Spicy Brussel Sprouts Stir fry / poriyal

Living abroad especially in a 'not so Indian populated' place like where we live, has its own difficulties and perks... During the initial days, you would see the Indian vegetables that the Indian stores carry with pitiful eyes, coz they would have stayed in the shelf for a pretty long time and would strip you off the desire to cook them, coz it would have shrunk to half its size... On the other hand, the freshest available veggies would be the 'American' ones like broccoli, asparagus, colored peppers from the nearby super market, which you absolutely have no intention of adding to a spicy Indian cuisine.

Then the natural survival instincts would kick in and you eventually evolve. This evolution process took me almost 2 years and now I have started using brussel sprouts, broccoli and so on.. The Asian food markets also offer some veggies (which by the way demands an extensive online research to find the exact Indian or English names... Otherwise you end up making watercress poriyal, not knowing that it is going to taste bitter than raw bitter gourd soup... )

All these happened to me and after a lot of trial and error, i finally found a way to cook brussel sprouts for the Indian palate.. The most ironic thing is that it is actually a very easy and tasty stir-fry...

Ingredients:

Brussel sprouts 1 lb

Onion 1 big

Tomato 1 small optional

Fresh grated coconut 1/4 cup

To roast and grind

Groundnut 1/4 cup

Coriander seeds 1 tsp

Red chilli 3 or 4

Spice powders:

Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp

Sambhar powder 1/2 to 1tsp (reduce red chillies if using his)

Cumin powder 1/2 tsp (optional)

Salt to taste

To temper:

Mustard seeds

Cumin seeds

Curry leaves

How to: 

• Wash the brussel sprouts and cut off the stem. Remove yellow leaves if any.

• Cut them into 3 or 4 pieces and keep aside.
• Chop onion and tomato.
• Dry roast and grind the items without burning them. If they get burned redo another batch as the burnt spices makes the dish bitter

• Add oil to a pan in medium flame. Add mustard seeds and once they splutter add the remaining items to temper one by one. Add onions and after about 2 minutes add tomatoes.
• Once the tomatoes soften which takes about 2minutes, add the spice powders and mix well.

• After a minute or two, add the sprouts and mix well. Sprinkle some salt on top. This takes the moisture out of the sprouts which helps in the mixing.
• You need not sprinkle water. The sprouts will get cooked in less than 10 - 13 minutes in medium flame.

• Make sure the dish is not dry and mix it regularly and check for 'kaaram' or spiciness and salt.
• Once the brussels are cooked, you can add coconut and switch off the flame.

Linking this to the Lets cook Christmas party food even by +Nayna Kanabar,  Light dinners in A Bowl of Curry

Spicy stir fry is ready... Adding groundnuts gives nice spicy flavor to the sprouts... You can try with sesame seeds as well. But do not replace 1/4 cup groundnuts with 1/4 cup sesame seeds. A little more than 1 tsp will do J