One Teaspoon Of Life: Bengali

Onion Stalk and Brinjal Curry | Eerulli Kaavu Badnekai Palya

Simple vegan stir fried dry curry made from Onion stalks and brinjals. Ready in less than 30 minutes!

Vegan stir fried dry curry made of fresh onion stalks or flowers and brinjals, Eerulli huvina palya, eerulli kaavu palya

Ever walked by a vegetable aisle wondering what "that" vegetable is and how one cooks it?

Happened to me a few years ago when I saw a lot of vegetable carts on the road side stocking up on green stalks with a tiny white bulb at the end. Curiosity made me ask what it was. And I was introduced to the "Onion Stalk / Flower" or "Eerulli Kaavu"/"Eerulli Hoovu" as they call it in Bangalore. The green stalk is the onion plant with the flower at the end. If you have never seen it or tasted it, the closest thing to it would be green onions or spring onion stalks. It is never sold with the onion bulb attached. While sometimes, it can be pungent like onions, most often it is simply sweet and crunchy.

And the good news is, it is right now in season in Bangalore and you will see it stocked all over the local markets and supermarkets.

I love cooking with seasonal vegetables. They taste so much better and are fresher than those annually available veggies. The first time I saw these onion stalks, I asked the vendor how one cooks it. He told me just stir fry it in oil and add spices. That's it! His recipe was so simple and it was tasty, if you like onions a lot. I do like onions, but I'm not a fan of a bowl full of them. So I went looking for different ways to cook it and I chanced upon this recipe by Chandrima . She added stir fried brinjals or eggplant to the fried onion stalks. Adding brinjal added some substance and texture to this dry curry.

These onion stalks are versatile, I added them to "Thalipeeth" and it tasted really nice. I made this same curry with potatoes instead of brinjals and everyone loved that too.

If you made this recipe, let me know! Leave a comment here or on Facebook, tag your tweet with @oneteaspoonlife on Twitter and don't forget to tag your photo #oneteaspoonoflife on Instagram. You can also email me at onetspoflife@gmail.com. I'd love to see what you are upto.

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Onion Stalk and Brinjal Curry | Eerulli Kaavu Badnekai Palya

Vegan stir fried dry curry made of fresh onion stalks and brinjals.

Recipe Type: Side
Cuisine: Indian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients:

8-10 Onion Stalks
5-6 small Brinjals
4 tsp Oil
1 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
Salt to taste

Method:

Chop the brinjal into chunks.
Heat 2 tsp oil in a kadhai / pan.
Add the brinjals and cook on low heat until done.
Add in a little salt, turmeric powder and stir fry for 1 minute.
Chop the onion stalks into 1" pieces.
Heat the remaining oil in the kadhai and add the onion stalks.
Add salt and turmeric powder. Mix well.
Cover and cook until done. I left mine crunchy, cook longer for a softer texture.
Add in the cooked brinjal and red chilli powder.
Mix well and stir fry for 2-3 minutes.
Serve hot with rice and dal or with rotis.

Ras Malai

Bengali dessert made with cottage cheese/ paneer and almond flavored milk

Recipe Type: Dessert
Cuisine: Indian / Bengali
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 2 Hours
Yield: 13-14

Ingredients:

1.5L of Milk
3/4 cup + 1/3 cup Sugar
2.5 cups + 2 tsp Water
1 Tbsp Cornflour
2-3 Cardamom
8-10 Almonds
8-10 Pistachios
1/2 tsp Turmeric or a few strands of Saffron
1 Tbsp Lime juice

Method:

To make Ras malai, we first make chenna.
Bring 1L of milk to a rolling boil. Lower the flame and add 1 tbsp of lime juice to help curdle the milk.
One the milk curdles, allow the milk to boil at low flame until all the milk solids come together into a lump.
Strain the milk using a muslin cloth. Tie the muslin cloth loosely and apply a weight on it. Or you can hang the cloth for around 1 hour until all the water drips off.
If applying the weight, allow the weight to be on the chenna for around 5-8 mins.
Take a large pan, add 2.5 cups of water and 3/4 cup of sugar. Boil until the sugar is dissolved. Continue to boil for 5 mins. Switch off the heat until you are ready to cook the ras malai.
Place the chenna onto a clean surface or in a large bowl. Add 1 tbsp of cornflour and knead. If it feels too dry, add 1 tsp of water and continue to knead for 5-10 mins. You know you are done with the kneading when you can make balls out of the chenna which do not have any cracks. Kneading for too long will make them rubbery and chewy.
Make small balls of the chenna and flatten them using your hand. These are boiled in sugar syrup, so remember they double in size.
Turn on the heat on the sugar syrup. Let it stay at medium heat. Place the flattened balls gently in the sugar syrup. Do not overcrowd them. Cover and cook for 15 mins.
You will know that they are done, when you touch the balls and they spring back. Do not overcook them, they will become hard.
Remove from heat and allow it to cool.
Once the balls are completely cooled, heat the remaining milk in a pan.
Boil the milk until it reduces to half.
Add the 1/3 cup of sugar and the turmeric/saffron strands. Boil until sugar dissolves.
Crush the cardamom into powder.
Add the cardomom powder to the milk and boil for another minute.
Remove from heat.
Add slivers of almonds and finely chopped pistachios.
Remove the balls from sugar syrup. With the help of 2 spoons, gently squeeze the balls to remove excess sugar syrup. Be very gentle. Place the ball into the sweetened milk.
Allow it to cool and then refrigerate it.
Serve chilled, garnished with more almonds and pistachios.