I must make a confession before I begin. The tindora curry that you see in the picture was supposed to be tindora sabzi cooked with some moong daal added in. But my cook added more water than needed and hence it turned out to be a curry instead of a sabzi. ;-) The recipe for the sabzi would have been the same except for the excess water. Although, the watery option is better for toddlers who have only just begun eating vegetables that are not mashed. You can use this recipe for preparing daal for babies too. To know the modifications needed, please refer to the note at the end of the steps.
I should have started feeding Devansh chapatis earlier than I did. I was pretty comfortable in my porridge, khichdis, dalia, daal-rice, and poha routine. But I would recommend introducing chapatis in a child’s diet early. Some babies, start having chapatis as early as eight-nine months. You can soak pieces of chapati in daal and when they’re nice and soft, feed them to the baby. When babies are used to chewing a bit, you can progress from mashed vegetables to vegetables that are soft and can be chewed easily. They should be so soft that you can easily mash them with a spoon. Many vegetables belonging to the gourd family have high water content and are ideal for babies and toddlers—bottle gourd, little gourd, snake gourd, and red pumpkin to name a few.
I use the same recipe to cook bottle gourd, little gourd, and snake gourd; I use mom’s goda masala for all these sabzis. Combination of goda masala, jaggery, and coconut makes these sabzis sweet, which is how Devansh likes them. Earlier I used to cook these vegetables in a pan covered with a lid, but these days I cook them in a pressure cooker as it takes much less time. If you want to feed this daal to babies who haven’t begun to chew properly yet, I suggest you mash the tindora pieces properly. Hope you’ll find this recipe of tindora curry useful.
Tindora Curry (Daal) Recipe
Ingredients
- 100 grams tindora/tondli/little gourd approx. 1 cup of chopped tindora
- 6 tbsp yellow moong daal split yellow gram
- Half tsp cumin seeds
- 1/5 th tsp asafoetida hing
- 1/5 th tsp turmeric powder haldi
- 1-2 tbsp grated coconut
- 1 tbsp goda masala
- Approx. 1 tbsp jaggery
- Pinch of red chili powder optional
- 1 tsp chopped coriander optional
- 1 tbsp oil
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash moong daal properly and soak it in some water. (This will help it cook faster. Also, if you are using non-organic daal, it’ll help get rid of water-soluble pesticides.)
- Cut each tindora length-wise in four parts. (Cut off the two ends of the tindora first.)
- Heat the pan of a cooker and add oil. (Since I make this daal/sabzi for 2 people only, I make it in less quantity. I use a small cooker for cooking 100 grams tindora and daal.)
- When oil is hot, add cumin seeds, hing, and haldi.
- Add tindora and sauté for a minute.
- Add moong daal and mix it properly with the tindora.
- Add goda masala, chili powder, jaggery, and salt, and mix it well.
- Sauté for a minute and then add a cup of water.
- Cover the cooker pan with its lid.
- Cook on low flame for approx. 7-8 minutes. (3-4 whistles) Cooking time for the vegetable will vary depending on its freshness. So if you feel the tindora is not cooked properly, cook it for some more time.
- After the steam settles, take off cooker’s lid and add grated coconut.
- Cook on medium flame for 4-5 minutes and then add chopped coriander. (Toddlers find it difficult to chew raw coriander. I did not feed the chopped coriander I’ve used for garnishing the daal in the picture.)
- Cook for another minute and then turn off heat.(If the tindora has not softened enough, cook for a bit longer.)
- Serve the tindora curry with hot chapatis topped with homemade ghee.
Notes
Mash the tindora pieces properly.
Use powdered cumin seeds (jeera powder) instead of whole seeds.
Don’t add chili powder and coriander.
