I have in many blog posts mentioned that I live in a remote village in the North-eastern part of India in the state of Assam, the reason for not getting a lot of products readily available. Sourcing regular ingredients like cream or vanilla essence is a big challenge here, we do not have access to a lot of vegetables, what we consume either comes from our farm or from local farmers. When I moved back to my parent's home from the city almost 4 months ago due to the novel COVID-19 pandemic, at first I used to struggle for ingredients and crib about how remote the village is, I was constantly surrounded by the thought that there is not much that can be done from here; my siblings had returned home too from their respective cities of work and are now working from home. All of us, back from cities, were learning to cope up with the issues this place had, internet connectivity being one of the major problems. With time I realised that my village is geographically very blessed, this small village or town borders 3 North-eastern states - Assam, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh. Isn't that amazing? I agree that I do not have access to a lot of ingredients here but the ones that are available are of the best quality I ever had, most of them are harvested from our backyard. I started to see how unique and beautiful this place was with its own share of exotic ingredients, there could not be a better opportunity for a chef to improve her creative streak than cooking from ingredients that she has not worked with before. I made it a point that I myself go to the farm to harvest my vegetables and figure out in what ways it could make to the dinner table.
There are a lot of herbs and vegetables growing so close to me that I have not actively worked with. One such exotic herb from the land of North-east India is Wild Coriander, locally known as Naga Dhaniya or Maan Dhaniya. It is extensively used in local regional cuisine but its application to Western cuisine is not seen frequently. It has a stronger aroma and taste than coriander and is used as a medicinal herb to cure stomach ailments, it helps in stimulating appetite, improving digestion. It is also said to be an aphrodisiac. The leaves of wild coriander are elongated and spiked imparting an aroma quite similar to lemongrass.
I have used this herb to make a vegan pesto using pepitas (pumpkin seeds), both of which are obtained from my backyard. You can use this pesto as a sauce for your pastas, filling for your sandwiches or as a topping on a Crostini (which I did). You see, you do not always have to look for exoticism outside, sometimes it can be found in your backyard too.
Ingredients :
Wild Coriander - a bunch
Roasted Pepitas (pumpkin seeds) - 3 tbsp
Cashewnuts - 5
Garlic - 4 cloves
Peppercorns - 4
Olive Oil - 2/3rd cup
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Wash and clean the wild coriander, peel the garlic.
2. Combine all the ingredients together except olive oil and salt and blitz in a blender. Slowly add the Olive oil till completely incorporated. Add salt towards the end and taste.
3. Store it refrigerated in an airtight container and consume within a month.
Comments