The Minty Affair

    My love for Mint has no bounds. I like the flavor & freshness it brings to a dish. One of my favorite chocolates in York - Peppermint patties. Unfortunately we dont get this in India & whenever someone in my office brings a bag of chocolates from their abroad trip my hands go to this. And one more added advantage is not many like this chocolate & so more chocolates to me. Yaay.

     If you are following me on Instagram or Facebook you would have known what happened at my house last week. I ended up with 3 bunches of Mint, 2 bunches of Coriander & one bunch of curry leaves. And i couldn't bring myself to waste them as they are all my favorite. So i ended up making lots of things with them.

     So the first thing i did was separate the mint leaves from the stalks. It took me almost 2 hours to do this. I turned on the TV & just sat doing. On the second day, i dried one bunch of mint leaves in the shade for making dried mint leaves that can be used for Green Tea(1).

One of the recipe was a Simple sugar mint syrup(2). Added 1 cup sugar + 1 cup water & allowed the sugar to dissolve. In the meanwhile chopped a handful of mint leaves & placed it in a bowl. When the sugar dissolved, poured it over the leaves & allowed to steep & cool down. Also note to keep this mixture closed. We do not want any oils escaping from the mint. The whole house smelled heavenly while this was happening. Made coffee with the syrup & it was just pure heaven.  

   Next i took 1 cup sugar + 10 mint leaves & blitzed them in the Mixer & spread them out on the plate to dry overnight. The next day i toasted bread slices with butter & sprinkled the mint sugar(3) on top. Made a lovely breakfast.

    Next is 1/2 cup of rock salt + 10 mint leaves. Again blitz in the mixer & spread out to dry. You get lovely herb salt(4) that can be used for seasoning a grilled chicken/fish. Added as a topping for egg sunny side up, or on pasta. I tried the eggs & pasta. Both turned out super good.

    This next recipe was entirely new to me. Coriander pickle(5) or Thokku. In a kadai add oil & saute 6 green chillies, 12 red chilly & set aside. Next add 1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds, 1 tsp mustard seeds with 1.5 bunches of coriander leaves with stalk, saute lightly & set aside. When cool grind them into a coarse paste. Now again heat the kadai & add 1/4 cup gingelly oil, turmeric powder + 3 tbsp tamarind extract. Saute till oil seperates. Finally add the coarse paste with salt & mix thoroughly in low flame for atleast 5 mins. This can be mixed with hot rice & ghee or with chappathi, dosai. The choice is endless. 

    Coming on to the last recipe, OPOS herb thovayal(6). PV hated mint & coriander in any form. In my house mom used to make the thovayal & keep in fridge for me. I would eat this for chappathi, dosai, rice & as a spread for bread. So when i married him, my MIL said me of his hatred for the herbs. One day i made this thovayal for me with chappathi & while eating, PV asked for a sample. It was love at first bite for him. Till today i happily tease my MIL saying that i changed him & this just pisses her. Now for the recipe, Found this in youtube & just added coconut to make it into a thovayal. Add 2 Tbsp oil + 2 Tbsp water in cooker, layer 2 cups of curry leaves, 1 cup coriander & 1 cup mint leaves in the cooker. Now add jaggery, asafoetida, turmeric, tamarind paste & salt to the cooker along with 2 tsps of paruppu podi. Turn on the stove to high & cook for 2 whistles. Remove from heat & open the cooker. Add handful of grated coconut & mix well. allow the mixture to cool & grind to a paste. I made a pasta with the thovayal & it was just divine.