Carrot Sago Fusion

Holi Hai! – A riot of colours in my kitchen!

Colours , Colours ! so many shades and hues
Can truly wash away the daily blues;
The VIBGYOR in this kitchen of mine …
Well,To enjoy this rainbow I don’t need to put up with the rain !

I always enjoy the confluence of colours in the kitchen- even in the simplest form – be it a Vegetable Upma , or a Brinjal Gojju.
The combination of beans, carrots, capsicum, green peas, sweetcorn and tomatoes is vibrant and colourful and I use them in most of my creations. Every time I sauté them together I feast my eyes on the mix of yellow, orange, red and the shades of green!
Well, they (don’t ask me who) say “cooking is an art” and what is an artist without colours?
So, next time when you are cooking, enjoy all the beautiful colours around you, soak them in!

The Sweet dish for Holi this time was an experiment (a successful one of course, if it had failed nobody would have known about it).
Fusion of Sago and Carrot Kheer. Try it , it’s different !

Ingredients
¾ Cup Nylon Sago (soaked for 3 hours)
5 medium sized tender carrots ( diced)
1 cup Sugar (add more/less to suit your taste)
3 cardamoms
1 Clove
6-8 Cashew nuts
2-3 Cups Milk
Few drops of ghee
A few strands of saffron (optional)

Method

Pressure cook the carrots in one cup milk along with the lone clove , cashews and cardamoms.
While it cools, cook the soaked Sago in 1 cup of water with a 3-4 drops of ghee and the saffron strands.
Stir it occasionally.
Once the carrots have cooled, discard the clove and puree it in the blender to a creamy consistency.
Add this to the boiled sago.
Time to transform this into a sweet-dish – so add Sugar , bring it to a boil, stirring all the way.
Enjoy the dessert!

PS- The flowers in the pic are from my balcony garden!

Water Melon Salsa

Summer is here and so are water melons!
On every other pavement there are mountains of water melons. Needless to say it has become the main ingredient in all my culinary endeavors this month- Hand crushed Water melon juice with pepper, melon scoop fruit salad …
Here is one of the recipes I tried for a get-together we had last weekend. I also decided to carve a water melon basket to hold the salsa gracefully.
It is easy to make and friends approved its good taste!
So here it is..

Ingredients

3 cups water melon (chopped fine)
2 cups Capsicum (finely chopped)
1 cup Yellow pepper (finely chopped)
2 firm and ripe tomatoes (cored and chopped)
2 cups sweet corn (steamed)
3 medium sized onions (finely chopped)

2 Tablespoons Olive oil
Dried Basil
Oregano

For the dressing
2 Table spoons vinegar
2 tsp sugar
Salt
2 table spoons red chilli sauce
2 table spoons tomato ketchup
1 tsp white pepper powder

Method

Sauté onions in olive oil.
Mix all the veggies in a large bowl except water melon
Mix all the ingredients in another bowl
Add the dressing and toss the veggies gently
Add oregano, basil liberally
Add the water melon just before serving as it makes the salad watery.
Again toss gently and serve with a smile !

You can fill this in the water melon shell or carve a basket and fill it with the salsa. You can top it with water melon balls scooped out using a fruit baller.

QED (Quite Easily Done OR Quite an Easy Dish)
PS: This recipe is for a party(15-20 servings) , so halve or quarter the measures if it is just for your family.