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.

Happy 2009

I wish my Readers and Foodie Friends A very Happy, Healthy and Nutritious New year..

Cheers Everyone !

A Look Back and Best Recipes of 2008

Today is the last day of the year 2008, there is no better way to end the year, than by taking a look at the good memories I (we) had this past year, by writing and sharing with you all.

This was a very good year for me. The year stared with a resolution(as always) to make life little healthier by eating healthy and exercising at least 2-3 days a week. To keep up with it I took a online course on Fitness and Nutrition(to expand my knowledge on nutrition) and am still studying on it. And I also joined aerobic classes which I am doing pretty much regularly.

One highlight about food, this year is the boxes of Organic produce we are getting each week, which I look forward to cook with every week.

Personally it was a good year as well, first 6 months of the year I traveled a lot and stayed in India for almost 4 months, attending weddings, baby showers, festivals and welcoming a new member to our own family( my sister's baby), got to meet a few good old, long lost friends, through Orkut. Totally it was fun times with family, friends and food of course.

My little one started her Pre-school this year, its a milestone for me. When I think year goes by so fast,Life goes by even faster..I still remember my first day of school, and now I am sending my kid to school. During all this, Blogging took a back seat.

After my long vacation, it was Marathon(DK's Recipe Marathon) time. It was nice warm up for me to get back to blogging again and challenge myself to cook and post non-stop for 30 days. It was very fun. Last thing I did was, moving from Wordpress to Blogspot, due to more options and things I get to do on Blogspot.

All in all, it was a fabulous year, I will be looking forward to spend more time with family, friends and cooking healthy food in the coming year.

Thank you all Readers, foodie friends for your comments. I appreciate your time.

Here is a look at a few of the recipes from my 2008 Posts. These are all the recipes I tried for the first time and making them as healthy and wholesome as possible.

Edamame Salad

Sprouted Moongdal Dosa

Spinach & Black-eye pea Fritters

Chili Relleno

Zucchini Chutney

Purple Cabbage Stir-fry

Cornmeal Idlis

Pineapple Gojju

Palak Paneer

Pear Crumble

Off this goes to Srivalli's Best of 2008 event.

Sprouted Channadal Kurma

Kurma is a kind of curry usually made to accompany rice dishes like ghee rice or jeera rice. Commonly used vegetables are cauliflower and potatoes used along with green peas. Kurma is a very rich curry, made using nuts and some spices, roasted and grounded along with cooked tomato and onion mixture.
Today I have used this recipe and have used sprouted Channadal (black and green chickpea) to make kurma, to go with it I have made whole wheat flour chapathis/rotis.



Sprouting Beans/Lentils : Wash and soak beans(any dry beans) in enough water for at least 6-7 hours or over night until beans are plumped up from their original size.
Drain water and cover them inside a cloth or in a box. keep them in warm place (like next to stove) for 4-5 hours or until you see small sprouts appear.


Ingredients I used for making Kurma.

• Sprouted Channadal - about 1 1/2 cups (Use any kind for canned beans or different types of vegetables for making this kind of kurma)

Roast and Grind

1. Onion - 1 medium size, Tomato - 1(chop into pieces).
2. Cinnamon sticks - 2 small, Cloves - 4, Black peppercorn - 10, Poppy seeds - 1tsp, Coriander seeds - 1tsp, Almonds- 2 tsp (nuts like peanuts, walnuts, cashews and pine nuts can be used) Red chilies - 2 or 1 tsp of red chili powder.

Garnish : Coriander leaves- one handful, lime juice- 1tsp

Procedure :

1. First pressure cook ( cook the beans on stove top) with enough water till soft and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan, when hot add chopped onions and tomatoes and cook till soft and keep aside.
3. Roast the spices and nuts mentioned above till golden, and keep aside.
4. Once the onion-tomato mixture and spice mixture are cool enough, take them in a mixie or blender and grind them to smooth paste.
5. Heat about 1 tsp of oil in the pan (I used the same pan used to cook onion and tomato). When the oil is hot enough add ground paste and cook for few minutes, then add cooked sprouted beans, add salt adjust to taste.
6. Add enough water (adjust to your desired consistency) and let it cook for 10 -15 until the ground paste and beans are well combined.
7. Finally garnish with some cilantro leaves and squeeze fresh lime juice.

Enjoy warm, with rotis or rice.

I am sending this to My Legume Love Affair( MLLA)-Hot&Spicy hosted by Suganya of Tasty Palettes, which was originally started by Susan of Well Seasoned Cook and JFI-Sprouts hosted by Dee of Ammalu's Kitchen.

Grated Pumpkin Fritters / Vada

We have been getting different kind of squashes/pumpkins in our weekly produce box. I have used those in making curries, sagu, stri-frys so I was looking for some new recipe to try with pumpkins, so I got the recipe from 'Madhur Jaffery's World Vegetarian' Cook book. As soon as I read the title I wanted to try it, so made fritter with pumpkin/squash. Along with pumpkin i also added some onions for some crunch, we all enjoyed them very much. It tasted like onion pakodas but with little more sweeter than that.

Ingredients:

• Delicata Squash - 2 cups coarsely grated (any kind of pumpkin/squash can be used)
• Red onion- 1 medium size thinly sliced
• Cilantro/coriander leaves- one handful chopped

Spices

• Chickpea flour and rice flour about a cup
• Cayenne pepper- 1tsp (use less or more to desired taste)
• Turmeric- 1 tsp (for color) optional
• Salt to tasted
• Peanut/groundnut oil - for deep frying.

Little info about Delicata Squash

Delicata squashes are oblong in shape, small in size measures about 5 to 10 inches long. They are also known as peanut squash, because of the way it looks.

Outer skin is light colored with greenish orange strips and can be cut easily and skins can peeled easily using regular vegetable peeler.

Inside flesh is light yellow in color, sweet to taste. Can be used in making stir fries, curries, baking.

Grated delicate squash, I used for making fritters.

Making Fritters

1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. Mix together grated squash, sliced onions, chopped cilantro leaves to that add rice flour and chickpea flour, salt and Cayenne pepper.Add water little by little to make the batter, it should be thick enough to drop into the oil.
3. When oil is hot enough, take the batter make like a Pattie on you hand or on a parchment paper and slide down slowly into hot oil 2 -3 at a time( or just drop little by little using a spoon). Fry till golden brown.
4. Take out and drain excess oil on paper towel, serve warm with chutney or hot sauce.

We enjoyed with hot cup of coffee.

*Not in a mood to eat deep fried snacks, this can also be shallow fried. Make sure the mixture is not too thin.

I'll be sending this to the event Sunday snacks-Hot n Spicy hosted by Pallavi of All thingz Yummy.

Pepper-Onion Quesadillas

Quesadilla pronounced as 'kesa dia' is a Mexican snack or fast food item, Which means 'little cheese things'. It is mostly stuffed with only cheese or veggies and cheese inside a corn tortialls(flatbread).

This kind of snack is great to do with leftover stir-frys or curries. I make this more often as our evening snack sometimes with corn and beans or sometimes with eggplants. This time around I used Green bell peppers/capsicums, roasted red peppers and Onions and Natural Pepper-jack cheese.

Very simple, spicy and satisfying snack.

Ingredients : Corn Tortiallas - 3 (used store brought)

Pepper jack cheese- 3 slices

Vegetables : Onion, green bell pepper- 1 each cut length wise

Roasted red bell pepper- 1 (used store brought)

Spices : Cumin/jeera powder, red chilli powder and turmeric - 1tsp each

Salt to taste, Lime juice - 1 tsp.

1. Heat a pan when hot add oil, and cut veggies saute it until it is soft. Then add spices and salt mix well, adjust the spice and salt. Squeeze fresh lime juice. Keep aside.
2. Heat a griddle on meduim-high heat, when hot put one tortialla and worm one side, turn to other side, now add veggie mixture and little or more cheese on top of the mixture.
3. Fold on one side, leave on the griddle until cheese melts, let it cool a bit.
4. Cut into wedges and serve warm with hot sauce.

Enjoy !

I'll be sending this as my entry to the event EFM- Savory Series hosted by Srilekha of Me & My kitchen.

Sweet Potato-Tomato Chutney

Before seeing this recipe of Suma I had no idea one can make chutneys with sweet potatoes,I have made this chutney several times now.
But the recipe I am posting today is bit different, I have changed it a little bit to make it more tangy to go with Idlies.



Sweet potato - 1 medium size (skin peeled and grated, about 1 cup)

Tempering : Oil- 1tsp, Cumin seeds, mustard seeds,channadal - 1tsp each, asafeotida/hing - 1 pinch.
Onion and tomato medium size each- chopped, red chilies - 2 to 3, tamarind soaked in water.

1. Grate sweet potatoes and keep aside.
2. Heat oil in a pan, when hot add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and channdal once dal starts to change colour add onion and tomatoes. Cook for few minutes untill tomatoes are soft. Let it cool.
3. Once the mixture is cooled, add them along with grated Sweet potatoes, add tamarind water or use tamarind paste, add salt to taste. Blend/grind together to smooth paste with water, to desired consistency.

Enjoy with rice, dosas or idlies.

We had Chutney with idlies, our weekend Brunch.

Edamame Salad

Edamames are also known as Soybeans, these are tender beans harvested before they become hard. They have a beautiful green color and have a soft bite to it when boiled in water. Very nutritious beans with lots of protein and vitamins.

I was first introduced to this beautiful beans in a party couple years ago, where one of our friend made a salad with it, and very much liked the taste and texture of it.

For the first time today, I tried to give it a shot in my kitchen. Very simple to make and yet very fulfilling, can be eaten as such or as a side with rice and curry. I had some left overs,which I used in making fried rice, tasted very delicious.



Ingredients

• Edamame- about 1/2 cup (I used frozen)
• Corn - about 1/3 cup ( I used Frozen)
• Red onion- 2tsp chopped
• Calamata olives - about 5-6 chopped
• Roasted red peppers- Few chopped (used jared)

Garnish : Few springs of cilantro leaves and few sprinkles of hot sev for some crunch.

Seasoning : Black pepper, salt, olive oil and lime juice according to taste.

*Grated carrots, tomatoes and toasted nuts can also be added.

1. Bring water to boil, add salt and edamame and boil for 3-4 minutes until they are just tender and still have a bite to it. Drain and keep aside.
2. In a bowl mix, olive oil, salt pepper and lime juice to that add chopped veggies and cooked edamame. Combine well and adjust the seasoning
3. Finally garnish with cilantro leaves and sprinkle some sev on it. Enjoy !

Baked Sweet Potatoes

One of the best ways to enjoy sweet potatoes is to bake them with some spices and olive oil and eat warm out of the oven. Thats what I did this evening, for our snack time. It was delicious with sweet taste from the potatoes and little hint of spice from red chilli powder.

• Sweet Potato - 1 big (skin peeled and cut into thin strips)
• Spices: Cumin powder, red chilli powder, black pepper and salt - about 1tsp.
• Olive oil - 1tsp

1. Pre heat the oven 400 degrees.
2. Mix the sweet potatoes with oil and spices, sprinkel salt.
3. Spread them on a baking sheet in a single layer.
4. Bake them at for 10 min, take out and turn them to other side and bake for 10 more mins(watch carefully to make sure it doesn't get burned).

Enjoy !

Vermicelli Pudding (Shavige Paayasa/kheer)

Vermicelli is very thin noodles, usually made with wheat or semolina. Its used very much in Indian cooking, most common dishes made with this is upma/porridge and kheer/pudding.

I made Kheer with Vermicelli, this is a classic Indian dessert, made for so many occasions like festivals or for a simple dessert.



Ingredients

Vermicelli - 1/2 cup (use any small noodles instead
Milk - 1 to 1 1/2 cup
Sugar- 1/2 cup
Saffron - few strands
Dry fruit& nuts - 2 tsp(almonds,cashew and raisins mixed together)
Ghee - 1tsp (for roasting vermicelli and nuts)

1. First roast vermicelli using little ghee , till golden color,keep aside. In the same pan roast almonds and keep aside. Let them cool a bit.
2. In a heavy bottom pan heat milk, when it comes to boil add roasted and cooled vermicelli, and add sugar as well and few strands of saffron to milk. Let the vermicelli cook, it plumps a bit and milk with thicken. Add more milk or water if need to thin the mixture.
3. Once milk and vermicelli have incorporated well and cooked, add toasted nut on top.

Enjoy warm or when cooled to room temperature, put it in fridge for at least an hour and eat it cold. Either way tastes good.