Art of Putting Life into Vegetables

Art of Putting Life into Vegetables

Perhaps there is no other item in a family menu that is as controversial as vegetables! The mere mention of some vegetables makes us wrinkle up our noses and the homemaker cooks them at the risk of having to manage the left-overs herself single-handedly or rather single-mouthedly!

Vegetables being the main ingredients in most curries, a despised vegetable in a family leads to the scrapping of many recipes and the shelving others. The daily menu thus suffers for want of variety. In this process, even pet vegetables on due to repetition; end up becoming unpopular, in course of time.

Summers always lead to an increase in the price of vegetables. In places like North-India, there is a clear demarcate between winter and summer vegetables. If one hankers for winter vegetables like carrots, peas and cauliflowers in summer and summer vegetables in winter ones budget to get a jolt, not to speak of the trouble of hunting for them.

A wise combination of proteins, vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates forms a balanced meal. Rotation of different vegetables in the weekly menu and inclusion of seasonal ones leads a helping hand towards a better lanced menu at no extra cost. It can often correct vitamin and mineral deficiencies, if any.

Why some vegetables are tagged unpopular and despised in some families and by some family members?

It because of their colour? Is it their appearance? Or is it the particular way the vegetable is cooked that makes it unwelcome?

Vegetables generally cannot be disliked for their individual flavours and tastes because except for a few like karela, cabbages, or bamboo shoots, they do not have strong flavours or unpleasant tastes which cannot be overcome or subdued by the clever use of spices and masalas. Moreover, unlike fruits, vegetables are seldom eaten raw except in salads and this is an added advantage, as far as disguising them and covering them up with pleasant gravies and masalas is concerned.

Seeing small birds pecking at the black berries on the curry leaf tree in our courtyard, my husband, out of curiosity, plucked a few berries and tasting one, handed a few to me. The fleshy inside of the berries was sweet indeed, yet not palatable at all with the strong flavour of curry leaves! It would have been pleasant if it had smelt of fruits or even flowers! In other words, certain tastes and flavours go with certain items and this is true of vegetables too.
Certain Mangalorean curries and preparations are not complete unless a pebble-sized bit of jaggery is added to them. Fresh vegetables like beans and snake gourds go well with a faint dash of sweetness in them while coconut scrapings counter the wateriness of leafy vegetables and add body to them.

Dislike of a particular vegetable could be attributed to differences in personal tastes and preferences. Yet, these could be modified to a great extent as a lot depends on how a vegetable is handled and cooked.

Is it the vegetable that is at fault or is it your way of cooking it? In your hurry, do you take enough care to cook the vegetables, especially the ones your family is fussy about, in the proper way, so that their negative points are played down? For example, do you overlook drying the lady fingers well before cutting and cooking them, resulting in a slimy slippery dish that no one touches?

Simple Tricks:
There are so many tricks up the sleeve of a competent cook to make disliked vegetables look and taste attractive. Leaving the washed bhindis on a dry towel for a while before cooking, adding a few drops of tamarind juice while cooking, stir frying them before sprinkling them with water to cook, being careful with the water added while cooking, etc, are some ways to do away with their sliminess.
Similarly, bitter gourd can be made less bitter if it is smeared with salt and kept aside for a while, and the excess water squeezed out while cooking. Alternatively, souring agents like tomatoes, tamarind, etc can also do the trick. A lump of jaggery or a spoonful of sugar too, has the same effect.

Certain items like yam, potatoes withstand an additional dash of chillies and spices while fresh leafy vegetables do not. Bland, sweetish vegetables like carrots, tindas, and beetroot need strong spices like onions, garlic, and ginger to add pep to them.

If under-cooking of vegetables makes the dish insipid, over-cooking takes the life out of them. Certain vegetables need very little water to cook them (most green and leafy vegetables come under this category) and excess of it spoils their taste, look and texture.