As M. Teaches me all about Abukana culture, on a Friday evening, when we couldn’t figure out what take out food to get, M. Decided to make a dish. We started pulling out ingredients, with me not knowing where it’s going, but trusting the process. The chef started chopping the ingredients and asked for help when she needed. But she was very particular about how each vegetable was cut. She wanted things diced quite small, and asked me which vegetables can be eaten raw and which ones needed cooking. So I gave some inputs and then towards the end, I nudged her into adding some protein in the form of Paneer and making a salad dressing that would bring it all together. The end dish was truly stunning and we couldn’t possibly have gotten something like this from takeout. The almost five year old chef had truly created a masterpiece . So here’s the recipe:
Cut green beans into an inch long piece. Microwave with a bit of water for a minute and drain. Dice cauliflower, broccoli and carrots in about a centimeter length pieces. Clean some fiddlehead ferns. Heat olive oil, add the vegetables and sauté for 2-3 minutes with a bit of salt, until they start to cook, but still crunchy. Remove into a plate and set aside. Finely chop some lettuce, shred some cabbage and also cut some cabbage into bigger square chunks. Cut a fresh corn off the Cobb (do not cook). Rub thick cloves of paneer with salt, pepper and lemon juice and cook them until very lightly brown in olive oil. Cut into small dice. For dressing, mix whole grain mustard with salt, pepper, lemon zest, lemon juice and olive oil. Add all the veggies, paneer and basil chiffonade. Mix and eat it fresh. “This is how the people of the magical (and imaginary) land of Abu eat”. What a treat.
Comments