Stirfried Cabbage with Shrimp

Yes! I am still surviving my healthy eating habits and thoroughly enjoying it. I have learned to use my cooking skills and create healthy and tasty dishes.
So as usual I was at our local farmer's market looking through the produce section. I was bored of eating grilled veggies.. well let me tell you I was very tempted to pick up a good steak and grill it. I had to literally talk fat Shilpa out of it and remind he that 30 years of eating rich food has shown its effect and I shouldn't try to enhance it. Well she can be manipulated easily at times and so healthy Shilpa won the debate and I picked up a fresh purple cabbage, some fruits and headed home.

So here goes my recipe for a tasty cabbage stir fry...

1 cabbage (white/purple) chopped lengthwise
6-8 big Shrimp (optional) cleaned
2-3 cloves garlic chopped
2 dry red chillies broken into 2-3 pieces
2 tbspn low sodium soy sauce (I use the vegetarian mushroom flavored soy sauce)
1 tsp olive oil

Heat a wok and add the oil. Add the chopped garlic and chillies and  let it sizzle. Fry for a min and add the shrimp now if using it. Stir fry till they turn pink. Now add the cabbage and stir fry for 5 mins. Add the soy sauce and give it a good stir. Stir fry till the cabbage is cooked.
I like to leave a little crunch to the cabbage.

Note:

I have made this dish without shrimp and it turns out well.
I use this as a low calorie diet food for lunch/dinner so I eat it by itself.
You can serve it with some grilled chicken if you are not adding shrimp.
You can use plain low sodium soy sauce and use any other seasonings of your choice.

Palak Paneer

I am very fond of non-veg food as mentioned earlier in my posts. I can just go on eating non-veg for days but I am trying to now eat veggies more. I am even thinking of eating meat only on weekends (ugh! that's gonna be tough!).
So we got some fresh spinach/palak from the farmer's market and I had some paneer in the freezer so hubby wanted me to make palak paneer.
My mom makes it so well. I miss her cooking. I never cared for it much while I was back in Bombay as I got to eat it everyday..while everyone else would crave for it. Now I crave for it ;(

When I was newly married I decided to make Palak paneer at my in-laws house in Bombay and I had to call my mom for the recipe as I didn't know how to cook. I followed her recipe to the T and the dish was a hit.
I don't remember all the ingredients my Amma had told me to add back in 2008 but I make it often and everytime its almost the same recipe I follow (as much as I can remember).

2 bunches Palak (washed well and ends trimmed)
1 cup paneer cubes
I onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
2 green chillies
few sprigs of cilantro (optional)
1 tsp Kasuri methi (optional)
3-4 cloves garlic cut into pieces
1 small piece ginger cut into pieces
2 cloves
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp corriander pwd
1/2 tsp garam masala/Everest meat masala (can add more)
oil

In a kadai add oil when it's hot add cumin seeds, cloves and let them splutter. Then add onions, garlic and ginger pieces and fry till onions turn golden brown. Now add the chillies and chopped tomatoes mix well and cook till tomatoes are soft. Add the spinach leaves and let them wilt.
Now turn off the gas and let this mixture cool. Once cool grind it with the cilantro to a smooth paste (don't add water).
Now back in the kadai add the paste, add the corriander powder and garam masala and mix well. Let the mixture boil. Add salt and slide in paneer pieces. Cook for 5 mins till the paneer cooks and turn off gas.
Serve with Roti's or with pulav.

Note:
Sometimes I dont grind the onions just fry them and add them to the spinach & tomato paste.
I added Kasuri methi and cilantro for the first time today and it turned out great.
Some of my friends fry the paneer pieces before adding them, if you plan to fry you need to soak the fried pieces in warm water till you use it. This will keep the paneer soft.

Masala Gobi

As I have mentioned earlier we try to include lotsa veggies in our cooking but here in Oxford, MS we don't get a variety of veggies. We need to go all the way to Memphis to get a good variety. We try and go atleast once a month and stock up otherwise I have to alternate between cauliflower, cabbage and eggplants which we get in abundance here. So we got some cauliflower from Wal-Mart and I decided to make something spicy which can be had with roti's and rice.
I wanted to use Panch Phoran which my friend had bought for me. It is a mixture of five whole spices - nigella seeds, cummin, fennel, fenugreek and mustard seeds. This is supposed to give the curries and dals a good unique flavor. This is widely used in the eastern parts of India such as Bengali cuisine.

So here goes the recipe for Masala Gobi:

1 Cauliflower (florets removed soaked in salt water, drained and washed)
1/2 tsp Panch Phoran
1 onion chopped
1 tsp Ginger-Garlic paste/ginger-garlic finely minced or crushed
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/4 tsp Red Chilly Powder
1/4 tsp Coriander Powder
1/2 tsp Garam Masala Powder
Salt as per taste

Heat oil in a kadai/wok once the oil is hot add the panch phoran. When it sizzles add onions and add ginger garlic paste. Fry till onions turn golden-brown.
Now add the turmeric, red chilly, Coriander powder and garam masala powders mix well. Add the cauliflower florets mix well so that the spices coat the florets evenly. Add 1/4 cup or less hot water cover and cook till cauliflower is done. Open cover add salt and cook till water evaporates and its dry enough.
Serve with Roti/Rice

Notes:
Make sure you wash cauliflower well after soaking in salt water so that all the salt is washed off.
You can only wash it with plain water
You can add a 1/4tsp Kasuri methi it will give a good flavor.
I really liked the flavor of panch phoran will be using it a lot now onwards.

Baigan Patiala / Eggplant stir fry

I am a big fan of non-vegetarian dishes. I can literally eat it everyday. While my hubby gets bored of them soon and likes many veggies in his diet. Eggplant is his favorite veggie and he loves it the amchi way "Vaigana talasani" stir fried in oil with lotsa garlic and salt.
I had read about this dish in a magazine while I was in India and vaguely remembered it. I may have missed a few ingredients but the end result was a good eggplant dish and a happy husband! ;)

Ingredients:


2 Eggplants/Brinjals sliced like french fries but not too long

1 Onion, sliced

2 Medium tomatoes, chopped

2 Green Chillies, chopped (can increase if you can handle more heat)

1 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1/4 tsp Amchoor powder/Dried Mango Powder

1/2 tsp Onion seeds/Nigella/Kalonji seeds

1/4 tsp Red Chilli Powder (add more if needed)

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

1/2 tsp garam masala/Kitchen King Masala

Salt

2 tblsp Oil


Method:

In a pan/wok, add oil when hot add cumin & Kalonji seeds when they sizzle add onions and saute till brown - you can add some sugar for them to brown faster. Now add ginger-garlic paste and green chillies fry for a few minutes then add red chilli, turmeric,mango powder, garam masala & mix well.

Add the tomatoes and cook till tomatoes are mushy and you can mash them with a wooden spoon.
Now mix in the eggplants, add salt, cover and let it cook till the eggplants are done. Garnish with cilantro. Serve with roti's.

Note:
I have also tried lightly frying the eggplants before adding them. This surely enhances the taste of the dish but even without frying the dish is great.