Vegan Recipe

Zucchini Aloo Jeera (Zucchini and Potato with Dry Indian Spices)

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This recipe was created on one of those days when I was super hungry and wanted a super easy and quick side for chapathi. There was no other vegetable on hand except for some zucchini and potatoes that I had bought at a farmers market! Well, I ended up making a quick side using both the veggies 🙂 The subzi was so delicious that I had to share the recipe here!I did not over cook the zucchini so it was just slightly crunchy. The boiled potatoes just add a soft bite! And the garlic here just adds a kick! I think this is a great way to start trying out zucchini if you have never tried it before 🙂 Zucchini gets cooked in no time and works well with so many flavors – I use it in a lot of dishes like  Sabut Masoor Dal (Brown Lentils) with Zucchini,  Cucumber Zucchini Stir Fry (Palya/Poriyal) and Zucchini Yogurt Dip (Raitha)
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This one is not so much of a recipe – I just used all the basic handy spices like cumin, chilli powder and some garlic. Tossed everything up together and that is about it 🙂 The thing is somedays that is about all the cooking I want to do. Yes I love cooking and experimenting but I don’t like doing something elaborate at the end of the day! I like having some simple, and easy recipes around that I can try on busy weekdays.
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Zucchini Aloo (Potato) Jeera

  • Servings: 2-3
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print
Ingredients
  1. 2 zucchini
  2. 1 small potato
  3. 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  4. 2 cloves garlic
  5. 1/2 tsp cumin powder
  6. 1/4 tsp coriander powder
  7. 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
  8. 1/4 tsp garam masala powder
  9. Salt to taste
  10. 1 tbsp oil
  11. pinch of asafoetida (hing)

Method

  1. Wash and peel the potato and chop it into small bite sized pieces. Wash and chop the zucchini also into bite sized pieces.
  2. Chop the garlic finely. Mix the spice powders (except hing) together with 2 tbsp of water.
  3. Take a large saucepan and heat 1 tbsp oil in it. Add the cumin seeds and let it turn slightly golden in color. Add the chopped garlic and hing and sauté for a few seconds. Add the spice- water mixture to the pan and let it cook for one minute.
  4. Add the chopped potato and sprinkle some salt. Let it cook for 5-8 minutes till it is half cooked. Then add the chopped zucchini to this and cook till the zucchini is tender and the potato is fully cooked.
  5. Don’t add too much water as the zucchini can become mushy! Adjust salt and any spice required. You can add some lemon juice too! Serve hot with rice or chapathi.

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Hesarabele Southekayi Kosambari (Mung dal and Cucumber Salad)

kondaji 2 Comments
This kosambari/salad is a part of any festival celebration in Karnataka! I love this kosambari because it’s super easy to make and also probably because I associate it with festivals, it tastes special. Normally apart from festival days, I never used to prepare this at home! But while I thinking about great evening snacks, it struck me that this is an amazing snack 🙂 You don’t have to prepare this for just festivals or special occasions, right?
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Black Pepper Cauliflower

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The combination of simple spices like black pepper and cumin seeds coarsely ground up add so much flavor to any dish! You don’t need a ton of exotic ingredients to create a nice quick, tasty, wholesome meal. Also with a little creativity you can add a new look-and-feel to any vegetable 🙂 I think this recipe is testimony to both the above statements.
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Broken/Cracked Wheat and Cucumber Pongal – Diabetic Friendly Recipe

kondaji 3 Comments

Pongal is an absolutely easy one-dish meal that can be put together really quickly, It is wholesome, healthy and  nutritious – Rice and lentils combined with really mild spices like pepper and cumin! I always look to add some whole grains in my diet – and hence I swapped the rice out for the cracked wheat! Believe me, the taste is still amazing! 🙂 Another thing I love to do is sneak in some vegetables – hence I added the cucumber. Now you might ask why cucumber? And there is no specific reason for that – I add in whatever veggies I can such as spinach, tomatoes or anything else I can get a hold of in my refrigerator. I have a quinoa-spinach pongal recipe already up on the blog! Check it out 🙂

Did you know that whole-grains and non-starchy vegetables are some of the best food choices to make to help with diabetes? Learn more about what food choices to make at this page.

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Gorikayi (Guvar) Avalakki/Poha

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For a long time Cluster beans or Gorikayi/Guvar was one vegetable that I wouldn’t willingly pick up at the grocery store unless someone forced me to 🙂 It was not that I had had a bad experience with it – on the other hand I had tasted several tasty variants of cluster beans curry. Unfortunately I could never replicate the taste successfully 😛 I have not given up on creating a perfect guvar curry – but for now I definitely have a hands down favorite poha recipe with Guvar 🙂

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