Last week my husband discovered an Indian produce store. Since he is just as much a curious cat as I am, he came home with a huge “cool bag” (we go grocery shopping with reusable bags that keep temperature for a couple of hours) of interesting, albeit mysterious vegetables. He expected me to make sense of them. Only one of them, a long white thing with a green leafy plume, looked somewhat familiar, and – lucky me! – he snapped a picture of it with a name, Muli. I went to my trusty Google which said, “Hey, it’s just a radish, and it’s cooked.” I’ve never heard of cooking radishes, so I went to my more than trusty – and much admired! – fellow blogger Sumith Babu of Keralas.live and asked if this radish was anything like Daikon, and if I could just treat it the same way. Sumith said that IT WAS Daikon radish. One mystery solved, and one salad in the making. For the recipe of Daikon Salad, please click here.
There was still the issue of the green leaves which I temporarily put on the side in order to figure out some other leaves. Those looked like basil, but not exactly basil, and had a purplish red tint. Cautiously, I tasted a bit of a leaf. Basil! Red basil? Wow! Google to the rescue. Apparently, it is called Holy, or Sacred Basil, and I would not presume, but will appeal to fellow bloggers who are knowledgeable to enlighten me. I figured, maybe stir-frying those Muli greens together with some of the brighter red and purplish basil leaves, plus grating some ginger and some white turmeric, also found in the “cool bag,” will make either a salad or a side dish. So I iced and salted them, like I do with all herbs and greens, and put them on the side. For a method of preserving fresh herbs, please click here.
Meanwhile, the next thing I found was a couple of dozen of miniature cucumbers. You can see how tiny they are: I am holding one, and I have really small hands. “Great, – I said, – I am pickling the whole bunch of them.” So I got my pickling jar ready, I washed them, I cut one lengthwise, as I do with Kirby cucumbers, and – surprise! They were NOT pickles; rather, they looked like miniature zucchinis. No name, of course, so I couldn’t Google, nor could I ask fellow bloggers. A quandary. Well, as I’ve already remarked, quandary is not a place where I stay for long. I made a decision to experiment. I decided to treat some of them as zucchini, and some as cucumbers. Sumith, Priya, and other experts, are you laughing your heads off now?
The first part of the experiment I, unfortunately, did not photograph. I cut about a dozen of those little green things lengthwise and stir-fried them together with Muli greens and red basil leaves, with ginger and turmeric, and some other seasoning that I will save for an actual post when I make it again and take pictures. However, the second part was truly the easiest. I generally tend to pickle every vegetable I can lay my hands on. So I pickled these babies exactly the same way I pickle everything else. For my pickling recipe, please click here. The only difference was, I decided, totally on a whim, to add maybe a quarter cup of the pink brine that I was pickling ginger in. I thought, geographically these veggies are sort of close to each other, so they should be friends. A pinkish hue and a ginger tang will only enhance whatever the final product will be.
It did. It did so well, that I never had a chance to take pictures. My husband, the curious cat, was tasting to see if they were ready, and there was only a handful of them, and they were soooo tiny…
In summary, he just brought me a couple of pounds of TINDORA, or IVY GOURD, and I am pickling the entire batch. Oh, and I pickle ginger the same way, but to make it pink and sweet, I add some beet juice, about 1/3 of the amount of water, and eliminate garlic. I did use garlic with Tindora pickles, though, and it was great. You can see the big jar of pickled Tindora in the background of my post Intrepid New World.
So guys, any ideas what to do with Tindora, other than stir fry or pickle? Who wants to do a guest post on my blog?
I thank you in advance for all your future contributions!
I’ve never managed to pickle anything. Probably because everything gets eaten too quickly. I love Indian dishes, but pickling things scares me. Eating pickled things doesn’t. This is an interesting post, I’ll explore my local Asian delicatessen more (I actually go there to buy herbs and fish for the dogs, surprise, surprise).
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If you have a sunny spot in your kitchen, just follow my recipe, and you’ll have “pickled things” ready in one day! My kitchen window is facing north which is considered a great advantage in Florida, but it lengthens the pickling time considerably.
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I’ve seen mini cucumbers but this one is different. I wonder what it really is.
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It’s not a cucumber at all, it’s a gourd. It’s called Ivy Gourd, and when I get tired of stir frying and pickling, I’ll try to do something different with them.
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😊😀😄 First off, congratulations on your intrepid explorations! The ivy gourd/ tindora/ tendli (as it’s called around my parts) should make excellent pickles. My mum used to make a slightly different version with a fenugreek, red chillies and spice paste in oil 😊 Love to do a guest post and try out this version too!
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Oh I forgot to say, you can also make a Rice Pulao dish with the gourd 😀
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Dear Priya, thank you so much! Any time you are ready with the guest post, just let me know. I am so excited to host your recipe on my blog! You might have noticed that none of my recipes are real hot and spicy, and I’ve mentioned a couple of times that I usually serve hot peppers on the side for those who like it hot. Your recipe with hot chilies will definitely fill the gap and will be much appreciated.
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I love it! I am inspired to try pickling!
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Go for it – good luck! Fermented foods are the best, especially for your daughters, but no vinegar – just boiling water and salt.
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Thanks for this. I too, doesn’t know what to make of Muli.:)
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Now I do, and I plan to experiment some more.
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We use muli to make stuffed bread and eat it with Chutney.
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Reblogged this on koolkosherkitchen and commented:
It’s a National Pickle Appreciation Day, Beautiful People, so here is a mystery for you – a Pickled Mystery! Enjoy!
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You have a lot of courage. I go to an Asian grocery store and the names are written in thai/vietnamese … I think. In any case, it’s not the Roman alphabet. So I have no way of identifying the various vegetables and herbs. And, unfortunately, the owners are rarely able to help. I keep meaning to bring a few of the bags home and check the net. 🙂
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In that store, the signs are in Roman lettering, but it doesn’t help much. However, taking pictures of both the mysterious produce and the corresponding signs enables me to come home and ask Mr Google.
But yes, I am an intrepid explorer, adventurous by nature. 😻
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Reblogged this on The Militant Negro™.
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Thank you for reblogging.
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You are so creative, Dolly – fearless in the kitchen. Obviously your husband adores challenging you, bringing home bags of mystery treats.
xx,
mgh
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My husband is just as funky and adventurous as I am – he is also from Odessa!
P.S. I am fearless not only in the kitchen, but generally in life. I believe in His Mighty Hand, so what do I have to fear?
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I figured as much!
xx,
mgh
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Thank you for reblogging.
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Could you possibly send me the link to your pickling recipe?
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With pleasure: https://koolkosherkitchen.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/pickled-grape-tomatoes/
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How much fun, discovering new produce!!
Sounds yummy!
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It is! And how are you doing, girl friend?
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Great! Thanks. I’ll be by to visit soon, promise!!
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Looking forward to it! Meanwhile, happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! 😻
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Thanks, Dolly! How was your Thanksgiving?
Ours was great! (In a Tony the Tiger voice.)
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LOL It was very nice, thank you.
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Yay!! Happy New Year!
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Same to you, girl friend!
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😀
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Use it for chutney in curries. And, it lowers blood pressure!!
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It does, I’ve noticed that.
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i meant for chutney and in curries. I always hit the “post” button too quickly. Makes me so mad, it raises my blood pressure! Hand me another tindora!
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Be happy to! They grow in our friends back yard.
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One thing is you don’t have to worry about canning them with your hubby around. Sounds like he pretty much depletes every batch with his grazing.
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You are so right! No pickles in this house ever live for canning, and I pickle something or other all the time.
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I may have told you this before, but I loved my aunt’s bread and butter pickles so much that she once gave me a jar for my birthday that was my very own that I didn’t have to share with anyone.
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This is funny – and how old were you?
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Probably 8 or so.
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And did you gobble them all up in one sitting or strech them to last a while?
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No.. I stretched them out a bit. Probably tantalizing my big sister…ha. She used to do that with Halloween candy with me, as I recall.
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What a smarty – you, not sister!
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Thank you so much for linking, dear friend!
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