Nepalese style Okra and Jerusalem Artichokes

It is Ramadan and I am fasting, and thus eating a large meal at the end of the day. I went grocery shopping last week, being fairly judicious about what I bought because it is easy to have eyes bigger than my belly right now. There is only so much I can eat in one meal. And though frozen okra was not on my list (I had never even had it), frozen peas were. So while getting them, I saw that frozen okra was a thing, and in fact were on sale, 3 packages for $5. Friends, I am so happy to have stumbled across this find, because frozen okra is DELICIOUS. At least how I cooked it tonight. 

There is a particular dish I love from Gorkha Palace that is okra with potatoes. Upon dreaming about what I most wanted for dinner, I thought of that dish. My version uses jerusalem artichokes and green onions, because the latter are majestically upright in the garden bed, and the former are nestled amidst all the softening earth from the winter freeze. This turned out AMAZING. I combined a couple of online recipes because I wasn't sure how frozen okra would cook (they bake and crisp up really well - so for a faster dish, this easy-bake frozen okra dish is a winner). I also added some Panch Phoron spice that I'd mixed together last summer. I think those spices really kicked it up a notch (and were more like Gorkha Palace's dish), but it would still be good without. I will put this dish into regular rotation, it was so tasty. AND I'm trying to grow my own okra this year, so we'll see how that goes?!

This is my adapted recipe, based on this fairly simple online recipe. Serves 2, unless you are fasting and are eating extra, in which case you could eat all of this yourself! *I would like to try just adding the frozen okra to the skillet, but I wasn't sure if that would work. So instead I created an extra step - a bit tedious, but it worked.

• 1 bag frozen okra
• 2 T olive oil
  
• 1-2 jerusalem artichokes, diced (or use a smaller potato)
  
• 4-5 green onions, chopped (or use 1/2 a red onion, diced)
• 3 T coconut oil (or avocado oil)
• 1 tsp Panch Phoron spice 
  
• garlic clove, minced
• small jalapeno, minced
• 1 tsp turmeric, divided
  
• 1 tsp chili flakes (or 1/2 tsp cayenne), divided
  
• cilantro to garnish (opt - I totally forgot about this! I had some!)

1.  Turn oven to 450 degrees. In a cake pan/rimmed cookie sheet, combine 2 T olive oil with 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp chili flakes, and salt. Add the bag of frozen okra and stir to coat each of the pices. (It will not coat them all, that is fine.) Bake for 30 minutes in the oven, stirring and flipping them halfway through. They will brown and get nice and crispy. Yum. (You could just stop here and have only okra. But keep going and things will get even better!)
   
2. While okra bakes, prep your other ingredients. Heat oil in a wok over high heat; add jerusalem artichokes and stir-fry for about 5-8 minutes, until browning on the edges (stir often). Add white part of green onions, and Panch Phoron spices, stirring often.
   
3. Add garlic, jalapeno, and remaining 1/2 tsp of turmeric and chili pepper flakes. Stir fry for a minute or two, then add onion greens and crispy okra from the oven. Toss together and serve.
   

Smashed Sunchokes

The past days and weeks have felt rife with turmoil, grief and rage around this other  pandemic of black trauma and racism. Something shifted after the killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and again with image after image of police violence against protesters demanding justice. None of it is new of course, but things that once seemed far away (police abolition, white people en mass reckoning with our racism and continued systems of enslavement) are beginning to happen, and it is a new feeling for me to have so much hope and possibility amidst the trauma.

Near the George Floyd Memorial on 38th Street & Chicago Ave

Last weekend my friend and I finally got to cook our goat leg, and we also watched the entire 2nd season of Ramy, released last Satuday, as some balm and distraction from the helicopters overhead and the knocks on the door from neighbors checking to make sure we were aware of the protocols to prevent the white supremacists from burning our garages and trash cans here in south Minneapolis. It was a heartbreaking week. The season of Ramy was excellent, with its exploration of faith, racism, and homophobia centered around the main character Ramy, who in his search for himself, meaning & intimacy, also hurts people and lies in earnest. I cringed a good half of the time in recognition and angst.

Today I made some smashed sunchokes, harvested last month. It is feeling good to be eating things from my own yard right now. These turned out really good - I ate a full half batch. It seemed to work best to choose sunchokes of about the same size, and I didn't change the recipe from Serious Eats at all. I am learning that sunchokes and melted butter are a stellar combo. Yum.

Smashed Sunchokes (aka Jerusalem Artichokes)
1 pound sunchokes, rinsed and trimmed of any dark spots
Kosher salt
1 1/2 tablespoons oil/cooking fat
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Large pinch freshly picked thyme leaves
Flaky salt, such as Maldon, for serving

1. In a medium saucepan, cover sunchokes with 1 inch cold water. Season generously with salt (the water should taste nicely salted, as if you were seasoning soup). Set over high heat and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to maintain a gentle simmer. Cook until paring knife inserted into a sunchoke meets little resistance, about 10 minutes; be careful not to overcook.

2. Drain sunchokes using fine-mesh strainer or colander. When cool enough to handle, place sunchokes on work surface or cutting board. Working 1 sunchoke at a time, use the bottom of a heavy skillet to press firmly on each sunchoke until it is flattened but not still in one piece; take care not to press so hard that the sunchokes break apart. 

3. In a large cast iron skillet, heat oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add sunchokes in a single layer and cook without moving until well browned, about 3 minutes. Flip sunchokes, then add butter to the pan and allow to melt. Add half of thyme to the melted butter and continue to cook, spooning butter over sunchokes, until browned on the second side, about 3 minutes longer.

4. Transfer sunchokes to a serving plate and spoon the thyme butter on top. Garnish with remaining freshly picked thyme leaves and sprinkle with flaky salt. Serve immediately.

Pan Sauteed Jerusalem Artichokes with Balsamic and Butter

I dug up all of my jerusalem artichokes this weekend and was very happy to be digging in the dirt. Yay for garden produce! Since they are the first harvest of the year (excluding thyme and rosemary), I decided to make a "fancy recipe" to eat them for breakfast. This quickly became my fave way to eat jerusalem artichokes. They are crispy and browned on the outside and soft in the middle, and the tang of the balsamic is sweet with all the butter. And then some crispy rosemary?! Yum.

The recipe is from Bon Appetit, which was for double the amount that I list below. I ate about half of my recipe, which would be a larger portion for 2, or would serve 4 as a smaller side dish. *Note that jerusalem artichokes have a lot of inulin, which while highly sought after for microbial gut health, can cause some gastrointestinal discomfort (all your gut bacteria eating up the inulin) for some people. If you have never had them, it is a good idea to start with a smaller amount to see how you do. I ate all of these up with minor discomfort. I always wonder how different cooking methods affect the inulin; some places say that boiling for 15 mins removes much of it, which could be true because last spring I pureed some after boiling them, and noticed no affects at all?!

Other than amounts, I didn't change anything about the recipe. The balsamic I used was from a small jar of stuff I was gifted that was a lemon balsamic, so it was not dark like a usual balsamic vinegar.

 

Jerusalem Artichokes with Balsamic and Butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pound small Jerusalem artichokes (sunchokes), scrubbed, quartered

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 sprigs rosemary

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 tablespoons aged balsamic vinegar

1. Heat oil in a large skillet, preferably cast iron (you’ll need a lid), over medium-high heat. Add Jerusalem artichokes and ¼ cup water and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until Jerusalem artichokes are fork-tender, 8–10 minutes.

2. Uncover skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until water is evaporated and Jerusalem artichokes begin to brown and crisp, 8–10 minutes longer; transfer to a platter.

3. Add rosemary and butter to skillet and cook, stirring often, until butter foams, then browns, about 4 minutes.

4. Remove skillet from heat and stir in vinegar, scraping up any browned bits. Spoon brown butter sauce and rosemary over Jerusalem artichokes.

Melting the butter with the rosemary

Blog return: GF Sunchoke latkes

I have made all kinds of interesting things lately, and decided to return to blog posting in order to have a recipe compilation location. And because it is fun!!

I harvested my sunchokes in May I think, and still have a drawer-full in my fridge that I am finally turning back to. There were so many other veggies there for awhile! Now, I am lamenting the end of my greens. I made these latkes this morning that were delicious: nutty from the sunchokes, with carrot and potato mixed in. I free-formed the recipe a bit, modeled after this one from an internet search. I am listing the amounts, but obviously vegetable sizes differ. It seems forgiving.

The addition of rosemary and onion are thanks to my friend, self-dubbed the "resident jew," who was here for breakfasting.

Sunchoke-Carrot Latkes - made 15

4 sunchokes
2 golden potatoes
3 carrots
1/3 c oat flour (ground oats)
2 tsp salt (or to taste)
2 eggs
Black pepper
1/2 small red onion, minced
1 T fresh rosemary* chopped
*or try tarragon or thyme
4-6 T Coconut oil for frying


1) Grate or shred carrots, sunchokes, and potatoes. Use a medium sized box grater, or if you have a special grater, use that. I have an old 1970s one like this in the middle right/lower left:

2) Mix all ingredients in a large bowl by hand.

3) Heat a large cast iron skillet on medium-high, and add some coconut oil. When pan is hot, form thin palm-sized pancakes. Fry for 4-5 minutes on each side until crispy. Keep warm in oven until all are made.

We had these with fried eggs and salad. I neglected to consider sriracha at the time, but that would be delicious (as noted in aforementioned recipe source, with poached eggs).