5 years ago, if someone had told me I would be a big fan of cast iron, I would have laughed. “There is no way” I would have said. I had this myth in my mind that cast iron takes a lot of oil. The first entry of cast iron in my kitchen came in the form of grill pan – I bought this after I read about it at Sig’s blog . I love this pan so much, it is perfect for grilling. But I was still not too comfy about caring for it. I guess I was doing it all wrong!. Then one day Nupur mentioned she had bought a cast iron pan and she absolutely loves it. She even posted this lovely post about cooking in cast iron . I was still skeptical. Then we visited Nupur’s family and I saw how she was using it for most of her cooking. One of the recipes that I make frequently in my cast iron skillet is this simple spicy egg fry.
So I went ahead and bought a skillet, I thought I may not use it very frequently, but wanted to give it a try. Initial few days needed little bit of patience – because you need to season them well before they become almost like non-stick. I have re-seasoned the skillet once – I had to do that because V unknowingly put it in a dish washer and next day it came out looking all rusted!.
I have been making a lot of dishes on my skillet these days. After the use, I just wash it, warm it up a bit to remove any moisture, add couple of drops of oil to it and spread the oil with a paper towel. We all love the taste of food cooked in this skillet. Our favorite has to be egg omelet – it just brings the taste up to a different level. I just use few drops of oil in cooking – if you read my blog, you have seen how little oil I use and I have no intention of changing it. Well seasoned cast iron works as good as a non-stick. Did I mention I threw away all my non-stick pans? I just have one non-stick tava with me, I may soon go for a cast-iron tava – the skillet I have is little small for dosas.
Here is one dish that I frequently make in my cast iron skillet – you can make it in any pan. This is my go-to dish on many nights when I am running out of ideas and want to make something quick and tasty. I used to throw away the yolks earlier but that is the only part Ishaan eats (if at all he eats eggs, he does not care for them too much!).
Ingredients: 6 boiled eggs 1/2 cup onion 1/4 cup tomato 1 tea spn chopped ginger 1 tea spn chopped garlic 5-6 curry leaves 1 tea spn chilli powder 1/2 tea spn coriander powder 1/2 tea spn cumin powder Coriander leaves (optional) Oil Salt
Method: Heat little oil and add onion, curry leaves, ginger, garlic. Sprinkle some salt on top and let the onions soften. Then add chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, fry for a minute. Add eggs, salt, mix well. Add tomatoes, cover the lid and let them get cooked a bit. Sprinkle coriander leaves if desired. Serve hot with chapatis or rice.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins
Is there a food group that you wish you had included more in your diet? For us it is protein! Other than toor dal, I don’t use anything else in this group on a daily basis. I have been trying to improve this in last couple of months. I increased our intake of chicken/egg/fish to a level that we can tolerate – even if we love our nonveg, we are not one of those who can eat it every day. While growing up, fish was on the menu one day a week and chicken couple of times a year!. Then there is another mindset to change – somehow when I think about protein, first thing that comes to mind is non-veg. I tend to forget different legumes that are excellent sources of protein. I remember, aayi always had some kind of sidedish – a randayi with beans and vegetable – with one or the other kind of beans. I am trying new ways to include more legumes, one very successful attempt at it is 16 bean soup . I have it on the menu almost once a week. Recently I prepared this red cowpeas curry with vegetables.
When we came to US many years ago, I bought atleast 10 types of beans from Indian store here. Soon I realized, V did not like them much. The problem is, here everything at Indian stores comes in big packets and it was years before I used them all up. Now I am more cautious before buying anything. Recently, after wanting to buy these for a long time, I got a pack of red chori beans.
I have not used these beans before. I think the closest to red chori beans is brown cow peas that I used to make my aayi’s bagade khatkhate which was a childhood favorite. I wanted a quick dish to go with chapatis and I found this – it was a really good idea to mix veggies and these red chori beans. The curry came out really good, went well with chapatis.
I am sending this to Nupur’s my legume love affair event  – information about the event at Lisa’s  .
Ingredients: 1 cup red cow peas(red chori beans/adzuki beans) 1/2 cup onions 1 tea spn chopped ginger 1 tea spn chopped garlic 1/2 cup tomato 1/2 tea spn cumin powder 1/2 tea spn coriander powder 1/2 tea spn cumin seeds 1 tea spn chilli powder A pinch turmeric 1 tea spn kasuri methi (dried fenugreek) 1 cup carrots and potatoes Oil Salt
Method: Soak the beans in water for about 5-6 hrs. Alternatively, add boiling water to the beans, leave it closed for about an hour. Cook the beans in pressure cooker (for approx 3 whistles) till they are soft. Heat oil and add cumin seeds, onion, ginger, garlic. Fry for few minutes and then add tomatoes, salt, chilli powder, turmeric, coriander, cumin powder. Cover and cook till tomatoes are softened. Then add carrots, potatoes, cooked chori beans. Cover and let the vegetables get completely cooked. Take kasuri methi on the palm of your hand and slightly crush them with your fingers. Then add it to the curry. Cook for 2-3mins. Serve hot with chapatis.
Serves : 3-4 Preparation time : 30mins
