Green Tomato Salad

Sad to say, up until yesterday, I had never tasted a green tomato. I'm still not a big fan of tomatoes, but the green ones are more palatable than the ripe red ones. Also there is so much possibility to play around with the green hard ones. Make a salad, cook them like a proper vegetable, or even fry them to make fritters. I decided to go with a salad - a very small batch this time - of green tomatoes, sumac powder, sage and mint.

Sumac, for those of you who dont know, is a middle eastern/african berry. When powdered, it has a tart flavor that is not quite as overpowering as lemon. I'm told you use it in any dish where you'd normally use lime/lemons.

Green Tomato Salad

Serving: One small bowl

Ingredients

• 1 large green tomato
• Tablespoon of olive oil
• Teaspoon of sumac powder
• A handful of sage and mint leaves, finely chopped

To make:
Slice the tomato into thin round discs.

Roll the mint and sage leaves into a tight ball and then chop it up finely.

Add to the olive oil and sumac to make a dressing. Drizzle over the tomato slices.

Broccoli Stir Fry

A quick stir fry dish using broccoli, peppers, onion, ginger and hoisin sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup broccoli
• 1/2 a red onion
• 1/2 a green pepper
• 1 inch piece of ginger
• 1 green chilli
• Teaspoon of olive oil
• 2 tablespoons of hoisin sauce

To make:

• Chop up the veggies.
• Heat the oil in a wok.
• When it is sufficiently hot, add the onions, chilli and ginger.
• After about 3-5, discard the chilli, and add the peppers and broccoli.
• Add the hoisin sauce and a dash of water and stir constantly.
• Turn off the gas after 5 minutes and serve immediately.
  
  
  

Sunday Shopping at the Farmers' Market and Nature's Basket

Between you and me, I just needed to smoke in peace and as that as my main excuse, I headed out to Bandra for my bi-weekly trip to the Farmers' Market and Nature's Basket. This week the new additions were fresh figs, bananas, and papayas - apart from the usual stuff. I also snagged some green tomatoes, inspired by Kevin's green tomato and jalepeno chutney recipe. Beet leaves are so hard to find elsewhere, but here, the beets are so sexy with their leaves intact. I'm going to use up all those leaves in a recipe using just the leaves and my red rice.

I also had a healthy breakfast at the market with some Guju dhokla and fresh organic carrot juice. At Rs. 50 for seven pieces of dhokla, its not the cheapest. But, by word, it tastes great and has a tangy mustardy taste.

At Nature's Basket, I always find myself in the salad dressing isle and scrutinizing the various dressings available. I'm always disappointed. Today was no different. Not just because of the price, mind you. There is just so much crap in store bought salad dressings - corn syrup being a universal culprit. No thank you. I'll survive with my humble lime dressings.

But I did get my hands on some hoisin sauce, sumac powder, and garlic powder. I'd seen Nigella Lawson looking positively orgasmic as she played around with some sumac, and I just had to have it - screw the price tag! The garlic powder, on the other hand, was a bargain, and it smells divine. I can so see myself toasting a piece of bread with olive oil and garlic powder for breakfast sometime soon.

And for the first time, I saw arugula on the produce isle, so I quickly snagged some of that. And for Rs. 12 a pop, I just couldnt resist buying some fresh rosemary and sage. No idea where I'll use them, but we'll figure that out when the time comes.

Finally, I got myself some silken tofu. I mindlessly added it to my basket, and balked at the hefty Rs 180 price tag - I get a cheaper, and not so good, version for Rs. 60 from Reliance. It had better be good.

And finally, found some aam papdi -which is just mango candy. I used to have a big box of chocolates or candies with me at work for the last two years. Might as well substitute the habit with something a little healthier.

Broccoli, Carrot, and Pepper Upma

A favorite breakfast dish of mine is Upma, or savory semolina porridge. I generally spike it with tons of veggies I am dying to get rid of. In this case, some broccoli, carrot and green pepper.

Broccoli, Carrot, and Pepper Upma

Ingredients:

• 1 cup semolina or an upma premix
• 1 cup broccoli
• 1/2 cup carrot
• 1/2 cup green peppers
• 1 large green chilli
• 1 cup of water
• Teaspoon of vegetable oil
• Half a lime

To make:

• In a pot, gently dry roast the semolina/upma premix for a minute or two.
• Add oil and water to the roasted semolina and cook for approximately 7-10 minutes.
• Once the semolina is cooked, add the chopped up vegetables.
• Stir for half a minute and turn off the gas.
• Serve immediately with lashings of lime juice.
  
  

Top 10 of '10

2011 is upon us! The new dawn also brought with her the 5000th visitor to my blog! Yay!

Now with the obligatory look back at the year that was:

1. Farmer's Markets    
Finally having a Farmer's Market in Mumbai for locally sourced, certified organic produce. Here's a roundup of all the stuff I bought this year. For those of you who still haven't got their arses down to the market or have been living under a rock and haven't heard about the farmers market, click here.              

2. Home Made Sun Dried Tomatoes

What started off on a lazy Saturday on a whim, turned out, by far, to be the biggest hit on my blog (700 hits and counting). Who knew so many people were interested in little pieces of sun drenched fruit?! Here's the recipe.

3. Baking 

2010 was the year I finally got around to baking stuff. Nothing majorly great - and not without minor incidents - but I am very proud of my rather good looking olive and onion crackers.

Here's the recipe. 

 4. Glorious Beets

2010 was the year I came to appreciate beets in all their glory. I had them marinated, curried, in burgers, and in salads.

5. Quinoa

Quinoa was a new discovery for me. No one around me has even heard of this wonder grain. I thoroughly enjoyed my lemon and pea quinoa pilaf. But my favorite way of cooking it was my quinolicious salad. Here's the recipe.

6. Salads Galore

When I started off with this whole raw business, I used to almost fear salads - seemed too complicated. I stuck to my blended juices and smoothies. Now it seems more a hassle to get out my blender and make a drink for myself than to chop up some veggies and make a salad. There are over 20 salads to choose from so far. My absolute favorite has been:

a) Zesty spinach salad. Here's the recipe.

b) Strawberry Lettuce Salad. Here's the recipe. 

7. Seasonings

Raw food doesn't have to be bland as a cardboard! Let your imagination run wild! If nothing else, use lime/lemon and black pepper to perk up even the most mundane of salads. I loved my carrot sambal and my carrot and cabbage salad with coriander and cumin dressing. Here's the recipe.

8. M & Ms (Maple & Miso)

Maple and Miso - both completely alien foods to India. One of the first recipes I made was my asparagus and miso soup. Here's the recipe.

I absolutely LOVE maple syrup! I loved my lettuce salad with mulberry and maple dressing:

And finally, I combined maple and miso to make my sweet and sour bean sprout salad. Here's the recipe.

9. Sweet Potato Chips
Baked sweet potato chips with chilli and garlic - what's not to love?! Here's the recipe.

10. Something Sweet
And for dessert, why not try a vegan strawberry sorbet? Better yet - I adore my date, walnut and orange zest balls. Here's the recipe.

What I Want Now: Green Tomato and Jalepeno Jam

A delightful green tomato and jalepeno chutney mined from Closet Cooking:

Yum! And on that note - here's wishing everyone a happy and peaceful year ahead!