I cook greens at least twice a week. Earlier it was only spinach and methi. Only recently I started using beet greens, swiss chard, turnip greens etc. Even though methi is bitter we all like it in our family. Our favorites are the methi theplas, sambar in the beet greens sambar method and another dry curry using channa daal and methi leaves.

Recently I saw a recipe for aloo methi subzi in Sailu’s blog. That day I was going to cook methi anyway, so I decided to try Sailu’s recipe itself. It was very simple to make and tasted awesome too. Very different from the methi recipes I make. I pretty much followed her recipe but for some minor changes.

I used around 2 cups of methi. The methi which we get here in US is not as tender as the ones which is available in India, it’s very big like curry leaves. Sometimes it can be very bitter. So my mother in law gave me this tip of frying the cleaned, rinsed and drained leaves in little ghee to reduce the bitterness. But Sailu’s idea of sprinkling salt and sugar on the methi leaves and squeezing out the liquids also works like a charm. I also fried the methi along with the tomatoes. Since the methi is not
tender, it will not be cooked properly if added in the end. The methi masala tasted very good with chapathis. This serves 2 adults.

The very same day I also saw another recipe for a methi chole in her blog. I bookmarked it immediately and tried it last week. This is yet another easy to prepare side dish for bhaturas and rotis. Another speciality of this dish is, it does not use onions or garlic, and yet it tastes great. If you use canned chick peas like me, this dish can be prepared in no time. In this recipe also I used more methi than specified (3 to 4 cups loosely packed). I used one 15.5oz can chick peas, which is approximately 1 and 1/2 cups of cooked beans. I also used oil instead of ghee for frying the spices. This measurement serves 2 adults.

Beet greens are versatile like spinach, it can be used in so many different ways. Yesterday I tried it in the traditional “Mor Kootu” recipe. “Mor” is the Tamil word for Buttermilk and Kootu or Koottu refers to a dish with stew like consistency. Koottu can either be prepared with a combination of vegetables and lentils (like toor daal, channa daal or moong dasl) or without any lentils. This Mor Kootu falls in the latter category.

Beet greens are cooked well and mixed together with a spicy yogurt/curd sauce. It is served as an accompaniment for rice and is also a very good side dish for Adai. Mor Kootu is generally prepared using any greens, chow chow (chayote squash), green cabbage.

I’m submitting this to Sunshine Mom’s FIC – Green event.

My grandmother used to prepare a sambar using methi (fenugreek leaves) leaves called “Pulla Keera” meaning tangy greens. It requires little more tamarind than the regular sambar and a tempering of mustard seeds, fenugreek (methi seeds) and green chillies which gives this side dish an unique flavor. Toor daal rice mixed with ghee, spicy potato roast and this sambar is simply a heavenly combination.

I had a bunch of beets with the greens. So I decided to prepare the sambar using beet greens instead of methi. The beet leaves sambar tasted very good and comforting. Grandmothers’ recipes are always versatile and foolproof.

Cauliflower is my husband’s favorite vegetable, so I try to cook different dishes with it.  Nupur’s Cauliflower Soup has become such a hit in my house, these days even my mother is asking me to make it quite often.  While searching the net I came to know about oven roasted cauliflower and was so tempted to try it.  There are 1001 recipes available throughout the net for roasted cauliflower and this is my version. 

Ingredients:
Cauliflower, big – 1, cut into medium size florets
Oil – 1/4 cup
Sambar powder – 2 tablespoons
Red Chili powder – 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder – 1/4 teaspoon
Hing – 1/4 teaspoon
Salt – as per taste
Cornflour – 1 tablespoon

Procedure:
1.  Cut the cauliflower into medium size florets and clean it by soaking in a mixture of warm water and salt.

2.  In a large mixing bowl combine all the other ingredients and whisk it.

3.  Now add the cauliflower florets little by little and toss it well to coat thoroughly with the mixture.

4.  Spread it evenly on a greased baking sheet.

5.  Preheat the oven at 425F for 15 minutes.

6.  Roast the cauliflower for 25 minutes, tossing it once around 15 minutes.

7.  To get a crispy texture, turn the oven switch to broil mode for 3-5 minutes, again tossing once in the middle.  While doing this make sure that you keep the oven door open and keep your kids out of the kitchen.

Crispy oven roasted cauliflower is ready to be snacked on or as a side dish.

My Notes:
Using the same procedure you can experiment with different flavors like garam masala, curry powder or use a variety of herbs.

I was on a short break and am back with an easy recipe for zucchini kootu. I learnt it from my mother-in- law.  Using rice rinsed water, this simple and tasty side dish can be prepared in no time.  I guess this is similar to the Eriseri which is prepared in Kerala, using plain water.  Usually when I use an electric rice cooker I wash the rice and soak it for 30 minutes and then cook it, to get a soft texture.  So whenever I use my electric rice cooker, I make this kootu with the rice soaked water, because I don’t want to use the regular pressure cooker also just to cook daal for sambar/kootu.  My mother-in-law prepares this kootu with cucumber.  I had only zucchini that day, so I tried it for the first time and it tasted so good.

A very tasty kootu is ready to be served with steaming hot white rice!

Usually I add little sugar to the cooked beet water and give it to my son as juice. This time my mother gave the idea of preparing Rasam (Chaaru) using it. Back in India, my grandmother and mother used to prepare Goddu Chaaru, which does not require toor daal, rasam powder. It’s prepared when you want rasam immediately, or when you are not cooking daal that day. As simple as it may look, it’s very tasty though. I had some toor daal water so I used it in the rasam, but it’s not at all necessary for this rasam.

Ingredients
Beets cooked water
Tamarind – 2 teaspoons or sour tomatoes (I used 2 tablespoons of crushed tomatoes)
Salt
Turmeric powder – 1/2 teaspoon
Ghee – 1/2 tablespoon
Red Chillies – 1 (or as per your taste)
Mustard Seeds
Cumin – 1 teaspoon
Garlic cloves – 2

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Ever since I came to know that beet greens were edible and prepared Beet Greens Daal, I have wanted to use it more often. Recently I prepared usili using beet greens and beets. Initially I thought of using beet greens alone, but once I cooked it, the quantity was very less, so proceeded using the beets also. I increased the quantity of chillies while grinding the daals, to offset the sweetness of the beets. This was the first time I was preparing beet usili and we all totally loved it.

Ingredients
Oil – 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds
Urad Daal – 1 teaspoon
Channa Daal – 1 teaspoon
Beet Greens – 1 Bunch
Beets, small – 5
Usili – as required (procedure to prepare usili in My Notes)

My Notes
Half a cup of daal is enough for a family of 3. But I soak 1 cup of daal and prepare the usal as always and use it 2 days. Prepare the usili as per the instructions. Use as much as required and freeze the rest in a ziploc bag. When you want to use it, empty the contents in a microwave safe vessel and either defrost it or cook for a minute and fresh usili is ready.

How to prepare Usili?

Ingredients:
Channa Daal – 1/2 cup
Toor Daal – 1/4 cup
Masoor Daal – 1/4 cup
Green Chillies – 1 (or as per your taste)
Red Chillies – 2 (or as per your taste)
Hing – 1 teaspoon

Procedure:
1. Soak the daals and chillies in water for atleast an hour. (I usually soak it the previous night itself before going to bed.)

2. Now grind the above, adding salt and hing.

3. Grease 2 idli plates and divide the mixture among the 8 moulds.

4. Steam it, as you would do for idlis, maybe couple more extra minutes. A knife/toothpick inserted should come out clean.

5. Once it is done, remove the daal idlis, cut them into small pieces, keep it in a plate, cover it with plastic wrap and keep it in freezer for 10 minutes. (Don’t forget that you have kept it in the freezer, then it will become rock hard)

6. After removing from the freezer, place the contents either in a blender or a food processor and powder it. The texture will be so good, if this method is followed. (Now you would understand why I have mentioned to keep it in the freezer. If it is ground as soon as it is steamed, it will have a lot of lumps)

7. This powder can either be used on the same day itself with vegetables of your choice (beans, carrots or a combo of both, in my case even beets) or it can be freezed for later use, so that you can have usili on a busy work day too.

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This is a very simple side dish for chapathis/naan without lot of spices, yet very flavorful and healthy.

Ingredients:
Oil – 2 tablespoons
Garlic Cloves – 2, minced
Onion, medium size – 1, finely chopped
Salt – as per taste
Curry powder/garam masala – as per taste
Yogurt – 1 cup (I used low fat yogurt)
Milk – 1 cup (I used 2%)
Frozen chopped spinach (10 0z) – 1, thawed
Canned chickpeas (15 oz) – 1, drained and rinsed

Procedure:
1.  Heat oil in a skillet.
2.  Add the onion, salt and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
3.  Now add the curry powder and cook for another 1 minute.
4.  Add yogurt, milk, thawed spinach and the drained chickpeas and let it simmer until all the flavors blend together.

My Notes:
1.  The dish was nice and creamy.  I actually added a mixture of full cream and milk, that definitely gave a richness to the gravy. 

2.  Be careful while adding salt because the canned chickpeas already has salt in it.

3.  Update:  I did not make the Naan.  It’s the frozen variety we get in US, Deep Brand.   Just heat it in the oven for 2 minutes, it’s ready to eat and you get a very nice fluffy naan.  I also broil it for another 1-2 minutes to get a crunchy texture.  The one in the picture is Garlic Naan and we absolutely love it.  It’s so handy while entertaining friends also.  But be sure to heat it just before eating and serve it immediately or else it tends to dry.

Dear Ranjeetha of Ranji’s Kitchen Corner has passed me the Nice Matters award.  My another friend Divya of Dil Se has passed me the Rocking Girl Blogger Award.  Thank you very much Ranji and Divya.

I would like to pass both the awards to my very good friend Dee of Ammalu’s Kitchen.