Mixed Vegetable Curry

I have been busier this past week than I have been in a long time. So, much as I promised to be regular and all that, I have not managed a single post in an entire week. While work did keep me occupied a great deal, I also had my cousin and family visit me from Bombay. They returned to their base last morning. Having a three year old in the house can be a lot of fun and it can also be a very trying experience. Especially if the little one doesn't enjoy mealtimes. I have been thinking an awful lot about how I became a non fussy eater. How did I learn to not just eat what was placed in front of me, but also relish it? I made a pizza on the day the family arrived. My niece did not even look at it. (On another day, we went to Pizza Hut, and she devoured a double cheese pizza.) I baked vegetable buns and chocolate chip buns. She didn't even look at them. I tried telling her that she should try things out before deciding whether she likes them or not. Did I succeed? Not entirely. Which also means that I didn't entirely fail. I got her to look forward to milk time. She tried chocolate milk and strawberry milk and found that milk was not all bad. She enjoyed a fluffy cheese omelette for breakfast one morning. The entire episode got me thinking and I figured that I am this way because of my parents and their attitude towards food. If my parents had nurtured strong likes and dislikes in me, I may very well have fallen into the category of fussy eaters. For this 3 year old, meal times meant dal-rice and curd rice. In many ways, I couldn't help but empathise with her for not enjoying meals. But it got me thinking nonetheless.

I also wonder why meal times have to mean rice or rotis. There was this one time when we'd invited a bunch of people over for dinner. I'd made several items and served biscuit rotis as appetizers. We had a 3 year old who devoured them. He ate three and a half rotis and then had a bowl of tomato soup. Quite a meal for someone who'd just turned 3. In fact, quite a meal for someone who turned 30 as well. Despite this, his mother fretted over his not having eaten rice and made him eat a serving of peas pulao and then some curd rice.

While I have been wondering about all this, you must be wondering if I have been cooking at all. I assure you, I have. I am not in the cracker and milk mode and have a decent meal each night. I am also having very decent breakfasts and lunches. I have not had a chance to buy fruit and that's the only item missing from my daily diet and I will fix this very soon.

I made this mixed vegetable curry to go with rotis some time ago and liked it a lot. I made it again today with mushrooms and soya and had it with some jeera rice. I didn't click a picture, but since the recipe is the same, I decided to write about this one. I just put in whatever I could find in the mixie jar and made this paste. This has no onions and no garlic. So it is ideal fasting/festival food.

1 cup Carrot, cut into long pieces

1 cup French Beans, cut into long pieces

1/2 cup Soya nuggets, prepared as per instructions on the pack

1 tbsp Oil

Grind to a paste:

2 tbsp Cashews

2 tbsp Peanuts

4 Red Chillies

1 tsp Coriander Seeds

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

1/4 tsp Kashmiri Chilli Powder

Salt to taste

This dish tastes great when prepared over the stove as well as in the microwave.

Stove Top Version:

Pressure cook the carrots and beans.

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the paste and fry for a few minutes. Add the vegetables and the soya nuggets. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes.

Microwave version:

Place the carrots and beans in a microwave safe bowl. Add a little water. Cover and cook on high for 5 minutes. Keep aside.

In another microwave safe bowl, place the oil and heat on high for a minute. Add the paste and cook on high for 2-3 minutes, stirring after every minute. Add the vegetables and soya nuggets. Cover and cook on medium for 5-7 minutes. Allow for a few minutes of standing time.

Enjoy this dish with rotis or rice or even bread. I am sending this to Suganya for her Vegan Ventures event.

I am also sending this to Srivalli for her Microwave Easy Cooking: Side Dish Series.

We are off to attend the wedding of S's friend in Agra. And after we get back, we have 5 other weddings to attend this week. That definitely means almost no cooking at home. I hope that doesn't mean no blogging. I have not even thought about RCI this month yet and there's the JFI entry that I have to post. There's the big issue of WBB as well. I will get back to this blog as soon as I can. See you soon.