Donda Fry

This is a "tasty, easy n good looking" way to cook dondakai, which i usually neglect to buy because of the time and efforts to chop this hard veg, as well as the long cooking time. But recipe cuts down all those efforts to half. In this recipe i chop the veg length wise into half, chopping is done. And coming to the cooking time, i use little more oil than we usually use, just for quick frying to avoid constant stirring on medium flame. Cook the veg on higher heat with good amount of oil and add the taste makers in the end.

Herez all you need for this fry.:

Donda kai - 3 cups chopped

Gram flour (basin, ground chana dal) - 1/2 cup

Cumin powder - 1 tsp

Dhani powder - 2 tsp

Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder/salt - 1 tsp (upto u)

garlic - thinly chopped 1 tbsp.

Oil - 2 to 3 TBsp

Mustard - 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves - 1 stem

Method:

1. Heat a wide skillet which can accommodate almost all the veggies on its base. The skillet is an important choice for frying all veggies uniformly and to save cooking time. Add oil, let some mustard splutter and drop in all the cut veggies along with turmeric.
2. Fry them for 5 mins and cover the lid partially. Dont let the steam drops fall into the pan.
3. Keep frying until the veggies are well cooked. Then add salt - stir, add dhania powder, cumin powder and let them fry in the little oil seeping out of the veggies, at this stage if u dont see any oil in pan, pls add more and let the spices fry in it. Once thats done, add garlic and cook with lid covered for 2 mins.
4. Now add the gram flour, curry leaves and let the flour fry along with vegetable until you get the fried flour smell, about 5 to 8 mins on medium heat.
5. Finally add red chilli powder, saute for a min or 2 (the chilli powder i use is my mom made, she fries the red chillies with cumin, dhania and sends it to grinder. So i need not fry the chilli powder in curries). If u are using raw chilli powder make sure you add it ahead along with the dhania powder.
6. Serve with dal/rasam and rice.
7. My Son, a picky vegetable eater certified this dish as "Delicious".