The weekend brought with it an adventure….the inspiring kind that leaves you refreshed, glowing, inspired and filled with awe and in love with Nature’s Greatness that is.
Praia da Ursa, Sintra, Portugal
a gentle indian spiced vegetable stew
Serves 3 – 4
This is a very clean, soothing and subtle-tasting dish, warming to the core. I have been making it quite regularly, sometimes adding a beetroot palya or roasted pumpkin to serve with it. Inspired ‘The South Indian Yogic Cooking Book.’
Channa dal is a split and husked relative of the chickpeas. Urad dal, rich in protein, is a close relative of the moong dal. Both are found in Indian Stores.
ingredients
1 cup green beans, finely chopped
2 carrots
1 zucchini
1 small-medium sweet potato (peeled)
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
4 cups water
ingredients for the ground paste
1½ tsp split channa dal
1 tsp split urad dal
½ cup freshly grated coconut or (2 – 3 Tbsp dried coconut)
1 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger
¼ tsp whole black peppercorns
½ tsp jaggery/brown rice
¼ cup chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp fine rock salt
for the voggarane
1 tsp ghee
1 tsp cumin seeds
6 -8 fresh curry leaves
preparation
1. Finely chop the vegetables into small uniformed pieces.
2. Bring to boil 4 cups water in a heavy-based saucepan, add the vegetables and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.
to make the ground paste
3. Dry-fry the channa and urad dal until golden-brown in colour, then add whole peppercorns, turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly.
4. In a high-speed blender, combine the toasted spices, coconut, ginger, and 1 cup water from the simmered vegetables. (Do not worry if you accidentally scoop up any vegetables, as I grind these along with the paste as it adds to the creaminess).
5. Grind until it becomes a relatively smooth puree, then add the puree back into the vegetables, adding broth from the vegetables to clean out the contents of the blender.
6. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes until the vegetables are tender.
prepare the voggarane
7. Heat the ghee in a small pan, add cumin seeds and curry leaves; when the cumin darkens a few shades, pour the voggarane into the vegetables.
8. Season with salt and finely chopped fresh coriander. Allow to sit for 15 minutes for the flavours to come through.
Enjoy with brown basmati rice or whole barley and a drizzling of ghee.
Goodness shared from Stacey