Non Indian vegetable- their use in indian kitchens

[Geetha]

I was membered into this group as a result of this searc on Google I hope I will get a lot help on this topic..

I was amazed of this fact that most of our day to day cooking material came from out side of india especially vegetables and equally at the ease with which the flavours of each vegetable is cherished by us ( post on childhood memories of vegetables on eG)

would be very happy to share my insignificant knowwledge with you all on this as I get to know more

I'm exploring too...

Love

Geetha

Edited August 24, 2004 by Geetha (log)

[Geetha]

found one from my own search thanks

http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantan...lers/index.html

Geetha

[Monica Bhide]

Geetha - Welcome to eG. I am delighted to have you here. Do tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you posting from?

[Geetha]

I love to ...... think I know a lot about a cooking

but my experience is one of experienced delightist in savouring food rather

Think all food attracts me like children are attracted to sweets.. (in my case I loves non sweet in my growing up years)

I know not since when I adored my own food may be liked my own preparation of tea before anything else and this started..

Leave your kids to the kitchen and you never know what they are capable of.

I live in queens NY am a newbie here and newly wed.. so it is a pleasure to take pearls of wisdom from here to my humble kitchen

I love it here on the forum.. I have had a round about route while growing up been in several parts of the country and then landed up here to study wherein I have learnt exceptional cooking .. yeah you guessed through trials and all on my own. It is more of a joy to see people with very similar tastes as mine..

I love all that you put up on messages: parathas stuffing, parippu vadas(I'm a southy myself), dals rajma, many others I fail to mention them..

Love

Geetha

[Edward]

Wow! Welcome!

One vegetable I think I see many Indian cooks in the states use is zucchinni. It is so similar to the squases found in India such as lauki, but is much faster cooking. I find it makes a great substitute, in spite of its different flavor. It is good in dry dishes and also in gravy dishes.

How does everyone else cook this one?

[Geetha]

I've been wondering about it myself how does one cook this vegetable..

I have a lot of things to learn but I think it is all about what you like your taste preference that makes you like one recipe over others, my personal preference has been Indian style of cooking vegetables.. seems far advanced to my judgement of other cultures.. That was what that set me off to this journey shall I say of discovering who invented or how it came to be so unique to India that their preparations of vegetables are resoundingly so different.. may be too deep to dig but I'm determined to find out and find out I will :)

Been doing a lot of physical wandering myself so I know a lot of different cultures.. but India itself is so different I wonder if we will ever decipher its secrets

so how did our grandmothers and grandfathers ever culminate their culiniry skills of adapting so fast

My research tells me that India gave only four vegetables to the other parts (ie. is a native to only cucumber chichpeas eggplant and one more ..) all others came from other parts of the world.. but we have so recently received most of them ie. two hundred years ago for eg. tomato was brought to us from portugal.. so how does one account for this amazing flexibility of choosing the right blend of spices and condiments for the right form of curries in such a short amount of time.. this is what puzzles me too

I know the creative process takes a lot longer than that to reach perfection

May be you will help me find out more of this burning topic in my mind

Regards

Geetha

[bong]

One vegetable I think I see many Indian cooks in the states use is zucchinni. It is so similar to the squases found in India such as lauki, but is much faster cooking.

We do a "zucchini-posto". Same recipe as "Aloo-posto" (Poatoes with poppy seeds), but replace the potatoes with the zucchini. The texture turns out similar to

"jinghe-posto" (ridged gourd with poppy seeds).

Also use zuchhini in the Bengali style "paanch-misheli torkari" (mixed vegetables).

[Geetha]

which one is a favourite of yours I want to just try it

Ive never cooked with poppy seeds but I love it on bagels I get from coffee shops.. love it

may be I ll try it then

What are the five masalas in panch misheli

Edited August 25, 2004 by Geetha (log)

[bong]

What are the five masalas in panch misheli

"paanch misheli" literally means mixture of five things.

In this particular case, the five things are the five different vegetables. Or six, or four , it doesnt have to be exact

Anyway, for this "torkari", we (ahem, actually, my wife is the one who cooks this) do:

* Heat oil

* Heat little bit of jeere (cumin seeds)

* Add some chopped up tomatoes, continue stirring for a while.

* Create a pocket of oil in the middle of the pan and add tiny bit of turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder. Heat for a few more seconds

* Add coarsely chopped up different vegetables (typically -- cabbage, carrot, potatoes, eggplant, pumpkin. You can substitute anything you want, but make sure you have something starchy/sticky in it, eg pumpkin. Without the starch-i-ness the final dish will not appear right.)

* Add salt to taste

* Add a tiny bit of sugar

* Add water if needed. The final consistency of this dish should be on the dry side.

* Add green chiles, as much as you like

* Cook until everything is cooked, about 10-15 minutes.

* Can be garnished with chopped up coriander aka cilantro leaves.

Can be had with rice or roti.

[bong]

* Add coarsely chopped up different vegetables (typically -- cabbage, carrot, potatoes, eggplant, pumpkin. You can substitute anything you want, but make sure you have something starchy/sticky in it, eg pumpkin. Without the starch-i-ness the final dish will not appear right.)

If using zuccini as one of the vegetables, add it later on as otherwise it will turn to mush by the time the other vegetables are done.

[Geetha]

Thank you for this very nice one I will try it tomorrow :))

I like it, I have had quite a tour of bengali food dishes until now and am amazed at their significant variety. I have been accustomed to sout indian

cooking but I have had the fortune of tasting some variety of food owing to my fathers frequency of transfers at job (defences !@#) but I have luckily been gifted with curiosity.. I've not yet appreciated it yet but today seemed the most rewarding of all searches bengali food seems wow!!

Cheers to this team of deligence love all your efforts

Regards

geetha

[Peppertrail]

One vegetable I think I see many Indian cooks in the states use is zucchinni. It is so similar to the squases found in India such as lauki, but is much faster cooking. I find it makes a great substitute, in spite of its different flavor. It is good in dry dishes and also in gravy dishes.

How does everyone else cook this one?

Edward:

Yes, zuccini is very similar to some of the squashes found in India. I use it for preparing Aviyal and pachadi, two traditional south Indian dishes. I also make stuffed zuccini with corn and Indian spices, a variation Mexican stuffed zuccini.

Ammini

[Edward]

One vegetable I think I see many Indian cooks in the states use is zucchinni. It is so similar to the squases found in India such as lauki, but is much faster cooking. I find it makes a great substitute, in spite of its different flavor. It is good in dry dishes and also in gravy dishes.

How does everyone else cook this one?

Edward:

Yes, zuccini is very similar to some of the squashes found in India. I use it for preparing Aviyal and pachadi, two traditional south Indian dishes. I also make stuffed zuccini with corn and Indian spices, a variation Mexican stuffed zuccini.

Ammini

Speaking of aviyal...I have never been able to get this exactly the way I hope it to be....delicate, subtle..... Do you have a recipe or technique you would be willing share. Then, I could go out and get some zucchinni and other vegetables and try again.

Edward

[Peppertrail]

Speaking of aviyal...I have never been able to get this exactly the way I hope it to be....delicate, subtle..... Do you have a recipe or technique you would be willing share. Then, I could go out and get some zucchinni and other vegetables and try again.

Edward

Edward:

Here is my recipe for aviyal. There are several variations of this traditional Kerala dish. In some parts of Kerala they substitute tamarind for yogurt. Hope you enjoy it.

Ammini

Aviyal

Aviyal is a medley of vegetables. Traditionally, ash gourd, green plantains, string beans telinga potatoes (suran), and drumsticks (moringa oleifea, not chicken!) are used in the preparation of aviyal. Green plantains are available in Latin American grocery stores and sometimes even at American supermarkets. Long string beans, ash gourd, drumsticks and telinga potatoes (fresh, frozen and canned) are available in Indian food stores and ash gourd (with light green skin and white flesh) is readily available at Chinese markets. Although not traditional, zucchini, carrots, butternut squash, green beans and potatoes also may be used in this curry. The idea is to use as many vegetables as possible. This is one dish that definitely needs curry leaves and fresh coconut. Curry leaves and coconut basically gives aviyal its authentic flavor.

1 medium sized potato

2 medium sized carrots

8 pieces of drum sticks *

1 cup of telinga potato pieces *

1/4th of a pound of green beans or string beans

1 green plantain

1 Zucchini

1 cup of ash gourd pieces

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

Salt to taste

1 ½ cups of plain yogurt

3 cups of grated fresh coconut

4 to 5 hot green chilies (reduce for milder taste)

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

For seasoning and garnish:

½ cup coconut oil

A few springs of fresh curry leaves

Peel and cut plantains, carrots, zucchini, potato, ash gourd, drum stick and telinga potato into 2 ½ to 3 inch length pieces (approximately the size of thick french fries), Cut green beans or string beans also to three inch pieces. Place the vegetables in a colander and wash them under running water and drain. Using very little water cook the potatoes, carrots, drum sticks, telinga potato and beans along with salt and turmeric in a heavy bottomed pan. These vegetables take slightly longer time to cook than squashes. When they are partly cooked, add the remaining vegetable pieces and combine well. Cook for a few more minutes till the vegetables are just cooked. Stir the yogurt with a spoon and add to the vegetables. Simmer for three to five minutes. Grind the coconut, green chilies and cumin seeds to a coarse thick puree, again using just enough water. Remove the puree from the blender and combine with the cooked vegetables. Simmer gently for two to three minutes over low heat to prevent the yogurt from curdling. Remove from the stove and pour coconut oil on top. Garnish with fresh curry leaves.

*Both frozen and canned drumsticks and telinga potatoes (Suran) are available at Indian grocery stores. If using the canned vegetables, first drain them and wash under running water and drain. After cooking the fresh vegetables add them along with the ground coconut paste and mix.

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Recipe Copyright © 2004 Ammini Ramachandran

Edited August 26, 2004 by Peppertrail (log)

[rajsuman]

I love zucchini sliced thinly and pan-fried very simply with cumin and turmeric until slightly crisp, slightly cooked and slightly charred. Some lemon juice on top is nice too.

I also substitute them for lauki (bottle-gourd) in koftas.

Suman

[da_coolestofall]

I love zucchini sandwiches. You just cut log slices of the vegetabel(a bit thick) and then pan sear it. When it gets kinda soft and will leave a lot of juice, take it off the heat and sprinkle some salt and black pepper on it. Now take a fresh slice of bread, apply a thin layer of mayonaise, pile on the zuchhini like you would for pastrami or some sliced meat. Add a little mint chutney on top (optional). Put another slice on top and you got yoursel a great veggie sandwich.

[nessa]

I'm a huge fan of zucchini pakoras. Or yellow squash pakoras. Or eggplant pakoras, green tomato pakoras.......

I do love me some fried vegetables!

[tryska]

zucchini is good in sambars too.

[Geetha]

I'm trying for rasam vada with zuchhini in vadas lovv

[Geetha]

with a lot of confidence I had made those vadas out of zucchini and urad dal flour last fourty minutes, and made a rasam from tomatoes with lemon and the rasam powder I had described in one other thread.

Rasam came out to my satisfaction as it does mostly , but hey the vadas are not any different if any thing I like it plain now hom am I to blame I am inured to tasting good plain soft vadas. My husband will tell me how they are today Ill see if I post y reviews of them ones. Bye

The ideas have inspired me to so much I will hopefully continue to try. Thank You for your suggestions

Love :wub:edit: I have store bought the urad flour it comes under the name of papad flour and is available in all indian stores.

Edited August 31, 2004 by Geetha (log)

[Geetha]

Okay I have it the results are mmm very good food, thanks to all of you.. some hoe I think that I am a good cook Bye later