Baby Fenugreek - Barik Methi ki sabzi

Baby fenugreek or barik methi as it is called is tender leaves of fenugreek seeds. This vegetable is extremely popular in western India and quite versatile. It is prepared without spices to ensure that it's intrinsic flavour and texture are retained. Fenugreek is bitter so to balance it, roughly chopped onion are used to add a certain amount of sweetness. Potatoes and green peas imbibe the flavour of fenugreek easily and also help in reducing the bitterness of the fenugreek leaves. This is traditional recipe handed down from my mother and this is my attempt to ensure that it is not lost. I plan to post a few more traditional Konkan recipes on my site to ensure that they are alive and available.

I bought 15 bunches of the fenugreek leaves on one of my visits to a vegetable market close to the railway station. The vegetable is rather tender so you need clean and cook it on day of purchase. Now that's tiring but for this vegetable, I am ready to put in the extra hours required to clean and cook it.

Take each bunch and place it neatly on the chopping board.Chop off the ends and throw them away.

Now cut it close to the piece of grass used to tie it up.

The next cut is near the head of the vegetable. Take care not to chop the grass used to tie the vegetable.

That's easy. Now remove the thread and start with the next one. As you can see, the vegetable is rather muddy. It is grown in sandy soil so it has to be washed in loads of water at least 4-5 times until the water does not have any traces of sand. In the first wash, add a tsp vinegar and salt to aid in removing the sand.

After the final wash, drain it in a colander while you prepare to cook it.

In a flat bottomed vessel, heat the oil. Add the green chillies, followed by the onions. Allow it to simmer for about 1 minute. Now add the potato and green peas and stir to mix well. Reduce flame and allow the vegetable to cook. Keep checking to ensure it does not burn. Cool until it is just tender about 1/4 cooked. Add the fenugreek leaves, turmeric, sugar and salt. Reduce the flame. In a few minutes, the quantity of the vegetable would have reduced drastically and the vegetable starts sweating. Increase the flame, adjust the salt seasoning and cook on a high flame, till the water evaporates and the potatoes and peas are cooked. The trick in ensuring a nice flavour is to ensure that the vegetable does not burn at all. So, keep stirring the vegetable to allow the water to evaporate. Once the water has evaporated, remove from flame and serve hot as a side dish.It can be had with chapatis, naans, bhakris, rice & dal or rice and curries.

While all recipes I know of use minimum seasoning, it's flavour is enhanced with additional ingredients like coconut, prawns and even eggs. The coconut helps reduce the bitterness even further. Adding small prawns to methi is one traditional item that I just love. Both are added along with the fenugreek leaves so that it cooks well.

Zorastrians/ Parsis top the vegetable with an egg, allowing it to cook until it is set. It is added when some of water in the vegetable is yet to evaporate so that the egg cooks in the steam of the vegetable. Just break an egg over the vegetable while it is cooking. Spoon some of the vegetable over the egg and cover it to allow it to cook. Care should be taken to ensure that the egg yolk is retained whole.