The husbandman decided to get himself an early Holiday present, and ordered 200 rotis from Rotikaa in Edison, NJ. It came in one big shipment, and that was that! Our dinner/ lunch for the next two months was decided then and there. I have been trying to dish out a new sabzi everyday to keep us from growing sick of all those rotis! I can’t complain too much though. It has made our life easier in two ways; we have to worry only about making that one side, we know what we are having that night or the next day for lunch, and there’s no dilemma there!
Last week I was on a “Stories by Rabindranath Tagore” marathon. Thanks to Netflix! I watched all the 23 or so episodes in a span of three days, and read up on Tagore, his works, and was Bengali-smitten for a while. The culture just left me craving for a bengali sabzi that I first saw H’s friend make. She made aloo and pumpkin sabzi with mustard oil and kalonji seeds.
I tried my own take of it about a month later, when I discovered some mustard powder as I was raiding the kitchen pantry. I used sweet potatoes, carrots and pumpkin that time, and it was a raging success. From then on, I have always stuck to my “orange sabzi” recipe every once in a while.
I am a big believer in minimizing food wastage. There was a huge 2lbs bag of baby carrots in the fridge that needed to be used in a day’s time. There was no way either me, or H were going to devour it as a snack! I decided to try my orange sabzi, without the rest of the orange veggies, aka sweet potatoes and pumpkin. It came out well, and took all of twenty minutes to make! This comes from a person, who is not a fan of cooked carrots! I usually like them raw, with a squeezed lemon, some salt and green chillies. 🙂
Here is the recipe for the Bengali-inspired carrot sabzi. Remember, it is yummier still with sweet potatoes and yellow pumpkin (“kaddu”, as a friend taught me!).
Quantity: 4 generous servings
Ingredients
- 2 lbs baby carrots (about 0.9 kg)
- 1 tbsp kala jeera
- 1 tbsp kalonji seeds
- 4 slit green chillies
- 1 pod garlic (optional)
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp red chilli powder (if you need more spicy)
- 1 tsp mustard powder
- Required cooking oil.
- 1/2 cup water
- Salt to taste
That most time consuming part of the dish was getting the baby carrots cut into equal pieces. This is easier when you use bigger carrots, that need chopping, anyway!
Method:
- Add oil to a hot pan.
- Add the kala jeera and kalonji seeds and let them crackle.
- Now add the slit green chillies and the garlic (if adding).
4. Once the garlic turns color, add the carrots and mix them around. The carrots start to cook.
5. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder (if adding), mustard powder and the salt and let it cook for a little bit more.
6.Add the water, cover and cook the carrots.Add more water to cook, if the carrots take longer to cook.
Voila! The sabzi is ready to be had with the rotis!
Mere Mortal's Monologue 