Sweet Saffron Rice with Currants & Pistachios, Green Beans in Yogurt-Cashew Sauce, and Pineapple & Green Peas in Almond Broth

(Meetha Kesari Bhat, Barbatti Tari Sabji, & Ananas Hari Matar Shorba)

This time, the green beans stole the show. Yum. The original recipe calls for a yogurt-poppy seed sauce, but Yamuna says either white poppy seeds or chopped cashews. I opted for the cashews to finish off my stock. The yogurt sauce was absolutely delicious, with chiles, ginger, cumin seeds, and cilantro. Fried and yummy.

The pineapple was so fresh and delicious that it was a shame to cook it. Fortunately, I learned how to cut up a pineapple from a friend while we were in Trinidad last spring. The combination with the peas was nice. A key ingredient in the broth was saffron. Blanched almonds, cashews, sesame seeds, coriander seeds, and grated coconut went into making the almond broth. Quite subtle and good.

The rice was a new favorite of mine, although it turned out much sweeter than I expected. As a result, we ate it separate rather than putting the pineapple dish with it as I had original planned. It involved three different pans. One for the rice, one for a cardamom-saffron syrup, and one for toasting almonds and raisins. A lot of work, but a delicious rice dish.

White Radishes with Pumpkin, Plantain Clusters, and Chickpea-Spinach Salad (Mooli Kaddu Foogath, Khasa Kacha Kela Bhaji, and Kabli Chana Palak Salaad)

Okay, this is a meal I made a couple of weeks ago for two colleagues while my partner was visiting family in Mexico. October 22, I believe. The star of the meal was definitely the Radish-Pumpkin dish. The fried daikon radishes (mooli) again turned out yummy. This time seasoned with ginger, cumin, black mustard, fenugreek, curry leaves, hing, cayenne, turmeric, coriander, and a new ingredient for me, amchoor. Together with the pumpkin, it was delicious.

The shredded plantain clusters tasted link fried plantain. This dish also had hing--in the form of seasoned butter. I think in the future, I'd leave that out. It just made the dish too greasy. Also, I chose a pan without nonstick coating, and they kind of stuck, despite a lot of oil. That was frustrating.

The salad was delicious. It even kept for the next day, but not beyond. Since it's a large recipe, I think in the future I will not make this salad unless it is for a very large group or as the main dish. Tasty, though, with chickpeas, celery and mustard seeds, hing, and a number of vegetables and other dressing ingredients.

The special ingredient for the evening was hing (asafetida), which turned out to be in all three dishes.