Having fun with turnips :)

Thats right-i have always had fun with turnips :). Though my concept what makes "fun" in this case has changed over the years. As a child, i would have it raw, but never cooked! but mostly the fun part came from playing catch n' throw with turnips :)), and later, by helping out with drying the turnip slices for making dried vegetable garlands (meant for storage: read Anita's post for more fun info). And the most fun part was saying the Punjabi name for this vegetable "Gonglu" :). Its also known as Shalgham (Punjabi and Hindi), but Gonglu sounds fun, doesn't it! Say it again, yeah-GONGLU :).



Over the years, i learnt to appreciate different vegetables (and life's come a full circle-its my friends children now, who make face while eating different vegetables).

Turnips haven't been given their due in popular cuisine (i mean restaurant cuisine)-just imagine how popular turnips would have been if there were some dishes like makhni shalgham or shalgham butter masala :)). But home style Indian cuisine(s) do value turnips-sample Kashmiri cuisine (pings Anita) and Punjabi food e.g. Today, i'll share two traditional Punjabi recipes using turnips. They are both very simple to make, sans any frills.

Bur before we start, we must ensure that we use only fresh turnips. As they age, turnips accumulate very hard fiber. If you are having difficulty chopping them, then you would rather use them for making baked crunchies (Jugalbandi). I often face disappointments while searching for the freshest turnips!

Recipe 1: Gonglu-Aloo di sabzi (Turnips and potatoes)
We need:

• Two-three fresh turnips
• One-two potatoes
• 1/4 red onion-chopped
• 1 tomato-chopped (optional)
  
• Jeera
• Salt, turmeric and red chillies
• Oil (1 tbsp.)
• A pinch of sugar
• Lime/lemon juice
• A tsp. ghee
  

Heat oil in a pot-splutter jeera, saute' onions and add tomatoes and cook. Now add turmeric and red chillies. Add chopped shalgham and potatoes. Mix and add suffiecient water to cover. Bring to boil on high heat. Now cover the pot and cook on low heat till the turnips are tender. Add a pinch of sugar, lime/lemon juice and we are good to go! NO GARAM MASALA!


Serve with hot chapatis and pickle, after topping the sabzi with just a lil' bit of ghee (the 1 tsp. is for the whole pateela/pot) :). It also goes rather well with rice or pulaav/ I had this with pulaav (jeera, spring onions, peas and carrots) and home-made green chillies pickle. Tomatoes are optional, infact traditionally not included, but like the color, so i add them.



Recipe 2: Ghotvein ('n' nasal) gonglu: Mashed and gravied turnips

Almost the same ingredients, but no tomatoes and potatoes at all. Omit onions too, if you want-it would still taste divine. Just slow cook them and keep mashing as you stir inbetween cooking. Instead of one pinch of sugar, add more sugar, chopped red/green chillies (i had the ones that turned red), lemon juice and serve after drizzling with ghee.


THIS IS THE GONGLU RECIPE :).

The first recipe is to entice and convert turnip non-eaters (potatoes invite even the fussiest of kids-am talking based on how i became a shalgham fan) and the second one is YUM anyway!

PS: Almost all my cooking uses one tbsp (sometimes even 1tsp.) oil without compromising the taste-so a ghee drizzle (1/4 tsp. or less; only for aroma) isn't too bad.

I'll be back with: Ghiya kaddu vali chholyaan di daal (Ghia-chane ki daal).