Aloo Parval recipe – I often meet people who say there are not many vegetables they can eat, hence they have to eat non-veg food. I have grown up in a vegetarian family, and there are options umpteen. Today I am sharing recipe of a vegetable from gourd family. This is called Pointed Gourd, commonly referred as Parval (परवल). You can make a few things itself with this simple veg, I will try to cover those in my future posts, today I am sharing curry of pointed gourd made with potato.
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Parval or Pointed Gourd
This belongs to gourd family, and grows in hot to warm climate. Its size varies from 5 cm to 15 cm, but have a pointed shape on the sides and bulge in the centre. These are also referred as green potatoes sometimes, and have white stripes running from one pointed end to the other.
Parval is fantastic source of vitamins and minerals, and contains mainly carbohyderates, Vitamin A and Vitamin C. Major minerals are, potassium, magnesium, copper, sulphur and chlorine, all good for human nutrition in smaller volume.
The recipe is simple and quick to make (takes less than half and hour). Recipe involves cutting pointed gourds, adding potato and doing a saute with spices. Parval / Parwal has its unique taste and it has seeds in it when you cut it. Some find these seeds uncomfortable to chew, I will suggest you make your choice as per your eating preference, but if you are new to this vegetable, you may like to remove the seeds (I eat without seeds).
Method to make Parval curry
- First of all, cut the top and bottom of parwal and peel their skin. You can also leave the skin on. Now wash them and chop the parwal into 4 pieces. Similarly peel the skin of potatoes, wash them and cut them into small cubes.
- Heat a pressure cooker on medium flame and add oil to it. Once it’s warm, add asafoetida and cumin seeds. Now add chopped onion and sauté for a minute. Add ginger garlic paste and sauté again.
- Now add all the spices and chopped tomatoes and chillies. Sauté till the mixture start leaving oil.
- Add chopped parval and potatoes now with 1 cup of water. Mix everything and put the cooker lid on. Cook till 2 whistle of pressure cooker. Switch off the flame and let the pressure release on its own.
- Open the lid of cooker and add chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot with phulka roti, or steamed rice.
Pro Tips
- When you buy parval you need to be careful to buy fresh. Fresh pointed gourds have nice green skin and does not have any signs of any wrinkle and when cut seeds will be bright white (else you will see little yellow shade around seeds).
- Cooking time may vary depending upon the pressure cooker.
- You may increase or reduce the amount of water depending upon the desired consistency of your gravy.
- Remove the seeds inside of parwal if they are ripen and hard.
This aloo parval curry is
- Light on tummy and easy to digest
- Fairly easy to make and does not necessitate using complicated cooking, all you need is basic ingredients
- Tastes pretty good and this may not be in party menu, but great for daily cooking
Serving suggestion
Serve this gravy rich aloo parval with plain steamed rice or you may as well pair it with plain chapatti or paratha.
I love cooking and eating these non-mainstream vegetables, and if you looking to try out some of these offbeat veggies, you may like to try out some of these following:
Lets get to the detailed step by step recipe of parval aloo
Recipe Card
Aloo Parwal/ Pointed Gourd Curry
Ingredients
- 500 Grams Parwal / Pointed Gourd
- 2 Potatoes Medium Size
- 1 Onion Large Size, finely chopped
- 2 Tomatoes Large Size, chopped
- 2 Green chillies Finely Chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Ginger Garlic Paste
- 1 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 1/3 Teaspoon Asafoetida
- 1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
- 2 Teaspoon Coriander Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon Garam Masala Powder
- 2 Tablespoon Oil
- 1 Tablespoon Chopped Coriander Leaves
Instructions
- First of all, cut the top and bottom of parwal and peel their skin. You can also leave the skin on. Now wash them and chop the parwal into 4 pieces. Similarly peel the skin of potatoes, wash them and cut them into small cubes.
- Heat a pressure cooker on medium flame and add oil to it. Once it’s warm, add Asafoetida and cumin seeds. Now add chopped onion and sauté for a minute. Add ginger garlic paste and sauté again.
- Now add all the spices and chopped tomatoes and chillies. Sauté till the mixture start leaving oil.
- Add chopped Parwal and potatoes now with 1 cup of water. Mix everything and put the cooker lid on. Cook till 2 whistle of pressure cooker. Switch off the flame and let the pressure release on its own.
- Open the lid of cooker and add chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot with phulka roti, or steamed rice.
Notes
- Cooking time may vary depending upon the pressure cooker.
- You may increase or reduce the amount of water depending upon the desired consistency of your gravy.
- Remove the seeds inside of parwal if they are ripen and hard.