My taste of Indian Cuisine, Part 3 – Indian Style Beetroot

I grow a lot of my own vegetables. It’s a great feeling being able to pop out into the garden to pick some peas or runner beans. One of the vegetables that I grow is beetroot. There are two reasons for this:-

• They’re easy to grow
• I like them pickled

(image courtesy of digmyplot.co.uk)

Now, my husband does not like pickled beetroot and this really does cause a problem for me when I have bumper crop. I do give away loads to the in-laws, who are probably too polite to decline my generous offers. And I do make a rather nice chutney with them. But, again I’m the only one who likes beetroot cooked this way. You can see my dilemma. I had to come up with a way to cook all my beetroot that we would both enjoy.

Now, we both really love Indian food and every now and then I will cook up a variety of dishes that we tuck into whilst watching a good film. One of these dishes is a rather nice Indian Style Cauliflower dish. So last year, I decided to experiment a bit.  Instead of cauliflower as the main ingredient I decided to try some of my massive crop of beetroot. It was a taste sensation (my husband’s words, not mine),  the sweetness of the beetroot works really well with the zing of the spices!

I have found that my Indian style Beetroot will go with a variety of different Indian meals. However, it really does go well with my version of Chicken Korma and Mushroom Pulao rice.

This dish is part three of four that will make up an entire meal. The final part is Chapatis, written by a guest writer!

Method

Heat the oil in a large pan, I use a wok.

Add the onion and fry until soft.

Add the tomatoes. Stir in the garlic and ginger with the cumin, coriander, turmeric, cayenne pepper, dried crushed chilli and sugar (I add the sugar because it brings out the flavour of the tomatoes). Bring the mixture to the boil.

Add the beetroot. Reduce the heat and simmer gently until the beetroot is cooked (about 10 -15mins). The length of cooking time will depend on how thick you have cut your beetroot wedges. So, don’t panic if it takes a little longer to cook than my guidelines.

Add the salt to suit your personal tastes. Stir in the Garam Masala and serve.

We like this dish both hot and cold. Plus, if you’re like me and make too much, you will be pleased to know that it really does freeze well. If you are not too keen on very spicy food, I suggest you leave out the Chilli and Cayenne pepper. It will still be delicious but, less fiery.