Living abroad especially in a
'not so Indian populated' place like where we live, has its own difficulties
and perks... During the initial days, you would see the Indian vegetables that
the Indian stores carry with pitiful eyes, coz they would have stayed in the
shelf for a pretty long time and would strip you off the desire to cook them,
coz it would have shrunk to half its size... On the other hand, the freshest
available veggies would be the 'American' ones like broccoli, asparagus,
colored peppers from the nearby super market, which you absolutely have no
intention of adding to a spicy Indian cuisine.
Then the natural survival
instincts would kick in and you eventually evolve. This evolution process took
me almost 2 years and now I have started using brussel sprouts, broccoli and so
on.. The Asian food markets also offer some veggies (which by the way demands
an extensive online research to find the exact Indian or English names... Otherwise
you end up making watercress poriyal, not knowing that it is going to taste
bitter than raw bitter gourd soup... )
All these happened to me and
after a lot of trial and error, i finally found a way to cook brussel sprouts
for the Indian palate.. The most ironic thing is that it is actually a very
easy and tasty stir-fry...