Thursday, May 28, 2015

Capsicum stir fry with pan roasted Pumpkin cubes, garnished with Tuxedo Sesame seeds.[Lunch box sabzi.]

Today morning I took out one Capsicum and a small piece of pumpkin from the fridge to prepare sabzi for lunch box. Just a little change of separately roasting pumpkin cubes in the pan and adding Tuxedo sesame seeds (mix of black and white sesame.) made this routinely cooked vegetable stir fry more interesting. This is single serving stir fry cooked to pack in lunch box. Scroll down to see what I did with the pumpkin seeds.

Ingredients :
(Makes Single stir-fry serving.)
  • 1 large Capsicum - sliced into small chunks (1.5 cup yield)
  • Pumpkin piece - around 200 gm cut into small cubes. (1 heaped cup yield.)
  • 1 medium size onion - chopped into small pieces (1 heaped cup yield.)
  • 1 T.spoon - Tuxedo sesame seeds (Mix of black and white sesame.) white sesame seeds can be used.
  • 1 green chili - finely chopped.
  • 5-6 Curry leaves
  • 1 generous pinch - Hing (asafoetida)
StirFry Cooking Method :
  1. Heat a medium size skillet/griddle, drizzle few drops of oil, wipe with paper towel to evenly grease the pan surface. Spread cubed pumpkin pieces in a single layer. Sprinkle 1 generous pinch of salt, roast for 12-15 minutes by flipping pieces few times until they are slightly charred and turn golden brown over minimum  2-3 sides. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp black and white sesame seed blend. Mix well with wooden spoon or toss the skillet holding handle few times to coat roasted pumpkin pieces with sesame seed blend. Shut off the heat, leave the skillet over burner.
  2. While pumpkin cubes  are being roasted, heat medium size saute pan with 1 tsp oil, add chopped onions,sliced green chilies, 5-6 curry leaves. For first two three minutes saute over medium high heat, stirring often. Reduce the heat to medium, continue to saute for another 6-7 minutes until onions turn soft and start to get brown over the edges.
  3. Now add  chopped capsicum, continue to saute over medium heat for 6-7 minutes until capsicum pieces are softened. Add a generous pinch of hing, 1/2 tsp tuxedo sesame blend, salt. Mix well, saute for 2 more minutes.
  4. Lastly add  pan roasted pumpkin cubes, gently mix, taste and adjust salt level. Cook for 2-3 minutes over medium low heat. Garnish with cilantro, you may add some fresh grated coconut, serve with roti.
Cooking step - 4, Before mixing roasted pumpkin cubes with sauteed capsicum.

Image taken with cell phone -Samsung SGH-1337

While prepping pumpkin piece, I removed some seeds, instead of throwing them away I sow them in a empty tofu container. I was surprised to see the result after 10 days, pumpkin seedlings looked so pretty.