Tag: carrots

Cheesy Sausage and Vegetable Stew

Cheesy Sausage and Vegetable Stew

by Shailaja Nair ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

This dish is cooked in a slow cooker for about five hours so that the flavour of the sauce and the meat permeates the vegetables, making a hearty meal by itself. A great dish for family dinners, especially in winter.

Ingredients

(Serves 10)

Sausages 10-15, diced

Potatoes 2 large, peeled and diced

Capsicum 2, diced

Carrots 3 large, peeled and diced

Spring onions 8, diced

Milk 1 1/2 cups

Water 2 cups

Fresh cream 1 cup

Salt to taste

Italian herbs 2 tbsps

Cayenne pepper 1 tsp

Pepper powder 1 tsp

Tomato pasta sauce 4 tbsps

Cheddar cheese 250 g, duced

Coriander leaves, a large bunch, roughly chopped

Method

Add all the ingredients to the slow cooker and cook for 4-5 hours till the potatoes are cooked.

Serve hot with Rustic country loaf, bacon and tomato bread, focaccia bread or Brazilian corn bread.

Vegetable Pulao

Vegetable Pulao

by Shailaja Nair ♥ 1 Comment

I could never understand how much time my aunt would spend on making Vegetable Pulao, ensuring each piece was of the same size, blanching and frying each kind of vegetable separately and then bringing it all together to make the final dish. Till the Covid-19 pandemic locked us in our homes. I found myself enjoying the care in cooking and the precision of each step in the making of a dish. I learnt to enjoy the magic of botany and chemistry in the process of cooking.

Ingredients

Basmati rice 2 cups

Cauliflower 1 cup of florets, each 1” thick

Carrots 1 cup of 1” cubes

Frozen peas 1 cup

Potatoes 2 medium, cut into 1” cubes

Onion 1 medium, sliced

Cumin seeds 1 tsp

Cinnamon 1” piece

Ginger 2” piece, crushed

Bay leaf 1

Peppercorns 1 tbsp

Cloves 4

Oil 5 tbsps

Method

Soak the rice for 20 minutes and drain.

Boil a pan of water with 2 tablespoons of salt and blanch the vegetables separately. Don’t blanch the peas.

Heat the oil in a iron pot — I use Le Creuset — and fry the onion slices till they are brown and keep aside.

Fry the blanched vegetables separately and keep aside. Don’t fry the peas.

Add the cumin seeds. When they stop sputtering, add the bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves and peppercorns.

Add the crushed ginger and sauté for a few minutes.

Add the peas and the drained rice. Add the fried vegetables and salt to taste.

Mix well and add enough water to cover the rice and 1” above.

Bring to a boil, reduce the flame, cover and cook till the rice is cooked and the water is completely absorbed.

Garnish with fried onions and serve hot.

Carrot Halwa

Carrot Halwa

by Shailaja Nair ♥ 1 Comment

Cooking Carrot Halwa or Gajrela will fill your kitchen with the most comforting smells. The aroma of grated carrot boiling in milk takes me back to my childhood, my son’s childhood, and winters in Delhi. For a healthier version, I use less sugar and skimmed milk.

Carrot halwa is good to have in winter as the combination of sugar and ghee helps to prevent chills. Carrots are full of Vitamin C, which can help boost immunity, something that is immensely useful during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ingredients

Carrots 750 g
Sugar 15 tbsps
Milk 1/2 litre
Ghee 1 tsp

Method

Wash, peel and grate the carrots.

Boil it with the milk on low heat in a heavy bottomed pan. I used Mother Dairy Toned Milk as I wanted to make a lighter version. In Singapore and Australia, I used Paul’s Fresh Milk. In the UK, I preferred to use Ivy House Farm.

Once all the milk has evaporated, add the sugar. Keep stirring after adding the sugar so that the carrots do stick to the bottom of the pan.

Once all the liquid has been absorbed, add the ghee. This will give a lovely glaze to the halwa.