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Lets take a look at some of these green magicians which have their own distinctive taste and tang.Spinach: There are the large leaved most popular spinach, its varied forms like bombay palak, kale, chard, etc. These blend wonderfully into baking dishes, au gratins, parathas, raithas, etc. This is one of the most global as well as versatile of leafy vegetables.
Amarnath: Then there is amaranth, with juicy thick green stems and triangular large leaves. Its staying capacity will keep it fresh in the fridge for a week to ten days, easily. Raithas and cooked vegetable with a spicy flavouring are its best preparations.
Dill: Dill, with its small needle like leaves is best used in small quantities as a flavouring rather than a main ingredient. Coating sauces, dips, dressings, baked dishes, bhajias, parathas, are great to taste with a flavouring of dill. Spring Onion, Chives: Spring onion greens, chives, etc. add a sharp flavour to dishes, since they hint at the strong odours of onions. These are great when used as flavouring in pulaos, rices, chinese dishes, indian cuisine esp. in northern india. The thin reedlike leaves are more easy to cut than others, esp using a pair of sharp scissors. Take care not to keep open in the fridge, or many other items like milk, and cream will absorb their flavour.A novel idea to use them is to cook them as an individual veggie, or make a filling for buns or pinwheel breads.
Green / Red Sorrel:
Green and red sorrel are used in india to be cooked with other greens to make a tasty gravy dish, eaten with rices. Sindhis use it in saibhaji, maharashtrians in paathal bhaji, and south indians in gojjus and saars.*Fenugreek leaves have a distinctive bitter taste if eaten raw. Many people who are used to it, do eat in raw dishes and salads especially for its medicinal properties. But if one just blanches it for a while in boiling water, drains, and washed again with cold water, it tastes great as also becomes much softer for consumption. Most recipes use fenugreek after softening by the above process.Parathas, bhajias, curries, salads are just some of the dishes which can be prepared with this wonderful green. Take care to discard even the smaller branches stems, and use only the leaves, to avoid excessive bitterness in the dish. Dry methi leaves are crushed and used as a distinct flavouring for many dishes, and it is called kasoori methi.
to be contd...
Green leafy Veg Index
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