoned, and has yoghurt in it.

Abhishek's Tinda

Photograph: Zelda Pande

Abhishek's Crunchy Tinda Sabzi

Serves: 2-3

Method

Dasaprakash Kadoo

Photograph: Zelda Pande

Dasaprakash Kadoo

Serves: 2-3

For the seasoning

Method

Zelda's Note: Choose a firm piece of kadoo. It should not be over-ripe and sweet. It should be under-ripe.
The same preparation can be used for alu, baingan, doodhi and even cauliflower.

ZELDA PANDE