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.

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Sprouts Mixed Vegetable Pulao

Today's recipe is from a Telugu cooking show and I have made it a number of times since I watched the show. It is a healthy and delicious dish with sprouts, mixed vegetables and spicy masala paste. This is a great way to use sprouts and with the addition of mixed vegetables, it is a balanced dish to serve for lunch or dinner. It also reheats really well making it perfect for lunchboxes. 

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Misal Pav

Blogging Marathon# 29: Week 3/ Day 3
Theme: Course Wise Meal from any State - Maharashtra/ Lunch Dishes
Dish: Usal-Misal Pav

After 2 days of easy one-pot Maharashtrian dishes (Masala Bhath & Vaal Khichdi), today's dish is slightly elaborate and spicy. It's a great dish to entertain as well. I remember one of our dear Marwari friend serving this for dinner and it was probably one of the best tasting Misal Pav I've ever had. Being a rice obsessed South Indian, I was initially skeptical if that sprouts curry with bread on the side is going to fill me up -- but I was really surprised how filling and delicious that combo can be.

I referred to quite a few blogs for the recipe, but in the end I stuck with Sangeetha @ Kothiyavanu's recipe. Her pictures were gorgeous and I loved her step by step explanation. This dish is a little time consuming with quite a few steps involved, but the final dish is well worth the effort. I've tried to explain the process as clearly as possible.

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Moroccan Lentil Salad… errrr Soup

So I start out making a salad and it ends up becoming a soup, is that weird or did it ever happen to you too?? I borrowed this North African cookbook from the library and have bookmarked a few recipes to make for the A.W.E.D-Morocco event currently going on my blog.

I wanted to make this simple and easy sounding Lentil salad, I pressure cooked the lentils and must have put too much water while cooking that it became a soup but it tasted pretty good, so I decided to post it anyway. I used sprouted whole masoor dal, but any kind of lentils would be good in this recipe.

I'm giving recipe as is from the cookbook, I pressure cooked the lentils in about 3 cups of water and it was too watery. I'm not sure if the proportion given here is correct or not. I'm going to try soon and update the recipe.

Recipe adapted from Vegetarian Table: North Africa by Kitty Morse
Ingredients:
Lentils – 1 cup
Onion – 1 medium, chopped
Tomato – 2 medium, seeded and diced (I used canned diced fire roasted tomatoes)
Garlic – 2 cloves
Coriander leaves – ¼ cup, chopped
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Ground cloves – ¼ tsp
Ground cumin – 2tsp
Paprika – 1tsp
Cayenne – ¼ tsp

Method:

• Rinse and clean the lentils.
  
• Combine lentils, 5 cups of veggie stock or water, onion, tomatoes, turmeric, tomatoes, garlic and ground cloves in a pot. Bring the mixture to the boil; lower the heat to low and simmer for 20-25 minutes until all the water is absorbed and lentils are completely cooked. Turn off the heat.
  
• Add ground cumin, paprika, cayenne and salt and mix well. Serve hot or warm.
  

This is a very flavorful dish with all the different spices. I served the soup with some store-bought pocket-less pitas for us and some whole-wheat couscous for my son. It tasted even better for lunch the next day, very filling too.

Pumpkin & Whole Masoor dal Sprouts Stew

I’ve never tried sprouting whole masoor dal and when I saw Indira’s(@ Mahanandi) post, I wanted to give it a try. After about 2 days of soaking/draining/rinsing & sprinkling, I had beautiful sprouts.

The recipe for this sweet & tangy sambar type stew is from my dear friend V. Her original recipe used brown chickpeas and was little liquidy, I made it more like a stew. Simple with very few ingredients, but very very tasty. It gets better as it sits.

Ingredients:
Whole Masoor dal sprouts – 2 cups
Pumpkin – 3 cups, chopped
Tamarind Paste – 2tbsp
Jaggery (or light brown sugar) – 2tsp (or per taste)
Sambar powder (home-made or store-bought) – 2tsp (or to taste)
Salt – to taste

For tadka:
Mustard seeds – 1 tsp
Cumin seeds – 1tsp
Curry leaves – 6-12
Hing – pinch

Method:

• Add 4 cups of water to sprouts; bring them to a boil, then reduce the flame and simmer until they are 3/4th cooked through, about 5-10 minutes.
  
• In the meantime, microwave pumpkin pieces with a pinch of turmeric and salt until tender (but not falling apart), about 6-8 minutes.
  
• Heat 2tsp oil in a pan, add the tadka ingredients and once the seeds start to splutter add the pumpkin & sprouts. Cook for 2 minutes.
  
• Then add tamarind, jaggery, sambar powder, salt and 1cup water (or more if you want a more sambar like consistency). Cover and simmer till it reaches desired consistency.

Enjoy with steamed rice (or with rotis).




This lentil stew is off to MLLA-13 (My Legume Love Affair event) being guest hosted this month by lovely Sunshinemom (@ Tum Yum treats). MLLA is the brainchild of Susan @ Well Seasoned Cook.

Sprouted Moong dal & Swiss Chard Sauté

My latest obsession is sprouting. I’ve started to sprout at least two legumes every weekend. This weekend it was masoor dal (whole red lentils) & moong beans. After sprouting, if not using right away, I keep them in an air tight container and they keep well for up to a week.

Ingredients:
Moong dal sprouts – 2 cups
Swiss chard – 1 bunch, chopped fine

For masala paste:
Grated fresh coconut – ½ cup
Garlic - 2 cloves
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Green chilies - 3 (or more to taste)

For Tadka:
Chana Dal - ½ tsp
Urad dal - ½ tsp
Mustard seeds - ½ tsp
Cumin seeds - ½ tsp
Dry red chilies - 2
Curry leaves - 6

Method:

• Grind the ingredients for masala into a smooth paste with little water.
• Add 4 cups of water to the sprouts and bring to a boil; simmer until they turn tender, takes about 5-8 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
  
• Heat 2 tsp oil in a large saute pan; Add the tadka ingredients and once the seeds start spluttering, add the chopped chard. Cover and cook till the chard is slightly wilted, about 3-4 minutes.
• Add the ground paste,salt and the sprouts. Cover and cook till the raw smell of garlic vanishes and chard is completely cooked, should take another 5-8 minutes.

Serve with steamed rice or roti. Very healthy and delicious.