namaste i'm allen mello and i'm so delighted you have joined me today as we explore exciting flavors from india we will discover easy ways to prepare delicately spiced aromatic foods that are also helpful and easily paired together today we are pairing foods with flair so our menu will be egg masala hard-boiled eggs seasoned in a rich tomato based sauce a crunchy wholesome cabbage stir-fry that can also be used in preparing cabbage rice pilaf and finally an amazing beets stir-fry cooked with lentils and coconut sounds good let's start cooking now we will prepare yang masala also known as egg curry hard-boiled eggs soak up delicate flavors when simmered in a rich seasoned curry you can also serve this over rice or quinoa here are our ingredients here we have all the spices we have about three slivers of cinnamon stick quarter teaspoon of fenugreek seeds which is optional quarter teaspoon cumin seeds quarter teaspoon fennel seeds quarter teaspoon ground turmeric 1 tsp curry powder half a teaspoon cayenne half a teaspoon ground black pepper and cumin quarter teaspoon salt and then we have the fresh ingredients here I have 6 hard-boiled eggs here and I will be using 2 tablespoons oil and then I have half a cup chopped onion quarter cup chopped tomato about 4 cloves of garlic that is quartered and 1 cup tomato sauce and I have 1 cup of warm water just in case if the sauce gets thickened its optional and then I have 2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro now let's talk about eggs eggs here as we all know are low in calories a source of high quality protein it has all the B vitamins and omega-3 fats eggs are used in making different combination of omelets scrambled eggs deserts and now egg masala so onion tomatoes garlic ginger or all important staples in Indian cooking now in order to do this dish I'm going to heat my saucepan and I'm going to add about two tablespoons I'm going to eyeball it okay about two tablespoons of oil light cooking medium oil and I happen to have the curry leaves okay if you happen to have the curry leaves just drop it in here if you don't have the curry leaves don't worry about it and it adds an excellent I Romar to the dish okay now I'm going to add the slivers of cinnamon as we know cinnamon regulates the blood sugar level and here we have the fenugreek seeds cumin and the heat is so high so I'm just going to turn this off and then I'm going to just add when the seeds are getting black I'm going to add the onion and I'm going to saute the onions and and I'm going to cook that the onion for a while and I'm going to add the turmeric turmeric is an amazing spice it has a lot of antioxidant anti-inflammatory properties and it is known as the Indian gold and it is really it adds beautiful rich color to the dish now I'm going to add the tomatoes when when you start sorting your onions and tomatoes I wish you were here it is a wonderful aroma and smell now I'm going to put my garlic talking about the aromas aromas invite my neighbors and friends to my kitchen now I'm adding the curry powder curry powder you can find curry powder that is hot or sweet just because it says hot curry powder it's really not hot but if you are not sure about the heat level in the curry powder go ahead and buy the sweet curry powder and slowly you can graduate to the hot curry powder and all these in are locally available in the local grocery stores are in the spice house whatever you can find see how I am sorting all the vegetables tomatoes onions garlic and all of these things okay now I'm going to add some cayenne I like I like my food to be hot but this is really not hard believe me and all these measurements although it's only quality's 1/2 a teaspoon if you if and it's okay if you did not have the precise measurements okay because it's not a cake recipe if you did not have particularly a tie on don't worry about it you could still do this dish because there is curry powder there is ground cumin and black pepper see the smell is awesome it's amazing so I'm just making it like a nice thick paste and of course salt when we got the so many spices here we are often asked to cut down on salt this is a great way to cut down on salt when we use the spices so it's all coming together it looks really beautiful and I'm going to add the tomato sauce and you know we in India we make so many dishes with eggs like here but this is a very unique dish we can use it in or we can serve this over rice or quinoa or you can use this as a dipping sauce for some breakfast items I'll tell you about the breakfast items see that the sauce is getting thicker and I'm going to add a little bit of water that's why I said the water is optional okay and I'm going to let it come to a simmer and often the zig masala is served as a dipping sauce with the breakfast items then I'm going to put this cilantro so if you like the cilantro it's fine if you don't like the cilantro don't worry about it you have the curry leaves and other important ingredients to give a wonderful flavor and I have about six X years I'm gonna add a little bit more and this particular dish is a star dish at our dinner table at least once a week and eggs and now the sauce is coming to a boil so what I'm going to do is I'm going to take my egg and I want the sauce to go I want that sauce to sleep inside my eggs here so I'm going to cut this like making a cross so the sauce really gets into the egg like that and now look at that isn't that beautiful and so as I told you you can serve this over rice or you can use this as a dipping sauce with the even toasted bread and there you go that's all there is to it now we will prepare crunchy cabbage with ginger and coconut actually disaster fried cabbage is a favorite in Indian cooking and Indian seasonings like cumin ginger and chilies make this recipe a delicious vegetable option you can also serve this as a warm salad or as a side dish with any meal here are our ingredients I'm going to be using about a tablespoon oil 1/2 a teaspoon cumin seeds 1 tbsp red lentil if you don't have water dal you can use yellow split peas quarter teaspoon ground cumin quarter teaspoon salt and the fresh ingredients are I have about 4 cups of shredded cabbage 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger 1/2 fresh green chili here pepper chopped and about 2 tablespoons of shredded fresh coconut now let me talk about the cabbage do you know cabbage is loaded with nutrients and it's one of the cruciferous vegetable like kale broccoli and Brussels sprouts cabbage is loaded with the nutrients and fiber you can cook cabbage so many ways let me show you how I cut the cabbage I just chop the cabbage like this and I like when you do it by hand what happens is eke out the cabbage is kind of like a coarse thick chop so that's what I did although I like my food processor for this particular dish I did not use the food processor and I just chopped it and it is a green cabbage and also let me talk about the ginger ginger in the ancient times was called the universal medicine aromatic pungent spicy ginger adds a special zest to cooking ginger is also known to alleviate the digestive problems and prevent nausea and if you look at the ginger here it is beautiful it has very light delicate skin so you do not have to peel the ginger and mince it you can just take away all these brown spots from the ginger and that's all that's how I did it you can you can mince it I'll grade it and what I did was I just took the ginger like this and then I just minced it that's what I have right there so it'll move all of these and then I go and make it into small strips and when we do the cooking it's important to remember that we are not racing against anything just have a comfy small knife or a big knife whatever you're comfortable with and do it slowly like that and that's all you need only about a tablespoon that's what I did with the ginger now when the oil is hot but not smoking so I'm going to add the cumin and then I'm going to add the Oradour I I like the water the lentil if you don't have the water Atlanta don't worry about it just use the yellow split peas now see how it's turning brown now I'm going to add the cabbage cabbage just like spinach it gets wilted very quickly okay and do you know this is only one way of cooking cabbage we can make cabbage so many different ways now I'm making it like a stir-fried dish you can cook cabbage with lentils like moong lentil or red lentil with garlic and ginger and make a wonderful saucy dish with cabbage right now I'm just using cabbage but just shred some carrots add to this dish and see how wonderful colorful it is and also you can cook cabbage rice pilaf that's what we are going to do and I can see that it's already cooking now I have the minced ginger I'm going to add that when the ginger is added at the end it gives a very powerful taste so I like that and this is a ground cumin so if you did not have the cumin seeds and you add only ground cumin that's quite alright just go ahead with that recipe and I'm sure cumin seeds are very popular and all these spices believe it or not are locally available now I'm going to turn it off because I don't want my cabbage to cook too much and now I'll add the chili and see what a quick toss it is and it doesn't take very long so instead of making like a coleslaw which is good too coleslaw are just having a cabbage raw cabbage salad see how quickly it is done I added the salt although I do not eat that much thought I just added like about quarter teaspoon of salt and there you have it now we will prepare cabbage rice pilaf savory cabbage paired and blended with aromatic plasma tea rice becomes an easy one dish meal here are our ingredients I have about half a recipe of crunchy cabbage with ginger and coconut in the skillet and here I have half a cup of brown personalty rice and I cooked the brown basmati rice with one and a half cups of hot water and we have the cooked brown basmati rice here and I have about quarter cup of red onions cut lengthwise and quarter cup toasted peanuts you can use cashews or you can use walnuts whatever nuts you like it also enhances the dish and add more protein to the dish but if you are allergic to nuts you do not have to use any nuts okay so here in the pan I do have the cabbage that we just prepared crunchy cabbage with ginger and coconut so what I have here is as I told you I took the brown basmati rice and I soaked it in water for a few minutes and then I took my rice cooker and added the half a cup of brown basmati rice with one and a half cups of water and this is what the rice looks like see how beautiful it is plasma tea rice you can get white or brown I decided to use the brown today so I'm going to add I'm going to just warm it up a little bit and I'm going to add the brown basmati rice to the cabbage dish here okay and then I'm just going to toss the crunchy cabbage with ginger and coconut with the rice and when it's all nice and warm see when when when we prepared one dish see how quickly we can make this into another it's very easy and I'm going to add some red onions why am i adding the red onions because the colors look at the colors it looks so beautiful and it adds an extra crunch to this rice dish when the food is flavored with different fresh ingredients and spices you're when you consume the food you feel very satisfied when the food is all enhanced with great fresh ingredients and aromatic spices even just a cup of this rice will be very wholesome and filling now I'm going to add the peanuts and see how beautiful it is now with this cabbage rice dish you can serve your big chicken baked fish so definitely yeast can meet West right at your dinner table isn't that wonderful look at the colors and there you have it cabbage rice pilaf with red onions and nuts now we will prepare beets with coconut vibrant in color and packed with vitamins beets are one of our favorite vegetables here is a unique way to prepare them pairing them with yellow split peas our moong dhal and seasoned with coconut here are our ingredients I have quite a cup of split moong dal that is already cooked in about quarter teaspoon turmeric one dried red chili pepper 1/2 a teaspoon mustard seeds 1/2 a teaspoon ground cumin about 1/4 teaspoon of salt and I have one pound beets about 3 cups of beets that is peeled and cubed and it is steamed and I'm going to be using about a tablespoon oil to put these together with 2 tablespoons grated fresh coconut beets are my favorite I love the color and taste of the beets raw beets have a crunchy texture that turns soft and buttery when cooked the Greens that are attached to the beets like this are delicious and can be prepared really like a spinach or Swiss chard so when you buy these beets in the grocery store don't ask them to chop off this greens take it home and wash it and you can cook it like spinach they are incredibly rich in nutrients can you believe it's only 75 calories per serving let me show you what I do with the beets whenever i buy the beets I always like to choose beets that are small and medium size not too big ok see this small and medium size also firm smooth skinned and deepened color we can keep these beets in refrigerator for up to 10 days before we cook we want to rinse them and the beets and we want to rinse them in the cold water the beet juice can least in your hands so that's okay cooking is love so it's okay I'm just going to show you what I how i do this i would like to peel the beets of course i the it's beautiful color here and i peel them with the peeler look at my hand is becoming a little bit sore dad it's like Megan D in India when we have the wedding or special occasions ladies will have Megan Lee in their hands and I think this is just like muhindi I don't care if it's teens I can wash it off later so this is fine now I peel the beets I'm going to cut it sometimes it's too too hard you know and so I will go from the side like that I'll cut it like that and we need to have a nice good firm hold on the beat so it doesn't run away from us then I just cubed like that we come here and I just have the cube beats in a steamed basket and got the beat steamed okay and I'm going to heat up the pan now I put the oil here the oil is being heated when the oil is hot but not smoking we will drop the cold red pepper you want to drop the whole red pepper but you don't want to crack it and put it in the oil and you will have the whole you know people in the home sneezing so you just don't break the pepper just put the whole one and then put the black mustard seeds and you will see the black mustard seeds popping just look at these beets it's about 3 cups of beads that is actually peeled and cubed and steamed okay although the beets are very tough for us to cut look how butter it has become now I have added the black mustard seeds and it's popping can you hear the popping sound good job now I will add and in order to make it flavorful I'm going to add the ground cumin ground cumin high is a digestive cumin seeds are ground humans is a digestive spice and it enhances the flavour of the beets the sweetness of the beets and the cumin together it's awesome and then I'm adding the salt and I'm going to give a quick pause Oh already smells so good and now we have moogle and that is cooked here so I'm going to add the moon the lentils look at the vibrant colors so really the lentils can be added to the vegetables and we can have an amazing rainbow of color vegetable which even the kids would love to eat okay so there we have the lentil I'm gonna let this heat up we use to find cold coconut in the grocery store and when you buy the coconut you want to check it to see if you can hear the water inside the coconut if you cannot hear the water that means that coconut is not good so coconut can be cracked open into half and then there are shredder to shred the coconut this is fresh coconut and fresh coconuts that is shredded it's available in regular freezer section any Asian grocery stores and in the Indian grocery stores okay or you can buy the unsweetened powdered coconut beets color with lentils and coconut how can you beat this you can bring any any kids to me here and as them to eat this they will be asking for more and more and more and it is really tasty and good and there you have it now you have seen how easy and fun it is to pair and prepare egg masala crunchy cabbage stir-fry turned into cabbage rice pilaf and beets with coconut all are nutritious and appealing with vibrant colors and flavors when vegetables are cooked and paired together this way you can transform anyone including children to become vegetable lovers so long for now with love from my kitchen to yours Vanakkam to order copies of alamelu's cookbooks including recipes from this series or the DVD set of this cooking series visit mptv.org and click on store all prices include shipping and handling for more 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