Kovakka Ularthu (Stir Fried Tindora/Ivy Gourd)

Ruffling through the past few posts have made me realize that this space is under threat to become a food blog with no recipes. My fault, of course. I'm veeeery good at planning and keeping things organized. In fact, I live in the future.

Not really.

The fact is that I rarely have a post all up and ready to go at any time. My drafts section is a mess - but that is another story for another time.

Anyway, I had some pics of this Kovakka Ularthu that I had made before I left for home with me and they have come to my rescue.

That reminds me. My mom used to grow Ivy gourds in her kitchen garden years ago. Plucking them was fun and I especially loved those which had turned a bright red on the inside.

I have always loved this stir fry although lots of people don't share my enthusiasm.

The gourds must be cooked till they are very soft and tender and then sautéed very well for the stir fry to taste good.

What You Will Need: 

1. Kovakka (Ivy Gourd), each cut lengthwise into four - 2 cups.
2. Onions, sliced - 1 medium
3. Garlic, crushed - 1 tbsp. (Adjust to taste.)
4. Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder - 1 tsp. (Adjust to taste.)
5. Curry Leaves - A few
6. Salt
7. Water
8. Oil

On To the Cauldron: 

Start by sautéing onions with a bit of salt in some oil.

Once the onions are cooked through, add the crushed garlic and sauté for a while. Now add the chilli powder and stir for a few seconds.

Tip in the gourds along with some water. I like to cook the heck out of these gourds and then sauté them well in some oil.

Switch off once they are done and serve with some rice and other sides.

Colour Me Green - Round Up

Hi Everyone,

Here is the Round Up of the Colour Me Green Photography Challenge for the month of April, 2013. I'm sorry about the delay - I couldn't connect to any network for the past few days. I probably should have just asked someone to take care of the whole thing while I am at home :)

Please note that photos are arranged in the order in which I received them. First in gets showcased first.  

I have not included the descriptions that followed each of the pics this time - The number of entries has increased and I'm very hard pressed for time this week :)

Also, I have slightly resized some of the pics (loosely around 700x500 px or 500x700 px)so that the entire round up would not be overwhelmed by one or two photos.  
 
1. "Silky Green":  Okra from Lakshmi Priya of Wok and Munch. 

2.  "My Green PAST with bright PRESENT and dry FUTURE" from Divya of Dishing.

3. Green Peas from Rekha of Food0licious Pictured. 

4.  Capsicums from Deepali of Confusion Cook. 

5. Cucumbers from Preeti of Kitchen Delicasies 

6. A bouquet of Palak Leaves from Meena of Elephants and the Coconut Trees. 

7. "Home Food Forest" from Nisha of My Food Express.

8. Curry Leaves from Aara of Sweets & Spices.

9. Young Nettles from Jasmina of Jazzy Kitchen.

10. "Green in a bed of Orange" from Tanu of Ma Niche.

11. Four Green Frogs from Jeeja Jason.

12. Green Mango from Techie 2 Mom of Mom's Cooking Adventures. 

13. Capsicums from The Foosa.

14. Ivy Gourd from Yours Truly.

 

Thanks a lot to everyone who participated in the event. Do come back for the May event!

Please take the time to visit some of these blogs and leave an encouraging comment.

Stay tuned to The Humpty Dumpty Kitchen for ongoing and future challenges as well as round ups of The Colour Me Photography Challenge Series.

The announcement post of the April Challenge - Colour Me Yellow can be found here. June will be Colour Me White.

Colour Me Yellow

Hi Everyone,

"The Colour Me Photography Challenge Series" for the month of May is going live from today. May will be the "Colour Me Yellow" month. (The Round Up for Colour Me Green of May will be posted tomorrow or the day after.)

In the first round, I am looking for ingredients - and not prepared food. So, think along the lines of Yellow Bell Peppers, Lemons, Bananas or even Pigeon Peas for this month. Be creative!

Here is a snapshot of  the guidelines in case you want to check in:

1. Anyone can participate. If you are a blogger, you have to leave a link in your blog to the page "The Colour Me Photography Challenge Series" (http://thehumptydumptykitchen.blogspot.in/p/the-colour-me-photography-challenge.html) mentioning the title as such. 

You can post the photo as part of a recipe post. To see an example, please go this post of Arroz Mexicano. (The pic with tomatoes could be an entry.)

Or

You can create a separate post for this. See this post of Strawberries to get an idea. 

2. Please send only one photo. If you send more than one and I get more than 5 entries for a particular month, I will just choose one among the photos that you had sent and publish it. 

3. Resize your image to around 500 kb or less. Also I will be resizing the images to around 500px x 700px or 700 px x 500 px for the round up. You can either do it yourself or I can do it for you.

4. Send the link of your post for the month along with the photo attached to pickwickcorner (at) g mail (dot) com with the subject line as "The Colour Me Photography Challenge Series".

What if I don't want to reveal my name and mail id? 

In that case, I will come to your blog, copy the pic you want to be posted at the round up and link you. You just have to drop a comment here or at the announcement post page for a month.  

5. You can include a title for your photo in your mail.

6. The photos must be your property. The copyright of the photos will rest with the owners of each photo.

7. Please visit some of the pages that are linked to the round up and leave an encouraging comment. 

Happy Clicking!

Check this page for updates on rules, round ups and each month's challenges.

The challenge for the month of May will go live on the 1st of the month and end on the 31st. You can send in your entry at any time during the month. The round up will be published in the first week of May. June will be The Colour Me White Month.

Please drop a line in the comment box if you have any doubts or suggestions.