As for that article–it sounds like a book I read but didn’t review, because I thought it was kind of weird–but cool, but weird.

I am glad you are enjoying the archives–there is a lot of stuff in there that is fun, and I hope that you enjoy some of the recipes, too.

Happy Holidays!

I’ve been scanning through your archives today looking for an article, I think it was here I first read it, about a guy who tried to eat only food he produced in his own yard on summer. My memory of the article was that he was just looking of an angle and the way he conducted the experiment was terribly stupid. However, reading through the archives has been wonderful! Your love of cooking and local food shines through on every page.

I’m commenting here because kale is all I have left in my garden. Even under the snow and ice it still lives and when the weather warms for a day or two I can run out and harvest a few handfuls. Post freeze kale is so sweet and mild, cooking up softer and less leathery than summer kale.

Being in northeast Ohio, Youngstown, I wanted to see how kale would do, so I bought a mixture of Siberian kale seeds for last summer’s garden. They grew quite well, survived the summer’s drought, had very few insect problems (unlike the Swiss Chard which looked like lace all summer long) and have survived through mid December.

Happy Holidays,
John

One really exciting new ingredient (for us, anyway) was added to the Indian version and it is all due to you, Barbara. Because of your review of it, we were reading Shoba Narayan’s “Monsoon Diary”. We saw that she often called for dry frying about 1 Tbsp urad dahl at the beginning of some of her dishes. WHAT a great addition to greens!! We love the nutty taste and the lovely slightly crunchy texture that the dahl adds to greens.

And now I’m really intrigued about pappula podi and will scurry over to Indira’s site to read more.

-Elizabeth

-Elizabeth

The greens prepared in this way look great. This is how we prepare a curry with greens often and the standard method for many greens like spinach, fenugreek etc.

I am really glad to hear that you prepared another batch of spicy powder. The recipe is a traditional one and all the credit goes to good looking, great tasting pappulu.:)

Another use for this powder is sprinkle some on dosas. Along with potato curry, pappula podi is also added in Mysore masala dosas. Lip smacking good. And it is often used to make gravy/sauce for for vegetables like chayote and bottlegourd etc.

Happy cooking Barbara!

For one or two dishes–this is good for two or three folks.

If you are really hungry and eating it with just rice, this will feed one person.