A very simple and humble dish…

Last weekend I had been following quite an unhealthy diet so to compensate that I wrapped up the weekend with a healthy sea food dinner. I had  a bag of tilapia fillet in my freezer, hence it was my pick of the night. I love to store fish fillets in my freezer as I don’t have to spend much time cleaning or cutting the fish and in no time a healthy meal can be prepared. Last night, I made this baked cumin tilapia, I love the smokey flavor of the cumin. There is nothing fancy about this dish, it’s a simple, humble and a healthy dish.

Baked Cumin Tilapia

Serves: 2 people

Ingredients

• Tilapia- 3 large fillets
• Ground cumin- 2 tsp
• Ground pepper- 1 tsp (or according to your needs)
• Olive oil- 2 tbsp
• Salt- to taste

Preparation:

• Preheat oven to 375 F.
• Spread ground cumin, ground pepper and salt over the tilapia.
• Drizzle with olive oil.
• Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease it with non-stick cooking spray.
• Place the tilapia on it.
• Bake for 20 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and using a flat spatula gently slide the baked tilapia to a serving plate. Be very gentle else it would fall off.
• Serve warm with roasted veggies or over salad.
• I served along with pan roasted kohlrabi.

Homemade sushi rolls couldn’t get any better…

I still remember how I used to frown at sushi, however it didn’t take too long for me to turn into a sushi addict. Now, I often get the sushi craving and I am so glad that there is a really good sushi restaurant near to my house. I had been under the impression that making homemade sushi is something beyond my expertise, so I didn’t even think of making it in my kitchen. Well, I was more concerned about the handling and the storage of the raw fish. Yes, it’s very very important that the fish you use for making sushi is fresh or it’s frozen really well so that it’s safe to consume. Honestly, I am still don’t know how to handle the raw fish for making sushi. That’s the sole reason why I made the vegetarian sushi roll.

Sushi making is such a breeze, you don’t have to deal with sautéing, grinding or any of those major cooking techniques. You just need cooked sushi rice, seaweed or nori, sushi mat or bamboo mat and the fillings. In just a matter of minutes you will get to enjoy homemade sushi that tastes just like restaurant style. When it comes to filling there are no rules, you could get creative and place anything you like in the sushi. While making vegetarian sushi rolls, some of the common veggies used are avocado, carrot and cucumber.

You should be very careful while choosing the fish, for more information about what all kinds of fish can be used and about handling them read this.

Sushi rice or sticky rice, roasted seaweed sheets or nori, sushi mat or bamboo mat are available in almost all Asian stores and in some of the North American stores.

Vegetarian Sushi Rolls

Makes: 14

Ingredients

For cooking rice

• Sushi rice or sticky rice- 1 cup (add more for making more sushi)
• Water- 1 cup
• Vinegar- 1 1/2 tbsp
• Salt- little

For filling

• Avocado, cut into thin stripes- 1
• Cucumber, cut thin long stripes- 1/2 cucumber
• Carrot, cut thin long stripes- 1/2 carrot

Other ingredients

• Sushi mat or Bamboo mat or rolling mat
• Roasted seaweed or Nori- 2 sheets or more
• Sesame seeds, black or white to sprinkle over rice- 2 to 3 tbsp
• Soy Sauce- for dipping sushi

Preparation

1. Cook the rice along with the water in a rice cooker.
2. After the rice has cooked, add salt and vinegar to the rice and combine well, let cool down for sometime.
3. Place the sushi mat or bamboo mat on a clean cutting board or on counter top.
4. Layer it with a clean plastic cover or wrap.
5. Place the seaweed on the plastic wrap.
6. Evenly spread half of the rice over the seaweed. Wet your hands with water to prevent rice form sticking to your hands.
7. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the rice.
8. Gently turn the seaweed with the rice upside down so that the rice layer will become the bottom layer.
9. On the middle of the seaweed, line the avocados and top it with carrots and cucumber.
10. Gently, fold both ends of the seaweed over the filling.
11. Starting from one end roll the sushi mat along with the plastic wrap tightly.
12. When the sushi is completely rolled, tighten the sushi mat.
13. Gently, unroll the mat and peel off the plastic wrap.
14. You’ll have a nice tight long sushi roll.
15. Using a sharp knife cut the sushi into 6 or 7 pieces depending upon how thick you want. Wet the knife before cutting the sushi so that the rice and filling won’t stick to the knife.
16. Serve with soy sauce and pickled ginger.
17. Dip the sushi in soy sauce and gracefully put it in your mouth and enjoy the delicacy.
18. You could use any kinds of fillings you want mayonnaise, cream cheese, cooked shrimp, crab etc.

Biryani has never failed to bring out the joy and festive mood in me…

Are you overwhelmed by the long preparation time that most of the Biryani recipes call for? If so give this recipe a try. As the name suggests it’s made in a hurry, which means it calls for less preparation time yet tastes flavorful and delicious. It’s been a long time since I made biryani. Every time I get into the kitchen with the mind of making biryani, I somehow got deviated and ended up making something simple. In India, Biryani is one such food served during celebrations and during most happy occasions. Whenever I make biryani at home, I unknowingly fall into the celebration mood and I will be seen happy on that day.

Usually, I follow the long preparation steps while making biryani. However, yesterday I made it in the easiest way possible. I was really impressed by the outcome, it tasted flavorful and was aromatic. For more biryani recipes, click here

One tip that I would like to share with you all: Be sure to add chopped mint leaves while layering the chicken and rice, mint leaves enhances the taste and the aroma of the biryani greatly.

Biryani in a hurry Recipe

Ingredients

For marinating chicken:

• Chicken legs or Bone-in chicken pieces- I used 5 chicken legs, you could add more pieces
• Ginger-Garlic paste- 1 tbsp
• Kashmiri chilly powder- 1 tsp or more if you want it spicy (or use regular chilly powder)
• Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
• Cumin powder- 3/4 tsp
• Ground Fennel- 2 tsp
• Coriander powder- 2 tsp
• Garam Masala- 1 tsp
• Salt- to taste

Other ingredients:

• Cooked Basmati Rice-  1 1/2 cups, season the water with 1 tsp Garam masala and salt
• Oil- 1 tbsp
• Whole cardamom- 3 no’s
• Whole cloves- 3 no’s
• Whole cinnamon- 3 inch slice
• Bay leaves- 2 no’s
• Onions, chopped- 4, large
• Tomatoes, chopped- 3, large
• Cilantro, chopped- 2 handful
• Mint leaves, chopped- 1 handful
• Ghee- 1 tbsp
• Saffron, soaked in 1 tbsp water or milk- 2 pinches
• Fried onions (optional)
• Roasted Cashew nuts (optional)
• Salt- to taste

Preparation

1. Marinate the chicken with the above mentioned ingredients to marinate the chicken, keep aside for 15 to 30 minutes.
2. Place a large non-stick cooking pan, add oil, add whole cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaves to it, saute for a few seconds.
3. Add the marinated chicken to it and cook covered till the chicken is half done. If the chicken gets dry, add some water to it and cook.
4. While the chicken is cooking, cook the basmati rice in water seasoned with garam masala and salt.
5. When the chicken is half done, add the onions and tomatoes, cook covered till the tomatoes have mashed up and onions have cooked well.
6. The chicken masala shouldn’t be too dry, there should be little moisture in it.
7. Taste and add more salt if needed, if you want it to be spicy add more chilly powder or ground pepper.
8. Garnish the top of the cooked chicken with chopped cilantro and mint.
9. Evenly spread cooked rice over it.
10. Drizzle the melted ghee over the rice.
11. Soak 2 pinches of saffron in 1 tbsp water or milk for 5 minutes, drizzle saffron water over the rice.
12. If you want you could top the rice with fried onions, roasted cashew nuts, raisins etc. Since, I was in a hurry I didn’t add these.
13. Cover the pan with its lid and place it over low heat for 10 minutes.
14. Uncover and using a spatula gently combine the rice and the chicken.
15. Serve warm with raita, pickle, salad etc.

Tips:

• Be sure to add mint leaves and basmati rice should be seasoned with garam masala.

Green beans, chicken and cream of mushroom in one dish…

Hope everyone’s New year is coming along great. It’s indeed a great start for me, however after 10 days holiday I feel way too lazy to get back to work. Holidays are never long enough!

Making green bean casserole had been in my mind for so long, so I decided to make it for last night’s dinner. Before I started to cook I had to refill my refrigerator with veggies and meat, so I headed out for a grocery shopping. It was all fine when I entered the store, when I came out after about two hours of shopping I was welcomed by a surprise blizzard. It was crazy out there and driving through the blizzard was little scary. The mighty blizzard continued till this morning and we had heaps of snow on our drive way. Hubby had a great workout snow blowing. Here is the picture of our frozen grill sitting on our deck. I’ve been seeing snow for so many years, yet I can’t get over with it.

I first thought of making the casserole just with green beans, then after a second thought added chicken to it. Poured cream of mushroom which I made from scratch over the green beans, chicken and baked it. It was creamy, had veggies and chicken in it, a great dish to whip up on a blizzard night

Green Bean Chicken Casserole

Ingredients

• Chicken boneless, cubed- 2 chicken breasts
• Green Beans, whole or halved- 1 huge bowl or depending on your needs
• Cream of mushroom-  I made it from scratch or use canned cream of mushroom- 1 can
• Ground pepper- to taste
• Salt- to taste
• Oregano, or any dried herbs- 2 tsp

Making cream of mushroom: (or use canned cream of mushroom)

• Mushroom, white or brown sliced- 1 packet
• Half-half cream- 1 1/2 cups
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp
• Dried Oregano- 1 tsp
• Salt- little
• Olive oil- 1 tbsp

Preparation:

For making cream of mushroom

1. Place a large pan over medium heat, add oil and add mushrooms, saute till it turns tender.
2. Add cream, ground pepper, salt and oregano to it.
3. Let it slightly heat up.
4. Puree the mushroom along with the cream in a blender to a smooth constituency.
5. Return to the pan and heat for a couple of minutes, keep aside.

Making the green bean chicken casserole

1. In a pan, cook the cubed chicken seasoned with little ground pepper, dried oregano and salt.
2. When the chicken has almost cooked, add the green beans and cook till beans turn just tender, remove from the heat.
3. Don’t over cook the beans.
4. Add the cooked chicken and green beans to the cream of mushroom and combine well.
5. Pour the  mixture into a casserole or oven proof glass dish.
6. Preheat oven to 350F.
7. Bake the mixture for 20 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and serve hot with your choice of bread or veggies.

Tips:

• You could even add fried onions to this dish and bake it.
• You could even add cooked pasta to this dish.
• If you are using canned cream of mushroom, don’t add too much salt to the chicken as the cream of mushroom has salt in it.

One of my favorite ways of making Salmon…

It’s Monday, I am chilling at home and looking forward to having dinner with friends. For this holiday, I’ve decided to go light on cooking. I’ve been making easy breezy dishes for the past few days. Well, the dishes are not just easy to make, but they are made in a healthy way and in a delicious way as well. Yesterday, I made this salmon in tomato sauce. It was absolutely easy to make and it tasted absolutely delicious. I am sure whenever I buy salmon or any other fish I’ll be tempted to make this dish. I got this recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks by Rafi Fernandez. The original recipe used Cod and grilled the fish, while I used salmon and pan fried it.

Salmon in Tomato Sauce Recipe

Recipe Courtesy: Rafi Fernandes

Ingredients

For coating the salmon

• Salmon or cod- 4 steaks
• Corn flour or corn starch-  2 tbsp
• Garlic powder- 1 tsp
• Chilli powder- 1 tsp
• Ground ginger- 1 tsp
• Fennel powder- 1 tsp
• Coriander powder- 1 tsp
• Salt- 3/4 tsp

• Olive oil- 2 tbsp for pan frying

For making sauce

• Oil- 1 tbsp
• Bay leaves- 2
• Whole pepper corns- 1 tsp
• Cinnamon stick- 1 inch slice
• Tomato sauce- 3 tbsp
• Garam masala- 1 tsp
• Chilli powder- 1 tsp
• Garlic, minced- 1 tsp
• Ginger, minced- 1 tsp
• Salt- 1/2 tsp
• Water- 3/4 cup
• Cilantro, chopped- 1 handful
• Mint, chopped- 5-6 leaves

This is by far the best lamb I’ve had in a long while…

Hope everyone is having a great holiday! My 10 day holiday started yesterday and I am enjoying it like anything. My husband and I first thought of going on a vacation somewhere south. Then we decided to vacation at home – waking up late, cooking whenever I feel like or dining out, watching movies, driving around town, catching up with friends, etc.

We have travelled a lot in the past 5 years and it does feel little uncomfortable to sit tight at home. But it didn’t take us long to realize that at-home vacations are the best thing to unwind and recharge your batteries. We can have fun sitting at home by creating a vacation feel. If you explore the city you live in, you would be surprised to see that there are a lot of things to do. I know when we go on a vacation we dine out a lot, so do the same when you vacation at home. Eat at least one meal a day outside be it breakfast, lunch or dinner. If you have any favorite activity try each activity everyday, for instance: bowling, pool etc etc. Go out to the movies. Hit the spa one day and pamper yourself with your favorite massage, facial etc. There are endless things you can do to make your at-home vacation experience better.

This morning I woke up very late like 12:30(okay afternoon) and so first we thought of going out for lunch. For some reason the sight of lamb in my freezer tempted me to cook that for lunch. I was not up for any major cooking, so made lunch in a very relaxed way. I watched a movie while cooking, since I baked the lamb I didn’t have to do much. The oven does all the work for me. As a side, I made a quick asparagus and mushroom stir fry. Voila, in no time and without much effort a delicious lunch was ready on the dining table coffee table, watching movie in a quite messy way and not feeling guilty.

I am sharing the recipe for both baked mint lamb and asparagus-mushroom stir fry in this post. This definitely makes a great holiday lunch/dinner.

Baked Mint lamb Recipe

Ingredients:

• Lamb, shoulder cut- 2 large pieces or more
• Coconut oil or any oil- 2 tbsp
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp or as required

For making paste:

• Ginger, chopped- 2 inch slice
• Garlic, chopped- 4 cloves
• Shallots or small onions- 4 no’s
• Mint leaves- 15 leaves
• Whole black pepper corns- 1 tsp
• Salt- 3/4 tsp
• Water- little

Preparation:

1. Puree the above mentioned ingredients ‘for making paste’ in a blender to a smooth paste, add some water to get the paste constituency.
2. I used shoulder cut lamb, you could use lamb chops or any bone-in or boneless pieces.
3. Spread the paste over the lamb and marinate for 30 minutes or more the better. Or marinate it overnight.
4. Place a non-stick oven proof cooking pan or oven proof skillet over medium heat.
5. Add 2 tbsp oil and swirl the pan to coat all over the pan.
6. Place the marinated lamb, cook on medium heat for 10 minutes flipping to both sides.
7. Don’t cook till all the water dries off, there should be water in the pan (as seen on the above picture)
8. In the meantime, preheat oven to 400 F.
9. After 10 minutes of pan frying, cover the pan with aluminum foil.
10. Place the pan into the oven on the rack placed at the middle of the oven.
11. Bake for total 25 minutes.
12. After 15 minutes of baking, take the pan outside (please wear an oven gloves) and flip the lamb to the other side, cover with aluminum foil and bake for another 10 more minutes.
13. Since the pan is covered with aluminum foil, the lamb will be still moist, it won’t dry out.
14. After total 25 minutes of baking, remove the pan from the oven and place it over the stove top.
15. Pan fry the lamb over medium heat till the both sides turn light brown, about 3 minutes.
16. If you want sprinkle some ground pepper and pan fry it.
17. Remove from the heat.
18. Serve with the Asparagus-Mushroom stir fry, scroll down for the recipe.
19. While the lamb is baking, you could make the stir fry.

Asparagus-Mushroom Stir fry

Ingredients:

• Asparagus, remove the top and tough ends- 1 bunch
• Mushroom, white sliced- 1 packet
• Mint leaves- 6 leaves
• Worcestershire sauce- 3 tbsp
• Red wine vinegar- 1tsp (optional)
• Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp
• Salt- little
• Water-little
• Olive oil- 1 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Place a wok over medium heat.
2. Add olive oil.
3. Put the asparagus into the oil, saute for a minute.
4. Add the mushrooms, saute for a minute.
5. Pour worcestershire sauce, sprinkle salt and ground pepper over the veggies.
6. Add little water and cover the wok, let the veggies turn tender.
7. Remove the cover, stir fry the veggies.
8. Add red wine vinegar, combine well.
9. Stir fry till all the water dries off and the veggies turn light brown.
10. Gently stir fry and be sure not to break the asparagus.
11. This makes a delicious side with Baked Mint Lamb.

Quick fix meal…

I love to sprinkle cajun seasonings on my dishes, it enhances the flavor of any dish instantly. I used to make baked cajun tilapia a lot and have posted the recipe for it. Last night for dinner, I had some leftover oyster cabbage noodles that I had made the previous day. Lately, I’ve been very interested in making quick fix meals and the oyster cabbage noodles is one such dish. I was so happy to have this again for last night’s dinner, but I didn’t see much excitement on my hubby’s face. To put a smile on my hubby’s face while having dinner, I decided to make cajun chicken and served it over the oyster cabbage noodles. I pan fried the chicken after marinating with cajun seasoning. Chicken tasted very delicious along with the oyster cabbage noodles.

Cajun Chicken served on Oyster Cabbage Noodles

Ingredients

For making Cajun Chicken

• Chicken breasts- 3 no’s
• Cajun seasoning- 3 tbsp
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Olive oil- 2 tbsp to pan fry chicken

For making Oyster Cabbage Noodles

• Cabbage, roughly chopped- half of the cabbage
• Vermicelli Noodles, cooked- 1/2 packet
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp
• Oyster sauce- 3 tbsp
• Soy sauce, low sodium- 3-4 tbsp
• Coconut milk- 1/2 cup
• Salt- if needed
• Olive oil- 2 tbsp

Preparation:

Making cajun chicken

1. I halved the chicken breasts, if your using thin chicken breasts use as it is.
2. Season the chicken breasts with ground pepper, cajun seasoning and salt, let stand for 5 minutes.
3. Place a non-stick pan over medium heat, add 2 tbsp olive oil.
4. Place the chicken breasts over the oil without crowding, cover the pan with its lid and cook.
5. After a few minutes, flip over the chicken and cook till all the water has dried off and chicken turns light golden brown.
6. Remove from the pan, keep aside.

Making Oyster Cabbage Noodles

1. Heat a wide cooking pan over medium heat, add oil.
2. Add cabbage, season with ground pepper and salt.
3. Cook the cabbage till it turns tender.
4. If the cabbage is sticking to the pan, add little water and cook.
5. In the meantime, cook vermicelli noodles in boiling water, drain the water and keep aside.
6. Add soy sauce and oyster sauce to the cabbage, combine well.
7. Add cooked noodles to the cabbage, combine well.
8. Add coconut milk to it and cook for some more time till the sauce thickens.
9. Taste and add salt if needed as soy sauce and oyster sauce contains salt.
10. If you want you could add more soy sauce and oyster sauce if you think it’s too blant.
11. I topped the noodles with fried onions as well.

Mildly flavored yet a remarkable dish…

Before I start cooking, I always peek into my refrigerator and pantry, most of the times I go with the ingredients available at that time and try to season it, combine it and cook it. The other day, I had butternut squash and spinach in my refrigerator, quinoa in my pantry and chicken breasts in my freezer and I challenged myself  to make a delicious dinner with these. Ever since I tried quinoa, I’ve fallen head over heels for it, even though it tastes blant by itself I love the crunchy and nutty flavor of it. With butternut squash, I tend to make soups, sweets and sometimes just bake till it turns caramelized. Spinach, a versatile green that I add to almost everything, love spinach scrambled eggs.

This time, I wanted to add very less spices and keep it mild. For making this dish, I’ve only used ground pepper and salt. I thought it would turn out to be a blant dish, surprisingly it tasted so good. Boiled butternut squash has a sweet taste, so when combined with quinoa, it imparted a mildly sweet taste to the dish. Pan fried the chicken and served it with quinoa.

Pan fried chicken and Quinoa with butternut squash and spinach

Ingredients:

For Pan frying chicken:

• Chicken breasts, halved vertically- 4 no’s
• Ground pepper
• Salt
• Olive oil- 1-2 tbsp/batch

For making quinoa:

• Quinoa- 1 1/2 cups
• Water- 3 cups
• Butternut squash, cubed- 1
• Spinach- 1 bunch
• Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp
• Salt- to taste

Preparation:

1. Cut the chicken breasts vertically into halves, season both sides with ground pepper and salt.
2. Place a non-stick pan over medium heat, add 1-2 tbsp olive oil.
3. Place the chicken breasts without crowding them.
4. Cook covered till all the water has evaporated, flip to the other side and let it turn golden brown on both sides.
5. Transfer to a plate and cook the rest of the chicken.
6. If you want you could bake the chicken instead of pan frying it.
   

Making quinoa:

1. Cover quinoa with water and let it stand for 15 minutes, this is to remove any bitter taste from it.
2. Drain the water from the quinoa.
3. Heat a large pan, add 3 cups water to it and add quinoa to it. Season with little salt.
4. Cook the quinoa in medium heat till all the water has dried off, about 15-20 minutes, keep aside.
5. Cube the butternut squash, cook it covered after adding 1/4 cup water to it. Cook till it is fork tender.
6. After pan frying the chicken, use the same pan to saute the spinach.
7. Cook the spinach till it starts to wilt, about 3-5 minutes, keep aside.
8. Combine the cooked quinoa with cooked butternut squash, sauteed spinach.
9. Season with ground pepper and salt, combine well.
10. Place quinoa on a plate, top it with pan fried chicken breasts and serve while it’s warm.

Tips:

• If you want the quinoa to be flavorful, cook it in chicken stock instead of water.
• Vegetarians can serve the quinoa dish as a side.

4 basic ingredients + 15 minutes=healthy and yummy tomato soup…

I repeat, you don’t have to have over the top ingredients or recipes to make something delicious. From my experience, it’s not hard at all to whip up a tasty dish using simple ingredients and in less time. During my last grocery shopping, I had bought a huge bag of tomatoes, I’ve no idea why. Every time I opened the refrigerator I stared at the tomatoes, and somehow got distracted by other veggies. It was last weekend, finally I got motivated in emptying those tomatoes. If I want to finish all the tomatoes, there was nothing better than making soup out of it.

As always my requirements were to spend less time in my kitchen and to make a flavorful soup. For making this soup, I used very basic and simple ingredients that are always found in our kitchen. While making this soup, I was little concerned whether this soup would turn out to be blant as I didn’t even add stock to it. Trust me, when I tasted this soup it was hard for me to believe that it only had a very few ingredients. After having a few sips of this soup, my hubby raised his thumps not down but upwards. He didn’t talk much as he was busy enjoying the soup. On a lazy winter day this soup would be perfect.

Easy Tomato Soup

• Makes: 2 large bowls
• Preparation: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• Olive oil- 1 tbsp
• Garlic, chopped- 3 cloves
• Green onions or scallions, chopped- 2 stalks
• Tomatoes, chopped- 5 no’s
• Ground Cumin- 3/4 tsp
• Ground pepper- 1/2 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Water- 1 cup
• Cilantro, chopped- 2 handful

Preparation:

1. Place a large pan over medium heat, add oil to it.
2. Add chopped garlic, saute for a few seconds until aromatic.
3. Add chopped green onions, saute for a minute.
4. Add tomatoes, saute for a couple of minutes.
5. Add ground cumin, ground pepper and salt, combine well.
6. Let tomatoes get mashed up, add 1/2 cup water to it.
7. Cook for a minute.
8. Remove from heat and let cool down.
9. Puree the tomatoes in a blender till smooth.
10. Transfer the puree to the pan and turn on the heat to medium.
11. Add 1/2 cup more water to thin down the soup, let it come to a boil.
12. Garnish with chopped cilantro, remove from the heat.
13. Serve in soup bowls and enjoy with your favorite croutons or crackers.

Now, this is a very healthy and nutritious dish…

Last week, while grocery shopping I piled up more green veggies on my cart than anything else. Kale, spinach, lettuce, swiss chard etc were my healthy picks. Every time I look at these greens, one dish that rolls in to my mind is Kerala style Thoran or veggie stir fry with coconut. While getting ready to make a dish with kale, part of my mind was constantly hit with the idea of making thoran. Well, the other part of mine which loves to try variety took a totally different route.

I did follow some of the thoran preparation style. First cooked the kale with coconut and spices, then for a twist I added egg and rice to it. It was a complete dish with greens, eggs and rice. This can be eaten just as it is along with yogurt or pickle or if you insist on having a non-veg along with it, you could serve this as a side dish.

You could try this recipe without adding the rice, here is the picture of Kale scrambled eggs:

Kale Egg Rice

Ingredients:

• Oil- 2 tbsp
• Mustard seeds- 1 1/2 tsp
• Urad Dal- 1 tbsp
• Chana dal- 1/2 tbsp
• Whole red dry chilly- 2 no’s
• Curry leaves- 2 sprigs
• Onions, chopped- 2 small (or use small onions chopped- 15 no’s)
• Kale, rinsed and chopped- 1 bunch
• Coconut, grated- 3/4 cup
• Chilly powder- 3/4 tsp
• Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
• Coriander powder- 1 1/2 tsp
• Eggs- 2 ( you could also use just egg whites)
• Cooked white or basmati rice- 2 cups
• Salt- to taste

Preparation:

1. Have cooked basmati or white rice ready.
2. Place a wok over medium heat, add oil and let it turn hot.
3. Add mustard seeds and let it splutter.
4. Add chana dal, saute till it gets light golden in color.
5. Add urad dal, saute.
6. Add whole red dry chillies and curry leaves, saute.
7. Let the urad dal and chana dal turn light brown in color.
8. Add onions and litte salt, saute till onions turn slight translucent.
9. Add rinsed and chopped kale to the onions.
10. Cover the wok with a lid, cook till kale turns tender.
11. If it gets too dry add little water to it.
12. Add grated coconut and stir fry till coconut gets cooked, for about 3 minutes.
13. Add chilly powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder to it, combine everything well.
14. Pile up the cooked kale to one side of the wok.
15. Now, add beaten eggs or egg whites to the wok.
16. Scramble the eggs and combine with the cooked kale.
17. Taste and add salt if needed.
18. Add cooked rice and combine well.
19. Cook for a couple of minutes and remove from the heat.
20. Transfer to a bowl, serve hot with yogurt, pickle etc.

Tips:

• If you don’t want to combine with the rice, you can skip this step and make the kale scrambled eggs.
• I’ve also tried this recipe with broccoli (chop broccoli into small florets), spinach or any other green leafs.