This is a lovely, nourishing, quick to prepare meal, based on a can of Jyoti product, which never turns out exactly the same — so I refer to it as a ‘Jyoti Surprise’.
While we prefer to cook from scratch sometimes there just isn’t enough time or energy to do that. This recipe relies on using a can of one of Jyoti’s products — be careful as not all of them are vegan or gluten free. The two varieties that I use are Punjabi Chhole and Madras Sambar. You can possibly find them at your local grocery store or health food store (especially if you have an East Indian ethnic population in the area) or you can buy them on-line. I usually order them by the case from Amazon.
To the can of Jyoti I just add a collection of what I happen to have in the fridge — it only takes about 20 minutes to assemble and put in a pot. If I am in a hurry I just put it on the stove for about 30 minutes starting with a high setting for 3 or 4 minutes to get it started, and then dropping to a low-medium setting for 25 minutes or until I am ready to serve it. As I say, I just use what I have in the fridge so the ‘recipe’ below is only a guide. However, I do try to always have some greens (preferably a crustacous green, beans (or other pulse), onion and mushrooms.
Usually I serve it with organic brown rice, which I start 75 minutes before I am going to serve it (that time will depend on your rice cooker)
Try it and see what kind of surprise you end up with
Jyoti Surprise
Ingredients
- 1 can Jyoti product
- 1 can organic kidney beans rinsed and drained
- 2 sticks organic celery finely chopped
- 1/2 sweet potato diced
- 1/2 medium red potato diced
- 1/2 cup brown button mushrooms chopped in large pieces
- 1 cup organic brocolli florets
- 1 tsp turmeric optional
- 1 tsp organic curry powder or to taste
- 1 tbsp milled flax seeds optional
Instructions
- First, check your cupboards and fridge to assemble some ingredients. We'll discuss these further below. Next decide on whether you are cooking to eat in an hour (in which case we use a green pan ceremic coated wok frying pan) or putting the meal in a crock pot to eat sometime later -- get the cooking vessel ready.
- The first step is to decide on which Jyoti product to use -- try both and keep some in the cupboard so that you always have this option available. Empty a can into your cooking pot. Rinse the can with about 1/4 cup of filtered water and pour that in the pot
- Add an 8 ounce can of organic pulses. We've indicated red kidney beans but it could be some other kind of beans, or chick peas or lentils or ordinary garden peas. You might even have a couple of half empty different pulses -- just mix them.
- If you have some celery in the fridge (you should always have some fresh organic celery!) take a couple of stocks and chop them up and put them in the pot -- if you have celery greens on the stalks chop them up, too, and add them
- Chop half an organic sweet potato and half a potato or one of either and add them. Note that these cook more slowly than the other veggies so you might want to put them in a separate pot, with a few tablespoons of water and microwave them for about 8 minutes before adding to the pot
- Next chop up about 1/2 cup of mushrooms and put them in the pot -- any kind that you have on hand will do.
- Next put in your broccoli florets (or cauliflower, or cabbage, or kale, etc.)
- I always like to add some turmeric. It is a good idea to have some of this everyday, so why not here -- but adjust to your taste. Also, I usually add some curry powder, although this is in the Jyoti and you will need to go with your own taste.
- You are done! Just cook it for 30 minutes or so on a stove at medium to low heat or put it in a crock pot for a few hours. Note that you may need to add a little more filtered water as it cooks, to keep it moist. If you are using a crock pot add water until you can see the water coming up the sides of the pot. If it is too moist before you go to serve, just take the lid off and let the moisture boil off before serving. If you want a thicker sauce, add a tablespoon of milled flaxseed and stir it in for a few minutes.
- Serve on rice with a nice green garden salad and you have a delicious meal -- prepared by a gourmet chef -- YOU!
