The gentleman’s toes – Tindora

Fresh Green Tindoras

I first ate Tindora at a South Indian friend’s dinner party. It was crispy and fried in lots of spicy red pepper and masalas. Back in Punjab/Northern parts of India, one never sees let alone tastes this vegetable and I am sure there are people out there who don’t even know it exists. My friend told me that her younger sister had defective vision and she used to eat a couple of raw tindoras every morning for a few months and as a result her eyesight immensely improved. After some research I found that Tindora/tendli/Ivy is rich in beta- carotene, a provitamin A we all know required for healthy vision. It also has a very low glycemic index thereby makes an excellent food of choice for diabetics.

Since the dinner at my friend’s place, tindora has become a regular in my menu. This is my sweet and tangy version with  lots of onions.

Preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes 
Ingredients:

• ½ pound Tindora washed and cut into quarters
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 medium onion sliced lengthwise
• 2 green chilies slit lengthwise
• 5-6 fresh curry leaves
• 1 dried whole red pepper broken into halves
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• ½ tsp Garam masala
• ¼ tsp Black pepper
• ¼ tsp amchoor
• ¼ tsp sugar
• Salt to taste
• oil

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, whole red chili and let them splutter. 
• Add green chilies, onions and curry leaves and sauté them till they turn light pink. 
• Now add turmeric, black pepper, and salt and garam masala. 
• Let these masalas cook for a minute then add tindora to it. Mix well. Add 4-5 tsp of water. Cover and cook on medium for 15 minutes till it is tender. 
• Add sugar, amchoor and cook in open for another 5-7 minutes. 
• Serve with rice or chapattis.