Snake gourd stir fry with Plums. [Stone Fruit based Tangy Indian Vegetable Stir Fry.]

Today morning I made stir fry with fresh, tender locally produced snake gourd  using two juicy plums. I  made saute base with  red onions and two red vine sweet mini peppers to have contrast color with light green snake gourd slices and  tempered it with split urad dal , curry leaves and  green chili. Pre-boiling Snake gourd kept colors vibrant and saved some cooking time. This is my first time to use Plums in vegetable stir fry, earlier I have cooked cauliflower with oranges  and  green beans with cranberries. This stir fry has nice sweet and sour taste and is packed with natural veggie and fruit flavor. This stir fry has initiated  few ideas to cook many more vegetable stir fries and curries using different  fruits, nuts and seeds. Following images are taken with Canon Power Shot -110.

Sliced Snake gourd / Podalangai/ Potlakaya/ Padavalkai

Ingredients : 
( Serves two with roti or one single generous stir fry serving .)

• 150 gm - 1 small snake gourd, sliced thin in half moon shape (discard formed seeds, retain tender seeds as I did, refer above image.)
• 2 Plums - chopped in 1 cm size chunks, seeds removed.
• 2 Vine ripe mini Peppers - use red colors. cut into small pieces.(substitute with red or green colored capsicum. Use of mini papers  is optional.)
• 1 small size - Red onion, sliced thin length wise. (yield - 1 heaping Cup)
• 1 Tb.spoon - oil
• 1 green chili - finely chopped
• 1 Tb.spoon - split skinless Urad Dal / Black gram.
• 1 Sprig - Fresh Curry leaf
• 1/2 Cup - Fresh cilantro chopped
• 1/2 T.spoon - Honey - Use if plums are sour. You may sprinkle little brown sugar or jaggery powder.

Adding pre-boiled snake gourd to sauteed onions and Plums.

Preparation - Padval Stir Fry with Plums.

1. Slightly chop out both the ends of the snake gourd, cut in the center, make two parts then slit lengthwise. If you find hard formed seeds, remove them. My snake gourd was very tender so I retained inner seed pulp. Cut thin half moon shape slices by placing seed side on the cutting board. (Check image to see how tender pulp looks like.) Place sliced snake gourd in a medium side bowl filled with water, add two tiny pinches of salt, boil in microwave for 6 minutes. If snake gourd is not very tender, give few more minutes. I did this while onions were getting sauteed. Drain water, keep the bowl aside.(use drained water for other cooking, I don't add salt so that I can drink it up after it cools.)
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a small saute pan over medium heat, add  curry leaves, chopped green chilies, sizzle for 10-15 seconds. Quickly add 1 tbsp skinless split urad Dal, stir with spoon for 15-25 seconds, add sliced onions as soon as dal turns one shade darker in color. Continue to stir fry onions over medium heat for about 7-8 minutes. In the mean time, you can finish pre-boiling sliced snake gourd.
3. Add chopped plums and chopped vine ripe mini peppers, continue to stir fry over medium high heat, stirring often for about 4 minutes or until plums start to soften.
4. Now add pre-boiled snake gourd  /padval slices to the pan, mix well, add  2 pinches of salt or little more as needed. Reduce heat to medium low, continue to cook for 3-4 minutes. Check sweet and sour level, if  sourness is sharp, add 1/2 tsp honey or brown sugar or jaggery. Shut off the heat, garnish with 1/2 cup chopped cilantro. If you have fresh grated coconut add that too.  Serve with rice, roti. Use in wraps, tacos or sandwiches.

Note : This stir fry can be done with all most all vegetables, I would try similar stir fry with Chayote, Turia, Cauliflower, Cluster beans, Tindora, green beans, Zuccini, Bell Peppers, Dudhi. Also baby potatoes, Bitter gourd and Egg plant. Do mix and match of veggies. This recipe can be further tweaked into creamy Kormas by adding  spices and  more ingredients.

Mini yellow colored Peppers, Broccoli and Green peas quick stir fry for lunch box.

Today made this stir fry with mini colored peppers, broccoli florets and green peas to pack in the  lunch box. No spices or masala powder is used, sauteed onions and hand full of fresh chopped cilantro and  one chopped green chili  is  used to build the stir fry  flavor base. Pre boiling broccoli florets in the microwave reduced  cooking time and enhanced  vibrant green glow of broccoli. This is quick vegetable stir fry packed with natural taste of veggies. Check similar stir fry subji recipe blogged earlier where I have used capsicum, broccoli, shelled edamame beans and tofu cubes.

Ingredients :
(One single generous vegetable stir fry serving or this is good for two servings as side dish in meals.)

• 7-8  Broccoli florets - cut into an inch size pieces. (1.5 cup)
• 4-5 Mini colored peppers - chopped into small pieces. (3/4 cup) (substitute - colored capsicum)
• 1/2 Cup - frozen green peas
• 1 small onion - finely chopped (3/4 cup yield)
• 1 Green chili - finely sliced
• 1/2 Cup - fresh chopped cilantro.
• 1 Tb.spoon - oil

Method of preparing Stir fry :

1. Slice mini peppers into small chunks. (I picked only yellow to have contrast with green broccoli.) Break broccoli florets into one inch pieces. Finely chop stem part, transfer to microwave safe bowl, cover with water, add 2 tiny pinches of salt. Microwave on high heat for 4-5 minutes.
2. In  the mean time in a small saute pan heat 1 tbsp oil, add chopped onions, saute for 7-8 minutes stirring often with wooden spoon.
3. Add sliced mini colored peppers and finely chopped green chili, continue to saute over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
4. Next drain pre-boiled broccoli, save water to use in other cooking dishes.  Add broccoli  in the pan, add frozen green peas. Mix well, add 1/4 tsp salt, fry over high heat for 2-3 minutes. Lower heat to medium  low setting, add 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, stir. Put off  the heat after 2-3 minutes.
5. Serve with roti or eat by itself in a bowl by drizzling little salad dressing.

Weber Charcoal Grill, winter time images. [ Black and White Wednesday #115 ]

This week for Black and White Wednesday I am submitting image of  snow covered  Weber's Charcoal Grill. Last week we had 2-3 inches of snow in Cary, temperatures were too cold  so snow stayed around for 3-4 days, as a result schools were closed for four days. I took few snow images around home, Grill was  covered with fluffy snow. It was a beautiful natural contrast of black and white so thought of sending this image to BWW #115 to Siri who is hosting this week at Cooking with Siri. Susan of  The Well Seasoned Cook, is a founder of this event. Now Cinzia of Cindystar looks after admin duties for this event. Next BWW event #116, February 12th 2014 -Valentine's Day edition will be hosted by Lynne of cafelynnylu. For all  rules and future event details please check Cinzia's Post.

It has been a long time since I grilled something with  my weber's portable grill, as temperatures warm up I will get back to grilling. Scroll down to view more images of the grill taken during snow and fall season. I was collecting beautiful fall color leaves of sweet gum/ Liquid amber tree. Black grill lid was perfect background to spread  leaves and capture images. Check earlier  recipe post on grilled shrimp and mushrooms using Weber's charcoal grill.

Charcoal Grill covered  with snow. (Cary snow fall on 28th January, 2014)

Black and White Wednesday Event #115

Sweet Gum / Liquid Amber fall  leaves.

Images taken on 09/02/2013

Patio and Grill lid covered with snow - Image taken on 29th January 2014.

Fall season inspired Spicy Cluster Beans stir fry. [Black and White Wednesday #113]

I cooked this cluster bean stir fry  on one beautiful fall morning  in November. This was weather inspired simple stir fry with sauteed onions, spiced with whole and crushed black peppers. Red wine vinegar and Honey was used to bring sweet and sour taste. Addition of mini colored peppers made nice color contrast over bright green pre-boiled  sliced Cluster beans/ Gavar. This simple recipe can be adapted for several other vegetable stir fries.

I am submitting this image to Black and White Wednesday #113, January 22nd 2014, which will be hosted by Susan of  The Well Seasoned Cook, who is also a founder of this event. Now Cinzia of Cindystar looks after admin duties for this event. Next BWW event #114, January 29th 2014 will be hosted by Simona of briciole. For all  rules and future event details please check Cinzia's Post.

Black and White Wednesday Event #113

Carrot-Coconut-Sesame Burfi flavored with Saffron & cardamom. [Indian sweet recipe for Makar Sankranti Festival.]

On this auspicious occasion of Makar Sankranti,  I convey my  best new year wishes to all my readers, followers and visitors.Wishing you all a very Healthy, Happy and Peaceful 2014. Thank you so much for regularly visiting my blog. I am quite late to make my first blog post this year, hoping to share more recipes this year.   I start this year with a recipe of  Sesame-Carrot-Coconut Burfi/Vadi. One of the traditional Makar Sankrant sweet/ Vadi is made with Sesame and Coconut,  I gave a little twist by adding fresh carrots. This sweet is prepared without ghee, I have used honey but if that is skipped this is good Vegan festive sweet.

 Ingredients :

• 1.5 Cup - whole sesame unpolished (powdered)
• 2 Cups - grated carrots (slightly heaping cups)
• 1 Cup - fresh grated coconut
• 2 Tb.spoon - Honey ( for vegan burfi you may skip honey.)
• 2 Tb.spoon - Extra virgin Olive oil + 1 Tb.spoon for greasing.
• 3 tiny pinches - of saffron threads
• 1/2 T.spoon - cardamom powder. (coarse ground seeds from 4-5 cardamoms.)
• 3/4 Cups - water to cook carrots
• For sugar Syrup - 1 heaping cup granulated sugar + 3/4 cup water.

Carrot, Coconut, Powdered Sesame, Sugar, Cardamom powder.

Grated carrots

Method of preparing Carrot+Coconut+Sesame Vadi/Burfi :

1. Clean carrots by slightly chopping out stems and bottom ends, peel off thin skin layer with potato peeler. If using organic carrots, retain the skin. Rinse under water, pat dry. Grate carrots, keep it aside.
2. Grind 1.5 cups white unpolished sesame seeds to a coarse powder. Do this in few batches with short pulses to retain dry texture.
3. In a heavy gauge 4 quart pot moderately heat 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, add grated carrots, saute for three minutes over medium heat, stirring often. Pour in 3/4 cup water, half quantity of cardamom powder continue to saute for around 10 minutes, stirring often.
4. Next add sesame powder, mix well, saute for 5-6 minutes over medium heat, stirring often.
5. Add fresh grated coconut, 2 tbsp honey and remaining cardamom powder, saute for 2-3 minutes. Shut off the heat, let  pot rest until sugar syrup is done. (Sugar syrup can be prepared ahead of time.)
6. Heat 3/4 cup water in a small pot, stir in 3 tiny pinches of saffron threads. Once water starts to boil add one heaping cup sugar. Allow to steadily boil  over medium high heat for 7-8 minutes. Do stir at frequent intervals, shut down, allow to cool for six seven minutes.
7. Pour sugar syrup over  coconut-sesame-carrot mixture. On heat back, Mix well, keep stirring until sugar syrup is evaporated and thick mass is formed. This stirring stage is quite laborous, do it by switching  heat from medium high to medium low. Once bottom of the mixture starts developing light color patch shut off the heat. Quickly scoop it over olive oil greased baking sheet or plate. Flatten and shape it with stainless steel spatula and knife. Pat  Burfi mass from sides to form neat 1 inch thick square. Allow to cool  for 3-4 minutes, using a knife cut  into desired size/shape Burfi pieces. Smooth out cracks and uneven edges by patting around burfi squares with  butter knife. Scroll down to check few images  of cooking steps captured while preparing Burfi/Vadi.

Initial frying stage.

Prepared sugar syrup.

After adding sugar syrup, consistency of mixture  loosens.

Mixture turns into solid mass, time to spread mixture over plate.

Scooping out solid burfi mass over greased cookie sheet.

Finely square shaped burfi mixture.

Carrot-Coconut-Sesame Burfi squares.

Uneven edges can be shaped into perfect squares using butter knife.

Happy Makar Sankranti!!

Carrot-Coconut-Sesame Burfi.