Methi Aloo ( Fenugreek leaves and potatoes)

                                                Methi Aloo ( Fenugreek leaves and potatoes)



With so many options of the greens that we can have, fenugreek leaves, is an old time favorite of the  Punjabi north Indian household. As soon as  the winters start setting in northern India, the vegetable vendors start carrying gorgeous bunches of these beautiful green leaves to sell.

I saw my grandmother and my mother picking these every week  to make various dishes from it to add variety  the vegetarian fare that they dished out day after day. Even if it meant 1 hour of laborious plucking the leaves of the stems to get them enough to chop.

When sold as a vegetable in India the young plants are harvested with their roots still attached and sold in small bundles in the markets and bazaars. As these are taken fresh from the soil along with the roots, the bunches require a thorough  soaking and cleaning with running water. The process had to be repeated multiple times to have a satisfactory, non muddy and ready to cook appearance.

 These leaves have a slightly bitter taste so by sautéing them they lose that bitterness and add a distinct flavor which is favorite of many and yes this is an acquired taste.



 On surfing the internet I was pleasantly surprised that it is used  by many other countries such as Turkey, Egypt and Yemenite Jews following the interpretation of Rabbi Salomon Isaacides, Rashi, believe fenugreek, which they call hilbeh, hilba, helba, or halba  is the Talmudic Rubia . They use it to produce a sauce also called hilbeh, miniscent of curry. It is consumed daily and ceremoniously during the meal of the first and/or second night of Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year) which is being celebrated this weekend!

 Ingredients

2  bunches of  fenugreek leaves removed from the main stem and chopped finely and cleaned under water ( as these cook they release water and hence reduce in quantity by 1/3 of original put quantity )

2 medium sized potatoes  small cubed

2 cloves of garlic chopped finely

2 small green chillies slit lengthwise deseeded if you want it to be less spicy...I add it with the seeds!
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4th tsp dry coriander powder
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp  or salt to taste

11/2 tablespoon vegetable/ canola oil


In a non stick  wok shaped pan put oil and heat it. Add garlic and green chilies and cumin seed, salt and fry for two minutes as soon as the garlic starts to brown add the red chili powder and the in 30 seconds add the chopped potatoes give them a stir for two minutes and add the fenugreek leaves

 

 

 

 

Keep the mix on a low flame and keep stirring. Do not cover the vegetable, as steaming it with a covered lid will result in a more bitter taste.
In about 20 to 25 minutes your vegetable will be ready when it looks like the pic on the top  and when all the water has dried. Pls see the pics to show you how the leaves reduced!.... Hoping you enjoy!

                                                       RAMBLINGS TO MYSELF

 

Sitting on my favorite side of my soft cushiony couch, legs up and folded sideways, with my laptop, resting partly on my lap and on the cushion which is right next to my left  side, I try to quiet down my stream of thoughts which seems to be barreling through random portions of conversations of various people to give me an insight to my questions. I scramble frantically to hold on to these insights which seem too be to eager to escape my stranglehold ! There is s tussle within me to let them go or to lock them up in a deep space of my consciousness but try as I might they seem to just slip away. Leaving me, with a whole day of introspection and the allusion of being part of something wonderful though disquieting. Can I pen these down? Can I dare to reveal my heart? And then there is a voice telling  me emphatically, "NO".

My fingers click on the my Facebook account and out jumps a quote posted by a friend stating "A woman cannot change the man because she loves him , man changes himself because he loves her". This drives the my thoughts into an overdrive because I so want to write that why are you expecting a change when you loved him the way he was? have you not changed in the years you have lived with him? why the expectation or the thought that he changes to love you? Have you, not been disappointed enough, with these expectations?

Expect, but to, change yourself and  not anybody else! You can only work with the material that you have in hand. And what or who, do you have ? You and yourself! You are not a canvas that you need others to fill the colors to make you vibrant but a whole being with senses and the mindfulness to sculpt your inner being. Whenever you will look outside of yourself with expectation,  you will be disappointed. You were born alone . The man you met after 20 or 25  years was not born with you. So how can you and him accommodate each other without friction and discomfort.


 A man and woman can sculpt a stone to ones whim but not a livewire and a lively material like you or him! So exist, live, love and nurture yourself and the people you come in contact with but without expectation of a change. The sooner you reconcile yourself to this fact the easier would this journey be!

Time to rustle up a heartwarming north Indian dish! its going to be lunchtime soon so the soul has been nourished now this physical being!





 



                                       SHAHI PESHKASH (ROYAL OFFERING)

 

 

SHAHI PESHKASH (ROYAL OFFERING)

Coming from a very warm part of the globe, as kids, we were offered milk based drink laced with the flavors of the dried fruit that were the offering of the rich agricultural land of India. Our elders encouraged milk, to be consumed, three times of the day! Weekends and  hot summer vacations were spent in the house of our grandmother who specially made the below to give us our daily dose of dry fruits and keep us cool and protected from the heat of the blazing sun.

If you see all the below were soaked over night in cold water and it was said that soaking transferred the coolness or eliminated the heat from these dry fruits...This is all hearsay but you could look up the benefits of the all the ingredients below and see how nutritious this is!

4 cups milk for 4 servings
20 -25  almonds soaked overnight
Pinch of dried saffron overnight with 1 tsp of sugar
15 pistachios
20 golden raisins soaked overnight
4 tsp of sugar
2 tablespoon honey

Take all the ingredients with 6 cubes of ice in a blender and blend for a minute  and voila! the royal offering ! sweetness can be adjusted to taste!

You can chill it more or less according to individual preference.