Chutney Mary!

Well! Well! Well! Look what I found last week at the farmers market. I pretty much have now settled for the Pleasantville market. I see this interesting Chutney Stand, made by a lady who hails from, you guessed it -India.

I liked all her products, but this fiery mint concoction seemed really good. I picked this up at $7.50 with these lovely eggplants that were priced at $4.50 a quart. I also got a lovely bunch of green onions at and a fresh head of garlic and came home and paired this with some feta cheese and fresh tomatoes from my neighbours garden to make this lovely dish.

Minted Garlic Eggplant

Served 4

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 onion thinly chopped

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tomato sliced

4 small eggplants, sliced

1 tsp salt (optional)

2 tbsp mint chutney

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Method of Preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the cumin seeds.

2. When this begins to sizzle, add the onion and garlic and saute briefly.

3. Add the tomato and eggplant and chutney and the salt if using and coat well.

4. Cover and cook on very low heat for 15-17 minutes till the eggplant is soft and fairly mushy.

5. Stir in the feta cheese and serve with some crusty bread.

Palak Ghia Paneer Kuchran - Spinach, Zuchini Puree with Garlic and fresh Cheese

Well, with a fridge-full of farmers market veggies, I have to find ways to cook my bounty. This is the first of my experiments. This a great variation on palak paneer, I wanted to get the impact and taste without killing the vegetables. This variation is very gentle on spice and cooks the vegetables very delicately so as to retain the nutrients.

Spinach, Zuchini Puree with Garlic and fresh Cheese

Serve 6

Ingredients

2-3 tbsp oil

1 tbsp fresh garlic, minced

1 onion cut into a fine dice

3 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cumin-coriander powder

1/2 cup fresh cream

2 heads fresh spinach

1 tsp ghee

1 tsp cumin seeds

3 zuchini grated with the skin on

1 cup grated paneer

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp red chili powder

Method of preparation

1. Heat the oil and add the garlic and onion and cook for 5 minutes stiring well.

2. Add the tomato puree, salt, and cumin-coriander powder and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

3. Cool and puree with the cream and spinach in a blender.

4. Heat the ghee and sizzle the cumin seeds and add the grated zuchini.

5. Saute for 5 minutes and add the spinach mixture with the paneer and mix well and cook for 3-5 minutes.

6. Stir in the remaining spices and let this sit for 1 hr.

7. Reheat and serve with rice or rotis.

Summer Loving!

"Summer Loving had me a blast,

Summer Loving happened so fast!"

Well, probably not quite what you are thinking, the past two year with the the kids still in tow and not really into anything, the little one at least I had skipped the active farmers market scene, this year not really.

Well, I was certainly in for a treat, I tried two markets this weekend and I think I am hooked certainly to the Pleasantville Farmers Market,

I was so thrilled, I think I truly got a little carried away, I picked up fresh garlic, garlic scrapes, corn and jalapeno chicken sausage, bok choy, beets, carrots, spinach, fresh peas, and zuchini.

Well, in case that was not enough I wandered onto the muscoot farms farmers market, now this might have been a little later in the day, but I did not find as much to excite as the former market, nonetheless I definitely picked up some lovely green onions and mushrooms. Look forward to my upcomming posts where there shall certainly be creative ideas on getting your 5 a day and more.