Zaiqa

Other than just eating raw in salads, there are so many different ways to enjoy this humble winter root vegetable. Grown mostly in temperate climates, turnips are creamy white in color with a reddish purple upper crown where they have been exposed to sunlight. They have a pungent flavour similar to raw cabbage or radishes and becomes mild after cooking.

Turnips – Shalgam

About 100 gm of turnip root contains just 30 calories and contains Vitamin C. This underappreciated root vegetable packs a nutritional wallop that includes impressive stores of lutein, beta carotenes, riboflavin, magnesium, carotene, manganese, folate, calcium and iron. So for all these good reasons remember to buy them every once in a while during your grocery shopping and include them in your diets. Here’s a simple curry for you all to try this vegetable out.

Shalgam ka Salan – Turnip Curry

Ingredients:

Turnips/Shalgam – 5, peeled and chopped into pieces
Canola oil – 3 tbsp
Onions – 2, medium sized, finely sliced
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Red chilli powder – 1 1/2 tsp
Salt – 2 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Green chillies – 2, small, finely chopped
Cilantro – 3 tbsp, finely chopped

Shalgam ka Salan – Turnip Curry

Method:

In a saucepan, add oil and as soon as it warms up, add the sliced onions and fry until they are light brown in color. Add ginger garlic paste and fry along for a minute. Add red chilli powder, green chillies, chopped cilantro, salt and turmeric powder and about 2 tbsp water. Mix and cook for a minute. Add the chopped turnip and pour in about 1/2 cup water. Mix well and cover with a lid. Let it cook until the turnips are soft. Serve warm along with parathas.

The Giveaway:

A few days the Tetley Canada tea team had contacted me if I would be interested in giving away a basket full of their teas. To which I gladly accepted and here is a chance for you to win this gift basket with a range of aromatic herbal teas to extinguish all your winter blues and warm up your body.

Tetley Tea is on a mission to help Canadians get more “colourful” with their new line of herbal teas. As you know, colour influences our lives every day. In the home, a bedroom that’s painted paled blue an have a calming affect. Wearing red can illicit a sense of energy and excitement. Our colour choices can have dramatic effects on our mood and well being. Now you can match or even influence your mood using colour with this new line of herbal teas for a little Tetley Colour Therapy.

Discover which tea will suit your mood by visiting TetleyColourTherapy.com

This giveaway is limited to within Canada only (excluding Quebec, due to shipping, sorry!). Leaving a comment on my blog enters you a chance to win. One randomly-picked winner will be chosen. Contest closes on midnight December 15^th 2010. Good Luck!

Luv,
Mona

Finally the snow seems to be melting away and I can hear water running down on the streets into the drains through everywhere. It wont be long when the piles and piles of snow will slowly flow away and evaporate, and I am so looking forward to it all inshallah.

Frozen Moment #5 – Spring’s not very far from now

The weather was in single digits yesterday, after a long long time. I was very delighted to take a walk, and feel the cool but bearable winds. During the days, sunlight streaming in through windows when the sky is clear and not cloudy gives me utmost pleasure and awaken my dull and boring days.

Today I prepared Khatta shorba, one of the easiest, light and delicious Hyderabadi curry that I enjoy along with Khadi dal and Chawal for a filling dinner or lunch.

Aloo-Gosht ka Ka Khatta Shorba – Aromatic Soured Meat Stew

Khatta Salan means ‘tangy curry’. Sometimes the curry is also referred to as Khatta shorba means ‘tangy stew’. The sourness from the tomatoes and tamarind, a slight heat from red chilli powder and the subtle sweetness from onions along with the roasted spices impart an aromatic and delectable flavor to this tomato stew. This same tomato base or shorba is used in many other versions of the khatta shorba, which are Karele ka Khatta Shorba, Bhendi Ka khatta shorba, Arvi-Gosht ka khatta shorba etc.

Aloo-Gosht ka Khatta Salan – Meat & Potato in Aromatic tangy Tomato Stew

Ingredients:

Lamb shouldermeat with bones – 600 gms, washed and cut into bite size pieces
Yellow Onion – 3, large, finely sliced
Red chilli powder – 1 tbsp
Salt – 2 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs, fresh
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tsp
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Roasted Cumin seed powder – 1/2 tsp
Roasted Coriander seed powder – 1/2 tsp
Tomatoes – 5, large red and ripe, finely chopped
Potatoes – 3, medium sized, quartered
Tamarind juice/Lemon or Lime juice – 3 tbsp
Canola oil – 5 tbsp

Method:

• In a large pressure cooker at medium high heat, add oil, and as soon as it warms up add the sliced onions and fry until golden brown. Add ginger-garlic paste, curry leaves, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric, cumin powder and meat bones. Let cook until the meat is no longer pink. Add tomatoes and cook along until it starts leaving oil. Pour in water to cover and pressure cook until the meat is cooked.
• Add the quartered potatoes and tamarind/lemon/lime juice and around 2-4 cups of water to the meat stew and let it cook  half covered for a further 5-10 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Remove from heat and serve.

Suggested Accompaniments: Chawal and Khadi dal.

Note: You can replace potatoes with peeled and quartered turnips to make it ‘Shalgam aur Gosht Ka Khatta Salan’ – Turnip and Lamb meat in a Tangy Sauce.

Luv,
Mona

Weekends are usually grocery shopping days. I love the sight of fresh fruits and vegetables. This week I had bought a few taro root and decided to prepare this ambrosial curry using them.

Arvi Ka Khatta Salan – Colocasia (or) Potatoes and Lamb Stew

Khatta Salan means ‘soured stew’. The sourness from the tomatoes, a slight heat from red chilli powder and the subtle sweetness from  caramelized onions along with the roasted spices impart an aromatic and delectable flavor to this Taro stew. This same base is used in many other versions of the khatta shorba, which are Bhendi Ka Khatta, Karele ka khatta, Aloo-Gosht ka Khatta etc.

The consistency of this curry is slightly thin and not like a thick gravy. Replace potatoes with colocasia to make it ‘Aloo aur Gosht ka Khatta Salan – Potatoes and Meat in a tangy sauce’.

Arvi aur Gosht Ka Khatta Salan – Colocasia (or) Potatoes and Lamb meat Stew

Ingredients:

Colocasia/Taro root/Arvi –  4-5, large sized, peeled, and cut into 1.5 cm cubes (or) Potatoes – 5, large sized, peeled, and cut into 1.5 cm cubes
Lamb meat with bones – 600 gms, cubed into bite size pieces
Curry leaves – 2 sprigs, fresh
Ginger garlic paste – 1 1/2 tsp
Yellow Onions – 3, large, sliced
Tomatoes – 5, large, diced finely
Salt – 2 1/2 tsp
Turmeric – 1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder – 1 tbsp
Roasted Cumin seed powder – 1/2 tsp
Roasted Coriander seed powder – 1/2 tsp
Tamarind concentrate/Lemon or Lime juice – 2 tbsp
Cilantro/Kothmir – 3 tbsp, chopped finely
Oil – 8 tbsp

Method:

• Take a pressure cooker and put it on medium heat and add oil. As soon as it heats up, add onions and fry until they are light brown in color. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for a minute. Add the meat, curry leaves, red chilli powder, salt and turmeric powder, cumin and coriander seed powder and cook until meat is no longer pink. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook along for a furthur 3-5 minutes until the tomatoes are soft and oil starts to leave. Now pour in water to cover and pressure-cook till the meat is tender.
• Later, open the lid of the cooker and add the colocasia/potatoes and stir well. Also add the tamarind paste/lemon or lime juice and around 4 cups of water. Half cover the lid and let it cook on simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the tuber has become soft. You can test it by piercing one cubed colocasia/potato with a fork. It should be soft. If it isnt, let it simmer for a little more time. Garnish with cilantro and serve immediately along with rice or parathas.

Note: You can replace colocasia with peeled and quartered turnips to make it ‘Shalgam aur Gosht Ka Khatta Salan’ – Turnip and Lamb meat in a Tangy Sauce.

Luv,
Mona