Watermelon Curry

This originates from Rajasthan and numerous recipes and videos can be found online.
There is also a recipe for this in Camellia Panjabi's book - "50 Great Curries of India".
This recipe has been adjusted for my taste and to serve one person using curry base sauce in BIR style.

Ingredients

For 2	...Continued
300 gm watermelon cubes (see notes 1 and 2)	½ tspn methi (see note 3)
10 gm garlic (peeled)	300 ml c46 curry base sauce (see note 4)
2 tbspn oil	2 tspn tomato purée
1 tspn chilli powder	salt to taste
½ tspn ground coriander	sugar to taste (see note 5)
½ tspn cumin	1 tbspn lime juice
¼ tspn turmeric	4 tbspn single cream (or to taste)
2 tspn fennel seeds	1 tbspn freshly chopped coriander

Preparation

If using a complete watermelon, cut up the watermelon, peel and cut into approx 1 - 1½ inch cubes.
Set aside 100 gm of watermelon cubes from pack or from ‘complete watermelon’.
Finely chop the garlic.
Add the remaining watermelon chunks from the pack or ‘complete watermelon’ to a blender and blend to a juice (should be about 150 ml - see note 4).

Cooking - 7½ min

Heat the oil in a suitable pan and fry the garlic, stirring, for about 30 secs.
Add the chilli powder, ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, fennel seeds and methi and cook for 1 min, stirring regularly, adding a little c46 base sauce if needed to prevent drying and burning.
Add the tomato purée and 40 ml of c46 base sauce and cook, stirring, for 1 min.
Add the sugar (if using) and cook, stirring regularly, for further 1 min.
Add the set aside 100 gm of watermelon cubes, 80 ml of c46 base sauce, 40 ml of watermelon juice and salt and continue to cook, stirring gently, for 3 min, adding c46 base sauce if needed until your desired sauce consistency is obtained.
Reduce the heat and add the lime juice, cream and freshly chopped coriander and cook, stirring regularly, for a further 1 min.

Serving

Serve with rice and garnish with a little freshly chopped coriander.

Notes

(1) Watermelon chunks can be purchased from many supermarkets in various sized packs (250/300 gm are common). These can be used instead of a complete watermelon.
(2) Frozen and then defrosted watermelon can also be used. If frozen, defrost in the refrigerator or defrost using a microwave in 'defrost mode' but do not allow chunks to get too warm.
(3) Methi (Kasuri Methi) is dried fenugreek leaves and can be purchased at some supermarkets or any Indian outlet.
(4) Dilute the 300 ml of c46 base sauce with 200 ml of water and heat before use. If defrosted from frozen, warm and briefly blend to restore the original colour and consistency.
(5) A ripe melon wiil probably not need any sugar but it depends on your taste.

The main ingredients

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The finished meal

Methi

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