"Sabji Days" like "Salad Days"

[Bhukhhad]

Some days are Sabji Days for me and they work just like Salad Days would. A healthy meal that is essentially just a sabji! 

I would love to post my own recipes or recipes from cookbooks that I read from the library and make for myself. And I would love to see more from others here. 

Join me? 

[Bhukhhad]

Fangavela Mag 

(Sprouted Mung Beans)

 

Sprout green mung beans by soaking, straining and placing them in a muslin cloth inside a lidded box. I keep this in my oven overnight (oven not turned on) and usually find tiny sprouts in the morning.

 

In a pressure pan, I do a little seasoning tadka of oil, ajwain seeds, methi seeds, hing, haldi, and salt. Add the sprouted mung. Stir and add water but to cover only half the height of the mung layer. Cook very briefly for one whistle. 

 

Open the cooker lid when cool, add crushed ginger and green chilies, a little black pepper or red chili powder. Serve with shredded coconut, minced cilantro leaves and a generous squeeze of lemon juice. 

 

Very filling as breakfast or a main dish in lunch. Its a great meal for my Sabji Days. I would probably have chaas or churned thin plain buttermilk in a glass, along with this. Anyone want to join me? 

 

Bhukhhad

 

 

Edited August 11, 2016 by Bhukhhad (log)

[Bhukhhad]

Thanks folks for liking this recipe

[TicTac]

Interestingly enough I have a bag of mung beans I purchased after some friends of our made it at a party.

 

Is there any other method of preparing (sprouting) that might be easier/less time consuming? 

 

 

[Bhukhhad]

TicTac

I believe you get some 'sprout makers' in some market. I just dont know much about them. That could be an option. 

Another is to not sprout but keep the mung beans just soaked for two hours in water. You could buy just our regular store bought sprouts and add a cupful at the end of cooking and fold them in with the mung beans. 

Mung beans soaked overnight can cook in the microwave or stovetop. Experiment because I dont have exact answers. I take sprouted mung, 2 cups, add 3/4 cup water and microwave for ten mins. Most of the time, they get cooked. Otherwise my stovetop recipe is also an option. Thanks

Bhukhhad

[Bhukhhad]

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad 

 

I have found a love for Butternut Squash that I never knew of in my childhood. In India we had pumpkins (Kaddoo, Bhoplya, Lal Kolu or Bhuru Kolu) but never Butternut Squash. Not Acorn Squash either. And we had not even heard of spaghetti in my 'salad years' let alone Spaghetti Squash. So all these were new. Mind you we had heard of Squash.... Orange squash, lemon squash, lemon barley.... You get the point.
But most of my family cared little for the sweet pumpkin recipes from traditional cuisine. Once a year we had some of these dishes at a festival and aince I love all vegetables, I did have whatever was cooked. But if I was asked to order my meal, I dont see myself ordering Kadoo or Bhoplya!
All that changed over the course of time once I came to live in the USA. But even more recently, when I discovered the cookbooks by this wonderful chef called Yotam Ottolenghi! I discovered a butternut squash recipe there which was roasted in the oven! I usually only bake in the oven. But because of this one increadibky tasty recipe of roasted butternut squash topped with tahini and yogurt and lemon segments and finely diced jalapeno I fell completely in love with roasted squash. So much so that I now grow butternut squash from seed in a planter! And harvest it and eat it. I also roast lots of vegetables not just eggplant. And have discovered a new joy. 

So here is my picture of Roasted butternut squash sabji with Kasoori Methi

Ingredients: 

1 medium sized butternut squash peeled, cored, diced into even pieces. 

1/3 cup peanut or sesame oil (not toasted sesame oil). 

2 tbspn Kasoori Methi (dry fenugreek leaves) or less per taste

2 teaspoons Dhaniya Jeera Powder

1 teaspoon medium heat red chili powder

salt to taste

serrano peppers to taste

turmeric powder 1/4 teaspoon

2 tablespoons brown sugar (optional)

slices of lemon and lemon juice to taste

 

Method: 

In a 350F oven add the diced squash pieces and all the other ingredients. Mix thoroughly and roast for about 30 to 40 minutes. Squash can even be eaten raw so the idea here is to merely soften not cook till mushy. Additionally the roasting process brings out caramelized flavors from the squash that are fascinating. 

 

Alternately, the addition of sliced red onions from the beginning will bring even better taste. I had made this for someone who did not eat onions. 

 

Fantastic no stovetop time dish! Serve alone as a salad-sabji! Or with chapatti. I actually made a peas pulav/pilaf with this and had it with yogurt. I know grain right? I am not very disciplined about controlling what I eat once I start.... There is such good food around!! 

 

Anyway, enjoy this Salad Sabji

Bhukhhad

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 2016 by Bhukhhad (log)

[Anna N]

• @Bhukhhad,

 

I think I would eat almost anything seasoned with kasoori methi.  Perhaps even eggplant!

Edited August 14, 2016 by Anna N (log)

[kayb]

On 8/11/2016 at 5:41 PM, Bhukhhad said:

Fangavela Mag 

(Sprouted Mung Beans)

 

Sprout green mung beans by soaking, straining and placing them in a muslin cloth inside a lidded box. I keep this in my oven overnight (oven not turned on) and usually find tiny sprouts in the morning.

 

In a pressure pan, I do a little seasoning tadka of oil, ajwain seeds, methi seeds, hing, haldi, and salt. Add the sprouted mung. Stir and add water but to cover only half the height of the mung layer. Cook very briefly for one whistle. 

 

Open the cooker lid when cool, add crushed ginger and green chilies, a little black pepper or red chili powder. Serve with shredded coconut, minced cilantro leaves and a generous squeeze of lemon juice. 

 

Very filling as breakfast or a main dish in lunch. Its a great meal for my Sabji Days. I would probably have chaas or churned thin plain buttermilk in a glass, along with this. Anyone want to join me? 

 

Bhukhhad

 

 

 

Bhukhhad, I love the "sabji days" idea! I eat a lot of vegetables, and often no meat at all, but it's good to have a good name for those days. Salads are fine, but not what I want that often. I have, though, been wanting to try to sprout some mung beans, and this post inspires me to get to the market and get some beans! (Of course, I will also have to go to the international market to add to my spice collection.

 

My favorite "sadji" is probably fresh corn, roasted and cut off the cob; avocado, cut in chunks; diced tomato, salted and drained; and chopped scallions, in a dressing of mayonnaise, lime juice and smoked paprika.

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Because there has been interest in the thread by @TicTacand @kayb on other ways to sprout mung beans, here's a link to the Sprouting Mung Beans discussion from this site. I don't seem to have described the jar I use on that thread. It's glass, a little larger than a quart, has a plastic collar that screws on to the jar and holds a stainless steel fine mesh screen embedded in the collar instead of a solid top so the beans can breath and not get moldy while sprouting. It cost US $5.00 or less and is all the equipment you need. In the long run, it's cheaper than cheesecloth which I have a hard time finding, and when I do, it is expensive. Here's a link to a site that provides more advice on sprouting and pictures a jar like the one I use. (Note: the link they provide to the Now sprouting jar is not like theirs or mine and ridiculously overpriced.) This jar is a little better, looks more like what we use, but is still overpriced. It has a plastic instead of stainless screen, but would certainly work.

 

Like kayb, I do enjoy a Southern all vegetable meal, but do not get to eat one very often. I made eggplant parm, speckled butter beans and another veg side I can't remember about a week ago, and as usual my husband commented, "No meat?". With the cheeses and the beans, the meal was loaded with protein and flavor, but he's never satisfied unless there's meat. I get kinda sick of it. I will note that a veggie plate in an American Southeastern restaurant often includes vegetables like green beans or collards that are cooked with a little pork for flavoring, or mashed potatoes with meat based gravy. It can be hard for a strict vegetarian to find a veggie plate they can eat in those sort of restaurants, although they are known for their fabulous vegetable dishes.

 

@Bhukhhad, butternut is my favorite squash! It is so dense and flavorful, especially when roasted, it's very easy to forget how low in calories and high in nutrition it is. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

[Bhukhhad]

7 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

Because there has been interest in the thread by @TicTacand @kayb on other ways to sprout mung beans, here's a link to the Sprouting Mung Beans discussion from this site. I don't seem to have described the jar I use on that thread. It's glass, a little larger than a quart, has a plastic collar that screws on to the jar and holds a stainless steel fine mesh screen embedded in the collar instead of a solid top so the beans can breath and not get moldy while sprouting. It cost US $5.00 or less and is all the equipment you need. In the long run, it's cheaper than cheesecloth which I have a hard time finding, and when I do, it is expensive. Here's a link to a site that provides more advice on sprouting and pictures a jar like the one I use. (Note: the link they provide to the Now sprouting jar is not like theirs or mine and ridiculously overpriced.) This jar is a little better, looks more like what we use, but is still overpriced. It has a plastic instead of stainless screen, but would certainly work.

 

Like kayb, I do enjoy a Southern all vegetable meal, but do not get to eat one very often. I made eggplant parm, speckled butter beans and another veg side I can't remember about a week ago, and as usual my husband commented, "No meat?". With the cheeses and the beans, the meal was loaded with protein and flavor, but he's never satisfied unless there's meat. I get kinda sick of it. I will note that a veggie plate in an American Southeastern restaurant often includes vegetables like green beans or collards that are cooked with a little pork for flavoring, or mashed potatoes with meat based gravy. It can be hard for a strict vegetarian to find a veggie plate they can eat in those sort of restaurants, although they are known for their fabulous vegetable dishes.

 

@Bhukhhad, butternut is my favorite squash! It is so dense and flavorful, especially when roasted, it's very easy to forget how low in calories and high in nutrition it is. Thanks for sharing the recipe.

 @Thanks for the Crepes

You echo the words of some other friends I know. It is very hard to switch completely to a meatless day leave alone diet. 

And for us not so strict vegetarians, it is all to easy to see how a dense protein like meat from a larger animal as in pork lamb beef makes you feel full for much much longer than that from a small fish or chicken. And how all those proteins keep you full far longer than vegetarian food does. Especially if you try to reduce carbs from Grains. 

For many years I feared the increase of cholesterol in my family and stopped eating and cooking all meat at home. But we were all stable on our numbers so it turned out that I had not been feeding everyone a high meat diet anyway. Those of us who did the exercise were able to get much healthier. So that was not the issue for our particular family.

For other families I believe sticking to the basic format of your meal may help to have more vegetables and slowly increase to lesser portions of meat. But I cant see a flip change as fast as the nutritionists seem to recommend. But again thats a opinion.

certainly incorporating more variety of and of cooked vegetables seems to be as necessary in a western diet as reducing roti naan and rice is in the asian diet.

 

 

 

 

[huiray]

I often have meatless meals and have posted MANY of them here on eG. There are too many to list in this thread, but here is one I posted just yesterday. Here's the post previous to that where, except for the chicken stock for the soup, everything else was meatless. And so on and so forth.

 

Can't say I feel the need for a "name" for them. :-) They are just "meals", and the great majority of them are NOT salads but, rather, cooked meals. Even stir-fried lettuces, in the Chinese manner (YUM!). Have a look at my posts on the dining/meal threads. ;-)

 

It is true that on eGullet, meat-eating appears to be very dominant and meatless meals tend to be somewhat disdained by many. For myself, like for many who eat a lot of E/SE Asian food, the absence of meat and/or sparing use of meat is unremarkable and common. Fish, which I believe is not considered "meat" by most folks here (and by the category known as Pescatarians in the West) is more common in E/SE Asian diets. 

 

As for fresh sprouts (mung beans or soy beans are the most common) - I assume folks know these things are available in great quantities in E/SE Asian groceries.  (The aged, packaged-far-in-the-past stuff in sealed plastic packages in the "Organic" sections in standard Western supermarkets are too dreadful for words in most cases)

Edited August 15, 2016 by huiray (log)

[Bhukhhad]

 Huiray,

I like the way you said this: "(The aged, packaged-far-in-the-past stuff in sealed plastic packages in the "Organic" sections in standard Western supermarkets are too dreadful for words in most cases)"..

Thanks for putting the link to your recipe. I will enjoy that. Please, if anyone has posted their recipes for soups like the broth and background tastes for Ramen, or the broth for Pho, or the broth for Bibimbap I am totally interested. I love that stuff. And am wanting to experiment with my food gadgets to make vegetable 'noodles' for those broths. And add the usual 'fixings' just more of the vegetables. That would fit my meal plan and so I will welcome those 'soup' recipes. Winter will be upon us before I have tried a few and then it will be heartwarming to serve those meals. 

Bhukhhad

[huiray]

@Bhukhhad, where are you actually located? I've asked you this before, but you declined to answer. I am wondering anew, because you talk about how hard it is for your friends and family to give up meat. Yet my understanding is if you were actually living in the Indian sub-continent vegetarian dietary culture would be unremarkable and very widespread, even if it is not so for you and the folks around you.

[Bhukhhad]

@Huiray

I live in the USA, not in Asia. 

[Tere]

I choose to eat a fairly low carb higher protein diet for health reasons and I find it fascinating that I recently worked out that I was effectively doing white meat only in the week  without thinking about it!

[kayb]

 Being a typical southern USA resident reared in the 1950s and 1960s, I grew up in a very meat-centric household. While I still, on a worldwide scale, eat a lot of meat, it's much reduced from what I was used to being served as a child, when there was meat at three meals daily. I probably eat meat four days out of seven, maybe five days. Often, though, it's a much reduced portion of meat, more as an accent to the meal than a "main dish." So I consider I've made progress in that regard.

 

However, I haven't progressed as much in the area of preparation; I still tend to fry things, and I still season vegetables with bacon grease, neither a tremendously healthy habit. However, I'm genetically blessed (thankfully!) with good cholesterol levels, and since I lost weight and got out from under some stress, have a respectable blood pressure level. So there's that!

[Thanks for the Crepes]

8 hours ago, Bhukhhad said:

 Huiray,

I like the way you said this: "(The aged, packaged-far-in-the-past stuff in sealed plastic packages in the "Organic" sections in standard Western supermarkets are too dreadful for words in most cases)"..

Thanks for putting the link to your recipe. I will enjoy that. Please, if anyone has posted their recipes for soups like the broth and background tastes for Ramen, or the broth for Pho, or the broth for Bibimbap I am totally interested. I love that stuff. And am wanting to experiment with my food gadgets to make vegetable 'noodles' for those broths. And add the usual 'fixings' just more of the vegetables. That would fit my meal plan and so I will welcome those 'soup' recipes. Winter will be upon us before I have tried a few and then it will be heartwarming to serve those meals. 

Bhukhhad

 

Here are some links to some areas of your interests. Just remember that some of the links on the older posts may no longer work, but there are some recipes and lots of information in the bodies of the topics. The Soup Topic, Ramen Recipes, eG Cook-Off: Ramen, Perfect Pho Broth, Bibimbap!, Spiralized Vegetables and Rices

 

 

[sartoric]

Here's my sprout farm. It cost about $20 at Bunnings (an Australian chain hardware store).  

Radish sprouts were the lonely latest, although I can grow 3 trays at once. I've tried mung beans, soy beans and unspecified mixed beans. The yellow jug gets the poured off water, which then goes to the herbs growing on the deck. 

It's winter here and a bit too cool to really get good sprouts.  Spring is only a few weeks away, yay.

 

[Bhukhhad]

@sartoric, 

this is a lovely sprouter. Does it have three layers and a lid? Then its even better than a cheesecloth. 

[Bhukhhad]

Plum Chutney 

The last of the fresh plums from my friend's yard. Turned into a flinger licking chutney. 

Ingredients: 
1 lb plums or about 15 small plums
2 tspn salt
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/3 tspn hing
1 tspn mustard seeds
1 tspn whole methi seeds
2-4 tspn sugar
3 tspn red chili powder (mirchi)
1/4 cup oil

De seed and chop plums into bite sized pieces. Discard the seed.

In a pan heat the oil and sputter the methi and mustard. Just as they begin to sputter turn off the heat. Add hing and immediately add the plums. Add salt, haldi and red chili powder. Stir. Now turn the heat back on and cook the plums on a moderate flame till soft. The intent is to lose most of the moisture. But be careful not to overcook because the fresh plummy taste will disappear with over cooking. 

Cool. Store in a glass bottle in the refrigerator. Serve with chapatti, rice or spread on bread as a savory sandwich paste. 

 

I tried it as a chutney on slices of roasted chicken breast and it transformed the meal. Maybe I will try it on some dosa next! 

Yum yum

Bhukhhad

 

Edited August 20, 2016 by Bhukhhad (log)

[sartoric]

18 minutes ago, Bhukhhad said:

@sartoric, 

this is a lovely sprouter. Does it have three layers and a lid? Then its even better than a cheesecloth. 

Thanks. It's got five layers including the bottom water tray. There's no lid (which would have been a good idea), if I want to use four trays I'll drape a bit of cheesecloth over the top. 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

2 hours ago, Bhukhhad said:

Maybe I will try it on some dosa next! 

 

Your plum chutney looks and sounds lovely! Thanks for posting the recipe.

 

If you have time, would you please post how you make dosa the next time you make some in this thread? My posts from last year begin on page 3 where I tried to make them at home with an old blender as the grinding equipment. Sorry, but it's not possible for me to buy a proper Indian grinder for this.

 

I would so appreciate your input on this subject, as I'd love to be able to make some as good as those I can get at Udipi Cafe. Anything you can share about dosa making would be a cherished gift to me. 

[liuzhou]

3 hours ago, Bhukhhad said:

1 tspn whole methi seeds

 

 

I love methi seeds aka fenugreek seeds (and leaves). Go well with a lot of fruits.

[Bhukhhad]

15 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

I love methi seeds aka fenugreek seeds (and leaves). Go well with a lot of fruits.

Methi with fruits? Sorry I did not quite understand. Methi is Fenugreek.  Usually we add them as pickling spices and it is unusual to add them to fruit. I have put them here only to pickle the plums

Bhukhhad

[huiray]

Recent meatless meals:

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/153515-dinner-2016-part-7/?do=findComment&comment=2068550

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/153515-dinner-2016-part-7/?do=findComment&comment=2068793

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/153515-dinner-2016-part-7/?do=findComment&comment=2068993

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/153515-dinner-2016-part-7/?do=findComment&comment=2069024