Farm Bulletin: Fenugreek Follow-up

Hot on the heels of his treatise on fenugreek from last week's Farm Bulletin, Anthony shares a response and a pair of recipes from reader Rahul Vora.

"Methi leaves are treated more like a green than like an herb in Indian cooking, though dried methi (also called kasoori methi) is sometimes used in northern Indian cooking as an herb in lentil soups (dals) to give an earthy, slightly bitter aromatic accent. In Ayurvedic medicine, methi (in leaf and seed form) is considered to have many medicinal properties and nutritive values. Lots of info on that on the web."

Aloo Methi (Potatoes cooked with Fenugreek greens)
This is a popular North Indian dish.

1 1/2 c. fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves (cleaned, washed and chopped)
2-3 med. potatoes peeled and cut into 1" pieces
1 med. tomato (chopped)
1-2 cloves garlic (crushed)
Salt to taste
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
Red chili powder (or cayenne or paprika) to taste
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
2-3 whole dry red chilies
2-3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Heat oil and add crushed garlic and fry till brown. Add cumin seeds and dry red chilies.
When cumin seeds are slightly browned and chilies turn brown add salt, turmeric, chili powder and chopped tomato. Sauté for a moment. Add potatoes and mix well. Cook till potatoes are half done on a medium flame. Add some water if the potatoes get too dry.

Add methi and cook on a medium flame till done and most of the liquid has evaporated. Adjust salt and squeeze a little lime juice. Serve the aloo methi hot with chapati, naan or rice accompanied with some plain yogurt. I like it with whole wheat tortillas - you can make a delicious burrito/wrap with aloo methi as the filling and a little yogurt for dressing.

Murgh Methi (Chicken cooked with fenugreek greens)
Adapted from A Taste of India by Madhur Jaffrey
This dish comes from the Hyderabadi cuisine of southern India. It combines the earthiness of the fenugreek greens with the tanginess of yogurt to create a delicious sauce in which browned pieces of chicken are braised gently. It is important to pick just the leaves and discard all the stems for this dish to ensure a sublime sauce. In another variation, chopped fresh dill is used instead of fenugreek leaves for an equally delightful version called Murgh Sooa.

(serves 4-6)

3 lb. chicken pieces (I like thighs), skinned.
1" piece of ginger, minced
6-8 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground turmeric
6 Tbsp. vegetable oil
3 lg. onions, cut in half lengthwise and cut crosswise into fine half rings
1 1/4 c. plain yogurt (preferrably whole milk)
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. well-packed chopped fresh cilantro
2-4 fresh serrano chillies, slit but kept whole.
1 cup well-packed fresh fenugreek leaves

In a wide-based pan or dutch oven, heat the oil and sauté the onions until they brown lightly. Add the chicken pieces. Stir them around until they turn golden brown. Now add the ginger, garlic and turmeric. Stir and cook on a medium-high heat for another 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to low and add the yogurt and sat. Stir, scraping the bottom. Bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer gently for 15 mins, until the chicken is almost done.

Add the cilantro, chillies and the fenugreek greens along with 1/2 cup water. Simmer for 5 mins. until the sauce has thickened and clings to the chicken. Serve with naan or basmati rice.

Farm Bulletin: Better Late than Never

Our correspondent Anthony Boutard of Ayers Creek Farm is back with his weekly bulletins, and GSNW is happy to post his musings once again. To get them fresh in your in-box, simply e-mail Anthony directly. Or check in here for the skinny on what's happening in the natural world. You can find Anthony and Carol live in the flesh every Sunday at the Hillsdale Farmers' Market from 10 am to 2 pm.

This has been a very peculiar season by any measure. Almost every crop in the field is 10 days to two weeks late. Our frikeh production, which normally occurs around the 18th of June, will start on Monday. Because of heavy weed pressure, the harvest will be a salvage operation, with a sharp production decrease for this year. We will have to collect the heads using small sickles once used to harvest rice in the Orient. There will be few gage plums, but a good crop of prune plums. The Chester blackberries will have an excellent crop, albeit late. The flowers are just opening on the grapes, and they should produce well this year. Most of our squash fall into the past tense...squashed. The pampered melons are doing well.

Despite the languid pace of the season, and what season it is we are not quite sure, it has been very busy. Feeling subdued and disconcerted. Funny, as we plant more and more stuff, the works piles up on us.

Our offerings this week will be sparse. Here is what we should have:

Fenugreek Greens
Fenugreek is a low growing legume. The seeds (left) are used as a seasoning. The greens (photo, above) are used in Indian and Persian dishes (see Khoresht-e Ghormeh Sabzi for example). Pleasantly bitter and very fragrant, they can be mixed with other greens such as spinach, or used to season potatoes or lamb.

New Potatoes
New potatoes are harvested while they are still growing, the tuberous equivalent of fresh shell beans. The potatoes have yet to form their permanent skin, a process initiated by the green part of the plant. They are perishable, and should be refrigerated. Size is not a good diagnostic as you can have very large new potatoes, as well as dinky ones. They also require careful cooking, no rolling boils. They make a good potato salad. They can also be sauteed or roasted, and dressed with chopped wilted fenugreek, as in the Indian dish aloo methi. Good hot weather sustenance.

Quelites (kay-lee-tays)

A Mexican term, equivalent to the Italian verdura trovata (encountered greens) and Greek horta, refers to a mixture of noncultivated edible plants that grow in the fields and on roadsides. Quelites include lamb's quarters (fat hen) and pigweed (amaranth), and are very nutritious. The names "fat hen" and "pigweed" are not the least bit derogatory, rather they refer to the tendency laying hens and nursing sows to seek out these calcium rich greens. In the mix will be some Quinoa, Orach and Polish Amaranth. Cook and use as you would spinach.