Cabbage & Tomato Salad

This is a colourful, tasty and crunchy salad and very easy to prepare. It not only looks good to eat but also looks good on the dining table ! It is noteworthy that cabbage when eaten raw is healthier as it is easy on the digestion.

Ingredients

Cabbage finely chopped	About 2 cups
Tomatoes (chopped)	1 large
Ginger (chopped)	1’ piece
Green chilies (chopped)	1
Salt	To taste
Lime juice	2 tsps
Coriander leaves (chopped)	2 tbsps

Method

1. In a bowl, crush chopped green chilies & chopped ginger along with salt.
2. Add to it the chopped tomatoes and lime juice. Mix well and keep it aside.
3. Place the finely chopped cabbage in another bowl and just before serving, combine the tomatoes, green chilies, and ginger etc mixture. Mix well.
4. Finally garnish it with chopped coriander leaves.
5. Serve immediately.

Serves: 3

Note:

• Cabbage should be finely chopped. A food processor will do the job quickly.
• It goes well with chapattis.
• The decoration (rose) is made from tomato peel.
  

For nutritional benefits of cabbage see here:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=19

Spicy Soya Chunks

My first taste of soya chunks was at a picnic. Initially, I was hesitant to taste the dish thinking they were mutton/chicken pieces. It was introduced to me as "meal-maker". But once I was assured that it is totally vegetarian, I boldly took a bite and liked the taste of it.

I learnt more about it later and found to be very high in protein and is truly a vegetarian's equivalent to non-veg dish. !

These soya chunks when added to any curries or rice dishes, resemble meat pieces and in taste too they being slightly chewy can be mistaken for some non-veg item. Of course meat lovers would definitely not agree with this statement !

Soya chunks in raw form

Ingredients:

Soya Chunks	1 cup
Pepper powder	1 tsp or as per taste
Salt	As per taste
Corn flour	2 tbsps
Tomato puree	2 tbsps
Tomato sauce	1 tbsp
Onions (chopped)	1 medium
Green chilies (split)	2
Ginger (chopped)	1’ piece
Garlic (chopped)	5-6 cloves
Oil	2 or 3 tbsps
Curry leaves	1 sprig
Coriander leaves (chopped)	For garnish

Method:

1. Soak the Soya chunks in hot water for about 15 minutes and drain the water completely.
2. Place these drained soya chunks in a separate bowl and sprinkle pepper powder, salt and corn flour with a little water. Mix well and keep aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan/kadai and fry the soya chunks turning it periodically on a medium flame till they are turned golden brown and crispy. Remove on a paper towel and keep aside.
4. In the same pan (using the same oil or if necessary add some more oil), add the chopped onions, split green chilies, curry leaves, chopped ginger and garlic. Stir this mixture for a while till the onions are translucent.
5. Next add tomato puree, and tomato sauce on a low flame. Mix well. After a few minutes, remove from flame.
6. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot.

Serves: 2

Note:

It tastes great with rice, chapattis or even puris.

Soya is also available in flake form

Tasty Snacks (from left over chapattis)

You must have faced this situation sometime or the other - what to do with the left-over chapattis? Well ofcourse, the easy way out would be to eat the same boring thing by warming it up!!

Next time, may be you can try out these two interesting ways of eating the left over chapattis. Do not be surprised if you are tempted to make more chapattis than you normally need to, so that you can make these tasty snacks the next day!!

As I am writing this, I suddenly remembered that there is also a third way of transforming the humble chapatti into an interesting one. This will have to wait for now as I had only six (leftover) chapattis. I used four for the usli and two for the pizza.

If anyone has any new ideas for left-over chapattis, please do write in.

Snack Number 1 – Chapatti Usli

• Roughly tear off the chapattis into small pieces.
• Heat a pan and add to it – oil, mustard seeds and salt. When mustard seed starts to pop, add turmeric powder, chopped onions, curry leaves and green chilies and chopped tomatoes. Saute it for a while till the onions are translucent.
• Lower the flame and add the chapatti pieces and mix well. Cover the lid. After about a few minutes, switch off the gas.
• Garnish with lime juice, coconut scrapings and coriander leaves.

Snack Number 2 – Chapatti Pizza

• Heat a pan or a tawa. See that the pan/tawa is hot. Then lower the flame to minimum.
• Lightly smear the chapattis with ghee or oil on both sides and place the chapattis on the pan one by one and heat it on either side till golden spots appear on both the sides and it loses all its moisture and softness and becomes nice and crisp.
• Heat all the chapattis in this way.
• While the chapattis are being heated, you can chop onions, tomatoes and coriander leaves and make a mixture of this adding salt and pepper or any other masala of your choice.
• Spread this mixture over each chapatti. You can also top it with some grated cheese, tomato ketchup and any other ingredients of your choice. Serve and relish.

Note :

• Chappati Usli can be made for breakfast or served as an evening snack or as a side-dish during lunch or dinner.
• Chapatti pizza can be served as an appetiser.

Sindhi Kadhi

This tasty dish is Sindhi specific as the name suggests. I learnt this dish from one of my neighbours in Dubai. She used to love our South Indian Sambhar.

She introduced this kadhi to me as Sindhi people’s Sambhar as this can be prepared with any type of vegetables (carrots, beetroots, mushrooms, beans, etc) though the main vegetables that are normally used are the yam, papdi (flat green beans) and potato. Coccum is an important ingredient too which gives it a unique tangy flavour.

I was also told that this dish is the specialty of the Bhatia community in particular. This recipe does not have onion and garlic as ingredients and hence considered as Saatvic food.

Ever since I have mastered the art of preparing this dish, I prepare it at least once every week as this dish can be prepared in a hurry and does not require any boiling of dal or grinding of any masalas.!!

Do not be put off by the number of ingredients that are required in this dish.

Ingredients:

Yam/Suran – cut into big size cubes	7- 8 pcs
Papdi/Flat green beans	8-10
Potato	1
Tomato	1 large
Beans	8
Capsicum	1/2
Coccum	About 4 pcs soaked in water
Water	3-4 cups
Ginger	1” pc (chopped)
Turmeric	½ tsp
For Seasoning
Ghee/oil	1½ tbsps
Mustard seeds	1 tsp
Jeera/cumin seeds	1 tsp
Methi /Fenugreek seeds	1 tsp
Green chillies ( split)	1-2
Asafoetida	½ tsp
Curry leaves	2 sprigs
Gram flour/Besan	3 tbsps
For Garnish
Chopped coriander leaves	2 tbsps

Method:

1. Wash all the vegetables and cut them into bite size pieces.
2. Heat a pan. Add to it the seasoning ingredients – ghee or oil (or a mixture of both), mustard seeds, jeera, and fenugreek seeds on a low fire. When it starts spluttering, add the split green chilies, asafoetida, curry leaves and the gram flour.
3. Stir constantly till the gram flour gives a nice flavor and turns reddish brown.
4. Add water, ginger and turmeric. Mix well and see that no lumps are formed.
5. Increase the flame slightly and allow it to boil. At this stage see that the mixture does not boil over. Do not cover the lid. Stir frequently and take care that the gram flour does not stick at the bottom.
6. Add vegetables (those that take longer time, first ) and when all the vegetables are nearly cooked, add salt, tomatoes and the soaked coccum.
7. Lower the flame and allow it to simmer for about 5 minutes and then switch off the gas.
8. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.
9. Serve hot.

Serves: 3

Note:

• This is eaten with rice. It tastes good with chapattis too.
• The gravy can be thickened by increasing the quantity of gram flour or diluted by adding water depending upon ones liking.

Daangar (Drumstick leaves Balls)

“Daangar” is traditionally made with “Taikillo” (in konkani language) which is a wild leafy vegetable and grows only during the monsoons.

I have substituted drumstick leaves for “Taikillo” as these are available throughout the year and also have medicinal/nutritional benefits. Drumstick leaves are slightly bitter in taste but the snack as such is very tasty especially so when it rains!!

This snack or side dish tastes good with or without chutney.

Ingredients:

Leaves of drumstick	3 cups
Toor Dal or Channa Dal	¼ cup
Rice	¼ cup
Tamarind	A small lump (a big rajma size)
Coconut gratings	1- 2 tbsp
Dry Red chillies	5-6
Salt	As per taste
Oil	For frying

Method:

1. Wash and soak rice and toor dal together in water for about an hour. Then drain the water.
2. Wash only the drumstick leaves (stems to be discarded) and roughly chop them. OR if you have a food processor, put the leaves in it and run it in for a few seconds.
3. Grind the washed and soaked toor dal & rice mixture without adding water along with red chillies, coconut scrapings and tamarind to a coarse paste.
4. In a bowl, add the ground mixture, chopped leaves and salt. Mix it well with your hands. Shape small balls of this mixture and slightly flatten them.
5. Deep fry these flattened balls in oil.
6. Serve hot.

Makes about 18 (Daangars) balls

Note:

• For weight watchers - instead of deep frying it, you can fry it in a tawa or frying pan like a dosa /pancake. Smear a little oil on the pan Take a little mixture and place it on the frying pan and flatten it with your hands. Wet your hands first with water and then flatten to the desired shape. Add a few drops of oil on the sides of the pancake and fry it on both sides.
• Adding chopped raw onions to the mixture also enhances the taste of Daangar as well as Pancake

See here for picture of drumstick leaves :

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/8007/drumstickleaveskn2.jpg

See here for nutritional benefits of drumstick leaves:

http://www.brighthub.com/health/diet-nutrition/articles/52344.aspx

Stuffed & Fried Snake Gourd Rings

In my last post I had promised you all another snake gourd recipe. Well, here I am with two variations in the recipes for the price of one!!

The first (potato) one is the typical Konkani type but the other one (gram flour) is the Maharashtrian version. Yet another filling variation is to substitute sweet potato for the regular potato stuffing. All the versions are equally tasty.

Generally salt is applied to the cut snake gourd rings and then stuffed. But here, I have steamed the snake gourd rings first before stuffing. This is one of my friend’s suggestions which I have followed and I feel it’s a healthier version. Moreover, it takes less time to cook during frying and with the result less oil is also used.

Steamed snake gourd rings with the stuffings

Stuffed and fried snake gourd rings

Ingredients:

Snakegourd (small)	1
Boiled Potato (large)	1
Onion (chopped)	1
Green Chilly (chopped)	1 or as per taste
Corriander leaves(chopped)	1 tbsp
Lemon juice	1 tsp
Salt	as per taste
Oil	for shallow frying
Fine semolina/ sooji/rawa	2-3 tbsps

Method :

1. Wash and scrape the snake gourd and scoop out the seeds and the pulp.
2. Cut it into 1.5" size rings. Steam these rings for about 15 minutes and keep aside.
3. Mash the boiled potato in a bowl and add to it the chopped onions, chopped green chilies, salt and lime juice. Mix it well.
4. Stuff this mixture into the Snake gourd rings.
5. Heat a frying pan and smear oil on it. Roll each stuffed snake gourd rings into the fine semolina and fry it in the frying pan with the heat lowered. Add oil all around if necessary and do the same on the other side till golden brown.
6. Remove and serve hot.

About 11 rings can be cut from one small snake gourd.

II - Variation

Ingredients : Gram flour, turmeric powder, chilly powder, jeera (cumin) powder, pepper powder, salt, sugar, eno or soda and tamarind water.

Mix all these ingredients to form a thick paste and stuff this into the steamed snake gourd rings. Frying procedure is the same as mentioned above.

Note:

• This can be eaten as a side dish or as an evening snack.
  
• You can substitute boiled sweet potatoes for the regular potato in which case add asafoetida and another chilly to the stuffing mixture as sweet potato is naturally sweet.