As much as I love bulk shopping at stores like Costco, the humongous quantities of a few perishables sometimes wears me out. When I first discovered a large bag of fresh sugar snap peas at this store, I was elated beyond words. I love chomping on them fresh crunchy peas for a healthy snack or devour them in fresh vegetable crudités with a yogurt dip. Like with every repetitive thing I do, I got bored eating the raw stuff. In any event, how many raw snap peas can one eat?! When I was cleaning out my fridge recently, I stumbled upon this half used bag of sugar snap peas from the previous week, which to my surprise was still fresh and crunchy. I flipped the bag over and glanced through the “ways to use” section on the bag and the idea of sir fry caught my attention. I made a very simple, yet very flavorful, spicy and crunchy (okay, that’s the last time I’ll say crunchy J) stir fry with some baby corn I had on hand. There, I found another reason to keep buying this bag of peas!
You’ll need:
- 3 cups of sugar snap peas, cleaned and chopped (I sliced them at an angle)
- 1 cup of chopped/sliced baby corn
- 3-4 green chilies, slit lengthwise (adjust according to your tolerance for heat)
- 1 ½ inch piece of fresh ginger, julienned
- 4-5 cloves of garlic, sliced
- 1 tbsp of oil
- 1 tbst rice or white vinegar
- Salt to taste
Method:
- Heat the oil in a wok or a large frying pan on high heat
- Add the slit green chilies, ginger and garlic and stir fry for a minute or less, just until fragrant. Do not brown the garlic!
- Add the chopped baby corn and snap peas and stir for a couple of minutes
- Season with salt, stir to mix well and let it hang out on the high heat for a few more minutes. Stir frequently to avoid burning.
- Add the vinegar and stir again. It’s called stir fry for a reason! Do not over cook this; you want to retain the shape and crunch (you get the idea!) of the snap peas and the baby corn
- Eat!
I served this, full desi style with home made rotis and it tasted fabulous! You could, I imagine step up the spiciness and seasoning a little bit and toss it with some cooked hakka noodles to make a very satisfying one pot meal. That’s what will happen to the next bag of these peas!
Are you an ardent banana split lover? Do you drool over just by the mention of it on a hot summer afternoon? Do you fantasize the vanilla-strawberry-chocolate flavors bursting in your mouth, complimented by tangy pineapple sauce all on a bite of creamy banana? Then this is just for you! I am neither typing up the recipe here nor do I have a picture of a banana split. But what I have is a link to a great story and a greater recipe for an awesome classic banana split. Read on!
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10744877
Controversies apart, happy 100th birthday banana split!
Yes, there is something called food perfume. It is the intense fragrance of a delicacy cooked in such a way that it perks up even the dullest of appetites and makes one go “hmmm..now that’s making me hungry!”
Cooking spinach/palak with moong dal was one of my favorites until my Mom-in-law who is visiting us here, whipped up this amazing methi dal last weekend. While she cleaned the fenugreek/methi leaves with immense patience and chopped them finely, I just assumed all along that they would go into a dish that I was very familiar with. So off I went, into the interiors of the house, only to be drawn back towards the kitchen a few minutes later by the strong aromatic fenugreek food perfume. The fragrance of fresh methi leaves sautéed with minced ginger and onions lugged me into the kitchen with such strong force that I followed the aroma blindly, coming face to face with a pot of stunning, flawless moong dal with white, bright green and red blemishes simmering away to glory on the stove. While I impatiently hovered around the slowly bubbling dal and grabbed my camera to get ready for a photo shoot, I soaked up the recipe from my Mom-in-law.
Here is how she made it:
You’ll need:
- 2 bunches of fresh fenugreek/methi leaves, cleaned and finely chopped
- 1 ½ cups of cooked moong dal (split green gram)
- 1 medium sized onion, diced
- 2 medium sized tomatoes, diced
- 1 ½ inch piece of ginger, finely minced
- 5-6 green chilies, minced (adjust according your tolerance for heat)
- 1 ½ tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
- ¼ tsp turmeric
- 2 tbsp oil
- 2 cups of water (adjust according to your desired consistency)
- Salt to taste
Method:
- Heat the oil in a pot on medium heat and add the jeera/cumin seeds. Let them sizzle and stir in the ginger, turmeric and green chilies.
- Add the chopped onions and fry until they turn translucent
- Add the diced tomatoes and sauté a few minutes, until pulped
- Add in the chopped methi and sauté the leaves until they start to wilt, just for a couple of minutes. Do not over cook the leaves if you like to retain the robust flavor of methi
- Add the cooked moong dal, water and salt and mix well. Bring this to a boil on medium heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes
- Serve hot with plain steamed rice and/or rotis. If you are like me, you’d just enjoy this solely by the bowlful as an amazing, flavorful soup!
Related Link:
All dishes green! JFI Green Leafy Vegetables round up!
