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.