Sweet Potato Butternut Squash Stir Fry

Halloween is a good time for harvest vegetables. The local farmers market had luscious looking squashes, corns and a variety of apples. My little one was out picking different apples such as Honey crisp, Spartan, Macintosh while his mom (a.k.a me!!) was picking out the squashes. We love sweet potato and butternut squash, so here is a recipe bringing out the best of both in one dish. 

Ingredients
1 no -- Butternut Squash cut in half and microwaved for 10 minutes, peeled and julienned
1 no -- Sweet Potato peeled and julienned
1 no -- Small Red Onion chopped
1 tsp -- Ginger grated
2 no -- Dry red chilli broken
Asofeteida a pinch
1 tsp -- Sambar powder

For Tempering
2 tbsp -- oil
1 tsp -- Mustard seeds
0.5 tsp -- urad dal

Garnish
5-8 -- Curry leaves shredded

Method

1. In a kadai at medium heat add oil, mustard seeds, dry red chillis and urad dal and let the mustard splutter.
2. Add chopped red onion and saute until translucent.
3. Add julienned sweet potato, saute for a minute. Add salt and turmeric, saute.
4. Cover and let the sweet potato cook until just done.
5. Add julienned squash to cooked sweet potato, saute.
6. Add ginger, curry leaves mix well and then add sambar powder, saute. Mix well and remove from heat.

Serve warm with rice and rotis. The red onions give a beautiful flavour to the dish. I found it difficult to cut and peel the uncooked butternut squash, so I microwaved it for 10 minutes, to soften the skin and partially cook the flesh. It turned out to be a very easy dish to make and had an amazing taste.

Potato Onion Fry

Got up late today and with just 45 min left for my husband to leave for office, I decided to make roti with a side dish.
This is a quickie recipe for those early morning rush hour days and a great comfort food.

 

Ingredients
4 Potatoes med sized cubed
1 Red Onion med sized chopped
1 tbsp -- Ginger grated
Asofeteida a pinch
1 tsp -- Chilly powder
1 tsp -- Sambar Powder
1/4 tsp -- Turmeric powder
Salt to taste

For tempering
Oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard - 1/2 tsp

For Garnish

Curry leaves - 1 sprig or
Coriander leaves-- 1 tbsp finely chopped

The Method

1. Cut the potatoes into medium sized cubes. In a saucepan add water and bring to a boil, add the potatoes and cook until just done. Add salt.
2. Once its 3/4th done add turmeric and mix well. Drain excess water and set aside.
3. In a kadai add the oil and splutter mustard seeds. Add the onions and fry until translucent. Add grated ginger and give a toss.
4. Keeping the heat at medium, add the potatoes and mix well until it is well coated with oil. Keep mixing so that it does not stick to the bottom.
5. Add the chilly powder, asofeteida and sambar powder and mix well again for a couple of minutes until the potatoes just begin to brown.
6. Remove from flame and garnish with curry leaves and chopped coriander leaves. This pairs up well with all rotis.  

Couscous with mixed vegetable and nuts salad

Salads are a great way to add a dash of healthy freshness to an everyday meal. I have been trying out and adding different grains and pasta to the meal times at home to broaden my little one's palette. Couscous, quinoa, bulgar wheat are just some healthy alternatives to rice that can make mealtimes interesting.

Couscous is a type of pasta made from semolina rolled in finely ground wheat flour. When paired with cucumber, avocados, pomegranates and almonds, it makes a delicious salad that can be eaten on its own. The avocado gives a richness, while cucumbers give some crunchiness and the pomegrantes give sweetness to the salad.

Ingredients
Couscous - 1 cup
Avocado - 1no diced
English Cucumber - 1/2 diced
Pomegranate Seeds -- 1/2 cup
Almonds -- 10 nos crushed

Dressing
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Lemon Juice -- 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Pepper - 1tsp

Method

1. Cook the couscous as per the instructions given in the packaging.
2. Fluff with fork and let it cool to room temperature. Add diced avocados, cucumber, pomegranate seeds and crushed almonds.
3. Whisk together olive oil and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.

Serve at room temperature for a crunchy main or as a tasty side dish.

Spicy Brussels Sprouts

During my last week's grocery shopping I spotted some fresh brussels sprouts. My first attempt at cooking the brussels sprouts a few months ago did not go well. The dish turned out to be smelly and did not taste good. After a few web searches I understood that the more you cook the sprouts the more unpalatable it becomes. This time around the dish I made was spicy, yummy and crunchy. Try it and add brussels sprouts to your grocery list.

Ingredients
Brussels Sprouts - 1 lb (roughly 1/2 kg)
Onion - 1/2 diced
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Ginger - 1 tsp (grated)
Oil - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - 4-5 leaves shredded
Water - 2 cups

For Roasting
Oil - 1 tsp
Peanuts - 1 tbsp
Red chillis - 2 nos
Cumin (Jeeragam) - 1/2 tsp

For Tempering
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method

1. Remove yellowish leaves and quarter the sprouts such that the leaves are still attached to the head.
2. Boil the brussels sprouts in salted water for 3-4 minutes. Drain well and dunk into cold water so that the cooking process stops. Drain well and set aside. This makes the sprouts just tender and they retain the bite.
3. In a kadai/ pan roast peanuts, cumin and red chillis. Transfer into a mortar and pound it until the peanuts breaks down into small pieces. Set aside.
4. In the same pan add oil, crackle mustard seeds, and saute the onions until tender.
5. Add the drained brussels sprouts, pepper, ginger, roasted peanut mix and adjust salt to taste. Saute and mix well until all the ingredients combine. This takes a few minutes. Add curry leaves, mix and remove from heat.

The spicy brussels sprouts is ready to be served and tastes best with ghee rice or rotis.

Drumstick Leaves in Daal Fry

Drumstick leaves or muringai ilai is a commonly available leafy green in South India. So imagine my surprise when I saw it in the local chinese market, I grabbed it up. In my home town we would find these trees in many people's backyards and whenever the tree was pruned the leaves and drumsticks would be distributed to the neighbours.

The leaves are a powerhouse of nutrients and have high vitamin C, phosphorous, calcium and iron content, more so than the commonly known oranges, bananas or milk. It also has high antibacterial properties and is used for cleansing the stomach when eaten at regular intervals. If regularly fed to expectant and new mothers, it increases resistance to infections and increases breast milk supply. So when something is this good how can I pass up on making a tasty dish out of it.

The toughest part in the whole process of cooking the leaves is separating the leaves from the twigs. Once that's out of the way it takes hardly 15 minutes to prepare this delicious dish.

Ingredients

Drumstick Leaves (Murungai ilai) - 2 cups (washed)
Toor daal/ Moong daal (cooked)- 1/2 cup
Asofeteida (hing) - a pinch
Turmeric - a pinch
Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
Red Chillis - 2 nos (or more depending on spice level)
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad daal - 1/2 tsp
Water - 1/4 cup
Salt to taste

Method

1. Add oil to a pan and add mustard seeds, urad daal and red chillis.
2. Once the mustard seeds splutter, add the drumstick leaves. Saute for a few minutes. Add salt and turmeric and mix.
3. Add water, cover and let the leaves cook for about 5 minutes.
4. Add the cooked moong or toor daal, mix well and let it cook some more until all the water content evaporates.
5. Add the grated coconut and hing, mix well and saute it for a couple of minutes. Remove and serve with rice for a healthy nutritious meal.