Ah, Monday, We Meet Again

[lydamorehouse]

 
image: a mess of greens, as it were, on a fancy plate.

I tried sweet potato greens. I followed this recipe: https://thewoksoflife.com/yam-leaves/.  By chance, I happened to have Shaoxing wine leftover from another dish, so I duplicated the instructions fairly faithfully. Normally, I also have sesame oil around, but turns out I'd used that up without remembering to buy more. That may have made a big difference to the taste, but maybe not.

What I decided about this dish was that it was strongly "okay." I was not blown away, but I was also not "ewww."  I did tend to prefer the leaves to the stems, even though I was clearly supposed to use both in this recipe. Perhaps I didn't cook the stems long enough, but I found them to be kind of woody/crunchy? It might be intentional to have both textures in this dish, however, since otherwise the leaves were very wilted and soft (which sounds bad, but which I found to be the yummist part.)

I saved out a few of the yam/sweet potato leaves because, in doing further research, I discovered yam leaves are used in some much more exciting looking dishes from Sierra Leone and other parts of the African continent. I watched a few videos of people making various dishes and I suspect that if I try any, I will have to go looking for palm oil. Everyone I watched seems very adamant that palm oil is essential to authentic taste.

Of course the real trick will be convincing my family to try, but both Shawn and Mason like Ethiopian food and I am hoping whatever I end up making will be enough similar that they will at least taste it. I should probably plan to make it for a lunch, though, so in case my family chickens out, I won't have too huge a pile of food with no one but me to eat it. :-)

Looking in the fridge, the only other stuff I still need to use up is the cabbage and the beets. I have plans for a big part of the cabbage tonight as we're having pork pot stickers. With whatever's left over, I'll make borscht. Unless it gets hot, in which case, I'll start looking into beet salads. But honestly, I can see why my ancestors liked beets. They keep really well. 

In other news, this is Mason's birthday week. He's turning 17 on the 24th. It seems unreal How can it be seventeen years already? But, I guess that's the funny thing about kids: they grow up. I think I reported that we finally managed to get his fancy laptop delivered. So, he's actually been enjoying his big birthday present for a week already. 

In fannish news, I've been binging Star Trek: Discovery. I just finished Season 2, Episode 5: "Saints of Imperfection."  So far, I am not as big a fan of season two as I was of the first season. HOLY CRAP I loved the first season. I emailed my friend tallgeese to say just how much that first season was my JAM.  Second season lacks some of the punch for me, I guess? At least at this point. Perhaps it will turn around. However, I will literally watch Michelle Yeoh read a grocery list. I've been a fan of Yeoh since I saw her in various Hong Kong action films, when I used to go to the midnight Asian Film series at the Riverview Theater back in the early aughts. Her character in the second season is a scenery chewer, which I adore. I only have a few more days on my free week of the CBS streaming service, so I'm going to watch what I can and then call it good enough. 

Shawn expressed interest in re-watching some of the newer Star Trek movies, so we might do that as well.

What are you all watching? Anything interesting?

Comments

[dreamshark]

Ah, that makes a little more sense. Still, I'll bet even in their home culture this is not actually considered the most edible part of that plant.

[lydamorehouse]

Maybe? But which is more edible caraway or dill?

I'm a fan of dill, but one is just the plant, the other the seeds. Humans do this a lot with plants? Eat all parts of them for the different tastes they provide. Would you feel ripped off in your CSA if you got both cilantro and coriander? I mean, I would, but only because I hate cilantro. But, see, here's what's weird, I'd be excited to see coriander.

So, I dunno. It's not that hard of a mental stretch for me to think that, yeah, if this is a food you associate with mom's best dish, you might be more excited to get it than yams? Maybe you hate the taste of yams and love the leaves?

Why is that difficult to imagine, when I can think of dozens of other foods that are exactly like this for a lot of people. Like, I have never eaten the fruit that surrounds a cashew because it's not common in America, but if I were in South America and someone offered me a cashew apple/fruit, I'd totally try it! And just because Americans would throw it away as useless, doesn't mean it's not tasty or even someone's preferred part of the plant.

I guess the difference between this and being offered carrot tops and not carrots, is that I see this is as a chance to learn something about a food? I'm more skeptical of carrot tops because when you Google them you don't hit another country's recipe list immediately like I did with yam tops.

On the other hand, I will admit that if we don't also get yams I will be sad.