Good Gourd- spiny gourd and pointed gourd stir fry

I finally cooked the most talked about gourd in my family- the (in)famous kantola. Okay, clarification- the only person who talks about it is my dad, and the only person he talks to about it is me. And the only person who goes "tsk" at this poor innocuous gourd is his wife, my mom.

I spotted this spiny gourd (the most innovative name we humans could come up with for this beauty) for the first time in my life of two+ decades as a home chef the other day at the Indian store. I was thrilled! I also bought parmal or parwal called pointed gourd (!). A quick simple stir fry was in order.

Ingredients:  

Kantola

Parmal 

Jeera (cumin)

Til (sesame seeds)

Dhania (coriander seeds) powder

Hing (asafoetida)

Red Chili Powder

Oil for cooking

Salt to taste

Method: 

1. Wash kantola and parmal. Cut lengthwise. If the kantola spines are not your thing, go ahead and gently scrape them off. Else keep them. I did, and it was great!

2. A few teaspoons of oil in a pan, heat, temper jeera, a pinch of hing, some til, and throw in kantola and parmal together. Add salt to taste, stir fry for a few minutes, lower heat, cover with lid. Cook for 5-10 minutes.

3. Uncover, check for done-ness. Add dhania and red chili powder. Stir fry for a couple more minutes. Done!

Eat with rotis, paranthas, or on the side with some rice and dal. Yum!