Stir-fried Parval

 My mother's friend, Aunt Avanti from Illinois, USA has very generously shared her family's recipe. I have to admit, I had never tasted this vegetable before. I found it online on the Asian store website when I was looking for Okra to make my favourite Greek Okra and Chicken recipe. Since this looked a little bit like the Ivy gourd, I got curious and decided to buy it. After searching on the internet, I found that Parval (Trichosanthes Dioica) is very popular in the Indian subcontinent and is extremely nutritious. Since my website celebrates foods and cuisines from all over and I am partial to family-classics that are healthy, I decided to share this simple but delicious recipe with you. 

I am putting down the measurements given by Aunt Avanti. Instead of 2 chilis, I added just one because we eat mildly pungent food. 

Ingredients

10 parval, washed well and cut into halves (see the photo below). 

Note: If the seeds are too hard, take them out but do keep the tender ones. Once fried, they taste delicious! One of my parvar had a thick yellow inner coating with really hard seeds in so I simply scooped the interiors out discarding them, while keeping the shell intact (see the photo below) 

1 bay leaf

2-3 cloves

2-3 small green cardamom split

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

2 teaspoons each of freshly roasted and powdered cumin and coriander seeds

1 inch piece of ginger made into paste

2 green chilies ( I used one)

1 small tomato (optional) chopped finely. 

2 tablespoons oil (I used olive oil)

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Method

In a wok, heat the oil. When really hot, add the parval pieces in batches for a short time to basically fry them and take away their raw taste.  Once done, put them on a plate lined with kitchen tissues to absorb the excess oil. 

In the same wok, add the bay leaf, cloves, cardamom and cumin seeds.

When slightly brown, add the the ginger paste and the powdered coriander and cumin. 

Add turmeric and the chopped tomato and its juice. 

Fry it for 8-10 minutes. 

Add the fried parval pieces. 

Mix well. 

Add 1 teacup hot water and a slit green chili with salt. 

Cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes. 

Serve hot. 

We loved this dish. In fact now I will be diligently checking at the store I bought this from and hoping they will have this vegetable available again! My thanks to Aunt Avanti for sharing this recipe.