Sprouts & Spring Onion Curry

The weather is getting cold and days are short in our neck of woods. It is time to take out the fall/ winter clothes out, I feel like I put them in just yesterday. Hmmmm I wonder why summer or warm weather is so short lived. But it is what it is, so let's move on.

As part of fall cleaning the house, I've decided not to buy any groceries until I completely finish everything I have in the refrigerator. I am planning to cook all the dishes for the CCChallenge with the ingredients that I have in the fridge right now. This way I get to use the ingredients and get to try new recipes from cookbooks/ bookmarks. I have marked the ingredients I want to use up before buying more. These are just the perishable goods in the fridge, I have a well stocked pantry that I will start cleaning later.

So today's recipe comes from a Telugu cooking show I watched recently. This show has a segment where a mystery ingredient is given to the contestants and they have to cook a dish using this ingredient. Lucky for me, they had spring onions as the secret ingredient and one of the contestant made this sprouts & spring onion curry. The addition of roasted sesame powder gives the dish a nutty and delicious taste. It goes well with rice, roti or even as a filling for wraps.

Ingredients:

Sprouts - 2cups, boiled (I used adzuki bean sprouts, but any one or a combination of 2 can be used here)

Spring Onions/ Scallions - 6~8, chopped (~1cup)
Tomato paste - 2tbsp (or use 1 ripe tomato, chopped)
Sesame seeds - 2tbsp, roasted and ground

Nigella seeds - 1tsp

Cumin seeds - 1tsp

Green chilies - 2, slit

Red Chili powder - 1tsp (adjust as per taste)

Ground Coriander - 1tsp

Ground Cumin - ½tsp
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Heat 1tbsp oil in a pan; add nigella and cumin seeds. Once the seeds start to splutter, add the chopped spring onions and green chiles; cook for 2~3 minutes or until the onions are tender.
• Next add the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes. 
• Add red chili powder, ground coriander. cumin and salt. Mix well and add ½cup of water.
• Now add the sprouts and cook covered for 8~10 minutes for the flavors to meld. Add more water if you like some gravy in the curry.
• Finally add the roasted sesame seed powder and cook for 1~2 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro (optional) and serve with rice or roti.

Linking this to Valli's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge: October -- Week 2'.