Author: Laxmi Parida

Summer Grilled Lamb & Vegetables

Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer and outdoor grilling. A nice alternative to skewering, whenever possible, the tumbling rotisserie basket frees you first from tedious impaling and then the constant turning over heat.

Using the recipe from https://purba.blog/2019/10/20/silk-road-open-fire-grilled-lamb-potatoes/ throw the marinaded lamb, prepared potatoes (microwaved to steam and then cut into chunks) and zucchini cut into chunks into the tumbler. Let it tumble for about 45 minutes at your usual grilling heat. Enjoy!

Grilling in tumbler

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Sea-Beans Cucumber Salad with Bamboo Shoot

The Farmer’s market is a great place to meet old friends and new ingredients (such as sea beans and bamboo shoots –not in a can!). With all the impulsive buying at the market, the challenge is to use up all the ingredients before the workweek begins.

The bamboo shoot is easily cleaned by removing the outer scaly layers and microwaved for a minute or so. The crunchy, briny sea beans are used in two ways: summer salad and a topping for multigrain (scroll to bottom at the multigrain link, for millet-bulgur maitake greens). Both are marvelous. Enjoy!

Special tools:

None

Ingredients

  • Base
    • 1 large cucumber, partially peeled, halved with seeds scooped and sliced into half-moons
    • 1/4 cup sea beans (presoaked in cold water for 2 hrs)
    • 1 bamboo shoot, hard skin removed and cooked (wrap in paper towel and microwave for 1-2 mins) and then sliced
  • Dressing: 1 tbsp each of rice wine vinegar + sesame oil and dash of Japanese yuzu koshu (citrus and chili)
  • Topping: toasted sesame seeds

Method

Prepare the dressing and mix with all the base ingredients. Add the topping and serve chilled.

Notes, hints, tips:
  1. You can use any other dressing of your choice.
  2. A great crunchy, summery salad!

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Mother’s Day Bouquet with Multigrains

The bouquet here refers to the chive blossoms and the oyster mushrooms that look gorgeous enough to compete with their floral cousins. Thanks to the Farmer’s market for the fresh bouquet! The grains taste lot better than it looks in the picture. Enjoy!

Special tools:

None

Ingredients

  • 2 cups multi-grains (1/2 cups each of spelt, rye, barley, brown rice) cooked in 3 cups water for about 90 minutes
  • Allium: 1 bunch of chive blossoms, chopped)
  • Umami: 1 large oyster mushroom (torn into smaller pieces by hand)
  • 1 tbsp chili-infused EVOO
  • salt to taste

Method

Dry cook the mushrooms for 3-4 minutes and set aside. Add the oil and chopped chives and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes till bright and fragrant. Mix in the cooked grains and salt to taste. Mix well.

Notes, hints, tips:
  1. The bouquet looked more impressive in real life than in the photo here. In my attempt to avoid the shadow of my cell phone, I missed the best line of view.
  2. Set the cooking time of the grains for 60 minutes; check and add the 30 minutes or less as required.
  3. The brown rice here is actually a mixture of brown and black rice in approx 7:3 ratio.
  4. I have learnt from a Japanese cook that the best way to chop mushrooms is tearing by hand. Indeed.

Millet-Bulgur with Maitake & Greens: For this second combination of grains, I use 1 cup millet and 1 cup bulgur with cooking time of 20-25 mins. The allium is tender green onions and the mushroom is maitake. I also use a bunch of greens (greens of radishes and of kohlrabi). Separate the stems from the leaves; dice the stems and chiffonade the greens. Mix in the stems with the alliums and follow the same method as above. Except, add the chiffonaded greens and let them wilt before adding the mushrooms.

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Stinging Nettles Fiddlehead Ferns Coconut Broth

What is common with stinging nettles and fiddlehead ferns ? They show up at the same time in the Farmers market. Never seen in supermarkets. Here are the two with a dab of light, fragrant broth. Enjoy!

Later in a trip to India I accidentally (while browsing a flight magazine in a domestic flight) learned that a variation of this stinging nettle, called kandali ka saag (कंडाली का साग), is a staple in pahadi cuisine of Uttarakhand. See the notes for pointers to some Indian treatment of the stinging nettles.

Special tools:

None

Ingredients

  • 6 oz Stinging nettles
  • 8 oz fiddlehead ferns, washed lightly
  • Aromatics: 1/4 onion diced + 3 crushed pods of garlic + 3 tbsps of diced lemongrass
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk
  • 2 tbsps cooking oil
  • Seasoning: salt
  • Garnish: 6-8 large Thai basil leaves

Method

Stinging nettles will sting– to avoid that I blanched that in about 3/4 cups water in the frying pan till all the water was cooked off. Rinse the pan. Heat a 1 tbsp cooking oil and saute the fiddlehead ferns for 4-5 minutes till tender. If your pan is big enough, push the ferns to the edges of the pan and heat 1 tbsp cooking oil in the center. Saute the aromatics till fragrant. Mix the ferns and nettles. Season with salt. Add the coconut milk. Let cook for few minutes. Turn off the heat and add the chiffonaded Thai basil.

Gently heat the sesame oil in a frying pan with the crushed garlic. Be careful not to burn the garlic.  Add the ferns, salt and toss till mixed. Be careful with the salt since your sauce would be salted as well. Add the Ponzu soy sauce and rapidly mix till the ferns are well dressed.  Turn off heat and serve warm.

Notes, hints, tips:
  1. The stinging nettles will sting, as the name suggests. So avoid touching them by bare hands- you could use a pair of tongs to handle before cooking. Boiling in water removes the sting. Another way is to toast on open flame (a bunch of leaves at a time, using tongs).
  2. The lemongrass-coconut broth is great for dunking bread or goes will served with grains.
  3. See https://purba.blog/2018/05/20/fiddlehead-ferns/ for an alternative treatment of the ferns.

My discovery of kandali ka saag (कंडाली का साग) in an Indigo flight. Later with a quick browse I find some interesting recipes. Traditional soupy subzi (by The Valley Cook) and a modern egg subzi (by Cook and Live with Confidence).

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Asian Vegetable Salad

Kudos to spiralizer for converting meh veggies into gimme-more. Aromas of lemongrass, Thai basil; umami of fish sauce; crunch of peanuts elevate the salad to an astonishingly delectable level– you wont stop eating. Enjoy!

SPECIAL TOOLS:

Spiralizer.

INGREDIENTS

  • Spiralized vegetables (1 zucchini + 2 small beets + 3 medium carrot)
  • Dressing: 2 tbsp minced lemongrass + 2 tbsp fish sauce + 2 tbsp lemon juice + 2 tbsp rice vinegar (or white vinegar)
    + 1 tsp minced ginger + 1 garlic pod minced
    + 1 tsp sugar
    + 1 chili thinly sliced + 12 Thai Basil leaves chiffonaded
  • Crunch topping: 3 tbsp pounded (roasted) peanuts
  • Green topping: sunflower shoots or microgreens

METHOD

Macerate the salad in the dressing for about 20 mins. Mix in the peanuts and basil.

Serve (cold or at room temperature) with the topping. 

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

  1. Adapted from multiple sources: https://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Spicy-Lemongrass-Salad/ ; The Week’ Recipe of the week (April 5, 2024).
  2. Another great such salad is with green papaya, with the same treatment.
  3. Thinly sliced cabbage and other veggies of your choice can also be used.
  4. To add protein to the salad, you could use poached/roasted chicken, shredded.
  5. EVOO is pictured; I intended to use it but the salad was already so good that I skipped it.

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फ, ख: PHO, KHO Vietnamese broths

Devanagari consonants or delectable Vietnamese broths? Fish sauce, lemon grass, star anise, … and a host of other stars make this stew as flavorful as nourishing. Annatto gives the broth its fiery red looks, although its heat may be quite temperate. This stew is a great contender to become your go-to. Enjoy with noodles or slices of batard bread!

SPECIAL TOOLS:

Pressure cooker.

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 lbs stew meat cut into 2 inch chunks, marinaded for few hours (or overnight)
    • in 3 cloves garlic+1 tbsp grated ginger+ 5 tbsp fish sauce + 2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder + 1.5 tsp brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp oil
  • Aromatics:
    • (alliums): 1 medium onion diced + 3 garlic cloves
    • 3 stalks lemongrass, minced fine
  • For flavor depth: 4 tbsp tomato paste
  • Spices
    • 2 star anise + 1 tsp annatto or turmeric
    • (heat) 1 tsp ground black pepper + 1 tsp chili powder + 1 tbsp paprika
  • Braising medium: 3 cups water + 2 cups coconut water (optional)
  • Seasoning: 1 tsp salt + 3 tbsp soy sauce + 3 tbsp chili oil
  • Vegetables: 6 carrots + 2 potatoes + 8 pods black garlic (optional) +10 shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • Wide rice or egg noodles, cooked as per packet instructions OR slices of batard bread
  • Topping/Garnish: 1/4 cup cilantro + 1/2 cup Thai basil + 1/4 cup spinach + 1/2 cup thinly sliced onion + lemon wedges

METHOD

Heat oil in the pressure cooker. Add the aromatics and cook till fragrant (few minutes). Add the tomato paste and stir for a few minutes till well mixed. Then add the marinaded meat and stir-fry for 5-7 minutes. Add the spices and mix. Add 3 cups water and pressure cook on medium/high for 12 minutes.

Release the pressure slowly and the add the vegetables and seasoning and pressure cook for another 6 minutes on medium high.

Serve with noodles/bread, broth and toppings.

NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:

  1. This is adapted from TheWoksOfLife. Using the pressure cooker drastically reduces the cooking time without sacrificing taste. Also added a host of other vegetables and greens to make it even more complete.
  2. To make a thinner broth (say, as with noodles), double the water to 6 cups.
  3. I hesitate to cook with coconut water; I would rather add the coconut water to the broth at the end.
  4. An attractive alternative to noodles is Batard bread slices for this broth (a la Yangrou Paomuo, a signature dish of Xi’an, China).

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