Broccoli Stir fry

Last fall, we set up a raised bed garden and started growing some winter vegetables, one of which is broccoli!! we had 6 plants and shared half of the broccoli sprouts with our `neighborhood squirrels. :D 

Ingredients

Broccoli (washed and chopped into small florets) - 11/2cup

Chopped onion - 3tablespoon 

Tomato - 1 (chopped) 

Garlic - 4 fat cloves (crushed) 

Green chilly -1

Masala powder - 11/2 teaspoon (Here Ive used Sakthi Vatha kuzhambu powder. You can use sambar powder or just chill powder according to your preference) 

Desiccated coconut -2 tablespoons 

Salt

Oil 

Cumin seeds -1teaspoon 

Pinch of Sugar 

Method 

Heat some oil in a wide pan. Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds and let them crackle. 

Then add the chopped onion, green chilly and crushed garlic. 

Saute for a few minutes then add the chopped tomato. Cook until the tomatoes turn soft. Add the   broccoli florets, toss them well.

Now add the masala powder, salt and a big pinch of sugar. Sprinkle little water, close the pan and cook for 4-5 minutes on high heat.
Open the pan, stir the veggie once, add the desiccated coconut and put off the pan.
Quick and delicious Broccoli stir fry is ready. Goes well with all rice items or with roti. 

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Fresh Black NightShade & Tamarind Gravy/ Manathakkaali kai Pulikuzhambu

Ingredients

Fresh Black Nightshades -1/4cup

Tamarind Juice(thick)-1/4cup

Vathakuzhambu masala powder-1tablespoon[I have used "Sakthi masala Vatha kuzhambu powder". Can be replaced by Chilly and Coriander powders.]

Jaggery-a tiny piece

Gingelly oil-1tablespoon

Grated Coconut-2tablespoons

Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon

Shallots -8 (or) Red onion-1

Green chilly-1

Tomato-2

Turmeric powder-1/8teaspoon
Few curry leaves
Salt

Black Nightshade Plant/Manathakkali chedi which is fondly called as "Sukkutti Chedi" in Coimbatore area is a common plant back home.  We get these greens in big bunches from local markets/street vendors. The leaves, fruit, unripe fruit of this plant are edible and have great medicinal properties. 

But here in US, its difficult to find this plant(at least, I thought so! ;)).  Long back, I spotted a plant during our local hike and plucked a few fruits with the hope that I can grow a plant in my patio garden.  But first time was no charm. Next time I saw the plant growing in a friend's house, whenever I go to her house,  used to bring a few fruits and sow them in the pots. But, that also didn't work.  After a long time, all of a sudden one tiny plant started growing in one of the pots. I got a strong doubt and took care of the seedling, to my surprise, its a Black Nightshade plant! :))) 

I was on cloud 9 and eagerly waiting for the fruit. The plant gave me lot of fruits and one fine day I decided to pluck all the unripe fruits and made this lip smacking pulikuzhambu/vatha kuzhambu.

Method

Wash the black nightshade veggie well and keep it aside.

Grind the coconut with little water to a fine paste. 

Heat gingelly oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. 

Add the chopped onion, green chilly...fry till the onions become transparent. 

Now add the washed black nightshade veggie and fry till they shrink. (say 2-3 minutes on medium heat)

Add the chopped tomato, turmeric powder, enough salt and cook until the tomatoes become soft and mushy.

Add the tamarind juice and let it boil nicely.
Now add the coconut paste, vatha kuzhambu powder and adjust the water according to the desired consistency of the kuzhambu.
Reduce the heat to medium low and let the gravy thicken for 5-6 minutes or until the desired consistency is reached and the oil oozes out from the kuzhambu.
Now add the jaggery and curry leaves, put off the flame.
Tangy and slightly bitter, delicious and healthy manathakkali kai kuzhambu is ready.

This kuzhambu is a perfect pair for white rice, idli and dosa. Personally we prefer to have it with wheat dosa or normal dosa! :)

~~~

It will be difficult to get this fresh veggie even back in India! If you have a big Manathakkali plant(s) at home then you can think of this kuzhambu. But the dry vathals are always handy and you can keep the vathal in the freezer for long time. Before having the plant in my garden, I use to prepare the same kuzhambu, with dry Black Nightshades. 

Manathakkali Vatha Kuzhambu

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Spicy Brinjal Curry

As I already mentioned about my brinjal plant here, now with a few pictures of the plant n the produce, let's move on to the spicy brinjal fry recipe.

So, this is my Brinjal plant, which had a beautiful start and having a bumpy ride ever since. Some insects attacked the plant all of a sudden! Fortunately I noticed it in right time, so the plant survived and I got a few eggplants. :) 

Ingredients

Egg plants-3 

Onion-1

Garlic-2cloves

Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon

Urad dal-1teaspoon

Turmeric powder-1/4teaspoon

Oil

Salt

To grind

Fennel seeds-1/2teaspoon

Peppercorns-3

Coriander seeds-1teaspoon

Bay leaf-1

Clove-1

Red chillies-3

Coconut-2tablespoons

Method

Wash and cube the eggplants, keep them submerged in water till use. 

Heat oil in a kadai, make the tempering with mustard, urad dal and curry leaves.

Now add the chopped garlic and onion, fry till the onion becomes transparent.

Add the cubed brinjals along with salt and turmeric powder. Toss it well, close the pan with a lid and cook for 4-5 minutes. 

Keep stirring in between and take care the veggie is not getting burnt. 

Meanwhile, grind the items into a coarse powder(without adding any water)

By now the brinjals would have been 3/4th done.

Add the spice powder, and continue cooking on low heat for 3-4 minutes. 

Once the raw smell of the masala has gone and its nicely coated with the brinjals, put off the flame. 

Spicy and delicious brinjal curry is ready to serve.

We had it as  a side dish for rice, it tasted great with plain rice as well as sambar rice-rasam rice and curd rice. I hope it will be a perfect side dish for roti's as well! :)

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Carrot Rice

This being my 300th post, am really happy and excited  to share some pictures from my garden and a recipe with my garden carrots! Thanks for all your support dear friends and readers! :)

I have written about my patio garden in my other(Tamil) blog often, but never wrote anything about it here. I love to grow colorful plants than growing veggies. :) So you will find more flowers than edible things in my small garden!

This spiring we got some dahlia bulbs. The beautiful, bright colored flowers lightened-up our mornings till the summer. Other than that, I have a few rose plants, some geranium plants and a few other small flowering plants.

Mint likes the Orange county weather, and I am getting a nice harvest year around to share it with friends! :)

Got a brinjal plant from the local farmer's market, the plant was doing good in the initial stage, but was affected by insects in between!! Hopefully, I have recovered the plant from the bugs and this is the first brinjal from the garden... :) 

I am happy that I succeeded in growing carrots in a pot..yup!! :))) Planted some carrot seeds in May [1st of May] and they were up for harvest last week.

The carrot seeds I got were not sweet enough to  enjoy the carrots as such, hence I wanted to some exclusive carrot recipe with these fresh carrots. Saw this recipe and it attracted me with fresh ground spice powder. Lets see how to make the delicious carrot rice.

Ingredients
Grated carrots-1/2cup
Cooked rice -1 cup
Chopped onion-3tablespoons
Green chilly-1
Mustard seeds-1/2teaspoon
Urad dal-1teaspoon
Hing/Asafoetida- a generous pinch
Few curry leaves
Salt
Oil

For the spice powder
Roasted peanuts-2teaspoon
Coriander seeds-1/2teaspoon
Cumin seeds-1/2teaspoon
Fennel seeds-1/2teaspoon
Cinnamon stick-a small piece
Clove-1
Red chillies-2
Oil

Method
Roast all the items given under "for the spice powder" in little oil. Let them cool and grind it into powder.
Grate the carrots and keep it ready.

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and let them pop-up. Then add the urad dal and fry till it turn golden in color. Add the hing, wait for a second, then add in the chopped onions, green chilly. 

Saute till the onions become transparent, then add in the carrot.

Continue cooking for 4-5 minutes on medium heat or until the carrots become soft.  

Now add the spice powder and sauté for a minute. 

Add in the cooked rice, mix everything well.

Add the curry leaves and reduce the heat to low and let the rice blend in with the carrot masala for a few minutes. Delicious carrot rice is ready to serve.

You can have this rice with some chips, curd, raita or with some veggie curries. I had it with brinjal masala. 

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