Pepper Beets

I love beets and so does my family. It tastes good with whatever spices it is cooked with. What more is there is to ask. It took me two seasons to learn but now I have a hang of how to grow beets. Don't have to tell you, home grown beets is absolutely no comparison to the store bought ones. They are sweet, tender and crisp. I try my best to buy only organic beets because the conventionally grown beets have a a metallic taste that all of us in the family can taste. While the organic beets are far better they are not quite not there when compared to home grown ones.

Obviously home grown ones are eaten at the peak of their deliciousness and flavor so obviously they are more tasty.



This recipe was suggested by a friend. It is quick and quite simple but very tasty. It is similar to this pepper mushroom.

Pepper Beets
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients

1. 3 medium beets (about 3 cups diced)
2. 1/2 cup of onions diced fine (optional)
3. seasonings: mustard seeds, cumin seeds
4. 1/2 tsp of cumin powder
5. 1/2 tbsp of finely ground pepper powder
6. salt to taste
7. 2 tsp of oil

Method

1. Wash and peel the beets and then finely dice them.
2. In a saute pan heat oil, add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When the mustard seeds pop add the onions and saute till they start to get translucent. (I did not add onions).
3. Now add the diced beets and saute them for about 10-15 minutes. The beets should be almost cooked at this point.
4. Add in the salt and pepper powder and saute for a few minutes more and turn off the heat.

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Bok Choy Stir Fry - Revisited (Farm to Table)

Bok Choy is one of those vegetables that is extremely easy to grow. It matures in 40-45 days and is tastes great stir fried or in soups. Though I have not added them to dals and curries they should work perfectly well. Bok Choy is a vitamin and fiber rich green vegetable that is readily available even if you are not interested in growing them. Increasing the fiber content and vegetable intake is always a good thing for your health.



The original recipe for this was from a friend.

Bok Choy Stir Fry
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 12 minutes
Ingredients

1. Baby Bok Choy 3 heads or 15-20 individual Bok Choy stems
2. garlic 2 pods (diced fine or crushed and chopped
3. Red Pepper flakes 1/2 tsp or 1/2 tsp pepper powder (add more or less to your taste)
4. 1 tsp soy sauce (optional)
5. 1/4 tsp oil
6. salt to taste

Method

1. Make sure to clean the Bok Choy well and dry them.
2. Remove the leaflets one by one and cut them lengthwise can use both the white and the green part, chop just the hard bottom part.
3. Heat oil in a wok/pan and saute the garlic for 1/2 a minute, take care not to burn the garlic.
4. Add the cut Bok Choy with a little bit of salt.
5. Add the pepper flakes or pepper powder, and let them cook a little bit for about 4-5 minutes till the leaves are wilted.
6. Raise the heat and add the soy sauce if using, stir for a minute and turn off the heat.

Originally Posted: 5/21/06, 2:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time



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Pumpkin Poriyal - Cubed Pumpkin Stir Fry

I never really thought about pumpkin poriyal that much really but it is one that is made in many a Kongu home during Pongal time. I remember eating them at my grandparent's place during ammavasai and they are tasty. Who does not enjoy a sweet vegetable made with coconut gratings?

When I came here to the US there were a lot of pumpkins alright during Halloween but none that tasted like the pumpkins back home. These were grown mostly for ornamental purpose and for carving. I still gave that a try but stringy and not so tasty to eat which is expected. They are for carving Jack O Lanterns!

I stopped buying pumpkins for cooking purposes instead used Butternut squash and Acorn squash as they taste very similar to the pumpkins that we have back in India.



This summer I grewpumpkins at the farm. Tasty and nostalgic at the same time. I was very proud. This year the plan is grow a few more and get better yield. These pumpkins taste great in whichever way you cook them as a a kootu, pulikulambu, sambhar or just a simple stir fry like this recipe which gives the unvarnished taste of the mildly sweet pumpkin and it is pure pleasure.

Cut the pumpkin, remove the inside seeds and stringy portion. Peel the skin if wanted.
In a wide mouthed pan heat oil, add the seasonings. Saute the onions and green chilies and add in the cubed pumpkin.
Add salt, cover and cook the pumpkins till they are soft.
Sprinkle grated coconut mix and turn off the heat.

This pumpkin stir fry, mildly sweet can be served as a side dish to any rice and curry combination. Some people I have heard sprinkle some sugar on the pumpkin but I don't since these are sweet by themselves.

Pumpkin Poriyal - Pumpkin Stir Fry
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1/4 of the pumpkin peeled* seeds and strings removed and cut into 1" cubes (or any size you want)
2. 1/4 cup red onions or shallots chopped fine
3. 6-8 green chilies (more or less depending on the heat of the chili)
4. 1/4 cup grated fresh or frozen coconut
5. seasonings - split urad dal, cumin, mustard seeds, curry leaves
6. 1 tsp of oil
7. Note:You can wash the skin well and leave it on and then chop. I like to slightly remove the skin and then chop.

Method

1. Heat oil in a wide mouthed pan or kadai, add the seasonings, urad dal first and when it starts to slightly brown, cumin seeds followed by the mustard seeds and when the mustard seeds pop add the curry leaves.
2. Add the onion and green chilies, saute the onions till they become translucent.
3. Add in the pumpkin, saute for 2 minutes, add salt, cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. Do not overcook, when the pumpkin is soft to the touch, open the lid give a good mix for another 2 minutes or so.
4. Add the coconut, mix gently and turn off the heat.

Serve as a side with rice and sambhar.

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Pan Roasted Bitter Gourd with Potatoes

Bitter gourd is one of those vegetables that people love to hate. But there are some of us who actually quite like this vegetable. It grows on you and it is good for you. Bitter gourd has several good properties like lowering the blood sugar level but that is just the bonus we eat bitter gourd because we actually like it.

Cooking bitter gourd with tamarind and a tiny bit of sugar (jaggery or palm sugar) is the most popular way but adding sugar is quite optional. Making a kara kuzhambu (spicy curry) with it is another way. Roasting is perhaps the perfect vehicle, no sugar addition needed and everybody eats it.

Here are some of the recipes that you can try,

Bitter Gourd in a Peanut Gravy
Pan Roasted Bitter Gourd with Gongura Leaves and dried fish
Tangy Bitter Gourd from Sukham Ayu
Bitter Gourd Poriyal
Bitter Gourd Stir Fry with spicy Garlic Powder
Oven roasted/broiled Bitter Gourd
Roasted Bitter Gourd with Chili Fried Fish
Bitter Gourd Kara Kuzhambu
Bitter Gourd With Cowpeas (thattapayir)
Bitter Gourd in tamarind sauce (pulikulambu)

While roasted potatoes is DD2's favorite and no prizes for guessing that bitter gourd is not up there with potatoes, so how about mixing the two. The potatoes suppress the bitterness of bitter gourd and is also goes great together. The only deal with bitter gourd is it takes a bit of time to get the roasted bitter gourd to get the caramelized texture.

Clean the bitter gourd and cut into half moons.
Peel and slice the potatoes into sticks and get the onions and green chilies ready.
In a cast iron pan add the oil followed by the onions and green chilies, followed by the bitter gourd pieces.
Continue sauteing the bitter gourd in medium low flame till half cooked. Now add in the potatoes. Once potatoes are half cooked add in the spice powders and salt and continue till the potatoes are fully cooked and the bitter is caramelized. The sugar if using should be added towards the end of the cooking process just before turning off the heat.

Pan Roasted Bitter Gourd with Potatoes
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients

1. 6-8 medium sized bitter gourd
2. 1 cup thinly sliced onions
3. 6-8 green chilies
4. 2 potatoes
5. 2 tsp turmeric powder
6. 1/2 tbsp chili powder
7. salt to taste
8. 1 tbsp oil *
9. 1/2 - 1 tbsp palm sugar (optional)
10. *I use a cast iron pan so a little bit more oil is required

Method

1. Peel the potatoes and slice them into thin sticks and keep them in water to avoid discoloration.
2. Split the bitter gourd lengthwise and remove the seeds from the inside and slice them into thin moons.
3. In a cast iron pan heat 1/4 of the oil, add the onions, green chilies and saute for a minute. **
4. Add in the bitter gourd and in medium low continue to stir, once half cooked in about 10 minutes or so add in the potatoes drained completely of water. Add in the oil at various intervals if needed.
5. Add in the turmeric powder, salt and chili powder after the potatoes are half cooked.
6. Continue to cook till the potatoes are completely cooked and soft. The bitter gourd should be caramelized by this time.
7. Add in the jaggery or palm sugar if using and cook for another 4-5 times.
8. **The onions tends to cook faster than bitter gourd, so adding them together will prevent the onions from getting charred.

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Maravalli Kizhangu poriyal - Tapioca Root Stir Fry

What is your definition of happiness? I am not sure what makes me happy but striving for happiness has become a life goal for a lot of people these days apparently. For some people the idea of happiness iwhatever they want and for a few others it is being able to eat whatever they please.

Will you be surprised if this striving for all this happiness is actually making people unhappy? I read this opinion piece in 'The Washington Post'- The quest for happiness may be killing us. The attitude that being sad is a condition that needs to be treated rather than something to overcome and expecting that buying or having more things will make you happy is a futile exercise. This paragraph from the article is what stuck with me written by British therapist and philosopher James Davies who wrote “The Importance of Suffering,” and follow-up bestseller, “Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good".

Davies argues that we have created a culture that assumes happiness to be the normal, healthy human condition. Deviations from the blissful path - sadness, anxiety, disappointment - are thus treated as illnesses in search of a cure. This “harmful cultural belief that much of our everyday suffering is a damaging encumbrance best swiftly removed” gets in the way of a more robust response, he writes: namely, approaching unpleasant emotions as “potentially productive experiences to be engaged with and learnt from."

Last week brought some really sad new news - the deaths of Kate Spade - though I don't own any of her eponymous articles of fashion I still knew her and then Anthony Bourdain - him I knew and enjoyed immensely watching his show Parts Unknown. Several thoughts of success and happiness were sloshing around in my head and this article was timely I thought. All of us have this unattainable notion of happiness which clearly seems to be affecting and bothering us more than we want to admit.

Working with the animals, the land and doing things that I like - watching TV, reading a mystery novel, are some ways I choose to get out of the doldrums. What is your coping mechanism? Please get the help you want if you feel you are not able to cope.

As for this recipe,it is proof that food does not have to be elaborate to please the taste buds. Simple dishes with very few ingredients that bring out the natural taste of the vegetables are the best dishes to make and enjoy. On our last visit to India DH's sister in law had made this. I usually make this like a dry roast which is delicious in its own right but this one is just simple and perfect as a side dish for sambhar or rasam.




The recipe in pictures. Can't be any easier.

Peel and chop the tapioca. It takes longer to peel than to actually cook.
Boil the chopped tapioca root till it is soft.
In a wide mouthed pan, add the seasonings, green chilies and onions and saute till the onions are translucent. Add in the cooked tapioca root and salt. Saute for a few more minutes.
Add the grated fresh coconut and turn off the heat.

Maravalli Kizhangu poriyal - Tapioca Root Stir Fry
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients

1. 2 Tapioca roots, peeled and cut into cubes
2. 1/2 cup of finely chopped red onions or shallots
3. 6-8 slit green chilies
4. 1/4 cup of grated fresh or frozen coconut
5. seasonings: curry leaves, cumin, mustard seeds, split urad dal
6. 2 tsp oil
7. salt to taste

Method

1. Peel the tapioca roots, chop into 1 inch cubes and in a pot of water cook till soft. Drain right away and set aside. Takes about 8-12 minutes.
2. In a wide mouthed pan (kadai) add oil, when hot add the split urad dal and saute till it starts to turn color, add the mustard and cumin seeds. When the mustard starts to pop add the curry leaves.
3. Now add in the chopped onions and split green chilies and saute till the onion starts to brown.
4. Now add the drained cooked root and mix it in. Add salt and saute for another 4-5 minutes and turn off the heat.

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