Vegetable stir fry

Last few days, I have been reading "Drop dead". I picked it up because it is a crime thriller (having read all the Agatha Christie's). The story is set in picturesque Shimla. Indigo Books has all it's board members staying at Lotus resort. They have discussions and conferences, wherein the CEO Rakesh Mehta suddenly anounces that he is moving to China. Everybody is shocked. The next morning, he is found dead. It is presumed that he fell off from the cable car. But when Inspector Niki Marwah starts to investigate, she is not so sure...because each person in the board seems to have a motive and no one in their right mind would simply fall off from a gondola. A little slow initially, but then picks up pace after a while.

In between reading the book, cooking also happens:-) A quick stir fry which included a pack of frozen cut vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, beans and peas), some boiled chickpeas, a few spinach leaves, onions, puliogare masala, salt, half a lemon and little oil. All combined, resulting in a tasty dish.

The proportions more or less are...

Vegetables, frozen - 200g, thawed

Spinach, fresh - a handful

Chickpeas, boiled - 1 cup

Onion - 2 small, peeled

Puliogare masala - 1 and 1/2 Tbsp

Rock salt, crushed - 1/2 tsp

Lemon - 1/2

Olive oil - 1 tsp

Warm a saucepan and add oil. When it becomes hot, add finely chopped onions. Stir until it becomes soft and translucent. Add masala and salt. Stir for a minute or so, so that the raw smell of the masala disappears. Add vegetables, chickpeas and spinach. Stir well so that the masala coats almost each of the vegetables. Cook for about 10 minutes on low flame. You will notice that the spinach wilts and also melts with the rest of the vegetables. Squeeze the juice of the lemon and stir to mix. Plate the stir fry in a nice looking dish and serve with freshly steamed rice.