Kakrol er Purbhaja/Stuffed Teasel Gourd

Teasel Gourd is a seasonal veggie, and it’s not very easy to found fresh teasel gourd here in North India. The veggie sellers often dip them in artificial color, to give them fresh green look and that is very harmful for our health. Luckily I’ve found some good quality teasel gourd  at my local farmer’s market few days back, and bought them. So, what next, I made this, a very favorite dish of mine. I like to devour this deliciousness with some steamed rice.

This version of  ‘Kakrol er Purbhaja’ is a family recipe. I’ve learnt this from my Mom. The frying part of this is a bit tricky, except that the whole recipe is quite simple. If you give a little effort, you too can cook this.

Kakrol er Purbhaja/Stuffed Teasel Gourd

Ingredients

• Kakrol/ Teasel Gourd – 5 (scrap the skin of the kakrol gently to remove the hard areas . Cut small portions off from both the ends, now half them vertically. This way you will get 2 equal pieces from each kakrol.)
• Poppy seeds paste- 3 tsp (wash and grind poppy seeds in a blender with 1 or 2 green chilies and water. The paste will be thick, not watery. So stop the blender in between and keep adding little amount of water. Keep blending until a smooth paste forms)
• Grated coconut- 3-4 tbsp
• Salt
• Vegetable oil

Method

Wash and boil the teasel gourds till the seeds part turns soft, don’t over boil, so check in between while boiling. Remove from heat. Keep aside, let them cool. Now with the help of a teaspoon gently scoop out the seeds and flesh.

Blend this kakrol seeds and flesh part with grated coconut to a fine paste using a mixer. Now add poppy seeds paste and salt in this, mix well. The stuffing is ready, now with a teaspoon fill this mixture into the empty teasel gourds. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a deep frying pan (use a nonstick for easy frying). Gently place the teasel gourds in the hot oil, with the stuffed side facing down.

Fry the stuffed kakrol on medium flame, until the bottom edges start to turn golden brown. Using a spatula, gently lift the kakrol up, so you can see the color of the cooked side. When the cooked side is golden brown, it’s time to flip the kakrol over. Now fry the other side until very light brown in color. Remove from heat.

‘Kakrol er Purbhaja’ is ready, serve this with rice and dal or with plain steamed rice.

Note:

The traditional way of having Purbhaja is to mash each piece with some steamed rice using your fingers, mix well and then eat.