Exotic Vegetables & Mushroom Medley

Looks like my recipes are getting popular!! Because a Vegetarian friend was disappointed with my earlier meat recipe!  How can I disappoint my fans?

Here I come ‘Dear Vasan’ with a special dish for you and all my vegan fans! Enjoy.  

The so called exotic vegetables are no longer exotic; as they are cultivated and available easily in most of the super markets. Most of them though amenable to raw salad, will taste better when stir fried or sautéed with little spices. One gets to appreciate the individual flavours and their taste much better in this way. The colourful outcome of this recipe is as added attraction.  

Ingredients

   

    1. Button Mushroom……… 200g            2. Capsicum Red & yellow 1 each

    3. Big Onion …………………1 no                4. Baby Corns…………………6 no

    5. Broccoli………………………100g            6. Tomato …………..small -1

    7. Zucchini ----------medium-1             8. Brussels sprouts……….6 no/ 50g

    9. Lettuce……………..Two leaves           10. Celery ………………..1 stalk

  11. Cheese …………………10 g                   12. Ginger Garlic paste….1 tsp.         

  13. Butter/ cooking oil – 1 Tbsp             14. Optional- Cream…50ml

Spices mix

Coarsely pound in mortar, Cumin- ½ tsp; Dry coriander-1/2 tsp; cloves- 2no; Mace- 1g; Black Pepper-1 tsp. Or you can use Garam Masala powder- 1 Tbsp

Salt to taste

Preparation

Wash and clean all the vegetables and mushroom. Cut the mushroom in to four pieces. Cut the vegetables in to 3 to 4 cm pieces. Slice tomato and discard seeds. Dice the celery stalk in to 1 cm bits. Cut the Brussels sprouts into halves. Cut the lettuce to long stripes.

Heat butter/oil in a Kadai. Add onions and ginger garlic paste, fry for a minute.

Add half of the spice mix prepared and sauté. Add all the vegetables and mushroom except the lettuce to the kadai and stir fry without adding water over a medium flame.

When the vegetables leave out water; raise the flame and fry them constantly stirring for a few minutes.

Add rest of the spice mix to the kadai and add required salt. Sauté that for few minutes till the water reduces. Make sure not to over boil the vegetables and let them retain their crunchiness.

Garnish with lettuce, other greens and grated cheese!

For those who like wet curry; add the cream just before taking out of the kadai.   

Mutton Fry with Capsicum and Kashmir Chillies

   For one who has been weaned on Mutton (goat/lamb) meat from childhood, I can hardly resist the home made Mutton curries and fries even now!  

   Indian curries and especially meat preparations are all dark in complexion as they are heavily loaded with spices, and takes long time to cook.

   

   The question of why not make an Indian Mutton curry with a medley of colourful Salad (salad like!) twist; which is easy on the palate and pleasing to eye, led me to try this! I have used minimum ingredients and spices to cook up this recipe!  The capsicum and the Kashmir chilies give colour and flavour to the dish and result is tangy and yummy!

Ingredients:

1.        Goat/Lamb meat (Boneless) – 250 to 300 g
2.          Onion – 1
3.  .   Capsicum(any colour) big – 1
4.  .   Kashmir Chilies-  6
5.  .   Dried Red Spicy Chili (round)- 5
6.  .   Coriander Powder – 1 Tbsp
7.         Clove – 2
8.      Cinnamon stick – 1 cm
9.      Turmeric powder – 1Tsp
10.     Cooking oil – 1Tbsp
11.    Salt to taste.   
12.    Garnishing – any cut leaves of coriander/leek/mint/parsley 

  Cut the meat to small pieces (2 to3 cm) Pressure Cook the meat with a cup of water and the turmeric powder for five minutes to make it tender.

  Cut the Capsicum and onion in to medium (2cm) pieces. Break the Kashmiri chillis three pieces each.

Preparation

1.   Heat a Kadai/wok and add the oil. Once the oil is heated, bring it to  medium flame.
2. Add the cloves and Cinnamon to the oil and fry for half a minute to get the flavor.
3. Add dried red spicy chilies and fry for half a minute.
4.  Add the cut onions, capsicum and Coriander powder, and fry for two minutes along with a pinch of salt. See that the color of the capsicum remains green and not over cooked.
5. Transfer the cooked meat to the kadai. Add the Kashmiri chilies and coriander powder. Add salt to taste while cooking. Fry for a minute.
6.  Finally add the meat stock and cook on a medium flame for a few minutes. The water helps the meat to absorb all the flavor and spices.
7.  Do not over fry it. Let the vegetables, chilies and the meat stand apart. Transfer the meat once all the water is dried to the serving bowl.
8.   Garnish as you wish.
9.  Goes well with all Indian breads and rice.

                               

Flower Show at Lalbagh, Bengaluru -Jan,2012

The famous Flower show of Bengaluru happens twice in Lalbagh corresponding to our Independence day and Republic day every year. Commissioned by Hyder Ali in 1760 and completed by Tipu Sultan, Lalbagh has grown from 45 Acres to 240 acres of verdant greenery and a veritable Botanical lung space for the city of Bengaluru.

Flowers  are an attractive mechanism devised by plants by which it bewitches and covet insects to visit them for their pollination, propagation and sustenance of their species on earth. Fairer sex in the evolved beings of mankind too found flowers an useful tool through their colours and fragrance to attract the opposite sex, as the many cultures has shown through history.

'Say it with Flowers' have become integral part of the lives of mankind as it takes part from birth to death through various occasions.

No wonder the 'Flower Shows' attract right from children to old equally. I am remided of the lyrics from a melodious song --- ‘Poovin mozhi, nirama..manana ? ( Vairamuthu)

Is the language of Flowers - their Colours or their Scent? Seem to me it should be both !

   I was thrilled when my class mate Mr.J.Balasubramanian (consultant- Horticulture & Medicinal Plants) a walking encyclopedia of plants accompanied me to this year's Show. It was double whammy when yet another store house of knowledge my class mate Mr. S. C. Gunasekaran (chief Manager P.N. Bank) also joined us.

We leisurely went past the organised flower show at the Glass House through the milling crowd; thoroughly enjoying the riot of colours presented through flowers of various shapes and sizes each vying for attraction and importance.

Dainty Asters, cosmos, celosias, Linerias and statis, Dazzling Pansies and Petunias held their forte against the common Dahlias, Zinnias & Marigolds and much acclaimed Phelenopsis Orchids & Tiger lilies. There were regal Streltzea; the bird of paradise nonchalantly imposing their superiority among other showy Heliconias.

Beds of Geraniums, Chrysanthemums, begonias and pansies looked like the delightful brush strokes of an innovative painter.

Apart from the groups of flowers there

were floral arrangement done by professional advertising their firms.

The central theme of Buddha stupa looked jaded and lacked the glitter, as the flowers used to decorate were listless and withered due to lack of humidity!

However The floral cascade with Peruvian (Alstromeria) lilies were colourfully spectacular.  

What is expected of the results of the visit by tens and thousand people, were all there - noise, chaos, unruliness and trash. School Children in gay abandon was seen meddling with pop up sprinklers, plucking and vandalizing plants and trees! You guessed it right; I was drenched by the sprinklers thanks to the boys playing with it. Luckily my camera escaped the showers!

The show also had the share of humour & goof ups by  the organizers; in the labeling of plants and awarding even for the wrong plants! Even the police outpost there spell t the place as Lalbag ! The meticulous banker in Gunasekar helped spot all the bungling. 

 It was time to see the exotic and rare trees and Balu was in his best to educate us about Saracas, Tipuanas, and Guiacums etc. The giant kapok (silk cotton) tree there is a sight to behold!

We saw a 60 feet tall mahogany tree in majestic form.
We walked till our legs ached and it was time to rest and relax.

It is indeed sad that slowly the sanctity of the Botanical Garden is lost in transforming to a public park!   Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan surely will turn in their graves!!

Which brings us a question, why no new Botanical parks are planned even after 300 years? 

Botanical Gardens can serve as centre for educating children and general public on environment, ecology and of the various plant species and the importance of preserving them for posterity.