Pumpkin Stir Fry / Kumbalakai Palya

Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater

Had a wife and he couldn’t keep her!

He put her in a pumpkin shell,

There he kept her very well!

While teaching this rhyme to my little one I did not realize the value of Pumpkin until I ran out of ideas as to what to feed him as usual!!  He is a very picky eater and likes to eat anything sweet!   One of those days, I tried making pumpkin stir fry just to test him if he likes it and I was relieved that I found one more veggie to add into the list of meals he likes. Just mash it with rice and his supper is ready J  He likes to eat it plain without the rice usually. Prior to this experiment, I never cared much to even look at pumpkin for some strange reason that I don’t even know. (In my subconscious mind, maybe I thought eating pumpkin would make me like one….LOL)  I was wondering why I had not tried cooking the vegetable earlier!! After doing some research about its nutritional value, I was quite amazed to know that this common veggie is loaded with nutrition!!  Since, then it has become a part of our menu and I want to experiment a lot of dishes with it.  I have been thinking of trying Pumpkin Pie for many days and I must get to it sometime soon.  A BIG kiss to my bunny who made me realise the importance of it in our daily diet!!

Here goes the Pumpkin stir fry recipe which is prepared in Karnataka Style.  I had to add grated coconut to it.  Since hubby doesn’t like coconut much, I skipped adding it.

Ingredients:

2 cups cubed pumpkin – deseeded and washed (don't throw away those seeds..use them coz it is also loaded with valuable nutrition)

2 Onions chopped finely

3-4 green chilies slit into two

One whole garlic pod – peeled and crushed

1 tsp mustard seeds

1-2 tbsp oil

Handful of curry leaves and Cilantro for garnish

How to prepare:

1.      Heat oil in a wok and add mustard seeds. Once it splutters add curry leaves, crushed garlic and sauté till garlic turns into light brown.

2.      Add onions and green chilis and sauté for a minute.

3.      Add chopped pumpkin cubes and salt to taste.  Give it a good mix and cook covered till soft and done. 

4.      Garnish with grated coconut and chopped cilantro and serve.

You may add a spoon of sugar or jiggery if you like it to be sweeter. It goes well with Chapattis or Rotis.

As the world celebrated Friendship day this past week, I remembered all my friends, though I didn’t get to wish anyone!  I haven’t had many friends in my childhood, since I was very reserved or may be shy in nature!  Just 2-3 of us and even in high school and college just stuck with 3-4 of them. But after I encountered Jesus in my life, I have found a faithful friend in him and made many more Godly friends who have made such huge influence on my life!!   I truly cherish each one of them!

I also cherish the new friendships this blog has brought me …though we don’t know each other in person, but bond well with each other on this essential topic called FOOD!!

Wishing all my buddies a Very Happy Friendship day!!

Points to Ponder:

Faithful friends are very rare to find….shouldn’t we be glad to find such a friend in Jesus himself!

Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I learned from my Father, I have made known to you.” 

                                                                                                                         John 15:13-15 (NKJV)

I just love to sing out this Hymn again and again which calms my heart………….

I‘ve found friend, Oh such a friend

He bled; He died to save me;

And not alone the gift of life,

But His own self, He gave me.

Naught that I have my own I call,

I hold it for the giver;

My heart, my strength, my life, my all

Are His and His forever.

Written by  James Grindlay Small

Quick Cauliflower / Gobhi Stir Fry

Cauliflower / Gobhi is a good choice for all the folks who are on diet as this humble vegetable is low in fat and carbohydrates.  It is packed with high nutritional density with dietary fiber, folate , vitamin C and water.  It also contains phytochemicals  common in the cabbage family, which protects the body against cancer and helps in slowing the growth of cancer cells.  One of these chemicals (Indole-3-carbinol) is also known to enhance DNA repair process.  High intake of Cauliflower is also associated with reduced risk of aggressive prostate cancer, according to a journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Wow, with all these health benefits one should definitely make sure that this veggie is a regular on the dining table in every home.  I usually don’t like the overcooked Cauliflower dishes that we prepare at home. To keep the food healthy, I usually avoid deep frying as required for preparing Gobi Manchurian!  So, I tried this simple stir fry for a change and everyone liked it.  My little boy liked it so much that he finished everything from his grand fathers plate J.  For once I was glad that he liked something, as he has been getting very fussy about food!  He has got some terrific tiny taste buds at this tender age of 16 months!  Give him anything bland, he spits it out without a second thought. Very hard to please him I must say!  Am just keeping my fingers crossed as he grows up. :P

Ingredients:

Cauliflower florets - 2 cups

Red Chilli powder – ½ tsp

Chat Masala – ½ tsp

Cooking oil – 2 tbsp

Onions – 2 finely chopped

Ginger-Garlic paste – 1 tsp.

Salt to taste

Method of preparation:

1.      Boil water and add 2 tbsp salt. Soak cauliflower in it for 10 minutes and remove and rinse again with cold water for couple of times to get rid of all the worms if any. Drain and set aside.

2.      Heat oil in a Kadai, add chopped onions and sauté till transparent. Add ginger-garlic paste and sauté for a minute.

3.      Add red chilli powder and stir and add drained cauliflower, salt and stir fry till the masala coats well and cauliflower gets cooked a bit. (avoid over cooking to preserve nutrition level) Add little water if the bottom starts to burn.

4.      Sprinkle with chat masala and remove from flame. If you don’t have chat masala you can use a pinch of pepper powder, jeera powder when you add Chilli powder and squeeze in 1 tsp of lime juice before serving.  Omit lime juice if you are using chat masala as it already contains souring agents.

5.      Serve hot as a side dish.

As Easter is around the corner, I have come across some easy Easter recipes to try out.  Hopefully I will be able to post them after the celebrations.

Wishing everyone a Blessed Resurrection Sunday! Aka Happy Easter J

Leena JD

Points to Ponder:

Praise be to the God and father  of our Lord Jesus Christ!  In his great mercy, He has given us new birth, into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

                                                                                                                          1 Peter 1:3

Jesus said to her, “ I am the resurrection and life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and who ever lives and believes in me will never die.

                                                                                                                          John 11:25-26

Bell Pepper & Babycorn Stir Fry - glazed with honey

This is one of the recipes which is quick to prepare and delicious as well.  I had seen this preparation on a Kannada TV channel sometime ago…may be 2 years ago and I don’t even remember if I ever prepared it, though I had taken note of the recipe.  The original recipe actually called for Paneer , baby corn and capsicum, but  I only had the baby corn and red/yellow pepper that busy morning, where I had no way of getting paneer from the store. So, I gave paneer a miss and was delighted that It turned out quite delicious and never missed paneer in it.  The aroma of freshly ground spices at home truly enhanced the flavour.  

These days, I prefer to grind / powder the spices at home than buying them from the stores, since there is a lot of food adulteration going on and you never know what goes behind those powdered stuff.  The taste of the readymade stuff can never match the authentic produce.  It is very sad to see, to what extent people go just to make extra money, no matter how it affects other people’s lives and their health.  In the recent past, the media is trying to bust all kind of scams that are going on around us.  Inducing drinking water with harmful chemicals to soften the hardness and taste,  creating fake milk, butter, ghee etc.,  colouring and injecting veggies/fruits with harmful chemicals to retain its colour and size, injecting chemicals to poultry etc., to develop their muscles which are hard to digest from human body is to name a few. The list goes on. Please check out this link Kitchen Tricks  where you will find some useful information to check the level of food adulteration in your own kitchen.    

Sometimes I keep wondering, it is better to settle in a village and cultivate a farm of our own and get fresh and unadulterated produce!! Yeah…it seems so easy to talk but it, but when it comes to practicing it, our mind goes numb, just to imagine leaving all the comforts that the city life can offer which our bodies get adjusted to!! 

Yeah, I will bury my farming aspirations for now and present you the picture and recipe of the delicious dish below!

BabyCorn & Pepper/ Capsicum Honey Stir Fry

Total Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

300 grams Baby corn

1 Red Pepper/Capsicum

1 Yellow/Green Pepper/Capsicum

1 Big Onion

1 Big Tomato

½ teaspoon ginger garlic paste (optional)

1 teaspoon Jeera

1 teaspoon Black pepper

4 Red chillies

2-3 tablespoon Honey

1 tablespoon oil/ If you are health conscious use Olive oil

Salt to taste

Method:

Clean and Chop baby corn , capsicum, onion and tomato into 1 ½ inch strips and keep them separately.  Slightly roast Jeera, black pepper and red chilies on a pan and grind them into a coarse powder.  Heat a large frying pan and add oil, onions and sauté till translucent. Add chopped baby corn and stir fry for 2 minutes.  Add chopped capsicum and salt, sauté for a minute.  Add ginger garlic paste and sauté for few seconds and add tomatoes immediately to avoid burning the bottom.  Add the ground powder and mix well and simmer for 1 minute.  Take off the stove and glaze it with honey and serve with rice or roti.

P.S. Don’t overcook the veggies if you want them crunchy and to retain high nutrition level. J

Some drool worthy food is always good for the tummy!! What say!

Till the next one comes up, Share the good taste and stay healthy!

Points to Ponder:

"It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory. He that has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls."

Proverbs 25: 27-28