Tinda (also known as Indian Apple Gourd) looks like green apple. Tinda is well known in north India. My first introduction to this vegetable was in a party. The dish tasted nice and it tastes like other gourds. Later when I saw Tindas in the market, I was excited and wanted to try out in my kitchen.
I prepared Stuffed Tinda. Stuffing is easy and makes it more tasty also.
Cooking time: 30 minutes. (I cooked them partially in micro wave oven)
Ingredients
- Tinda – 6 no
- Ginger garlic paste – 1 table spoon
- Cottage cheese or paneer – 100 gram
- Potato – 1 no
- Green chilli – 2 no
- Onion – 1 no
- Mint leaves – few
- Red chilli powder – ½ tea spoon
- Cumin powder – ½ tea spoon
- Garam masala powder – ½ tea spoon
- Turmeric powder – ¼ tea spoon
- Amchur (Amchoor) or dry mango powder – ½ tea spoon
- Lemon juice – 1 tea spoon
- Fennel seeds – 1 tea spoon for seasoning
- Salt – as per taste
- Oil – 2 tea spoon
Method
- Preparing tinda for stuffing: Wash and slightly peel or scrub the tindas out side; cut the top and keep it for use later; remove the seeds and other tender parts from inside to use it for stuffing.
- Mix little salt with 1 tea spoon lemon juice and apply inner side of the tindas; keep them for marinating for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Stuffing for tinda: Grate potato, crumble the paneer and chop green chilli, onion, mint leaves; chop also tender parts of tinda that were removed.
- Heat a pan with 1 tea spoon of oil; add fennel seeds, onion, green chilli and fry for a while.
- Add chopped tender parts of tinda, ginger garlic paste, mint leaves, salt and fry for few minutes; now add potato.
- Add all dry spices, mix and fry for few minutes till all become soft and cooked; lastly add paneer, mix well for few seconds and remove.
- Now the stuffing is ready.
- Stuffing and cooking of tinda: Fill the tindas with stuffing; cover it with tinda tops and cook in microwave full power for 5 minutes only (you can cook them directly in a pan if you don’t want to micro cook as explained in the next step).
- Now heat a pan with 1 tea spoon of oil; sprinkle little red chilli powder and little salt; add micro cooked tindas, cook for few minutes by turning all sides (if you don’t micro, cook frying time will increase); use a tooth pick to check tinda is soft and cooked.
- Serve hot with chappati or rice.
Here is the cutaway section of a stuffed Tinda (Indian Apple Gourd)
Tips
- Micro cooking helps to retain green colour of tinda even after cooking.
Stuffed Tinda uses fennel seeds for seasoning and is part of the event “JFI – Fennel” hosted by Siri’s Corner and created by Indira of Mahanandi.
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