Friday, November 7, 2014

Swiss Chard and Potato stir-fry


My friend has a vegetable patch and she was kind enough to share some of her garden grown beans and greens. The beans were so fresh and sweet, I ended up eating them raw. But I wasn't sure what to do with the Swiss Chard, so I asked her for a recipe. She told me to blanch it and eat; to get the real flavor and of course it's the easiest preparation. I tried that and liked it so much that, I bought and tried different recipes with it many times this summer. This is one of the many recipe tryouts :)

Ingredients
Swiss Chard, a bunch
Potatoes, 5 small
Roasted Cumin seeds crushed, 1/2 tsp
Cooking Oil(I use Canola oil), 1 tsp
Mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp
Dry Red Chillies, a few
Salt, to taste

Cooking
Rinse the Swiss Chard  thoroughly and dry it in a colander. After the excess water drains out, cut the stems apart from the greens and give it a rough chop. Then chop the stalks into smaller pieces than the greens. Boil water in a big pot. Add the stalks to the water first, after two minutes add the greens. Let it boil for another 5 minutes then blanch it in the cold water or running water. Set it aside. Boiling and blanching will get rid of that mild bitterness of the Chard. And it can be used in different preparations as well as in salads at this stage.

Boil the potatoes till fork tender. When it's cold enough to handle, peel it and cut into small pieces.

In a nonstick pan heat some oil and add in the mustard seeds and the dry red chillies. Wait till the mustard seeds stops popping. Then add the Potatoes and cook it till turns golden brown on sides. This should take about 5 minutes. Then add the Swiss Chard and cook for another 5 minutes, stiring in between. Finally add the salt and the roasted/crushed cumin seeds. Stir with the spatula to mix these in, then switch off the heat.

Goes well with Steamed rice or flat bread.

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