After an appointment at the Outram precinct and a prayer at GuanYin Tang located at Waterloo Street, ER and I walked all the way to Little India yesterday. This curry was cooked from vegetables bought from the grocery stalls there. For the first time I have included snake gourd and drumsticks in my vegetable curry. In fact, I had spoken to two Singaporean Indians on how to use both these vegetables. Uniquely, cooked snake gourd had cross-taste of green brinjal and cucumber, ER said. While the taste of drumsticks was mediocre to us, we liked the snake gourd. Too bad though, Rika was not game enough to try both the new additions! Next time I would want to include a type of peas too. Snake gourd belongs to the cucumber family and is native to India. It is high in dietary fibre, which is good for the colon and also rich in calcium, phosphorous, potassium, iron and Vitamins A, B and C. Similar to cucumber; it provides antioxidant and anti-inflammatory protection. It is said to have protective properties for the heart too. Besides using snake gourd in curry, it can be added to soup, stir-fried and stuffed. For a version of vegetarian dish, stuff them with mashed potatoes, chopped chillies, shallots and flavoured with a pinch of turmeric powder, dipped in rice batter and fried. My version: Recipe: Vegetable Curry With Snake Gourd Ingredients: 500 g of eggplants – remove stalks and cut into halves 15 lady’s fingers – remove the stalks 1 snake gourd – scrape the outer skin and cut into big chunks 2 drumsticks – cut into 5 cm lengths 2 lemon grass -smashed Some curry leaves 2 tbsp dried shrimps - chopped 200 ml coconut cream 4 tbsp curry powder 1 litre hot water Salt and ajinomoto to taste Ground into a paste: 10 shallots 5 cloves garlic 3 red chillies 4 cm turmeric 5 candlenuts Method: 1. In a thick base pot, heat up 5 tablespoons of oil, fry the dried shrimps till fragrant. 2. Add in the ground ingredients and fry till aromatic, add in curry powder, lemon grass and curry leaves and stir-fry for a while. 3. Pour in a litre of hot water and bring it to a boil, lower heat and let mixture simmer for 15 minutes. Add in the coconut cream and stir in well. 4. Add in eggplants and drumsticks and cook for 10 minutes. 5. Add in lady’s fingers and snake gourds and cook till vegetables are tender.

1) Have a previously vegetarian friend turned seafood eater. 2) Host her in your house. 3) Wait until she suggests cooking a whole fish from the Mangoes and Curry Leaves cookbook she gave you. 4) AGREE wholeheartedly. 5) Make coconut dal while she goes to the liquor store. 6) When she gets back, let her wash the fish and start rubbing oil on it. This is a very intimate process and as a former vegetarian, she wants to own the flesh she eats. Who are you to stand in her way?