Easy Cauliflower Stir-fry without Onions

You are back home after a long day and have some left over rice or chappathis in your kitchen with no side dish, hungry and not so patient for an elaborate cooking, but lucky enough to have a fresh/ not so fresh cauliflower left in your vegetable tray, this would be one of the easiest dry accompaniment you may lay your hands upon. There is no hassle of slicing onions either, yet it tastes great!

Easy Cauliflower Stir-fry

Cauliflower, cut into small florets- 2 cups

To season:

Oil- 2 tbsps
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Chilly Powder- 1/2 tsp (more or less acc to your spice level)
Pepper powder- 1/4 tsp
Garlic-1 large clove or 3 small, Crushed
Curry leaves / Cilantro
Salt- as needed

                                                   in the kadai with all the water evaporated..


Wash the florets well and keep aside. Heat oil in a kadai, splutter mustard seeds, throw in curry leaves, add the florets and sauté for a few seconds. Add the turmeric and chilly powders along with salt and 1/2 cup of water and close with a lid while it simmers. Here in TN, the vegetables cook a bit slow and so I needed 5 minutes to get them half cooked. Adjust the cooking time accordingly in yours. The florets have to get half cooked before you proceed to the next step, and that's it! :)
The water would have used up or even if not, dont worry, add the crushed garlic (close, if there's still some water at the bottom until evaporated) and lastly  the pepper powder and toss well. ( you can also sauté the florets for a longer time with some more oil drizzled. I didn't do it as I was...yup, Impatient! :))

If you don't have curry leaves in stock and hadn't added earlier, garnish with chopped cilantro.

Serve hot. You will never regret coming up this one and will end up making it again and again. Kids will enjoy this too!
   

Read More »

Tweet

Simple Lentil and Vegetable Soup

The Hot Summer days are back with the fierce merciless sun spitting out 'Fire!'

I dare to stay a longer time in the kitchen with elaborate meals and it's definitely not a good time to whip up soups.

Invariably my family prefers a comforting bowl of any vegetarian soup for dinner after a heavy Sunday lunch, irrespective of the season.

And now with my Blog which has just turned 3, I surprisingly realize I’d never posted a single ‘Soup recipe’ till date!!
So, here’s a 'Simple', 'Nourishing Bowl' of Soup with 'no butter', 'white sauce' or any 'thickening agent'.
This 'low calorie comfort soup' recipe serves 4 large bowls.

To Start -

Get ready with 1/3 cup of red or green lentils, rinse and soak in luke warm water for an hour or so and pressure cook till soft with water at least twice the depth of the lentils.

You need 2 cups of Vegetables in all.

So,

Mince Finely, a few leaves of Spinach, a small piece of Cabbage, Carrot, 1 or 2 Beans, 1/4th of a Capsicum,a Cauli flowerette(Sorry! if there isn’t such a term in the English Dictionary :)) a button mushroom, half tomato(I avoided this), a few fresh coriander leaves, a small onion,a large clove of garlic and half a green chilly(optional).

Feel free to throw in a tbsp of fresh peas and corn kernels each….and yeah!..if you are lucky enough to find a cube of paneer smiling at you in the freezer, cut it into tiny bits(after immersing in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes) and let her join the above ;)

Transfer the above chopped veggies to the cooked gram. The water level should at least be an inch above them. Add enough salt and pressure cook till one whistle. Remove from fire and let the steam vent out by itself.
Open, check salt and serve hot with freshly crushed black pepper.

This is one of the most comforting and easiest soups which you can never stop with just one-soup-bowl-serving :).



Let the soup be watery. If you prefer Broth, simply strain, and Slurp on with pieces of bread or bun, dunked in.

Read More »

Tweet

Easy Cauliflower and Bell Pepper Gravy

If you are in a look out for the recipe of a quick vegetable gravy that would go almost with any main dish, and would serve fine, your unexpected guests or potluck parties, well, here's your choice!..
Yeah!..I am holidaying at my mom's place now and discovered this a dish both my aunt(dad's sis)and mom make quite recently, frequently..or rather invented by them? ;).
To my surprise V and kids loved this gravy and I thought of blogging as a keeper ;).

According to amma and aunt..
we need,

Cauliflower-a small one-divided into small flowerettes
Green Bell Pepper-diced an inch long (no need to make them too thin strips)-a cup
Big Onions-sliced thin and long-2 nos
Fresh/frozen Green peas-1/4 cup
Tomato pulp- a heaped tbsp (may substitute fresh tomatoes as well)
Red chilly powder-a tsp
An inch piece of ginger, 3 cloves of garlic and 3 green chillies- pulsed coarse in a mixie
Soy Sauce- a tbsp
Corn flour-a tbsp, dissolved in 1/4 cup of luke warm water
Cilantro-to garnish
Oil-a tbsp

Heat oil in a large wide non stick kadai. Sauté onions till translucent(take care, not until golden),and next the pulsed ginger-garlic-chilly mix till the raw smell disappears.Now goes in the red chilly powder. Throw in the bell pepper pieces now and sauté lightly.Stir in the soy sauce in high fame and put off after a few seconds.

Cook the flowerettes and peas in a separate vessel in just enough salter water and transfer into the above kadai with the remaining cooked water.Mix well and bring to a boil. Stir in the cornflour-water mix.Simmer till the required consistency is reached(as in the picture).Simmer again for 3-5 minutes as the gravy thickens. Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve hot. Goes best with chappathis, plain rice or fried rice.

Read More »

Tweet