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Opinion Columns Vasundhara Chauhan

May 18, 2013 GOURMET FILES

Brave new world of vegetables

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food and dining (general) vegetarian

Those were the days when you went to a Chinese restaurant and asked them not to fill the dish with green capsicum, Simla mirch. Now you have to say Please, no red, green or yellow peppers. I know theyre pretty, theyre crunchy and add lovely texture to a starchy dish of chow mien, but please, their flavour takes over completely and you dont know whether youre eating hoisin sauce or tandoori masala. Let alone steamed fish or vegetables. But this is the way of the world. When were eating out or even at home, when were entertaining, we feel obliged to use exotic vegetables. I miss the days when party fare meant stuffing Simla mirch with qeema instead of homely potatoes or cooked urad dal. Bell peppers, Capsicum annuum , come in all colours from green, red and yellow to purple, brown and black. Apparently all green bell peppers would eventually turn red, if allowed to ripen. All red and yellow vegetables and fruit contain carotenoids, anti-oxidants and a cupful of these red and yellow sweet peppers, raw, gives us almost a hundred per cent of our daily requirement of vitamin A, and three hundred per cent of our daily requirement of vitamin C. Health benefits apart, the reason I tolerate them is because they look so lovely as someone said, theyre the C hristmas ornaments of the vegetable kingdom. Deep, vivid colour, shiny red, yellow or orange, smooth and firm, heavy for their size, firm to the touch, they look as if their vigour will add to ours. A handful of them, chopped raw in a salad, add freshness with their crisp bite. Its only the smell, strongest in the green, which I find hard to take. Unlike chillies, bell peppers arent hot. They contain negligible amounts of capsaicin, which imparts hotness to peppers. Grilling them removes the strong grassy flavour and adds sweetness. So, grilled and marinated, a bell peppers personality changes: it becomes gentle while remaining beautiful. And broccoli. Party menus meant serving early bhindi, okra, in April and gobhi, cauliflower, in September. Now it s broccoli in salads, Italian, even as a desi vegetable with turmeric, cumin and garam masala, as a side dish with chicken curry and dal makhani. But somehow I dont find broccoli offensive; apart from its heath benefits, it tastes so much like caulif lower. The other bugbear is what we do with baby corn, a cereal grain taken from very young corn (maize). Its delicious as it is, raw and sweet, in a salad; in this case, nothing can improve upon nature. But, like our clothes, we cant leave well enough alone. The succulent, crunchy little thing is ornamented and embellished in curries, batter- fried as an hors doeuvres, basically, cloaked and masked to destroy its natural taste. Its not a separate variety: its merely harvested early, while the ears are still immature and very small. Unlike mature corn, whose cob is tough and inedible, baby corn is eaten whole, cob and all. All corn produces baby corn but some seed varieties, developed specifically for baby corn, give higher yields. One of these is chose n and planted and, as soon as corn silk emerges from the ear tips or a few days after the ears are plucked off by hand. Corn matures very quickly, so the harvest of baby corn has to be timed carefully to avoid ending up with more mature corn ears. When a variety is planted to yield

common sweet or field corn, the second ear from the top of the plant is harvested for baby corn, while the top ear is allowed to mature. In both cases, the ears are tiny from 4 to 10 cm each. ROASTED BELL PEPPER SOUP (Serves 4/ Makes 6 cups) 5 red bell peppers 5 ripe red tomatoes, chopped (11/2 cups) 1 cup vegetable stock Salt Pepper Heat oven to 200C (400F). Line a baking sheet with foil, arrange bell peppers and roast them for about 45 minutes or until very tender, turning them regularly so they roast evenly. They will get charred black. Remove from oven and let cool completely. If not using oven, char peppers on an open flame, turning regularly with tongs, until blackened all around. Remove skin and seeds, and roughly cut the bell peppers. In a blender, add bell peppers, tomatoes, stock and salt to taste. Blend until smooth. Add more stock or water if you want your soup to be less thick. Serve chilled, after refrigeration, or hot, after reheating. GRILLED RED BELL PEPPERS ON BRUSCHETTA (Makes 6 pieces) 1 red bell pepper 4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped fine 2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, chopped Salt Pinch of sugar Juice of 1 lime 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil Char bell pepper over a high flame, as you would a baingan for bharta. Remove charred outer skin, cut open into halves and remove ribs and any white fragments. Slice into thin strips. Add rest of ingredients. Serve on toasted, unbuttered slices of French bread.

After charring, seal bell pepper while still hot in a large food grade polythene bag, leaving enough room for the pepper to breathe. The steam loosens the charred outer skin, making it easy to remove. In five minutes, open and wipe clean with a paper towel. Conserve flavour do not wash. Yellow bell peppers or blanched, peeled tomatoes also make appetizing bruschetta toppings. vasundharachauhan9@gmail.com Keywords: Gourmet Files column, Vasundhara Chauhan, bell peppers, bell peppers recipe RELATED NEWS

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