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Sweet Potatoes with Dried Fenugreek (Inspired by Madhur Jaffrey)

I love reading about food.

P calls it an obsession. “You read food blogs, you watch food TV and you buy more cookbooks!” His point? All these are merely passive activities; you need to get into the kitchen and “get your hands dirty,” as an experienced cook would point out.

Sure, I get “my hands dirty,” and on a daily basis… dinner and lunch, most days of the week. All that being said, there is a certain pleasure derived from reading about food. And it’s doubled when I am eating something delicious at the same time. This routine dates back to childhood. One of the most delicious dishes Mummy used to cook was an okra-potato sabzi, served with piping hot rotis. It was a favorite of G’s and mine. So, on the nights when okra-potato sabzi would be on the menu, G and I would race to the bookshelf and pick out our favorite books. Then, balancing the plate of food in one hand and holding the book in the other, we would each settle down into the comfy sofa chair and proceed to read and eat.

I don’t think Mom or Dad were particularly excited at the habit of reading during dinner (or lunch) but they chose to turn a blind eye. What can I say… they knew the right battles to pick when it came to their daughters.

I picked a copy of Madhur Jaffrey’s memoir Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India from the library. I think what piqued my interest was the fact that she is a celebrated cook and I figured that food would feature prominently in the book. And I was right. Madhur Jaffrey hails from the Kayastha community that lived in North India. Affluent and cultured, the Mathur (her maiden name) family enjoyed many luxuries that included good food, music, art, literature and travel. The book contains vivid descriptions of traditional Kayastha dishes, both simple and elaborate, featuring meat, spices, vegetables dried fruit, nuts, etc. The Kayastha community is not traditionally vegetarian, so meat and vegetable preparations are both featured in the book. Yes, recipes are included as well.

Here is a recipe that I adapted from the book. The original preparation features carrots but I used sweet potatoes instead.

Ingredients
2 tbsp oil
1 green chilli (chopped)
Asafoetida (hing)
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 lb. diced sweet potatoes
3 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)
1 tsp garam masala
1 cup fresh cilantro
salt to taste

Method

  • Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds, chopped green chilli, asafoetida.
  • As soon as the cumin seeds begin to splutter, add the diced sweet potatoes and salt. Stir well, reduce the heat.
  • Add the dried fenugreek leaves and mix well. Add 2 – 3 tbsp water, let it simmer.
  • When the sweet potatoes are cooked (taste a piece to check for softness), add the chopped cilantro leaves and garam masala. Stir. Turn off the heat.
Sweet Potatoes with Dried Fenugreek

Sweet Potatoes with Dried Fenugreek

Notes
This is a simple yet delicious preparation. The mild sweetness of the sweet potatoes and the leafy flavor of the cilantro-fenugreek combination make a good couple. Kasoori methi can be found at most Indian stores, FYI. I think a few drops of lime/lemon juice would be a great addition to this dish. Sweet potatoes cook up in a jiffy and are easy to digest. I hardly ever buy potatoes now, preferring sweet potatoes instead.

Ruby Red Quinoa Salad

I always wish that I could post recipes here but I can’t claim to have any originals to my credit. I pick a recipe from a book/site, ensure that it meets my health/praana criteria, check if I can get hold of the ingredients, then make it my own. Tweak it a little, substitute ingredients, play with cook/bake time… and so on. Like this Ruby Red Quinoa Salad. Maria Speck’s Ancient Grains For Modern Meals has a recipe for Cumin-Scented Quinoa that uses beets. I thought it was a nifty little recipe, easy to prepare and healthy. But I use a fair bit of cumin in my cooking, so I wanted to change things up a little.

Ruby Red Quinoa Salad

Ruby Red Quinoa Salad

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa
1/2 cup shredded beet
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup cucumber (chopped into quarters)

1/4 cup Olive oil
2 teaspoons lime/lemon juice
A squirt (or two) of Agave nectar
1 teaspoon Ginger Oil
1/2 teaspoon Braggs Liquid Aminos

Method

  • Toast the quinoa in a pan until the seeds begin to pop. Add 2 cups of boiling water and salt to taste, cover with a lid, then reduce the heat to a low simmer, allowing the quinoa to cook.
  • As the quinoa cooks, a small ring is formed around each seed. You can sample a seed to confirm that the batch is cooked.
  • Add the shredded beet and carrots, mix, turn off the heat, cover. The remaining steam is sufficient to cook the beets and carrots.
  • Make a dressing by combining olive oil, lime/lemon juice, agave, ginger oil and Braggs liquid aminos. Whisk them together until a smooth emulsion is formed. Pour over the quinoa salad when it has cooled down.
  • Add the cucumber and toasted sunflower seeds.

Notes

  • Texture! Each time I say ‘texture’ with reference to food, P raises an eyebrow. Pretentious, you think? It is one of the things I learned after hours of watching Food Network. Anyway, this salad is a play of various textures. Crunchy sunflower seeds, soft quinoa, chewy beets and carrots… The first time I made the salad, I threw in some tofu. Added protein and yes, texture.
  • You can experiment with the ingredients in the dressing. When I made this salad earlier, I used olive oil, lime juice, dried basil and sumac. Random, I know! It tasted awesome, though. If you’d like it spicier, add a few drops of chili oil. Slivers of ginger would add a subtle sharpness as well. Chopped garlic, fresh rosemary, maple syrup, freshly ground pepper… the list is endless.
  • Leftovers taste even better as the flavors get a chance to “marry” (Food Network term!)
  • Toasted pine nuts would be a nice substitute, so also slivered almonds.
  • Fresh herbs would work great in here as well. Feel free to add fresh basil, rosemary, cilantro… whichever green your heart desires. Each one would grant the salad its own distinctive flavor.