Zucchini Curry

Zucchini curry over White rice

So my babysitter has been on vacation since Friday. On Thursday evening, as I was picking my son up, she asked if I'd like some home-grown zucchini. Somebody had given her some and with her leaving on vacation, she didn't want it to go bad. I agreed to take it off her hands and lo & behold .. look what she brought out of her kitchen for me!! Yes, that is the current issue of Time magazine. 

After it sat on my kitchen counter for a day, I posted a picture on FB and asked friends to provide ideas on what to do with it. I got zucchini spaghetti, zucchini pizza, zucchini bread, muffins and soups. All of them sounded really good. In my mind though I was dreaming about Lauki (Opo Squash) Curry - comfort food at its best. I grew up eating lauki in India and its hard to find a good looking Opo here in the US, except at oriental and Indian stores. So some of this bounty had to go towards at least an attempt at making Zucchini Curry!! Here's the recipe ... 

Prep Time: 10 min to prep, and 10 min to pressure cook.

Ingredients: 

3-4 cups of diced zucchini
1 can (16oz) of diced tomatoes, or 2 fresh (medium) tomatoes
1 tbsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
2 tsp Cumin seeds
2 tsp Coriander powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Red Chilli powder
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Fresh cilantro leaves, to garnish

Directions:

Peel zucchini (if desired). I left the skin on because it was an organic zucchini from someone's garden. Remove seeds from the core if they're large and woody. Softer seeds are of course more edible. 

Cut into large 1-2 inch chunks and place in a  pressure cooker. 

Add tomatoes, and all spices, and 1/3 cup water and steam under pressure for 10 min. 

Let the steam release on its own. Open and use a wooden spoon to mix everything together. Garnish with cilantro and add salt/pepper, as needed. Serve over white rice. Yum!! 

This was seriously good. It tasted a lot like lauki curry. I'd definitely make this again!! I ate a good size portion for dinner and have 3 portions to freeze and still have of that squash left over :)