3/ FAMILY MEALS

I would like to share, this week, an article about food but also about how food is more than “food.” Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/magazine/22Food-t-001.html?ref=magazine

And here's a recipe:

PUNJABI GREENS

I’ll bet Michael and I have made this recipe from Madhur Jaffrey’s World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking a hundred times (she calls it “Mustard Greens or Broccoli Rabe, Cooked in the Punjabi Style”). Each mixture of greens tastes slightly different, and they're all wonderful. But you need the spinach to make it smooth. Broccoli rabe is available here through the entire winter, so we can eat fresh, intense greens all year long.

1 lb. broccoli rabe or other bitter greens (mustard, turnip, dandelion)
½ to 1 lb. spinach
½-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled
½-1 fresh hot green chile (a jalapeño is good)
2-3 T. canola oil
2 T. cornmeal (stone ground, if possible)
1 t. salt

Trim leaves and flowers from broccoli rabe stems and wash them. De-stem the spinach and wash. Chop them coarsely and bring to a boil with 1 c. water in a large pot. Cover, lower the heat, and cook for about 15 minutes, or until greens are tender.

Put the ginger, seeded green chile, and ¼ c. water into a blender or food processor and whir them together. Add the drained, cooked greens, though it doesn’t hurt if a little of the cooking water ends up in the blender. Blend the greens until you have a smooth-ish paste. Add more water if necessary or blend in 2 batches.

Meanwhile, in a heavy, shallow pot, heat the oil over a medium-low flame. Add the cornmeal and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring all the time. Do not allow it to turn brown. The cornmeal should thicken the oil, like a kind of mush. Now add ¼ c. water and stir for another ½ minute. Turn the heat to low and add the blended greens a little at a time, to minimize hot splashes, and the salt. Cook just enough to heat everything through, and add more water if necessary to keep the greens from sticking.

Serve with any Indian meal. A simple combination is Punjabi Greens, brown basmati rice, and broiled tofu, with or without a fresh chutney.

—Jane