I used carrot only in sambars or in kosambaris until recently. So I never tried to make any sidedishes with this beautiful and tasty vegetable, I thought it tastes awesome raw, so why to take all the trouble to cook it. I always have a big batch of carrot even though most of the time I don’t really know what to do with it. This problem was solved 2 years back.
We shared an apartment with one of colleagues of my husband and his family when we were in Sydney. They are from Andhra. His wife Lakshmi made this carrot sidedish and their cutie pie daughter loved it. It is sweetish from the carrot. Chilies are added to spice up this dish. I don’t remember her recipe, but this is what I did.
I cooked it after a very long time. It tasted great. I am sure most of you know this already, but those who don’t know can try this. I also make this with some daals , which I will post some other time.
Ingredients: 1 cup finely chopped carrot 1/2 cup finely chopped onion 3-4 green chilies 1/2 tea spn mustard seeds 1/2 tea spn urad daal A pinch asafoetida A pinch turmeric 4-5 leaves curry leaves 1 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut Oil Salt
For fast cooking, the carrots can be pressure cooked and then added to onion mixture. But I prefer cooking them on stove tope, because it makes the carrot more tasty.
Method: Heat oil and add mustard seeds. When they start popping, add urad daal . Add curry leaves, chopped chilies, asafoetida and turmeric. Now add onions and fry till they turn translucent(do not brown them). Add the chopped carrot, around one cup water and cook till the carrot pieces are soft. Add salt, coconut and mix well. Serve hot with rice.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 15mins
Cauliflower is a universal vegetable used in many dishes, in many forms. It is one of my favorite vegetables. Whenever I ask my husband to buy veggies, he always picks up a cauliflower. I use it to make pickle , rava fry , in sambars , in pulavs and in every other way I could. So when I saw an article with all cauliflower recipes in a Kannada weekly, I was hooked to it. I had to try everything in that article.
The ingredients in this baked cauliflower recipe were very simple, but one look at the ingredients and you can guess it is a tasty dish. I baked it during my lunch break, so I didn?t allow it to bake completely till the outer layer is browned. So you can bake it for longer time for better results. It was delicious. I served it as a side dish with rice and daal . But this can also be served as a starter.
Ingredients: 1/2 cauliflower 3/4 cup chopped onion 1 and 1/2 tea spn gnger-garlic paste 3/4 tea spn chili powder 2 tea spn all purpose flour/ maida 1 cup thick tomato juice or 1 and 1/2 cups finely chopped tomatoes 1 tea spn butter 1/2 cup cream 1 cup bread crumbs Salt
I used wheat rava/sooji instead of bread crumbs. I didn’t add cream.
Method: Remove the leaves and hard stems of cauliflower, but take care not to break it into pieces. Heat water, add some salt, cauliflower and cook till it is half done. Take it out and pat dry. Heat butter and add ginger-garlic paste, onion till the onion turn slightly brownish. Add tomato/tomato sauce, salt and cook till oil separates, Add flour, cream, chili powder. Grind to a thick paste(grinding is optional). Apply this paste to cauliflower. Leave for around 30mins. Roll it into bread crumbs/ sooji . Preheat the oven at 350F for around 10mins. Take the cauliflower in a greased baking dish and bake at 350F for around 20-30mins. Cut into pieces while serving.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 45mins
