Carrot Stir-Fry

I have had couple bunches of carrots, laying in my fridge for over a week now. So for tonights dinner I made a quick and simple stir-fry with carrots, using very few basic ingredients. This tastes good with Indian rotis or as a side dish with rice and Dal's.

Here is my recipe for simple carrot stir-fry.

Vegetables :

Carrots - 7 to 8 (medium size, skin peeled and washed)

Onion- 1 medium (thinly sliced)

For Tempering/Seasoning :

Oil - 1 tsp

Cumin/Jeera - 1/2 tsp

Spices (Powders) :

Garam Masala - 1tsp (substitute with cumin-coriander powder)

Red chili powder - 1-2 tsp

Garnish (Sprinkle on top):

Lime : about 1tsp (Freshly squeezed)

Cilantro/Coriander leaves- 1tbsp chopped.

Method :

1. Peel the skin of carrots, wash and chop them like match sticks, Slice onions thinly to match the cut carrots.
2. Heat oil, when hot add jeera seeds, when they start to pop add onions fry for  few minutes until its translucent. Now add carrots, salt mix well cover and cook till carrots are just tender not too soft.
3. Add spices mix well, adjust salt if needed. Once the flavors are well combined, switch off the heat.
4. Finally garnish with cilantro leaves and squeeze some fresh lime juice.

Ready to be served, Enjoy !

Turnip Fry

These days we are ordering our vegetable box from one of our neighboring(state) organic farm, so we are able to get very fresh veggies and fruits. I am ordering some new kinds of veggies which I have not used before and giving it a try. This week I experimented with fresh turnips.

Turnips are root vegetables, which is good source of vitamin C. While growing up I never had turnips, so I was bit shy to cook with this veggie all these years. For those of you who haven't tasted this yet, it tastes close to radishes but not as much as pungent as radishes are and cooks very fast as well.

Whenever I try new vegetables, I always do a simple and quick stir-frys(palyas), which is the best way to enjoy them. When having other starchy food like rice, this will be nice as a side dish and good alternative to potatoes.

So here is how I used them.

Ingredient : Turnip(s) - 1 Big or 2 small ones (skin peeled and diced to big pieces).
Tempering : Oil - 2 tsp , Cumin/Jeerige - 1tsp, Turmeric/arishina - 1 small pinch .
Garnish : Lime/lemon juice - 1tbsp, cilantro/kothambari leaves - 2 tbsp chopped , Chili powder - 1tsp (optional and Salt to taste.

Turnips-Photo source : Wikipedia.

1. Peel the skin of turnip and chop it to big bite size pieces.
2. Heat oil in a pan, when hot add cumin seeds. Once it starts to turn brown, add chopped turnips.
3. Add little salt, mix well, cover with a lid and cook on medium heat for 10 - 15 mins or until just tender.
4. Switch off the heat once its tender/soft. Add lime juice, chopped cilantro and chili powder. Adjust salt and mix well. Now its ready to be eaten.

We enjoyed turnip fry as a side dish, with some rice & rotis, along with some sambar and curds. This was our dinner last night.

* Anyone know any Indian names for turnips, please do let me know.

I am sending this to Think Spice - Think Turmeric Event hosted by Sudeshna of Cook like a Bong, originally started by Sunita of Sunitha's World.

Have a good Weekend !

Moongdal Stir-fry/Usli

Moongdal (small green husked beans) known as Hesaru kaalu in Kannada. We use this bean widely in our daily cooking. We make salads or kosambari where raw sprouted beans are used. This bean is also used with spinach/greens while making sambar(curry). Today I have used the whole green moongdal for making simple stir fry/Usli or Gugari.



Ingredients
Moongdal - 1 cup
Onion - 1 small, chopped (I used red onions)

Tempering
Olive oil - 1tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Garnish
Cilantro/coriander leaves-one handful
Lime juice- 1 tsp
Grated coconut - about a tbsp

1. Soak Moongdal for at least half an hour. With enough water cook them until just tender( I used pressure cooker).
2. Heat oil in a pan, when hot at mustard seeds. When mustard seeds starts to pop add chopped onions and fry until soft. To that add cooked moongdal, add salt to taste. Mix gently make sure not to make the beans mushy.
3. Finally add chopped cilantro, grated coconut and freshly squeezed lime juice. Mix well and enjoy warm.

Simple and satisfying snack or a side dish. Goes well with chapathis and rice.

I'll be sending this to My Legume Love Affair-Seventh Helping hosted by Srivalli, which first started by Susan.

Pumpkins with chili-ginger paste

I cook with Squashes/pumpkins at least once a week. Most of the time I make the recipes which I am very familiar with, like Palya (dry curry),or Sagu (thin curry).

This week I tried something new by adding grated chili's and ginger at the very end of the dish almost like a garnish. Which makes the dish differently delicious, from the raw flavors of chili's, ginger and lime juice.

So here is the recipe.


Ingredients
Delicata squash - 1 (Any kind of pumpkin/squash can be used, potatoes will be good too)
Onion - 1 medium size
Tomato - 1 medium size

Tempering : Oil and mustard seeds - 1tsp

Spices : Green chili's - 1-2 ( I used Serrano kind) ,Fresh ginger- about 1 inch

I grated chili and ginger them with a fine grater ( you can make paste, using blender or motor and pestle or chop finely)

Garnish :Cilantro leaves - 2 tbsp chopped, Lime/lemon juice - freshly squeezed about a tablespoon.

1. First cut the squash, onion and tomato to bite size pieces.
2. Heat oil in a pan, when hot add mustard seeds. When it starts to pop add chopped veggies and cover and cook till soft about 7-10 mins.
3. Add salt and adjust to taste.
4. Add chili-ginger paste(about 1tspor more grated), mix well and adjust spicy level accordingly
5. Finally add chopped cilantro leaves and squeeze fresh lime juice and mix well.

Enjoy this Spicy curry with chapathis, rotis, dosas or rice.
I'll be sending this to Sunshinemom of Tongue Tickler for the event FIC-Yellow.

Broccoli-Channadal Stir-Fry

Broccoli belongs to cabbage family. They look very similar to cauliflower, except they are green in color. Broccolis are rich in Vitamin C and Vitamin K, has a soluble fiber which is very good for health. I have been using this vegetable for cooking for the last 2-3 years, but have known of them for much longer. More about Broccoli here.

I was introduced to Broccoli in a restaurant long back. I had ordered a Mexican dish which came with a side order of Raw Broccoli, so I said to the waiter 'No broccoli' on the side, but when I got my dish I could only see Broccoli on it, then I realized that she might have heard it as "more broccoli instead of no broccoli ". It was the first time I tried to taste it and obviously didn't like it. But I couldn't stop laughing about it :).

After that I really just didn't want to cook with it. Within the last couple of years I realized its very good for health and started to used it little by little with the vegetables curies I make. To my surprise it really tastes good. It was not broccoli I was turned off by, it was the way it was presented (big raw pieces). Now I use them on regular basis, along with its stems (I like the stems).

If you don't like to eat them raw like me, best way to use them are by steaming them or by stir frying them.

Here is the Recipe of stir-fry/dry curry .

Ingredients

• Broccoli - 1 medium head (including steams)
• Onion - 1 medium size
• Small Lentils- 1/2 cup ( i have used split Channa Dal, any quick cooking lentils can be used)

For Tempering : Oil - 1 tbs and mustard or cumin seeds - 1tsp.

Spices : Red chili Powder - 1tsp ( less or more according to desired spice level)
Garnish

• Cilantro/coriander leaves - washed and chopped about 2 tbsp
• Lemon/lime juice - 1tsp freshly squeezed
• Coconut - 1tsp grated (optional)
• Toasted sesame seeds - 1tbsp

Salt to taste.

1. Cook lentils with enough water and keep aside.
2. Chop onions and broccoli to small bit size pieces. Peel the outer layer of the broccoli stem and chop them as well.
3. Heat oil, when hot add mustard seeds when they start to pop add chopped onions and broccoli, cover with lid and cook them till just soft (takes about 7-10 Min's). Add cooked lentils and mix well.
4. Now add salt and red chili powder. Switch off and garnish with toasted sesame seeds, cilantro leaves, lime juice and fresh grated coconut. Adjust taste.

Enjoy with rice, rotis/flat breads or use to stuff bread and make sandwich's. We had this for our lunch with rice and sambar.

One more recipe with Broccoli : Broccoli-Potato cutlets.
This recipe goes to My Legume Love Affair-Seventh Helping hosted by Srivalli, which first started by Susan.

Bok Choy Stir-fry

This is the first time, I used Bok Choy in my cooking. Like a typical south Indian, I tried to make a stir-fry with it, and it tasted like cabbage but bit more crunchy than cabbage. Here goes the recipe for it.



Ingredients

• Bok choy (i used baby) - 3 bunches
• Onion - 1 medium
• Tempering : Oil, cumin seeds - 1 tsp each
• Red chilli's- 1tsp crushed

1. Separate the stalks of bok choy, wash and chop. Slice onion into thin slices.
2. Heat oil, when hot add cumin seeds then add chopped bok choy and onion and fry them till soft. Takes about 5-7 Min's.
3. Crush some red chilli's or used chili powder, add salt mix well. Serve as a side with rice or noodles.

Enjoy !

Beet Greens Stir-fry

Being Vegetarian and living in remote part of Alaska has its disadvantage, mainly with the produce we get. Selection of vegetables we get here is very limited, and we don't get any organic produce what so ever. Sometimes I do feel like cooking with greens, just thinking for chemicals and pesticides used to grow that greens, puts me off from buying that. I never thought of cooking with organic vegetable, as long as I lived here in this part Alaska.



Well, things have changed lately, we are able to get fresh Organic veggies and fruits from a neighboring state. They ship about 10 -12 types of different fruit and veggies which are fresh that week. This week we got a bunch of fresh beets along with its stem along with other fruits and veggies.

So I made a quick stir-fry with the beet greens and also used the stem. Taste was absolutely amazing. For a change I used powdered Dalia Dal/roasted gram Dal(hurigadale) instead of coconut.

Ingredients :

• Beets greens - 1 bunch(l used both leaves and stems)
• Spring Onions - 1 bunch (optional)
• Onion - 1 medium
• Green chili- 2 slit (optional, can use red chilli powder instead)
• Lime juice- 1 tsp freshly squeezed
• Dalia Dal- 1tbsp powdered ( coconut can be used)

Tempering : Oil, mustard seeds and Channadal - 1 tsp each

1. Clean beet greens, wash and chop them , Chop green onions and yellow onions as well.


2. Heat oil in a pan, when hot add mustard seed and Channadal, when Dal starts to change color add onions and fry till soft.


3. Then add chopped greens, cover and cook till the greens are wilted (reduced to half). Then add salt and powdered Dalia Dal. Squeeze some fresh lime juice. Mix well.

We had with rice and Dal. Enjoy !

Brinjal Stirfry (Badanekaayi Palya)

I like the combination of brinjal/eggpalnt with tomatoes and onions. So I make this quick stir-fry with brinjals.
Here is the recipe for it.


Ingredients

• Brinjal /Eggplant - 1 big (if using small one 5-6)
• Onion - 1 small thinly sliced
• Tomato - 1 small finely chopped

Spices : Red chilli powder, cumin powder and Palya podi/kara podi (optional) - 1tsp each
Tempering : Oil, cumin seeds and channadal - 1tsp each

For garnish few cilantro springs.

1. Chop veggies thinly. Do the tempering by adding cumin to hot oil, add channadal when it starts to change colour add all the veggies. Cover and cook for 5 mins or untill its just soft.
2. Add salt and spices,mix well and let it cook for 5 more minutes or untill all the flavour combines well.
3. Switch off the heat and Garnish with corriender leaves. Goes well as a side dish with rice and sambar or rotis.

Enjoy !

Purple Cabbage Stir-Fry

This is a simple south Indian stir-fry(palya), I made for our lunch today. I do this kind of stir-frys with brussel sprouts and green cabbage, this time I used purple or red cabbage. Simple yet delicious side dish to go with rice or rotis. One can use this for sandwichs or as topping on pizza with some cheese.




Ingredients

• Purple/Red cabbage - 1 meduim, thinly sliced.

Tempering

• Oil - 1tsp
• Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
• Channa dal - 1 tsp
• Red chillis - 2 broken or crushed

Granish : Cilantro/corriender leaves, coconut grated and fresh lime juice - 1 tsp each

1. Slice or chop cabbage and wash with cold water, drain the water.
2. Heat oil, once hot add mustard and channdal. When dal changes colour add red chillies and add chopped cabbage.
3. Cover with a lid and cook on meduim heat for about 5-10 mins. Make sure not to over cook the cabbage, it should still give some crunch. Adjust salt to taste.
4. Once cabbage is done switch off heat. Squeese fresh lime juice, garnish with grated coconut and cilantro leaves.

Enjoy !

I'll be sending this to Sunshinemoms Blog for FIC-November.

Pumpkin stir-fry / Kumbalakayi Palya

While growing up my mother never prepared any dish with pumpkins, this was the vegetable that we always used to eat at our grandmothers house in village, where they grew their own pumpkins in the backyard. I like the flavour and texture of pumpkin very much and enjoyed them.

After I got married, at my MIL's place they also had a small backyard and they too grew pumpkins. When ever she make doses she always make pumpkin sagu, i'll post the recipe sometimes. Most times I make palya a dry stir-fry with Pumpkins.

Apart from the fact that it has nice colour and texture this veggie is loaded with Beta-carotene when consumed converts into Vitamin A, a powerful anitoxidant. That is one more reason I use them often now.



Recipe is very simple.

Vegetable

Pumpkin I used is Butternut squash - about 2 cups chopped to bite size peices

Tempering

• Oil - 1tsp
• Mustard seeds/ saasive - 1/tsp
• Cumin/ Jeera/Jeerige - 1/2 tsp
• Channadal/Kadalebele - 1tsp
• Red chillies - 2 crushed
• Hing- 2 pinchs

Garnish

• Fresh/frozen Coconut-1tbsp
• Cilantro leaves- 1tbsp chopped
• Lime juice - 1tsp

1. Peel the outer layer and cut pumpkin into small bite size peices.
2. Heat oil in a pan, when hot add all the tempering ingredients one by one, when channadal starts to get brown add cut veggies. Cover with a lid and cook on medium heat untill just tender. This takes about 15 minutes.
3. Once the pumpkin is tender, switch off heat and add salt, and garnis with coconut and cilantro. at the very end sqeeze lime/lemon juice and mix well.

We had it with rice and sambar for our lunch today. Palya also tastes good with dosas and chapathis.

Enjoy !

Brussel Sprouts-Ginger Stir-fry

I use ginger in all my vegetable dishes. Recently I started using Brussel sprouts to make stir fry/palya, and with combination of ginger it tates very good. So for this months Think Spice-Ginger I am sending this as my entry to Sunita's World.



Ingredints

• Brussel sprouts - 10 small(thinly cut)
• Ginger- 2" piece

Tempering :

• Olive oil - 1 tbsp
• Channa dal- urad dal - 1 tbsp
• Mustard seeds- 1tsp
• Curry leaves- few
• Crushed red pepper- few tsp

Method :

1. Finely slice brussel sprouts and ginger.
2. Heat oil , when hot add mustared seeds, curry leaves, channa- urad dal and ginger.
3. Then add brussel sprouts and 2 tbsp of water cover and cook its soft. Adjust Salt to taste.
4. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes.

Enjoy with rice and dal. Simple and healthy sidedish.

Aalu Bhunjia - RCI Bihar

For this Month's RCI-Cuisine of Bihar hosted by Sangeeta of Ghar ka Khana,I decided to make simple and authentic Bhirai Bhunjia(Dry crispy curry) using aloo, for which we need a mixture of 5 spice called Panchforan/Panchapurna. This is the first time I used this spice and really liked the crunch of it with aloo. Read about Bhunjia here.

I followed the recipe of Mohita Prasad from Bawarchi.com.



Here is how I made Aalu Bhunjia

3 Potatoes - Thinly sliced and skin removed

Turmeric powder, red chilli powder, corriender- cumin powder 1 tsp of each.

For Panchaforan/5 spice

1. Saunf/Fennel Seeds


2. Sarson/Mustard seeds


3. Methi/Fenugreek seeds


4. Ajwain/Carom seeds


5. Mangraila/Nigella seeds/Onion seeds ( 1tsp of each mixed together)

• Heat oil in a pan add about 2 tsb of panchforan/5 spice mix and add potatoes and fry untill crisp on outside. Takes about 5- 7 minutes on med- high heat.


• Add all the spice powders, salt mix well . This is how I made Aalu Bhunjia.

Along with Bhunjia I made channadal curry and mooli methi paratha .

For ChannaDal curry-Cook 1/2 cup of channa dal till soft. Chop onion ,tomatoes and green chilles and do the tempering with oil and mustard seeds. Saute veggies and add to cooked channa dal. Adjust salt to taste.

For Mooli-Methi Paratha- 2 cups of Whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup of grated white raddish/mooli and 2 tbsp of dried fenugreek leaves/ methi leaves. Mix everthing together with little salt and chilli power with enough water to make to stiff dough. Make parathas.

We enjoyed our rustic Bhirai meal.

Masala Powder (Palya pudi)

This spicy mixture is my go to powder/pudi as we call in Kannada, I use this every day in my dishes like palya(dry veggi curry), sambar/huli(along with mom made sambar pudi), upma and for some rice dishes like Besibele Bath. Just adding a spoon of this Pudi makes the dish very flavourful.

Ingredients for Spicy Powder

Channa dal//kadalebele - 1 cup

Urad dal/ uddinabele- 1cup

Corriender seeds/ dhania- 2 tbsp

Methiseeds/menthia- 1tbsp

Cumin seeds/ jeerige- 1tbsp

Black pepper seeds/ menasu- 1 tbsp

Cinnamom-cloves/chekke-lavanga-2-3 each

Red chillies- 10 (for medium Spice)

Few curry leaves

Oil - 2tbsp for roasting all the above ingredients.

Roast all the above ingredients with 2 tbsp of oil one by one and when it cool enough, grind it to a fine powder.

*Using Badage chilli , adds more colour(redness) to the powder and dish.

I have used a tbsp of the above powder to make Chayote squash/semebadane kaayi palya/curry.



Recipe for Palya:

1. Heat a table spoon of oil in a vessel, when hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds, channdal and urad dal.



2. When dals start to change colour add chopped squash and salt, cover and cook for 10 min on medium heat.



3. Once squash is soft add 1 tbsp of spicy powder and 1 tbsp of grated coconut and squeeze 1 tbsp of lime juice. Add fresh cilantro/correinder leaves for garnish.

Enjoy !