Beetroot & Beans Curry

When our state became the second one in US to issue a 'stay at home ' order, I thought now I am going to have plenty of time on my hands. I don't even know why the thought crossed my mind since as a stay at home mom, my life seems to be under a perpetual quarantine as half of our family are not home most of the time and I wasn't planning to make any drastic changes to my current life style. Fast forward a month, I don't even know how the time has been running except that I get to sleep a tad more and I seem to spend more and more time in our kitchen. However the situation has presented an opportunity for the four of us to be under one roof after a long time, at a stretch. 

It turns out however that I was not able to cook anything new for the blog inspite of all the cooking I have been doing. My son hasn't spent this much of time at home in the past four years and my husband who is mostly away on weekdays has been enjoying his stay as well. All we are craving are simple home style Indian  meals with rice / roti, vegetables and lentil based dishes. This curry is a part of one such simple meal that is filling and nutritious. I have combined chopped beets and beans here. Feel free to substitute any other vegetables that you have on hand. You can omit one of these vegetables and replace it with carrots. Cabbage and green peas, potato with cauliflower or bell pepper or eggplant are some of the popular combos. Or can make a curry combining more vegetables like carrot, beans, chayote, potatoes and cabbage. It goes good with either plain rice and a dollop of ghee or rotis.

Ingredients:
1 cup peeled and chopped beetroot cubes
1 cup stringed and finely chopped beans
2 tsp. oil
1 tsp. split chickpeas / chana dal
1 tsp skinned black gram / urad dal
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1/8 tsp. turmeric powder
1 sprig of curry leaves
1/4 - 1/2 cup of shredded fresh / frozen coconut
Salt to taste
Red chili powder to taste

Directions:
* Pressure cook the vegetables adding a little water, for 3 whistles.
* Heat oil in a pan and add split chick peas, black gram, mustard seeds and cumin seeds in that order. When the split chickpeas and black gram start to turn reddish, add turmeric and curry leaves. (If the vegetables are not pressure cooked, they can be added now along with the salt. Cover and cook on low flame, stirring in between until the vegetables are tender. A little water can be sprinkled in between if needed.)
* Saute once and add the cooked vegetables, coconut, salt and chili powder. (I add the water used to pressure cook the vegetables as well if it is little in quantity.)
* Mix the ingredients well once and taste to adjust any seasoning if needed. Cook on low flame for about 4 to 5 minutes or until all the water evaporates and turn off the stove.
* Serve it along with rice or rotis and any leftovers can be refrigerated.

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Cauliflower - Cabbage Curry

My father in law always used to say that only the tongue looks for the taste and not the stomach, when anyone around the table refused to taste a particular dish or a vegetable. He used to advise to finish that dish on the plate first that was least liked so that the rest of the food could be enjoyed leisurely. My husband who has been brought up in such environment naturally respects and finishes the food on his plate without any complaints. Coming to me, I was not a picky eater growing up and almost ate everything that my mother used to prepare without any complaints. However, there were some vegetables that were not my favorites and refused to touch those. Unfortunately they used to appear regularly in my mother in law's kitchen and needless to say that I used to hear my father in law saying the above things to me on a regular basis, though in a jovial manner. And somehow the way he spoke, I never was offended and rather it became a joke during lunch time to see what I was not going to eat that particular day. No teacher is better than life and years later, I had to change my ways to be a role model to my own kids.

One of the vegetables that I never ate while growing up was cauliflower since that was not used in my mother's kitchen owing to it's smell but guess what, that turned out to be one of my husband's favorites. My husband's companionship over the years has transformed me from "I can't stand that awful smell" to "I don't mind cauliflower" stage. It seems so ridiculous when I reflect back and see why cauliflower was not likable in those days when all the other smelly vegetables like cabbage, radish, turnips, kohlrabis have always been my favorites. The first time I really enjoyed cauliflower was when one of my SIL's prepared it in this South Indian style combining with cabbage and here is the recipe for it.

Ingredients:
2 cups finely chopped cabbage

2 cups cauliflower florets

1/2 cup grated fresh coconut

For tadka: 
1 tbsp. oil
1 tsp. chana dal / split chickpeas
1 tsp. urad dal / black gram 
1 tsp. mustard seeds
1 tsp. cumin seeds 
2 - 3 finely chopped green chillies (Adjust the quantity as needed.)
Few curry leaves
1/8 tsp. turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Method:
* Heat oil in a pan and add chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When the dals start to turn reddish, add the chopped chillies and curry leaves. Saute for about 30 seconds. Next add the vegetables, turmeric and stir to combine.
* Cover and cook on low flame until the vegetables are done, stirring intermittently. 
* Finally add coconut and mix well to combine. Cook for a couple of minutes more and turn off the stove.
* Serve warm with rice / rotis.
  
This goes to Blogging marathon #58 under the theme 'Dry Sautees'. Check the link to see what other marathoners are cooking.

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