Today is a backyard-to-table kind of day, that is, I harvested whatever I could from the garden and put it together as a simple dish.  With both of us traveling, we haven’t had a chance to visit the Farmer’s Market  of late.  I am sure with the recent high temps, summer produce has started to appear and I can’t wait to go next week.

 

 

Personally, I am not a fan of hot weather, but I hope my peppers are happy and do well.  I usually do not have much luck with growing peppers  in containers as I lack enough space to put them in the ground.   Yet, I desperately try every year, because peppers notoriously appear on the Dirty Dozen list almost every single year.

 

 

Today when I went out in to the backyard I was able to dig up quite a few potatoes that were hiding just below the surface and I also harvested a bunch of greens.  As a bonus, potatoes and spinach also appear on the Dirty Dozen list consistently.  Which means, growing them in the backyard sans any pesticides makes a whole lot of sense!

I have talked about the greens that I harvested in detail in an earlier post which contained a recipe for Leafy Greens with Lentils.  The greens are called sessile joyweed.  Having survived this past winter in a pot outdoors, beautiful new shoots with bright green leaves have appeared at the onset of warm weather.  Again, similar to the recipe for Leafy Greens with Lentils, spinach or chard can be substituted for joyweed in the below recipe as well.

Recipe for Potatoes with Greens Curry

[Printable Recipe]

Serves 3-4 as a side dish

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp carom seeds / ajwain (you can find this in an ethnic Indian grocery store.  If you don’t have carom seeds, feel free to use cumin seeds).
• 5-6 medium potatoes, washed well and cut in to bite-sized pieces
• 3 cups leafy greens, thoroughly washed, drained and chopped  (I used sessile joyweed but spinach or chard or amaranth leaves would work wonderfully as well)
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp red chili powder (depending on whether you want it spicy or not)
• 1/4 tsp coriander powder
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan.  When the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds.  When the mustard seeds start to sputter, lower the heat and add the carom or cumin seeds.
• Add the potatoes, turmeric and salt to taste.  Pan fry on low to medium heat until golden brown and cooked (pierce with a knife to check)
• Add the washed leafy greens on top of the potatoes, close with a lid, lower the heat and let it cook.  The moisture from washing the greens should be sufficient and there is no need to add water.

 

 

• After around 10 mins, check if the greens are cooked otherwise let it cook for 5-10 mins more
• When the greens have wilted and cooked down, add the chili powder and coriander powder, and more salt if needed for taste and mix
• Serve as a side dish with white rice or rotis

 

A simple homemade meal with produce from the backyard on a lazy Sunday morning was just what we needed after all the travel and erratic eating.