Parwal Recipes: 5 Yummy Dishes To Spruce Up Your Lunch Table

Oftentimes, when someone mentions a healthy dish at the dining table, it doesn’t light up anyone’s face, especially if that dish is made with something like parwal. Also known as pointed gourd, it is a nutrient-rich vegetable, a lot like cucumber. The thick, green vegetable is often cooked without removing the peel and there are plenty of dishes that you can make with it.

Also Read: The Summer Favourite Parwal or Potol And Ways To Make It

Why should you be having parwal for lunch? Well, given the health benefits of this vegetable, which include tons of antioxidants, parwal is good for improving digestion too. Not just this, consuming parwal can actually amp up the Vitamin A and C intake and keep infections at bay. Here are some parwal recipes that you can make for lunch.  

1.  Stuffed Parwal  

Instead of making a moist sabzi, parwal can be made crispy and crunchy with this stuffed parwal recipe. The pointed gourd is sliced into smaller halves which are then stuffed with cumin powder, fennel powder and mustard powder. To this, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, and amchur powder is added. Fry the parwal in hot oil and serve with some dal and rotis.

2.   Potoler Dolma  

This parwal recipe will surely blow your minds away with its crispy yet creamy texture. The dish is an authentic Bengali treat that is made by first boiling parwal, then adding some paneer to it, along with dry fruits, salt and sugar. The stuffed parwals are then fried and dunked in creamy onion-tomato gravy. What makes this gravy so thick and creamy is the addition of cashew paste to it.  

3.  Keema Parwal  

Who said vegetables have to be simple and boring? You can make parwal by adding some meaty touch to it too. Keema, for the unversed, is minced meat and a spicy keema is prepared. Parwal is diced into round pieces and dunked into the keema. Combined together and cooked properly until it turns soft, the parwal and keema combination works well with rice and rotis.  

4.  Parwal Bharta  

Bharta, for the uninitiated, is a mashed mixture of any vegetable. While bharta is commonly made with brinjal, this one is a parwal ka bharta. The dish is made by softening and mashing the diced parwal in a tomato and onion mixture. Flavoured with green chillies, garlic and more, the bharta is a delicious treat that can be savoured with rotis.  

5.  Parwal Aloo Curry  

Why have regular aloo curry when you can add parwal to the bowl? Potatoes are diced into small cubes and added to the gravy. The curry is filled with potatoes, parwal and soaked chana and flavoured with tomatoes and onions. Ginger-garlic paste and turmeric powder is added to enhance the taste and the dish is a perfect pairing for steamed rice.