Most of the people like to plan way ahead for dinner/lunch. Somehow, that never worked with me. So most of the time, I end up combining some unusual ingredients to make a dish. This was one such combination that I had never seen before.
I use bottlegourd (lauki/gardudde) a lot these days. I wanted to make something different with this vegetable. I thought of pairing it with something else. All the beans that I had in pantry needed soaking, then I saw black eyed peas (alsando). I am a big fan of these beans as they don’t need soaking. Taste wise also, I have always loved them. So I combined both into a standard sidedish that I make with different combinations. It came out great.
Just before posting today, I googled for these two ingredients and ended up at Sia’s blog . Check out Sia’s version too.
Ingredients: 1/4 cup black eyed peas(alsande) 2 cups bottle gourd chopped into small pieces 1/4 cup onion 1/2 cup tomato 1 tea spn chilli powder 1/2 tea spn kolhapuri masala or garam masala 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 4-5 curry leaves Oil Salt
Method: Cook black eyed peas in cooker till done. Heat oil and add mustard, cumin seeds. When they start popping, add curry leaves, onion. When they turn brownish, add bottlegourd, a little water and let it cook. Now add tomatoes, cooked peas. Add salt, chilli powder, kolhapuri masala/garam masala. Cook for few minutes. Serve hot.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 30mins
Weather is getting cold here. So one of the things that I make frequently these days is this hearty vegetable and barley soup. I kept on modifying it till I got something that we both really enjoy. This is so filling that, we sometimes skip dinner after this.
Ingredients: 2 cups vegetables – potatoes, green beans, carrots, zucchini 1/2 cup onion 1/2 cup fresh chopped spinach 1 tea spn finely chopped ginger 1/2 tea spn finely chopped garlic 1/2 cup barley 1/2 tea spn dried basil 1/4 cup tomato 2 bay leaves 1/2 tea spn red pepper flakes Pepper 1 tea spn butter Salt
Method: Heat butter and bay leaves, ginger, garlic and onion. Fry for few minutes and add all the vegetables. Fry them for a minute. Now add chopped spinach, barley, salt, tomato, red pepper flakes, 2-3 cups water. Cook till all the vegetables and barley is done. I cook it in pressure cooker. Now add basil, pepper and cook for about a minute. Serve hot.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins
