Stuffed Apple Gourd

Bharwan Tinday or Stuffed Apple Gourd

Sumeet brought home Tinday or Apple gourd and I was like "What do I do with these?" 

I have cooked Tinday just once while we were still in Blr. He then suggested the recipe of stuffed Tinday. He had tasted it at his friend Sardar Raj's home. It was made by Raj's Mom. I was daunted by that reference, obviously. How could I match a senior Sardarni's cooking skills, these women are awesome cooks. Plus stuffed Tinday is home turf for them as this vegetable is used abundantly by the people of Punjab.

Now I was challenged by my bro. Based on what I knew, what goes into stuffing Karelas in Punjabi households I decided to use the same stuffing with some additional aromatic spices. Tinday or Apple gourd look like green tomatoes but are as bland as gourds can be. Yet these absorb a lot more flavour from the spices turning this recipe with a gourd into just something you may want to call a favorite.

Take a look at what I did with the Tinday and tell me if it is Punjabi enough. Sumeet did like it a lot but avoided comparing my attempt with the Sardarni. Yeah many studies say younger siblings are diplomats ;)

Well I liked it too and this is going to be made quite often now on.

Ingredients

1 kg Apple gourd/ Tinday / Dhemshe

1/4 teaspoon asafoetida

2 tablespoon oil to fry

For the stuffing

2 onions sliced thin
2 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon dried mango powder

1/2 teaspoon sauf / fennel powder

1/2 teaspoon dried ginger powder / sonth
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
salt to taste

First the prep, Wash the Tinday and pat dry.

Slice off the tops with the stem intact. Keep aside, we will use these to decorate the final dish.

Peel the skins and with a spoon scoop out the centers. Save the centre flesh.

Now lets prepare the masala. In a bowl add the thinly sliced onions, the chopped cilantro and all the lovely spice powders and salt. Mix gently.

Chop up the scooped out center flesh that we saved above and mix into the masala. Fill the wells in the gourd with the masala. Pack more masala in by pressing down with your thumb.

Now in a shallow frying pan arrange the Tinday. Drizzle the oil between the gourds. Cover and cook for 10 mins. Then if you have extra stuffing left sprinkle it over the gourds and add a cup of water around the gourds. Cover and cook till tender, about 15 mins.

Once cooked remove the Tinday onto a platter and decorate them with the caps that we saved in the beginning. The family would want to grab the Stuffed Apple gourd as soon as it is served at the table.