One more day to
celebrate with Rushina, this time #SabziTarkariDin, one more reason to blog……
You can only see what
is in season when you visit your local vegetable market. There will be many
carts selling same selected vegetables or fruits at very reasonable price. I
never like to bargain with these vegetable sellers and most of the time I don’t
even ask them the rates, I just buy what I want. If they make extra money from
me, its their karma.
We don’t bargain at big Supermarkets so why haggle over the price at the local market? Let them make the money nah, they too have family to support.
When we go for shopping
at the big food mall, we are likely to
see whole range of fruits and vegetables, fresh and exotic, some food mall
stock all the vegetables from all over the world..some of them frozen to the
core and quite tasteless too..having lost their nutrients while travelling from
one country to another sometimes. Have you checked price?..you might
faint. Many a times, when I have picked a packet of some exotic vegetable
or fresh herb, I have put it back to the shelf when I eye at the price label.
“Are you mad? You will spend Rs300 for just this vegetable? Put it back” I
scold myself.
But the local market place will
always sell fresh fruits and vegetable..Especially if you go to a small town
market away from the main city. Recently I went to Karjat for a weekend and was
surprised at the rate of the veggies sold there. All the vegetables were in abundance,
very fresh and very economical. Most of the vegetable were at Rs20 a kilo. My
friend, who has a farm house in Karjat, regularly visits these markets and
comes back with car full of veggies for her family and friends. Not only were
these fresh and seasonal but they were
very tasty as well.
But no matter what
season it is..bananas, celery and potatoes are always tasty and always a good
buy
This morning my friend
called me and told me that the flower of elephant foot yam is available in the
market. Now I have never seen it although my other friends always cooks it when
it is in season. I was curious (ofcourse) she told me that its expensive. Told
her not to bargain with the vegetable seller and just buy it at whatever the
cost (Rs200 a kilo).. she got me 400grams.
So here I was..went to
google aunt to do some research on flower of elephant foot yam, spoke to few
friends asking them how they would make it.
Then cut into pieces to
see the inside
Then did the most
foolish thing...I bit into it to get its raw taste....
Oops..not a good
idea..because..i didnt even wash it at first..after a small bite..washed it
properly, peeled and took a bigger bite..it had woody taste and ouch..my lips
and chin were scratchy and some blisters on my tongue..I spat it out..cleaned
my tongue several times till the itching stopped.
But yes..I cooked..following the recipe of a mutton dish
I first cleaned all of it,
peeled it.salted them for few hours….then deep fried it.
Then cooked it in black
pepper and tomato gravy.
The #TarkariSabziDin
was celebrated by food bloggers all over India and I was able to catch few live
coverage..
Like I saw the organic
kitchen garden of Saffron trail and she showed us how to plant veggies at
home...without any fancy equipments at all.
Made a virtual tour of
Pali Market with Rushina and Kalyan.
I Loved watching Monika
shopping in the Bangalore market with her son.
Also saw the live coverage
of the walk with DFW to the whole vegetable market in Delhi, Azadpur Mandi, Asia's largest
wholesale market for fruits and vegetables
I hate going to crowded vegetable markets because I am afraid of slipping on rotten leaves that lay
scattered in the path but this markets that were visited by
foodbloggers were quite clean and spacious and I was very happy to do the
virtual tour with food bloggers.
Enjoyed
#SabziTarkariDin and #IndianFoodObservance day with all the food-bloggers from
the comfort of my home, while I was busy cooking the flowers of Elephant foot
yam for my guests. I also made exotic salad, Guacamole from the buttery avocado, Sesame fragrant rice, roasted chicken and fried fish on that day
Ingredients
400grams Flowers of
Elephant Foot Yam
2pods of cardamom
1tsp black pepper
1/2inch ginger
2 green chilies
1 bunch Spinach
1tsp turmeric powder
2tsp coriander powder
2 tbsp coriander leaves
salt to taste.
Method:
Salt the flowers, wash
and deep fry. Keep it aside
In a pan, stir fry
cardamom, black pepper, ginger and green chilies
Add the deep fried
flowers , stir to mix it.
Add spinach, tomatoes,
turmeric, coriander powder and salt.
Mix and cover on low
flame till tender
Add coriander leaves
and black pepper
Serve with chappatis.
I have been celebrating
#IndianFoodObservance days with Rushina whenever I could and have blogged......
Waiting for another
Food observance day….
