Zucchini Lentil Salad

This Zucchini-Spinach-Lentil salad is more of a stir fry than a salad. I prepared it the same way I would do for various kinds of lentil "Sundal", and this dish felt enormously healthy :). When you have been eating outside for quite a while, you feel this need to cleanse your system and eat something that would make you feel extremely healthy, this happened on one such day soon after we moved into our new place and started cooking our own meals once again. I remember my delhi trip about 15 yrs back that lasted 10 days and that was the first time I probably realised I just couldn't eat out all the time, restaurant meals tire you out very soon :). So here is something that would make you feel really good and healthy - Zucchini Lentil salad

Ingredients

Serves - 2
Spice Level - Moderate
Prep Time - 20 minutes + 5 hrs of soaking time
Cook time - 10 minutes

1/2 cup mixed lentils [ I used moon dal, black eyed beans, cow-peas ]
Zucchini - 1 medium sized, cut into moon shaped pieces
Spinach - 150 gm, chopped roughly
Mustard seeds - 1 Tsp
Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1 Tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 Tsp
Dry Red chilli - 2
Curry leaves - 1 Sprig
Salt - as per need
Turmeric - a pinch
Oil - 1 Tsp

How do you do it

1. Soak the cow-peas and black eyed beans for about 4-5 hrs. Drain and pressure cook them until they are tender to bite. Also boil the moong dal with a pinch  of turmeric until tender but firm. We don't want any of the lentils to get mashed up while frying them

2. Boil Zucchini for about 2-3 minutes in the microwave and keep aside.

3. Heat a kadai with oil. Add the mustard seeds and let them pop. Add the jeera/urad dal and break the red chillies and add them in, let them roast. Add the curry leaves now.

4. Add the zucchini and spinach and saute them well with the tempering, wait for a few minutes for the spinach leaves to wilt.

5. Thrown in all the cooked lentils, required salt and stir it well and cook for a couple of minutes.

6. Take off flame and if you like, add a tsp of lime juice.

Serve this stir fry with any fruit juice of your choice for a healthy and filling dinner.

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Zucchini Cauliflower Curry

Zucchini and Cauliflower cooked in a thick tomato-coconut milk spiced curry sauce

I have heard enough about Zucchini for almost a year now. Thanks to our truly global wing [my friends from university] and not to forget whatsapp - food, travel and living is all what we talk about almost everyday :).  Having moved to the west and seeing Zucchini in the super-market instantly reminded me of all the conversation we had about how healthy Zucchini is. So I picked it up immediately not knowing what I would do with them. I just knew that it had to be something very tasty and curry like so we could make it a regular. I browsed around and saw a recipe that had curry powder, coconut milk and tomato puree as the base sauce for this Zucchini Cauliflower dish and I was hooked.

I usually don't choose to try my hand at a new recipe on a work-day morning to pack for lunch. But this recipe seemed so simple and quick that I decided to make it for lunch and it turned out great. Every time i tasted the curry sauce I kept wanting for more and that was a good sign.  This is a great side dish for rotis and am sure it would team up well with rice as well. So on to the recipe :).

If you dont have Zucchini , you could throw in any other vegetable as a sustitute - carrot/peas/capscium/beans, I am sure they would do good as well.

Ingredients

Serves - 2
Spice Level - Moderately spicy
Prep Time - 10 minutes
Cook time - 20 minutes
Recipe Source - Adapted from veggie-belly
 
Zucchini - 1 medium sized, cut into half moon shape
Cauliflower - 4-5 florets cut into bite sized pieces
Tomato puree - made out of 3 fresh tomatoes or one 14.5 oz canned diced tomatoes blended
Coconut milk [thick] - 1/4 cup [canned or fresh - I used canned]
Curry/Masala Powder - 1 Tbsp
Turmeric - 1/4 tsp
Jeera/Cumin - 1 Tsp
Onion - 1 medium sized, chopped well
Garlic - 3 cloves , minced/grated finely
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig [optional]
Hing/Asafetida - a generous pinch
Oil - 1 Tbsp
Salt - as per taste
Coriander leaves to garnish

How do you do it

1. Take the cauliflower pieces in a bowl with water and add a pinch of turmeric and salt and microwave for a couple of minutes. Stir well and drain. This step is to remove any worms from cauliflower if any. This kind of cleaning is necessary and very important to remove worms when using cauliflower in any recipe. So do make sure you clean cauliflower well before using.

2. Either you are using fresh or canned diced-tomatoes, puree them using your blender and keep aside.

3.Heat oil in a kadai. Add hing and jeera, and let them roast and give out a nice aroma. Add the chopped onions and saute until they are cooked well.

4. Add in the minced garlic and curry leaves and saute for a minute or two.

5. Add the curry/masala powder and turmeric and saute for a couple of minutes until the raw smell of the powder goes away.

6. Add in the tomato puree now, stir well and cook for a couple of minutes.

7. Add the Zucchini pieces and cauliflower florets, salt and close the kadai with a lid. Cook in medium flame. It will take 10 minutes for the veggies to get cooked.

8. Now reduce the heat and add in the coconut milk. Cook on low flame for a few minutes. Once done remove from flame.

Add chopped coriander leaves to garnish and and serve with rotis/pulkas or rice.

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