Monsoon is here and so is the time to enjoy rains, green nature and nippy weather. And one more factor that makes monsoon desirable for all is the seasonal produce. Rainy season brings along an extensive range of fruits and vegetables that are fresh, delicious and healthy to the core. One such amazing vegetable is spiny gourd. Also referred to as kakora or kantola (in Hindi), it is one of the lesser-known vegetables from the gourd family. It looks much like an oval-shaped karela but has light green colour and soft spines on the outer skin. Spiny gourd is loaded with essential nutrients too. According to celebrity nutritionist Lovneet Batra, spiny gourd makes for a perfect monsoon vegetable that has fibre, vitamins, minerals and more and helps boost immunity and nourish us from within. She further listed three major benefits of including spiny gourd in their everyday diet.
Here Are 3 Major Benefits Of Eating Spiny Gourd During Monsoon:
1. Promotes Vision:
Vitamin A is the key nutrient for better vision. This vegetable, being rich in vitamin A, helps in improving eye-sight.
2. Aid Digestion:
Spiny gourd is high in fiber. Hence, it is considered very useful for easy digestion. It also keeps your stomach in good shape during the season and reduces the infections caused.
3. Manage Diabetes:
Spine gourd has hypoglycemic properties. It also protects and regenerates pancreatic beta-cells. Additionally, it improves both insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity, helping to manage diabetes at all levels.
Monsoon-Special Spiny Gourd Recipe: How To Make Kantola Fry:
Now that you have got to know about the benefits of spiny gourd, how about making some at home? That’s right. Spiny gourd is versatile and can be used to cook several delicious dishes. You can make kantola sabzi, stuffed kantola and more. But what remains our favourite is the classic kantola fry. A popular Bengali side dish (known as kakrol bhaja), kantola fry is easy, fuss-free and tastes great when accompanied with dal chawal.
All you need to do to make kantola fry is – cut the kantolas in circular shapes, marinate with salt and turmeric for some time and pan-fry on medium-heat until it turns light brown in colour. That’s it. The delicious kantola fry is ready to be relished.
We suggest, bring some kantola from the nearby market and make kantola fry for yourself today.
About Somdatta SahaExplorer- this is what Somdatta likes to call herself. Be it in terms of food, people or places, all she craves for is to know the unknown. A simple aglio olio pasta or daal-chawal and a good movie can make her day.
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