भेंन की सब्ज़ी| Lotus Stem Curry | Main Course | Side Dish | Low Calorie | Winner Of Only Event

Hi All! Wishing all Mom's a very happy Mother's Day.

My friends who keep reading my posts and pictures believe that I keep cooking gourmet food every day and I find it very difficult to tell them it’s simple food that’s presented stylishly for my blog. I do not use any gourmet products in most of my cooking but with the ingredients available easily at home, I try to cook decent food. For me that’s the real challenge, with most basic ingredients how to cook different food. I must admit that a home-maker’s job is ever challenging but these daily challenges make me feel motivated and keep me going and of course when readers send me mails praising my food, it’s a bonus. I look forward to your reactions, criticism and praise, so do keep them coming.

On most of the days at home I cook simple food and sometimes with rarely seen stuff also I cook simple food. Bhein, Nadru, Lotus Stem or Kamal Kakadi, call it by the name you like. This is not easily seen in our markets here and whenever I get hold of it, I make it a point to buy and cook. I’ve previously posted some exotic dishes using this humble stem, like the Nadru Yakhani which is a Kashmiri preparation and Tandoori bhein kebab but this time I’m sharing a very simple home style curry made using minimum oil. What I can assure you is that in spite of the low oil content the preparation is very tasty. This preparation breaks the fallacy that one needs a lot of oil or butter to make  tasty food.

The Lotus stem is fibrous, has moderate calorific value and rich in dietary fibre. Because of it’s fibrous nature, it aids in digestion of food.The stem is an underground rhizome which is a modified tuber which stores energy in the form of starch. It is a rich source of Vitamin C which helps in collagen synthesis in our body. The stem has slow digesting complex carbohydrates which along with the fibre helps in keeping the cholesterol and blood sugar low. It has an optimum balance of sodium and potassium which imparts the crunchy, sweet, delicate taste to the root (courtesy www.nutrition-and-you.com)

It’s a root which carries many health benefits hidden in it and hence I always would recommend my readers to eat it whenever they can get hold of the tubers. 

भेंन की सब्ज़ी

Lotus Stem Curry

Preparation Time: 15mins | Cooking Time: 30mins | Serves:3-4 | Difficulty Level: Easy

 

Ingredients

2 lotus stems of medium length (fore arm length)
1/2 cup Water
2tsp oil
1/2tsp cumin
1-2bayleaves
1/2tsp coriander seeds (slightly pounded or crushed)
1” stick cinnamon
5-6 cloves
a pinch of asafoetida
2 green chilies, slit into 4 pieces
1 large onion chopped
1tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1tbsp tomato puree
salt as per taste
1/2tsp turmeric powder
1-2tsp red chili powder
1/2tsp cumin powder
1 to 1-1/2tsp coriander powder
a few sprigs of coriander chopped

Method

Peel the lotus stem and chop off the top and bottom. Thinly slice the stem and soak in water for 10mins. Rub off the dirt if any. Wash two three times with water.
In a pressure cooker take the sliced lotus stem and pour 1/2cup water. Pressure cook for one whistle, simmer and cook  for 5mins more. Let the pressure drop, remove the lotus stem and strain the remaining water.

Heat oil and splutter the cumin.

Reduce the flame and tip in the bayleaf, cinnamon, cloves and pounded coriander seeds. Sauté for a few seconds till the spices release their natural oils.

Now put the green chillies and asafoetida.

Add chopped onion and sauté till translucent.

Add the crushed ginger-garlic or ginger garlic paste, cook for a minute or more till the raw smell disappears.

Once the onions start to brown, tip in the tomatoes and their puree. The tomato puree can be substituted with a very small tomato.

Add salt to taste, turmeric, chilli, coriander and cumin powders. Mix all and cook till tomatoes are cooked.

Add the cooked lotus stem and mix properly. Add the strained water and mix. Cook on a high flame for 2-3mins and then cover and cook on low flame for 5-6mins, till  all the spices get absorbed properly in the stem.
Mix in chopped coriander and serve the hot curry with roti (Indian wheat tortilla) or rice. This curry has a very little gravy.

Coming to the event winner, there were a total of eleven participants, so using the random number generator, the winner is

The entries at number five are by Anithajay. Congrats Anitha, please communicate with me in which way you follow my blog publically and your address in India, pin code and phone number within 48hrs to cookingoodfood@gmail.com.