Cabbage & Green beans Palya

Vegetable combinations make the dish more colorful and healthy. Here, I have used cabbage and beans to make this palya. Fresh peas and/or chopped carrots can be added to this palya. Click here for chow chow and carrot palya.

Ingredients:

Cabbage - 1 medium size

Green beans - 250 gms

Oil for tempering - 1 tablespoon

Mustard seeds - half teaspoon

Whole urud dal - 1 tablespoon

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder - half teaspoon

Hing (Asafoetida powder) - a pinch

Water to cook the vegetables

Coconut - fresh - grated - 2 tablespoon (optional)

Method:

Chop the cabbage discarding the core and outer layers.

Chop the green beans after discarding both the ends.

Heat oil in a kadai and temper the mustard seeds and add urud dal. fry till golden.

Add the chopped vegetables, salt, turmeric powder, hing, and give a quick stir.

Add just a cup of water and cook partially covered. 

When all the moisture is absorbed and the vegetable is completely cooked, turn off heat and add the grated fresh coconut. Healthy palya is ready. Stir well and serve when its room temperature. Serve as an accompaniment for rice items like rasam rice, curd rice, sambar rice etc.

If using fresh peas, wash the peas and boil in water for 10 mins before adding to the palya. Because, it takes a little longer time to cook.

Simple Beets Salad

A refreshing bowl of salad is always a healthy choice for a healthy breakfast or a snack. A delicious salad can be made in just a few minutes. Chop some tomatoes, cucumber and onion. Combine and season with salt and pepper and tadaaa...a healthy salad in no time. Here is a quick salad that is healthy and tasty as well as colourful. I have added beets to the regular salad that gives the salad an eye catching colour. Its a vegan salad.

Ingredients:

Beetroot - firm - Medium size - 2

Onion - Medium size - 1 (optional)

Tomatoes - red and firm - 2

Cucumber - firm - medium size - 1

Salt and Pepper - as required

Lemon - 1 - for dressing (optional)

Fresh Coriander leaves - for garnishing

Method:

Wash all the ingredients. Organic vegetables are preferable. 

Peel the beetroots and pressure cook for 3 whistles. When the beets are cooked, dice the beets and keep it aside. Alternatively, peel the beets, dice them and cook in medium flame adding adequate water.

Transfer the cooked and diced beets to a large mixing bowl.

Add chopped onions and tomatoes

Peel the cucumber skin and dice it. Add it to the mixture. Cucumber seeds are edible and have healthy benefits, so do not discard the seeds.

Mix the content and squeeze juice of one lemon. Add required amount of salt and pepper. Mix well.

Garnish with chopped coriander leaves/cilantro.

Fresh, simple and healthy salad is ready to be served.

The colour of the salad is red due to the addition of beets.

Tri colour gravy - Easy mixed vegetable kurma using readymade coconut milk

I wish all my blog readers advance Independence day wishes. Jai Hind !!

Every Independence day, I try exhibit my patriotism by cooking something that is tri colour - saffron, white and green. I would like to share one of those recipes to all my patriotic readers. I am posting this recipe a couple of days before the Independence day, as you can buy the necessary ingredients in advance if you are going to try this recipe.

This is a simple, quick and delicious kurma that's totally vegan. This is a very versatile gravy, so, depending upon the quantity of kurma needed, you can adjust the quantity and choice of vegetables as per your taste. 

Ingredients:

Coconut milk - 200 ml

(I used  one 200 ml carton - Dabur coconut milk)

Mixed vegetables - 2 to 2 and half cups

---saffron colour - diced Carrots

---white colour - diced Potatoes and/or Cauliflower florets

---green colour - Green peas and/or chopped Green beans

Medium red onion - 2 chopped (optional)

ginger garlic paste - 1 tablespoon (optional)

Ripe red tomatoes - 2 medium chopped (optional)

Oil for seasoning - 1 tablespoon refined oil

Spices - 1 bay leaf, 1 inch cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, seeds from 2 green 

cardamom

Green chillies - 2 if it is too spicy - vertically slit

adjust spice level as per your taste

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Salt as required

Water as required

Coriander leaves chopped - for garnish

Method:

1. Wash the cauliflower florets and add them in boiling water and cook for 4 to 5 minutes and turn off heat. drain water and keep it separately.

2. Heat oil in a non stick kadai. Temper the cumin seeds and add bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom seeds, cloves, green chillies and fry for a minute.

3. Add onions and fry till its translucent and add tomato and cook for a couple of minutes. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute. Skip onion or tomato or ginger garlic paste if you are not using. 

4. Now add the mixed vegetables except cauliflower florets and fill with water to just cover the vegetables and add required amount of salt and cook closed until the vegetables are tender.

5. Just when the vegetables are cooked, toss in the cauliflower florets and give a quick stir.

6. Now stir in the coconut milk and wait till one boil and turn off heat. Garnish with coriander leaves.

7. Serve hot with Appam / Roti / Phulka / Chapathi / Parotta / Set dosa or Basmathi rice that's cooked in coconut milk.

Alternative method:

Cashewnut paste can be added to the gravy for a rich flavour. Grind a handful of cashewnuts to a smooth paste using little water and add to the gravy just when the vegetables are well cooked. Then, pour the coconut milk. Cashewnut paste and Coconut milk reduces the spice level. So, adjust the green chillies accordingly. 

The other tri colour recipe in this blog is Capsicum Paneer Tikka

Sweet potato puran poli / holige / obbattu

Being festive season, there is always a need to prepare a sweet on every occasion. And for a few festivals, including puran poli in the menu is a must. The traditional puran poli otherwise called as obbattu, holige, babbatlu or boli is prepared using jaggery with either channa dal or grated coconut or in combination of both. 

There are numerous ways to prepare these polis. Adding a twist to the traditional method of making puran poli, and trying to make it more healthy, I came up with the idea of using sweet potato as the main ingredient for the puran. In this recipe, I have mashed the boiled sweet potatoes, mixed it with jaggery (not white sugar) and flavoured it with nutmeg and cooked until the puran consistency is reached. I have also used regular chapathi atta and not maida or all purpose flour for preparing the poli.

A touch of ghee gives it an added flavour. Avoid ghee for a vegan version. This is a recipe for diet conscious people, a recipe for the sweet potato/genusu lovers and a recipe for people who want to try something new. You can customize this recipe for flavours and for preferred sweetness. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients for 10 puran polis.

for puran,

Sweet potatoes / Genusu - 2 medium

Grated (ligth brown) Jaggery (or brown sugar) - 1 cup

Nutmeg powder - Quarter teaspoon

(I used a pinch of cardamom and a pinch of saffron too)

Ghee - 1 tablespoon (optional)

Water - half cup

for poli

Regular chapathi flour - 1 and half cups

(I used pillsbury multigrain atta)

Atleast half cup atta for dredging while rolling the poli

Salt - a pinch

Turmeric powder - Quarter teaspoon

Regular refined oil - 2 tablespoon

Water to knead to a dough

Method:

Boil the sweet potatoes. I pressure cooked it for 6 whistles to overcook it so it can be mashed well with no lumps.

Transfer the cooked sweet potatoes to a non stick kadai after peeling off the skin. 

Mash well to avoid lumps.

Add the grated jaggery and mix well and cook in medium heat and if needed add half cup water to kick start the jaggery to melt.

Keep stirring the puran.

Cook for at least 15 mins or until the puran consistency is reached. For checking the consistency, please see the note below.

Now add the nutmeg powder ( cardamom and saffron too if you are using them) and mix well. 

Adding ghee at this point is optional.

Let the content cool. Make lemon sized balls and keep is aside. Puran is ready.

How to check if puran consistency is reached?? 

Keep stirring the puran. You will notice that the content liquefies after jaggery melts and then slowly the content thickens as the water is evaporated/absorbed. At this point in time, turn off heat and take a teaspoon of the puran and cool it. Try to make a ball out of it. If the puran is still sticky and is difficult to roll it to a ball, the puran needs a little more cooking. 

When the puran is cooling down, prepare the dough.

In a mixing bowl, add the atta, salt, turmeric powder and oil. mix well. 

Now add water little by little and using the tip of your fingers, keep mixing the flour.

Knead it to a soft, pliable dough.

Make lemon sized balls and keep it aside.

Preparing the polis.

Like regular stuffed parathas, the puran is stuffed inside and rolled, then cooked on both sides dabbing ghee.

Roll a ball of dough. Dredge it with flour. You can use your fingers and palms alternatively to make it cup shaped to place the puran in the middle.

Place the puran in the center and close the puran on all sides with the rolled dough. Press on top. Try to avoid air pockets while sealing the puran inside. Make a ball and Keep it aside. Repeat until all the puran is used. For detailed step by step procedure please click here.

Using flour scarcely for dredging, roll out the stuffed dough to a regular paratha size. Make sure the surface is even. Roll to medium thickness. Repeat for all the poli.

Heat a non stick tawa. Place one rolled poli. When you see small bumps on the surface, dab with a teaspoon  of ghee/clarified butter or alternatively oil for the vegan version. 

Flip the poli and cook the other side dabbing ghee. Cook both sides until you see small brown spots. 

Transfer it to the serving plate. Repeat the process until all of the poli is cooked. 

Enjoy this sweet delicacy and finish it the same day as they don't keep well even if it is refrigerated.

Sweet potato is full of goodness and enjoy this delight guilt free.