Replenishing supplies

My stock from the Farmers Market outing is running out. I'm out of lemons; and you can't have the sprouted moong salad without the lemons! So today I stopped over at the Mi Tierra Market on the way back from work, and picked up the following: a pound of "premium" white potatoes; 2 lbs of tomatoes; a pound of radishes; a large cucumber; 1lb brown sugar; and 6 lemons. All for $5.08. Not bad. I'll use the cuke, tomatoes and radishes in the next version of the sprouted moong salad.

A variant of the sprouted moong salad is the following. If you have a steamer, you can steam the sprouts for about 2-3 minutes (i.e., 2-3 minutes of actual steam, after the water starts boiling). It makes for a nice, warm salad bowl.

Yesterday, I made "broccoli and carrots, south-indian style". Before I get to the recipe, let me pontificate a little about Indian spices. There are the run-of-the-mill spices, like turmeric, ground coriander, red chilli powder, etc. And then there's the "garam masala", which is a blend of several spices mixed and ground together. My garam masala was prepared by mom when I last went on vacation, and I've barely used 5% of it, it's so strong. But "garam masala" is mainly a North Indian thing. In the south, one of the popular dishes is "sambar", which is a lentil stew with a different blend of "masala", called "sambar masala". So if you have "garam masala" and "sambar masala", you have a decent-sized chunk of Indian cooking covered. Of course, Indian cooking is so varied that you simply can't cover all of it under one umbrella.This recipe below uses the "sambar masala" for spices. Both "garam masala" and "sambar masala" can be found at any decent Indian store, for about $1.99 a 4-oz box, which should be good for many meals.

You will need:

• 1/2  pound of broccoli, cut into little florets
• 1/2  pound of carrots, cut into strips: 2" long, 1/2" wide and 1/8" thick
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp "urad dal" (explained below)
• 2 tsp sambar masala
• salt to taste

1. Heat up 2-3 tbsp of canola oil in a wok or a pan, on medium heat
2. Add the mustard seeds when the oil is hot (but not smoking)
3. When the seeds stop popping (watch out for flying mustard seeds!), add the urad dal. Stir for 20-30 seconds, till the dal becomes light brown in color.
4. Add the broccoli, carrots and salt. Stir quickly, making sure that the spices coat the veggies.
5. Lower the heat, add the sambar powder and mix everything up.
6. Let it simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then add the tomatoes.
7. Let it simmer, covered, for 20 minutes and stir occasionally.
8. When the carrots are nice and tender, it's done.

OK, about the "urad dal". These are black lentils, split and without their outer skins. They're white in color and have a fragrant, nutty smell when fried. More from WikiPedia.