Saturday 1 March 2014

Marinated Veggies!

          Who says veggies have to be boring? Try this recipe to see how they get elevated in terms of taste and appeal!

          Steamed vegetables in a tangy, spicy dressing provide an elegant way of serving vegetables.

Ingredients-
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 stick cinnamon (dalchini)
2 bay leaves (tej patta)
4 cloves (laung)
3 onions, sliced
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste
red chilly powder to taste
1 teaspoon dried herb - thyme, marjoram or oregano
vegetables- 1 medium-sized cauliflower, cut in florets
1 cup peas
200gm mushrooms, sliced
2 red, 1 green, 1 yellow pepper, sliced
200gm French beans, sliced diagonally
10 carrots, sliced diagonally
1 small broccoli cut in florets
1/2 kg small round potatoes
5 tablespoon fresh finely chopped basil (tulsi)

Method-
  1. Heat the oil and drop in the whole spices. After 30 seconds, add the onions. Sauté till golden brown.
  2. Add the garlic and fry another minute. Add the rest of the ingredients for the dressing. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 8 minutes. Check seasonings, adding salt or sugar as needed.
  3. Steam all the vegetables. Make sure they are crunchy, not overdone and squishy. Boil the potatoes.
  4. Pour the hot dressing over the vegetables and leave them to 'sit' for a few hours.
  5. Serve at room temperature garnished with basil.

This was the original recipe which I came across. I made variations and tweaked it a lot. They are
as follows-
  • I left out the red and yellow peppers, broccoli and potatoes (since we all are weight-watchers here), included only two big carrots, substituted fresh mint for basil.
  • I had to use twice the amount of dressing mentioned here to coat all the veggies neatly.
  • I microwaved the vegetables for 5 minutes so that they remain crunchy but not under-cooked.
  • I used very less amount of chilly powder as I did not want to make it very spicy.
The final product was so tasty and delicious that I had planned to serve it in main course along with steamed rice. But, it was over before the rice serving. Sadly, I forgot to click the photos!
   
          Try it! Your family will love this interesting twist!
 

No comments:

Post a Comment