As I mentioned previously I'm not a gardener, but a beginner! I have seen and learnt that well begun is half done! We're a team of two going about all our gardening adventures in our small garden! Sometimes we slack as other priorities take over, sometimes we take it full on board! My husband does most ground work, and grows (tries to) seasonal vegetables. I will gleefully keep posting about anything exciting in his vegetable patch! I do most ornamental plants. Most of all I absolutely love cooking vegetables from our garden! This post is about fenugreek (methi) - somewhat bitter tasting, high in nutrition green leaves adding strong flavour and taste to dishes. Methi or fenugreek has several health benefits ranging from skin, hair, iron, strong bones to name a few. Ground fenugreek seeds powder eaten on empty stomach is said to benefit diabetic as well as weak bones conditions. Wet paste of fenugreek seeds applied on scalp strengthens roots and helps against hair fall as well as conditioning them. We always have a good supply of fenugreek seeds at home from which we grow methi leaves!
Growing methi is easy, quick, hassle free and yielding! All you do is soak methi seeds in water for a couple hours before sowing them in compost on ground or in tray. Water sparingly but regularly, and in about four weeks' time you'll have fresh home grown lush methi to harvest! I can never get enough of methi and so cook several things like methi paranthe, kadhi, methi daal to name a few! First to go in though is always the traditionally cooked methi-aloo, again this one passed down from generations! Simple, quick yet tasty and nutritious side dish to go with plain staple chapati, daal and rice!
Serves: 4
Difficulty level: Very easy
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
1-2 bunches of fresh methi leaves - washed, separated from its stalk (I use the tender stalk when use home grown methi, when shop bought then I discard the stalk), roughly chopped
5-6 baby potatoes or new potatoes (cut in chunks, or whole potatoes lightly hammered and broken with a rolling pin)
1 inch ginger - finely chopped
2 cloves garlic - finely chopped
2 tbsp oil (I cook in mustard oil, but if you don't like the stinging smell of mustard oil at the time of cooking, then ghee, or oil of your choice)
1-2 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
1/2 tsp heeng (asafoetida)
1 tsp red chilli flakes (or to taste)
Salt to taste
Method:
Heat oil in pan (I usually use an iron pan for my cooking), but you can cook in any pan without affecting the taste.
Add jeera and let crackle. Add heeng. Add ginger and garlic, saute for a minute. Add chopped methi and beaten or chunky potatoes together, mix and saute for a minute or two. Add salt to taste. Mix again. Cover with lid for some time for potatoes to cook. After about 5-7 minutes, check if potatoes are cooked (you can do this by cutting a chunk of potato with your spatula, if its cooked it'll cut quickly!). Once cooked add chilli flakes, and let cook / saute uncovered.
Voila! Your simple, traditional methi-aloo is ready to be served!
Serve with chapati, plain arhar / toor daal or any daal of your choice. I prefer plain toor daal and freshly cooked chapatis for ultimate satisfaction of simple, tasty, nutritious home-made food :)
