Some Quick-fixes from my Kitchen

Carrot Kanji- a probiotic drink   Ingredients-

250 gms red carrots

1 small size beetroot

2 tbsp powdered rai/mustard seeds

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

salt to taste

Method-

Place 2l of water in a saucepan for boiling.

Peel, wash and cut carrots and beetroot into 2inch long and thin pieces.

When the water is boiling, put vegetables in it, cover the pan and switch off the heat.

Add dry spices to it and keep covered. Let it cool. When at room temp, fill the preparation in an air-tight glass jar.

Place the jar in sunlight and stir the contents daily twice.

On the third or the fourth day, just taste some kaanji, if it tastes sour and not bitter raw rai, your kanji is ready to be savoured.

It can be served as a welcome drink or just sit in the sun and relish a glassful of it [discard the vegetables].

Sometimes, I use it to fill Panipuris for a change.

Chappan Kaddu

Chappan Kaddu from my kitchen garden

You must be wondering  why a write-up on a vegetable which is hardly relished by people. It so happened that I had posted the above picture on my FB coverline and was surprised to know that many of my friends did not recognise the vegetable. I think the vegetable, once so commonly seen in the vegetable market, has vanished from the dining table and people's mind as well. I hope this happens to `lauki' too one day!

Chappan Kaddu (Summer Squash) also known as vegetable marrow, Botanical name Cucurbita pepo is the common vegetable in India.

The fruit is rounded to spindle in shape and pale green from outside. The flesh is white with no cavity and the seeds are embedded in the flesh.

 The short stalk of the fruit is hard and deeply furrowed with 5 or 8 ridges and is only slightly swollen where it joins the fruit.

It belongs to the zucchini and other gourds family and has a very bland flavour and can be made stuffed to add taste.

The fruit is used immature and is a boiled vegetable.

It is largely available in North India especially in Punjab during the summer months and the one shown here, grew in my kitchen garden when I was in Patiala.

It has great ant-acidic and nutritional value but still not a favourite among the family members due to its bland taste.