Bael/ Belada hannu is one of the healthiest summer fruits loaded with nutrients. It contains good amount of nutrients protein, carbohydrate, iron, fat, calcium, Vit-B & C… This fruit is native to India, Bangladesh, Shrilanka. This is commonly called as Bael, Wood apple or stone apple because of the hard shell. Scientifically it is known as Limonia acidissima which resembles Aegle marmelos (bilwa patre hannu/ Japanese bitter orange) and people often treat them as the same (but not really).
As per my
knowledge, Bael fruit is helpful in improving immune system & digestive
health like many more fruits. The high fiber content helps in improvement of
digestion health, diabetes management. It is also known for its anti-microbial /
anti-fungal properties a nd used in the Ayurveda
for ages in the treatment of ulcers, asthma, skin diseases..
Once the
shell is cracked and opened using a sickle/ stone, there will be sicky pulp with
many seeds. The fruit has a tangy, sweet, astringent taste with a distinct
fermented flavor. My kids don’t like this fruit just because of its smell,
& they were not even ready to taste a bit.:). To some extent fruit tastes
even like tamarind.
In fact, I
tasted this fruit recently for the first time when my husband’s friend shared
them few weeks back. Though I bought it long back once, which I don’t even
remember how the taste was. This time, we got to taste them well and could try
few dishes with 5-6 fruits that the good friend shared with us. Thanks to Mr.
George for them.
I tried
most common juice, chutney & this stew or goji we call in our place which
we mostly make with wild mangoes / hog plum etc.. Today, I am sharing one of the
trials this time, which is Bael goji, which goes perfect with boiled rices and a
dollop of ghee or even with rice & curds. Taste resembles that of wild
mango gojji to some extent.
Now let us
read the recipe. I will be sharing other trials soon with you!
Preparation
time: 1 hr (soaking & removing seeds)
Cooking time:
10 minuets
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
Bael fruit/ wood apple fruit – 1-2 medium
Jaggery – small orange sized
Salt – 1 tsp or as required
Chilli powder – ¼ tsp or as required
Green chilli – 1 (optional)
Coconut oil – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Garlic cloves – 8-10
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Dry red chilli – 1 (optional)
Method:
- To begin with, crack and open the wood apple/ bael fruit.
- Scoop out the pulp and transfer to a mixing bowl. Pour 1 glass of water and let it soak for 45 minutes. Now, squeeze the fruit in water with your fingers and using a sieve (strainer), remove seeds. Add ½ - 1 glass of water to separate the pulp from seeds during this process.
- Peel the garlic.
- Head a pan/ wok. Add coconut oil, mustard, dry red chilli and peeled garlic and make the seasoning ready. Once it starts spluttering, add curry leaves & then the filtered fruit pulp/ juice.
- Add salt, jaggery, slit green chilli, chilli powder and boil well.
- Now, the goji is ready to serve with rice.
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