When you know where to look, each season nature provides a generous spread of tasty treats ripe for the picking, the bounty is among its abundance.
Vegetables which are the most underrated can at times be the most flavourful if the right amount of techniques, and building up the flavour profile are followed; we might sure surprise ourselves.
With a team which is blessed being the hardcore herbivores, its a easy fit, Mythrayie iyer loves to play with flavour profiles, what I realised when I tasted the first course she created, she had a natural knack of building those profiles with ease, something which is quite common could be turned exotic by simple manipulation of the recipes.
Spices give us the edge in-terms of enhancement, at times its just not one spice, its a collective amalgamation of techniques and ingredients, Its about the constant understanding of the byproducts what each raw material can bring forth to the dining table,
When raw, a good aubergine tastes like a bland, sweet apple; cooked, it transforms into something which is very savoury.Frying aubergines lends them a wonderful creaminess, that is particularly lovely, sprinkled with sweet warming spices. Stewed or roasted they take on a musky quality which works well with salty ingredients; and when you rub them with mustard oil and cook them over a bit of charcoal it opens up another corridor or uncertainty, every vegetable has that unique access that would open down a path of bewilderment.
The gourd family is of no exception, the pure culinary value of gourds can seem slight, yet they exist if one takes the trouble to cook them carefully , which usually means not drowning them with spices. Ridge gourd, as it happens, stands up to spices better than most mainly because one of the main benefits it brings to cooking is texture. That rigid skin, which snaps in two so easily (or should, if the gourd is fresh), has the ability to stay firm in cooking, without becoming tough or chewy, which adds an interesting textural variety.
Harnessing something which is considered basic can be an interesting component in the case of appreciating an underrated vegetable, the fact they are underrated is a sorry cause, if enhanced something which is so basic could leave you surprised.
In Pictures -
1.Ridge Gourd with sauces like fermented pumpkin, fenugreek etc.
2. Ridge gourd with Drumstick leaves and "Farmlore" greens.