For the sambhar-kootu:
Ingredients: a cup of broccoli florets, a cup of yellow moong dal, a cup of crushed tomatoes or tomato juice, 2 tspn sambhar powder, tadka ingredients (2 teaspoons ghee, pinch of hing (asafoetida), few curry leaves, mustard), salt.
This is a quick recipe, ideal for a weekday meal and worth trying especially if your husband, like mine won't eat broccoli unless it's invisible! Pressure cook the moong dal and broccoli in 2 cups of water. In a kadai, mix the moong dal with the tomatoes, sambhar powder, bring to a boil, add salt. In a small pan, add hing, curry leaves, splutter mustard seeds and add to sambhar. Done and no tell-tale signs of broccoli to deal with!
For the stirfry:
Ingredients: Left over veggies - 1/2 cup carrots (sliced), 1 bell pepper (chopped to cubes), 1/2 an onion (chopped to cubes), 1 ridge gourd, peeled and cut to cubes, few table spoons coconut shreds, 2 red chillies, 1 tspn coriander seeds, 1 tspn cumin seeds, hing, 2 tablespoons butter, 1/2 tspn turmeric, 1/2 tspn red chili powder, salt.
There is no method to this madness :p I started by lightly roasting the red chilies, coriander seeds and cumin seeds, added onions, coconut shreds and toasted till light brown. I added the mixture to my mortar and pestle and crushed them as best as I could. Just thought it would be interesting to crush the onions too.
In a kadai, add 2 tablespoons of butter, pinch of hing, fry the veggies for 5-7 mins, add the crushed ingredients, turmeric and red chili powder and continue to fry on medium heat. Add a bit of water as needed to avoid browning the veggies, cook closed for about 5 mins stirring in between. Add salt. Simple and tasty side dish even if I do say so myself :p
