Abondanza!

Abundance!  That's what we have in our garden this fall.  I trimmed the basil and parsley and there was a ton!  Several big radishes, two big butternut squashes and the swiss chard and okra are going strong and, HOORAY, my serrano peppers are smokin' hot.  So naturally I had to think of ways to use it.  I tried to make a basil chutney, but I'm not sure how I like it.  Made it with walnuts, lemon juice, serrano, and ginger.  Not the greatest, but maybe I'll pour it into some vegetable soup tomorrow.  The parsley on the other hand, that was good.  Now, I am into macrobiotic cooking and I have this favorite recipe for a tofu parsley sauce to serve over linguini that I am just addicted to.  So I took my inspiration from that and put threw some parsley, umeboshi paste (that's the macro B part), some salt and water to blend and blended gently until the parsley was just chopped fine (like a cilantro chutney).  Then I heated a good bit of olive oil and tempered some mustard seeds.  Stirred that into the parsley.  Interesting.  The parsley and umeboshi (which is salty and pungent) blend with the mellow olive oil and rich mustard seeds.  Nice with a plain papadam.  Should be good with a roti.

veggie utthapam

quick oat idli

radish and chard utthapam

macro parsley chutney

I also have been making some things from a lovely blog called Veg Inspirations (link at left).  Usha, the blogger, creates healthy innovative dishes that are just yummy.  I tried her quick oat idli.  Oh, boy.  In addition to being quick to make, with no fermentation required, they are toasty and filling, rich in healthy fiber, and just so cool.  I want to make her quinoa flaxseed utthapam this week.  I have been making utthapam this week as I fermented a nice urad dosa batter and have been using carrots, radishes, chard, and bell pepper (all except the carrots from my garden).  I love utthapam.  It's basically a thick dosa with vegetables cooked in.  So good.  Kind of like an Egg Fu Young without the egg.  I've got lots more to blog about but I need to wrap  this one up.  So, catch you on the next post.