Garlic scapes are the curly green shoots that grow on young hardneck garlic and are harvested for a short time in early summer. I first encountered them in my farm share a few years ago and have been seeing them more and more at the farmer’s markets.
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This is a recipe I based off of usali, a South Indian bean salad. Usali is usually made from kala chana or black chickpeas. You can buy them dried and they have a nice earthy flavor to them. The downside though is that they take quite a bit to cook. This is what they look like and if you do want to try the recipe, here’s my mom’s.
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I don’t know why I didn’t think of this recipe sooner because I love spinach yogurt raita so much, which is a similar idea. Traditionally, yogurt raita is served as a side to go along with rice, bread, curry or lentils and helps to cool things down if there is a lot of spicy dishes. It’s one of those recipes that you can really be creative with as far as the vegetables you mix into to it. The most popular is cucumber, but my favorites are radish, tomato & onion, carrot and now kale!
I have been making my way through my stash of dried legumes and arrived at whole yellow peas, which are used in Indian dishes by my family in North and South India. In the North, they’re called ‘matar’ in Hindi and in the South, they’re called ‘batani’ in Kannada. I don’t hear about these peas that often though here in Brooklyn and am surprised because they’re not only tasty but super good for you. They’re rich in protein and fiber and good for lowering cholesterol. I think their relative, the split yellow pea has taken the spotlight but I have to say I prefer the texture of the whole yellow pea better. When cooked, they still kind of keep their shape, as opposed to the split yellow pea that totally disintegrates. They have an earthy, creamy taste to them too.
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I recently took a trip to Santa Fe, New Mexico with my family to celebrate my father’s 70th birthday. While there, I consumed an insane amount of enchiladas and learned a lot about the local chiles. If you eat authentic New Mexican food, you will most likely at first burn your tongue off (in a good way) because the chiles are super hot, but they also have a unique earthy & fruity flavor to them. These chiles have a deep and dark reddish brown coloring to them. I loved the flavor so much, I brought back some of the special New Mexican red chile powder from The Chile Shop.
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