frozen methi

so...a couple of weeks ago a good friend who was just to leave for her yearly sojourn in Singapore and India invited us over for alohas and to give a good home to her perishables, etc:

thus, I came by a package of frozen methi(fenugreek) greens

Inspired by an earlier post on Noon o Kabob and a general dearth of internet info coupled with an obvious oversight in my culinary library(no mention of such in my few Indian cookbooks)...I pose this query to the LTHforum braintrust---

what can I make featuring methi greens other than the ubiquitous potato dish whose name just now escapes me?

the methi cries out from it's cold storage crypt forever shunted further behind chicken thighs, tomato sauces, cilantro chutney, chicken stock, sassages, haagen daz, my giant ziploc of thai accoutrement, etc. etc.

okay I've got some taters(not in the freezer) that could be encouraged into an arranged marriage with the fenugreek if a worthwhile recipe bestows it's blessing

I'm sitting here with my mother in India who offers two suggestions for using up your frozen methi. Please note that typical of my mother's "recipes", these are more general directions which can be altered and adjusted to suit your taste.

Fish Methi
Any kind of firm fish (approx. 1 pound)
1 large bunch methi - chopped
garlic 3-5 cloves
2 green chilies
small handful of cilantro chopped
2 tomatoes - chopped
red chilli powder
salt

Fry fish in a few spoons of vegetable oil until golden, but not browned.
Mix all other ingredients and put on top of the fish. Cover and cook on very low heat for approx. 10 minutes. Serve.

You can use the same basic recipe with chicken.

Methi Pulao
2 cups basmati rice
1 chopped onion
2 garlic cloves - chopped
2 tomatoes - chopped
1 large handful of chopped methi
3 whole green chilies
salt
red chili powder
2 cardamoms
1 stick of cinnamon
2 cloves

Brown onion in 2 tbsp. oil. Add 1/2 glass of water. Add all the remaining ingredients except the rice. Cook, covered, over very low heat until liquid has evaporated. Uncover, stir. Add the rice and 4 cups of water. Cook as you would regular rice.

Enjoy.

I like the chutney that can be made from methi. While it's not pickled like an achar it does have a similar tangy quality that goes well with daal and rice (and a host of other foods).

I came across this recipe which was simply the first google hit. Take a browse around for others if your interested and you can hybridize them to suit your tastes.

thanks both of you

decisions, decisions

I will post my results once I'm back and decompressed from holiday visiting family(who probably wouldn't try methi...so no since in bringing it with).

okey-dokey...this is sorta directed at sazerac, but please anybody else with an opinion chime in:

I'm leaving for de sto' (in this case Potash Bros. I'm thinking...in a couple hours to procure the few fresh ingredients not on hand for Methi Murgh)

*the fish preperation appeals, but I don't see myself traveling today to source it*

...but, hey...maybe Potash(hmmm) will have something...

I've got the spices and ghee-so, mostly just the veg. components and yogurt(I'll drain the yogurt, but only for a few hours...not overnight)

the recipe I'm working from calls for fresh tomatoes...skinned and chopped

*do they have to be fresh?*

I've got frozen packs of this summer's farmer's market plum tomatoes + a micro-quantity of basil already stewed and chopped. (I use these for pasta sauces and soups)

I'm out of canned(San Marzanos in salt and citric acid)...which was my orig. thought.

it being December do I really need to buy and stew(not a problem, actually) some fresh tomatoes?

I'm probably second-guessing myself, as usual in the kitchen, but..any thoughts?

Christopher,

It's not necessary for the tomatoes to be fresh, and frozen ones don't seem to adversely affect the end-result from my experience. Do skin them though. And keep cooking & cooking until the oil separates.

Perhaps your more direct concern is that the tomatoes you have on-hand are frozen and pre-stewed with the addition of basil. I'm not sure how basil would react in this dish, but if it's an innocuous amount, I suspect it wouldn't stand up with the other flavours, and probably won't cause a problem. Sometimes these pre-packaged stewed plum tomatoes run on the sweet side though (despite any addition of sugar), and that may affect the end-result (although, you never know, it could be positive).

I think sazerac may have more enlightening comments, so I'll defer to him.

Keep us posted on the outcome.

-Nab

tatterdemalion wrote:Christopher,

It's not necessary for the tomatoes to be fresh, and frozen ones don't seem to adversely affect the end-result from my experience. Do skin them though. And keep cooking & cooking until the oil separates.

Perhaps your more direct concern is that the tomatoes you have on-hand are frozen and pre-stewed with the addition of basil. I'm not sure how basil would react in this dish, but if it's an innocuous amount, I suspect it wouldn't stand up with the other flavours, and probably won't cause a problem. Sometimes these pre-packaged stewed plum tomatoes run on the sweet side though (despite any addition of sugar), and that may affect the end-result (although, you never know, it could be positive).

I think sazerac may have more enlightening comments, so I'll defer to him.

Keep us posted on the outcome.

-Nab

my home frozen tomatoes have only a negligible amount of fresh basil(which begs the question why I even added it to begin with)...they weren't cooked with the basil

anyway...thank you and I'll post my results

again thank you all for the hints and links

I went with a chicken/methi dish:

my summer tomatoes stewed and frozen(the remaining ziploc of red plus a bag of yellow) worked fine...since I didn't actually blanch the aforementioned with basil(I just stuck some in the ziplocs to freeze as an afterthought) I removed the herb from the fruit mass

for the meat, I chose thighs(considering the relatively long cooking time for chicken)

though I would appreciate a spicier version...I took my partner's palate into consideration and dramatically-reduced the green chile/cayenne ratio:

I assume this is what is meant in sazerac's pm link in which the recipe calls for "green peppers(the small Indian kind)" & "red pepper"(for the yogurt marinade)

the end result retains a modicum of backbite, but I imagine the general profile would blossom even further when the full complement of chile is incorporated

to the methi:

wow!

what a beautiful way to showcase this green

at once subtle and elegiac compared to the sometime forthrightness of fenugreek seed

such depth and interest this dish offers as it purls across the tongue

even visually the product favorably compares with the homestyle Indian dishes I've enjoyed prepared by a friend

again, thank you

I have a new addition to my repetoire.

if there are any specific questions as to my technique or ingredients please ask

oh...I added a bit of jaggery to even out the profile(it was a tad acidic to my taste)

Methi is great with chicken (murgh, murgh) and lamb/ground lamb (aka keema, kheema)*
Methi parathas are excellent as well.

CG, since you used the recipe and it turned out maybe you can post the link (and your mods)? I pm-ed since I hadn't tried that particular recipe and didn't have the time then to explicitly go over my method (but which the linked was not far from).

Dishes like these really benefit from the long cooked green + a spark from the garnish at the end. Not unlike using parsley in an Italian tomato dish - some is added in the simmering and some at the end. And the Punjabi-style dishes are best with (canned) san marzanos .

*for those interested in search terms

Christopher Gordon wrote:oh...I added a bit of jaggery to even out the profile(it was a tad acidic to my taste)

Good call. My 'trick' when the tomatoes etc. make the dish sour, is to add a drop or two of honey. Really cuts the sour.

with pleasure(as per sazerac's pm...what follows is the concise explanation...I've combined the recipe sans attribution---which is found in the links---my contribution is any addition/subtraction noted in the text...thank you kindly for the previous research endeavors):

http://debris.demon.nl/recipes/methi_murgh.txt

instead of the dry (kasoori methi, also spelled qasoori) methi add the chopped fresh (frozen, but fresh as opposed to dried) methi with the tomatoes. Before you add the chicken, make sure that the tomatoes etc. are fully broken down - add a couple of Tbsps of water, two or three times and stir - process called bhunno-ing (see tatterdemalions post:
http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=90983#90983

Do this till the fat/oil separates from the onion, spice, tomato gravy base:

sorry...no pics...though sazerac offered two before/after vis a vis oil seperation during bhunno-ing

Then add the chicken and yogurt (I'd use 1 cup to marinate, but not add all of it to cook)- stir to mix, cover cook on low low heat (skip the stirring in link) for 1hr or so.

as posted previously, I used my fresh-frozen tomatoes(tho' canned are apparently okay)

the bhunno-ing process was forthright and worked perfectly: the introduction of tablespoons of water at this brokendown stage helped homogenize the fruit/vegetables and seperate the ghee from the aforementioned

I correctly interpreted the two recipe vagaries as green chiles and cayenne pepper, respectively

jaggery "to taste"(oh how I despise that term...but what works better?) helped, in my case, to even out the acidity of the tomatoes

I used a tad more than a cup of frozen shredded methi.

the addition of cilantro at the end isn't necessary imo tho' I pondered a "blessing" of scattered garam masala before serving

I broke down the fruit/veg mass for 1/2 an hour + bhunno-ing then introduced the yogurt-marinated chicken and cooked for a full hour