Thursday, October 16, 2008

Broccoli Stir-Fry

I had never tasted Broccoli before I came here. With the advent of Supermarkets though it was available in my home town, I was skeptical to cook with it. I was not sure how to cook it or how it would even taste. When we visited a local resturant here I noticed I did not have much options for vegetarians.. it was stir fried veggies with a bowl of rice.. that's all. And the options of veggies that I had was grated Potato, blanced Spinach and Egg Plant ( Since those were the only veggie names that we knew in chinese ;) )

We had once been to a place called Ningbo. The original attraction to this place was that we wanted to go over the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, the longest sea- crossing bridge. We decided to stay overnight in Ningbo and see the places around. We reached there and started with our sightseeing. At lunch time we entered a nice local restaurant. We also had one of my hubby's friend with us who is a pure veggie like me. The staff were not fluent with English so it was difficult for us to communicate with them and even the menu was in Chinese. Later a lady who seemed to be a manager came over and asked us to look at all the dishes. In this place they had a display of all the food that they cook and we have to make our choice and then they would take an order and make fresh batch of food. My hubby and his friend went over and ordered the food. They showed the veggies and told them that we eat this or that (Poiniting to the veggies) and also asked them not to include egg,meat,fish,Chicken. The lady took our order and within few minutes our order was being served. One after the other the dishes appeared on our table. Seven side dishes and a big hot bowl of noodles and three small bowls of rice. It so happened that the lady misunderstood when my hubby and his friend had explained to her the options of veggies that we eat and she thought that we wanted to have all those. She asked the staff to prepare Individual dishes out of those veggies! Though the food was tasty we had lot of leftovers!

That was the first time I ever tried out Broccoli and did I say I loved it. Now it has been one of the regular dishes that we order everytime we go out. I prefer it over the Cauliflower!! This recipe was given by my Cousin sister, Archanakka. I only made  a change to her recipe by adding garlic too. Almost all the chinese resturants here add garlic juice to Broccoli stri fry and I love its taste.
Here is what's needed:
1 medium Broccoli cut into florets and cleaned
2-3 garlic cloves minced
Salt and Pepper powder to taste
Olive oil 

Procedure:
1) Heat Olive oil and add Garlic. Saute it for 30secs. 
2) Add Broccoli and stir fry for 5 minutes or until crisp tender. Add salt and pepper to taste and Serve hot.

Broccoli's nutrients include vitamin C, vitamin A (mostly as beta-carotene), folic acid, calcium, and fiber. Broccoli is an important calcium source for those who don't consume dairy products. For more info on Broccoli click here.

I am sending this diet food over to Divya's Diet Food Event. Thank you Divya for this wonderful event. 
 

9 comments:

Sum Raj said...

i too do the same brocolli preparation..its healthy ...and for my kid i garnish with grated cheese..

Unknown said...

Nice entry... healthy one...

Sabitha said...

Hi Ujwal,
Thanks for the recipe. I too like broccoli very much. The taste of broccoli lies in its crunchiness.
I prepare broccoli just like our upkari. wash & drain the broccoil very well. Just at the time of serving the food, keep oil in kadai, put mustard & red chilli, add broccoli, salt & stir fry cover for a minutes. just check whether you can cut the broccoli with a spoon, switch off the fire and serve. My nephew says that they have tried broccoli manchurian and that tastes wonderful too. I'll take recipe from her and let you know.
-Sabitha

Uj said...

Suma,

With Cheese it might taste still good. Yes it is healthy too

SK,
Thanks

Sabithakka,
I agree with you it tastes good when crunchy. I have to try the upkari style never thought of making it that way. Manchurian sounds yummy never tried it.. Do send it across to me..Would love to try it. thank you

Deepthi Shankar said...

wow thatz an innovative dish ... loved it

Pavani said...

it looks yummy....uj dear

Unknown said...

Sorry for the late reply girl..Thanks for the lovely entry for diet event..And thanks for passing on the award to me..

Uj said...

Deesha,
Thanks.Do try it.

Pavani,
Thanks dear.

Divya,
It was my pleasure.. you deserve it..

Namrata Kini said...

Ujwal
Lovely stir fry. Followed your recipe and already made it twice in 2 days. Hubby and me both loved it very much. Thanks a lot. A recipe can't be simpler than this.