A Light Spring Soup With Buttermilk Biscuits!

   This is a story about Nettles. Once upon a time, not too long ago, if somebody mentioned nettles to me I automatically thought Wicked Stepmother, Fairy Tales, The Brothers Grimm. Nettles were something that wicked Queens made you eat, or sleep on, or wear, or gather or something like that. After all Nettles have a first name too, and it's STINGING! So yeah, if somebody (Paula Wolfert) is telling me they're good to eat, that's a leap of faith. Why not just boil up a porcupine and be done with it?

   My main experience with nettle involved the old fairy tale The Wild Swans. I had a comic book about it as a kid. It seems these guys (Princes of course) got bewitched and turned into birds, and so this Princess who was either their sister or their girlfriend or whatever, had to go gather nettles in the field and spin them into cloth in order to make clothes for these swans and then put the clothes on the swans before they flew away in order to turn them back into her brothers, or her dates or whatever.

   In the story, he turns out like this

In reality he'd probably look more like this.

   But I digress. Stinging Nettles aren't just for avian clothing anymore, if they ever were. People all over the world have been eating nettles for eons. I'm just late to the game, but better late than never. Nettles are one of the signs of Spring in the Farmers Market. This inexpensive weed is rich in vitamins and flavorful. In fact nettles are similar to spinach or sorrel in taste and the only difference is that certain precautions have to be followed when preparing them. They don't call them stinging for nothing.

   In fact Wikipedia has this to say about them:

   The leaves and stems are very hairy with non-stinging hairs and also bear many stinging hairs (trichomes), whose tips come off when touched, transforming the hair into a needle that will inject several chemicals: acetylcholine, histamine, 5-HT (serotonin), moroidin, leukotrienes, and possibly formic acid. This mixture of chemical compounds cause a painful sting or paresthesia from which the species derives its common name.
  
   So then how does the smart nettler deal with the sharp hairy little buggers? With plain old medical gloves that's how!

   

Weirdly enough, while processing them I felt less like this:

And more like this:

But at $2.00 a bag I was sold. After all where else could I get such an inexpensive, easy, seasonal soup? If you're lucky enough to have nettles at your local market or in your garden don't be afraid to try them, and if you don't, spinach or watercress will do just as well.

Spring Nettle Soup

Here's What You Need: 

1/2 lb Stinging nettles
2 tsps salt
1 onion finely chopped
2 Tbs olive oil
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1/4 cup basmati rice, or 1 lb peeled diced boiling potatoes
1/2 cup sour cream

Here's What To Do: 

Boil a pot of water add in the 2 tsp of salt.

When the water is boiling toss in the nettles.

To avoid any sort of rash or getting stung, make sure that you wear some sort of gloves whenever handling the nettles, even after cooking them.

Boil the nettles for about 1 to 2 minutes, so that they soften.
Drain them in a colendar.

Run cold water over them.

Trim off the stems, and chop the nettles. It's okay to remove your gloves now.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a pot and toss in the chopped onion.

Saute the onion in the pot until it's turned translucent.
Add in the rice.

And the chicken or vegetable broth.

Add in the  cooked nettles.

Bring everything to a boil then turn the heat down to medium low, slap a lid on things and let it all cook for about 15 to 20 minutes until the rice or potatoes are soft.
Put the soup in a food processor or use an immersion blender and puree everything.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.
 Decorate with a bit of sour cream or yogurt and serve it up.

There it is. The sting but not the taste taken out, guaranteed to turn any old goose into a Prince.
But what would soup be without butter milk biscuits? Alone, is what it would be, at least at my house. So follow this link to my  Buttermilk Biscuits Recipe

   This is what you'll find.

   So, there you have it, a quick Spring fix, courtesy of the Farmers Market. Coming up next more seasonal Indian cooking and something extra. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Spicy Tamarind Sambar, A Dal Soup Easy and Perfect With Any Meal

   When I was preparing the menu for my Foodbuzz 24x24 pongal feast, I had one step that was easy. I knew that no matter what I had on the menu, one dish was an absolute must in any South Indian meal, and that was a sambar. This spicy dal soup is an essential part of any festive occasion. The great thing about sambars is that they make up really, really quickly. They also keep well and can be made ahead of time which saves on the work involved. This was a good thing since I was chasing all around Sonoma County looking for more exotic ingredients and stuffed velvet mini-elephants.
   Over the years, I've made variations on this basic dish, but there are two things that always make a sambar: Tamarind and toor dal. Well, actually three things, the third being Sambar Powder. Can't have the sambar without the powder that adds the necessary spice and flavor.
   Sambar powder is sort of like curry powder or garam masala. There are many variations and you can buy it ready made. However it's really easy to make a batch up yourself and then store it in an airtight jar in your spice cabinet, so why not do that? I always keep a supply of old jars around the house for just such a purpose. Paula gave me that hint. Run them through the dishwasher to make sure they're clean and they're perfect for labeling and storage of anything you desire.
    So for starters here's how to make a basic sambar powder that works well with Spicy Tamarind Sambar.

Tamarind Sambar

 Sambar Powder
 In a heavy skillet (I use cast iron) heat 1 Tbs of vegetable oil.
 When the oil is hot toss in:
 1 cup of dried red chilies
 Stir them around for about 2 to 3 minutes. They'll darken a bit and turn fragrant. Set them aside in a bowl for later. Wipe the skillet clean of oil.
  In the skillet dry-toast the following spices separately until they turn color and put off a strong scent. As each one is finished set it aside in the bowl with the red chilies.
  3/4 cup of coriander seeds
  2 Tbs of cumin seeds
  3/4 Tbs of fenugreek seeds
  3/4 Tbs of black peppercorns
  3/4 Tbs of brown mustard seeds
  1 tsp of chana dal
 1 tsp of toor dal
 1 tsp of poppy seeds
 1 large stick of cinnamon
 A few (3 or 4) curry leaves
  After all these spices are toasted, put them together in a blender or food processor along with 1 tsp of turmeric (untoasted) and grind it up to a fine powder. Store it in an airtight jar in your spice cabinet.   Bingo, there's the sambar powder!

Now to make a Spicy Tamarind Sambar.

   Soak  two pieces of tamarind, each the size of a lemon, in 4 cups of hot water for about 15 minutes. The thing about tamarind is that it seems to be very gettable, Back in the day, I used to buy it in hard blocks that contained the seeds and it was rather a chore to prepare. Recently I found blocks of seeded, dried tamarind in my local Asian market. Break off a piece, place it in the hot water and then strain the tamarind soaking water into another bowl, getting as much liquid out of the tamarind chunk as possible.
 Set the tamarind juice aside and toss out the pulp.
 In a heavy skillet or kadhai heat about 4 Tbs of sesame oil .
When the oil is hot toss in:
 4 dried red chilies
 2 tsp of brown mustard seeds
 1 tsp of fenugreek seeds
   When the mustard seeds start to pop add iin:
 2 tsp of toor dal
 2 tsp of chana dal
 2 tsp of urad dal
 A few curry leaves

Stir this all around and saute it until the dal starts to turn a light, toasty color.
 Add in:
 12 peeled and lengthways chopped challots.

 Saute them for a few minutes and then add in:
 6 tsps of Sambar Powder

  Saute for another minute or so and then pour in the tamarind soaking water

 4 Tbs of jaggery (or dark brown sugar if you can't find that).
 Salt to taste

 Put a lid on the pan and simmer it for about 10 minutes or so, until the shallots are tender.
While that's cooking in a small bowl, mix together into a smooth batter:
  4 Tbs of chickpea flour
  1 cup of water
 Add the batter to the sambar and bring it to a boil. Boil it for about 2 minutes. Serve it hot with rice and a couple of other vegetable dishes .

   This dish is a winner on a lot of fronts. Not only is it vegetarian, it's gluten free and vegan also. Plus it's delicious. So delicious that your guests/family will never realize they're getting something healthy.
 There are a lot of variations on Sambar recipes and I'll be showing a few more in the next few weeks, a perfect dish for a Meatless Monday, any day of the week.