Exotic Veg
Curse my curiosity, but the stall at Reading market intrigues me. It sells the most exotic vegetables I have seen anywhere in the UK, even in Deptford.
Not even Google has come up with any indication what some of them are. The only way to find out is to try, so I opted for tiny, stringy baby beans with a view to make a curry with Taro root which we also hadn’t eaten for some time. I know I should have tasted them first, but the stall was busy and the proprietor does not encourage browsing. This is a street-market, after all, not some food boutique in Kensington or Chelsea. So after ruling out that the things were a kind of mutant-chilli, I grabbed a good handful and had a nibble in the café afterwards. What was that flavour? Mint-and-pea? —A bit perhaps. A little peppery to boot. Only one thing was for sure: it wouldn’t work in my curry. But it would be great slightly steamed (but still crunchy) in a salad with finely chopped shallottes and tomato, served with a bit fat juicy steak. Dinner thus sorted I grabbed my bags and walked to the bus station when it suddenly hit me. The exotic legume tastes exactly like the turnip which I still have in the fridge from the weekend farmer’s market.
Denni