competition: mint, mint, mint!
inspired by all the weekend herb bloggers, i bought myself a mint plant a few months ago. and now it's grown so well and is giving me so much but i haven't plucked a single leaf as yet!
please help me use up some of my mint soon. i'm calling for all your suggestions for what i should make with the mint i have on hand.
i'll be giving away a fun cookbook to the winning entry. i will pick the most interesting recipe that uses more than a few mint leaves.
deadline for entries: wednesday, june 21
can't wait to see your ideas!
posted by lulu at 9:15 am
14 Comments:
Mint is great as a salad leaf - Nigella has a couple of good recipes. In the summer we often make a broad bean/feta/mint salad, sometimes with the addition of quinoa to bulk it up. You need the youngest fresh broad beans, otherwise use frozen. For two people you need two big handfuls of mint leaves, chopped, one packet of feta, chopped into cubes, the zest of one lemon, a tablespoon ish (more like a splash) of olive oil, the juice of the lemon, a grinding of pepper (the feta should add the salt), about four cups of broad beans, and two cups of cooked quinoa if you're going to use it. Mix it all together, let it steep in the fridge for an hour or so (although it's pretty good hot as well).
two things you can do. make a habit of plucking fresh mint leaves and drop them into your boiled tea water. allow the mint to get soaked in the tea and then add little milk and sugar.it has therapeutic value.
and of course the mint chutney.
recipe:
take 2 bunches of mint leaves.2 bunches of coriander leaves.
fry separately in 1 tablespoon of oil the following:
3 teaspoons urid dal
5 tea spoons red chilli
2 green chillies
1 teaspoon mustard
1/2 teaspoon asfoetida powder
1 lemonsize ball of tamarind
grind the leaves and the above ingredients to a rough paste. add sufficient water and salt to taste and grind to a fine paste.
serve with hot rice,dosas and vadas.
and add more red chillies if you like it hot.
Hi Lulu..am gonna suggest one of my fave mint dishes: pudina chawal! Together with coriander and peas it's abs refreshing, & light to boot!
U'll need-
To grind to a paste:
A bunch each of mint & coriander leaves
6-7 green chillies (I like it hot!)
1 tsp jeera
In a tsp of oil, toast a generous tsp of jeera. Saute finely chopped garlic & onions & add the required amt of the paste. Fry for a few minutes, then add a cup of boiled peas. Let the peas soak in the mint-coriander flavour. It gets appetizingly aromatic at this point, when u add the rice, salt & mix everything together.
The 'greeen' rice is a visual treat. And the best part..the paste can be frozen & used later w/o any loss of flavour.
Hope u try & enjoy it!
Hey Lulu,
Had a lot to catch up on on your site!
I was going to post this on my site (will be up and running soon), but thought I'd share it with you. You have to like green olives for this recipe. I had this pasta in NY years ago and wrote down what I thought I tasted when I got home. Other thing is that I usually never measure when I cook (which is probably why I rarely bake), so I've used approximate measurements below, and you'll probably have to convert to metric....
Green Olive and Mint sauce
1 cup green olives, pitted (I've used Spanish/Manzanilla)
3 cloves garlic, chopped (I usually use more b/c I love garlic)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I use more)
1 tablespoon olive oil, extra-virgin
1/2 cup of grated Parmesano
1/2 cup mint leaves
Puree everything together
Add some pasta water to thin out to desired consistency (I usually start with 1/4 cup and then add more gradually until I have the consistency I prefer)
Also, if the olive flavor is too strong, you can always add more cheese or water to tame it down
Toss with pasta (usually makes enough for a box of pasta = about a pound)
I add some chopped olives, slivers of Parmesano, and torn mint leaves as a garnish
It's very similar to a pesto, I think. Let me know what you think if you try it!
This was fun!
How about Pesto with mint and walnuts, instead of basil and pine nuts?
How about some mint syrup for use wih beverages since you have so much growing there...I also have a recipe for Mint Jelly. Here is the recipe for Mint Syrup:
----------------------------------
Ingredients
8 c Mint leaves, fresh; chopped
2 1/2 c -Boiling water
8 c Sugar
3 c -Water
Green food colouring
3 tb Mint essential oil
-or mint extract
Instructions
1. Place chopped mint leaves in a crock or deep bowl; add boiling water. Place a flat dish over the leaves and weight it down. Allow to stand overnight. Bring sugar and 3 cups water to a boil and cook 10 to 15 minutes. Meanwhile, squeeze the juice from the mint leaves; add mint juice to the syrup, bring to a boil, cook 5 minutes and remove from heat. Discard leaves. Add green food color to make the syrup a bright green. Add the mint oil and stir. Pour into sterile bottles. Refrigerate. Syrup is ready to use.
2. Dilute with cold water or sparkling water.
Cheers,
Trupti :)
If London weather is as moody as Seattle's, here's something to spice up a cloudy/rainy day!!
Aaloo Pudina Chaat: To serve 2-3 folks
1. 2 diced boiled potatoes
2. 5-6 sprigs of fresh pudina, chopped
3. 2- 3 sprigs of chopped cilantro
4. lemon juice
5. chaat masala and yogurt for seasoning
6. oil for frying
7. salt to taste
Cooking is very simple -- Fry the potatoes till nice golden brown. Mix all other ingredients together in a bowl and serve warm!!
Optional:
1. If you have imli chutney ready, you can pour some over the yougurt to get that zingy taste to it!
2. If you have more time on hand, make chutney with the pudina and add to the fried potatoes (instead of chopped mint).
3. If you have sev handy, sprinkle some over the chaat for taste and better visual effect.
enjoy! Maybe i'll make this at home and send you a link of the video :)
Pudina paratha maybe?
Add a cupful of chopped mint leaves to a cup and half of wheat flour. Add salt to taste, 2 tablespoons of yoghurt, a quarter teaspoon of red chilli powder and knead the dough. Roll out rotis.
Alternatively, you could make a paste of the mint leaves, yoghurt, ginger and green chillies and use the paste to knead the dough.
There's a KILLER Nigella Lawson recipe for a watermelon salad with watermelon, feta, red onions and lots of mint and cialntro. It can be found in her book "Forever Summer" and is my very favorite salad ever. It sounds wierd but is lovely. Sort of like a fruit chaat without the chaat masala.
Hi Lulu! I can't really take credit for it, but here's a really good and super easy salad recipe adapted from Cooking Light. It was a huge hit at our dinner party the other night. (It will also be showing up on my blog in a day or two!)
English Pea Salad with Mint and Pecorino
2 cups water
1 cup fresh shelled green peas (about 1 pound unshelled)
6 cups trimmed arugula
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (roughly one lemon)
1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup (2 ounces) shaved fresh pecorino Romano cheese
Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add peas; cook 1 minute. Drain and plunge peas into ice water; drain. (or just use thawed and drained frozen peas, as we did - they worked great)
Combine peas and arugula in a large bowl. Mix together lemon juice, olive oil, chopped mint, salt, and pepper and pour over. Sprinkle with cheese. Serve immediately.
Cheers!
Hey Lulu..
I have a very cooling recipe for mint.How about mint chutney?
Mint - a big bunch
coriander- a handful
g.chilli-3 or 4
salt-to taste
With the above four ing it's just a basic mint chutney if you want the bigger version add the below ingredients
dry roasted jeera/cumin-1 tsp
sugar - lil
tamarind/lemon-1/2 tsp
onions-small pc
garlic- 1 clove
Grind the ing together and use it for all chats/cutlets/patties/idli-dosa/chappathis..Just make it your own...
BTW you mint plant really looks awesome and BTW i have added you to my blogroll...
a huge thank you to all of you for your absolutely fantastic suggestions! i think i will have no leaves left on my mint plant because i'm dying to try all the recipes you've recommended. they all sound very delicious indeed..
i've had a really hard time picking the winner but stay tuned for my next post annoucing the winning recipe..
euhm am i the only one who sees this? that plant isnt a mint plant. Its basil. Im a horticulturist. That's definitely basil. sorry Lulu
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