Last week one of our friend "P" who was back from India vacation, dropped in at our place. As we welcomed him, a bag was handed over to me. I knew he had got some traditional goodies, sweets and savories from India :) [he has been doing this always after his India visit]. But this time there was something more special, a unique fruity fragrance coming from the bag. Without opening the bag I could guess and I was correct. I was excited to see GUAVAS. It's sight and smell brought back childhood memories and tickled my tastebuds . I used to eat them plain or sprinkled with salt and red chilli powder just like raw mangoes and cucumbers. 

Guavas are one of the rare fruits available in supermarkets over here and whenever available most of the times overripened, so we go without buying them which is why kids never got to taste them before. I picked one from the bag, cleaned and chopped it, sprinkled some salt and served to my kids so that they could taste it. The first bite and few more forcible bites after which both of them said "NO". May be matter of taste or they didn't like the seeds inside. Removed the seeds and tried offering them but they turned their heads away. 

We [me and hubby] very much enjoyed eating them. As I was wondering what I could do more with this fruit so that kids too can enjoy eating it, I remembered Amrud Ki Subzi. Few years back had watched Chef Sanjeev Kapoor on his show preparing this subzi and then had read a similar recipe in one of the magazine. The name itself was so attractive that I tried to recollect both recipes and adapt it based on the availability of ingredients at home. We enjoyed this subzi with parathas [except my younger one who still refused to eat even those deseeded fruit pieces from the gravy !]



Ingredients

3-4 guavas/ amrud [little greenish in color from outside, semi ripe] diced into 1 inch cubes.
1/4 tsp hing
1 tbsp Panchphoran mix 
[which consists of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, methi seeds, fennel seeds and nigella seeds]
1/2 tsp ginger paste, 
1 tomato large sized, boiled and peeled
1 onion medium sized, chopped 
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp red chilli powder [You can increase it according to your preference for spicy levels]
1 tbsp ghee
1/2 cup water
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
Finely chopped coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

Wash, clean and dice guavas into 1 inch cubes. [ I have deseeded these fruit pieces, if you like them you can keep it]. Make puree of chopped onion and boiled tomato pulp. Keep it aside. 

Heat ghee in a pan. Add mustard seeds and once it begins to pop up, add cumin seeds, methi seeds, fennel seeds and nigella seeds one by one . Saute it on a low flame for a minute or till nice aroma comes. Now add hing, turmeric powder, red chilli powder and fry it taking care not to burn the dry masala. Next add ginger paste, tomato onion puree and saute it for 3-4 minutes. Add salt, sugar as per taste, guava pieces [deseeded and diced] and stir fry for a minute seeing that tomato paste with spices evenly coats the fruit pieces. Add 1/2 cup of water, cover the pan and continue to cook on low medium heat. Take care that the guava pieces don't turn mushy and cook them till done to taste. Switch off the flame and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. Serve it hot as side dish. Goes well with rotis, parathas or rice.