A curry and a drink

I know I am two days late for RCI and AFAM (what a shame!), but I am hoping Asha would include my entry in the roundup. I have been extremely busy last week and had no time to blog. My parents arrived in the US this Monday and the last few days we were busy cleaning the house, buying stuff, making trip plans, and cleaning some more.

RCI: Karnataka

Half cauliflower, couple of baby carrots, and few french beans...leftover vegetables in my refrigerator. No matter how many vegetables I use up in the week, some always remain and are carried forward to the next week. I mean, how much can 2 people eat?

I am always on the lookout for mixed vegetable recipes that give me the chance to clean my fridge of such leftover veggies. Pav bhaji, Kadhai vegetable, Vegetable Pulao are normal dishes. But after a while, we get bored of eating the same stuff again and again.

For RCI: Karnataka, I tried out a mixed vegetable curry from the book Curry Cuisine. This book contains veg and non-veg vegetable recipes from India, Thailand, Vietnam, and Indonesia. The Indian curries are categorized into North India (Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, Lucknow, and Bengal), and South India. The book contains beautiful pictures of major spices used in these states.

Rasa Kayi are mixed vegetables cooked in tomato gravy and flavored with fennel seeds. This curry is a common preparation in Karnataka.


Rasa Kayi/Mixed vegetable curry
(Adapted from the book Curry Cuisine)
Serves:2-3


Ingredients:

1. 1/2 cup carrots - washed and cut into 1inch pieces


2. 1 boiled potato - cut into huge chunks


3. 1/2 cup green beans - washed and cut into 1inch pieces


4. 1 cup cauliflower florets


5. 2 onions - cut into small pieces


6. 3 tbsp vegetable oil


7. 1 green chilli - slit lengthwise


8. 1/2 tsp red chilli powder


9. 1/2 tsp corainder powder


10. 1/2 tsp turmeric powder


11. Salt to taste


12. 1/2 cup coconut milk

For the spice paste

1. 2 garlic cloves - peeled


2. 3/4 inch ginger root


3. 1 green chilli - finely chopped


4. 1/2 tsp fennel seeds (saunf)


5. 2 tomatoes - washed and cut into huge chunks

Method:

1. Grind all the ingredients for the spice paste in a blender. Add water if neccessary. Keep aside.


2. Heat oil in a pan. Add the onions and green chilli. Cook untill the onions are soft. Add the carrots, red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, and salt to taste. Mix well. Lower the heat and add the potatoes. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.


3. Add the cauliflower florets and green beans. Add the spice paste and mix well. Cook covered for 10-15 minutes.


4. Remove pan from heat and slowly add coconut milk, stirring to blend well.


5. Serve hot with puris/rotis/parathas or hot rice.
   

Verdict: This recipe is a keeper. The fennel seeds left out a beautiful aroma that wafted through my kitchen. The vegetables mixed with the curry were super tasty. As I said, this vegetable recipe is an excellent resource to use up leftover vegetables.


AFAM: Grapes

Grape Banana smoothie

1. Add 2 ripe bananas and 2 handful of red/purple grapes in a blender. Blend to a smooth paste.



2. Add 1 cup ice and crush it. Next add 1/4 cup milk and blend again.



3. Serve cold.

Rasa Kayi is being sent to Asha for RCI: Karnataka, while the Grape banana smoothie is my entry for AFAM-Grapes.

Capsicum Masala

When you stay away from home, friends become family. In fact, they become everything - neighbours, guides, mentors, relatives, and critics. You try to search for familiar relations in their faces, and someone looks like your sister, brother, or aunt. We have been in the US for almost a year now. Having never been away from home, it was tough for me to adjust at first. But then I started surviving with the help of so many friends staying nearby.

The apartment complex where we stay is home to many Indians. There are approximately 35-40 Indians staying in our complex. These people work in the same organization, take the same bus to office, and eat their lunch together. I have known most of them having worked in the same organization earlier. We all are pretty close-knit family. We spend some weekends playing UNO, going for bowling, or visiting each other. One such tradition that we have here is inviting people for dinner either to know them better, or cook something special for close friends, or treat farewell when they are going back to India.

Our dear friends P and S had invited us for dinner sometime back. P took loads of efforts and almost spent the entire day cooking. Amongst the plethora of dishes she had cooked, Capsicum Masala was one that we had not eaten before. Now, my husband is not a capsicum fan, whereas I love capsicum in all forms - I even eat it raw:). I am always trying new methods for hubby to like capsicum. Luckily, he liked this vegetable at the dinner party. So I whisked the recipe from P and made it at home.

Capsicum Masala

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1. 2 green peppers (capsicums) - washed and chopped into chunks
2. 2 medium onions - sliced thin
3. 2 tomatoes - washed and chopped roughly
4. 1 tsp oil
5. 1 tbsp crushed peanut powder
6. 1 tbsp cashew pieces
7. 1 tsp garam masala powder
8. 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
9. Salt to taste

Method

1. Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan over medium flame. Add the sliced onions and fry till the onions turn light brown.
2. Add the tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes turn soft.
3. Add the peanut powder and cashew pieces. Fry for 3-4 minutes.
4. Transfer the above mixture in a blender and blend till it's a smooth paste. Add 1/4 cup water.
5. Heat a pan and add the above paste to it. Stir for 2-3 minutes.
6. Next, add 1 tsp garam masala, salt to taste, and 1/2 tsp red chilli powder. Mix well and cook for 5-6 minutes.
7. Add the chopped capsicum and mix. Cover cooked on low heat till the capsicum cooks. This should take around 15 minutes.
8. Turn off the heat and serve hot with rotis/parathas/puris.

Verdict: We fell in love with this sabzi. In fact, P who's not a great fan of capsicums, appreciated something made from capsicums for the first time:)The gravy turned out superb. We decided that we could use the same gravy with other veggies such as peas, cauliflower, brinjals, and paneer.