Vegetables Simmered in Coconut Milk

It was one of the days when I spent time cleaning and did not have time to prepare anything elaborate but my heart longed for something different - in two aspects "cooking" and "eating". I tried something similar to thing in a restaurant in downtown Chicago - I think people from in and around the Windy City must have heard about this one. My friend's family and our family dined at this restaurant during the Memorial Day weekend. Everything was good and especially this one ( I do not remember the exact name of it but the only vegetable that was added to it was cauliflower but I added couple more)...and my friend told me to make this and let her know about it...so there it goes...It turned out pretty easy... simple to make and delicious to eat!

Ingredients Needed:

3 Cups Cauliflower Florets
1 Capsicum (bell pepper) Cut into 1 Inch Pieces
1 Potato Cut into pieces (boil and keep them)
1 Cup Onion Cut into Big Pieces
2 Cardamom Whole
1 Bay Leaf
2 - 1 Inch Piece Cinnamon Stick
2 Green Chillies
1 Inch Piece Ginger
1 Tin Coconut Milk
3/4 Tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 Tsp Coriander Powder
1/2 Tsp Jeera Powder
1/2 Tsp Jeera
3 Tsp Oil
Salt to taste

Take oil in a pan. Add the green chillies, ginger, jeera, bay leaf, cinnamon stick and the cardamom. Saute the onion till they are light brown. Add the turmeric and add the capsicum. When they are half cooked. Add the cauliflower and the boiled potatoes. Fry them for few more minutes.

Now add the coconut milk and turn the heat to low and let it boil till it gets creamy (say for about 20 minutes at least). The end result was delicious. The fragrance of cardamom infused in it....wow ....excellent. I have to say you must make this few hours before you eat since the essence has to soak into the veggies....I made it and ate it then and there....but it was yummier when I had it the next day since it had all the essence from the spices absorbed in it by then. I tried it with roti on the day I made it and the next day I had it with basmati rice....I liked both...but loved it more with rice...my mouth is watering as I write....will definitely make it in another couple of weeks....

Creamy Vegetable Kurma

I made this last Sunday, the day after the Tamil Get Together....I had left overs from Saturday's cooking and we had that for lunch and I was not very keen on cooking...just wanted to laze around the house, browse and watch TV...I was also tired after the long Saturday!! So decided to whip up a simple meal yet a delicious one.  I had bought red potatoes and wanted to make something with that....first decided on making potato kurma but later changed it to veggie kurma. I love any type of kurma...I guess thats because I love the creaminess of the coconut milk..any dish with a touch of coconut milk tastes awesome...it is a strenuous job back home - breaking the coconuts, grate them and take milk out of it....but here it is so easy - just open the can and it is ready to be used.....voila!!

3 Medium  Potatoes Cubed
2 Big Carrots Cubed
15 Beans Diced
1 Inch Cinnamon Stick
3 Cardomom
3/4th Tin Coconut Milk
5 Green Chillies
1 Small onion Cut into small pieces
1 Inch Ginger Piece
3 Spoons Dry Coconut
6 to 8 Whole Cashews
1 Tsp Coriander Powder
Oil
1 Tsp Zeera
Salt to taste

As usual I microwaved the vegetables (except onion)! Take a little oil in a pan add the zeera, cinnamon, cardomom and one finely cut green chilly. Add the onion and saute till turns lightly brown. Add the veggies and let it cook.
In the meantime, grind the remaining chillies with ginger, cashew and dry coconut. Add this to the veggies and let it boil for couple of more minutes.
Add the salt, coriander powder and the coconut milk and let it simmer till it thickens a little.
Garnish it with cilantro after it cools down. It goes well with rice and roti.

Mango Kesar Milk Shake

This year Mid West (atleast the place where we live) has had pleasant Winter...we are having good spring weather than the past couple of years...with temperature going up to 70 in first of week of April...great..but they say it is mainly due to the El Nino effect....what ever currently we are enjoying good weather!!

So to celebrate spring I made this. In general I do not like the mangoes sold at Walmart they are not so good compared to what we get at the Indian stores...but I saw some mangoes that looked like alphonso and it did mention a name similar to that...I came across the same variety as Sams too....hence bought it.

The temperature went to 70 one of the days last week. Also I got new set of glasses for a good deal...I thought that was the best day to enjoy mango kesar milk shake in my newly bought glassware and also welcome spring!!

2 Ripe Mangoes
3 Glass Cold Milk
2 TBSPN sugar
Few Strands of Saffron (optional)
Whipped cream and grape (optional) for decorating

Peel the skin off the mangoes. Take the pulp from the mangoes. Reserve some mango tit bits to be added in the shake.
Add milk, mango pulp and cold milk in the blender and grind it well.
Take few spoons of milk and warm it in the microwave. Add the saffron strands to it and nicely smoothen it with your fingers. Add this to the milk shake.
Pour it in a glass and few mango tit bits. It tastes good to get a bite of mango while drinking.
Top it with the whipped cream and a grape. Refrigerate the remaining.
Refresh yourself with a glass of mango kesar milk shake after a good walk!!