Lol! I kind of want to crochet an animal like that with a zipper that reveals kiwi fruit innards.

arugula. I bought some, but I'm not sure what to do with it other than salads....

Do you have "Appetite for Reduction?" I swear half of those recipes call for arugula. There are lots of salads, but they're not the normal somewhat boring green salads. There's a recipe for Chickpea Piccatta with arugula, which I'm dying to try.

I have what they call in India a "violet sweet potato"....or purple sweet potato.....also the Japanese eat them in Okinawa , not sure what they call it there, they cite it as one of the reasons for their longevity.  What to cook?

Tweety, I know you love Indian food, so here's something I love to make.

Cut into cubes and lightly steam or blanch. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat a little oil. Add mustard seeds and wait until they start to pop. Add some cumin seed and a pinch of hing and fry for a few seconds (at this point, you can also toss in a cinnamon stick, a couple whole cloves and a cardamom pod or 2 if you have them. If not, you can add 1/4 tsp of garam masala at the end). Then add finely chopped onion and a little salt, cook until translucent. Add some minced garlic and ginger, and some shredded fresh coconut (dried and powdered is okay too) and cook until the raw flavor of the g&g goes away. Then add a little turmeric, some finely chopped green chillis, some fresh curry leaves, red chilli powder to taste, and a good teaspoon or 2 of coriander powder. Stir fry for a  few seonds and add sweet potato. Add very little water and cover to cook sweet potatoes all the way through.

While this is happening, you have 3 options:

Option #1: dry toast some sesame seeds in a pan, then grind them into a powder

Option #2: dry toast some besan (gram/chickpea flour) until the rawness goes away, it smells great and the color is light brown. Stir this constantly because raw besan has a gross flavor and you want it to cook evenly.

Option #3: Dry roast some raw peanuts. Grind into a fine powder

When sweet potatoes are done, add either sesame seed powder, peanut powder, or toasted besan and stir gently to coat the sweet potatoes without breaking them up. (Add 1/4 tsp garam masala if you didn't add the whole masalas at the beginning).  Adjust salt or any other spices at this point. You can add a couple drops of water or coconut milk if it's a little dry at this point. Serve with fresh lime, mint and cilantro. Or just slather it in cilantro or mint chutney. Serve with roti, chapati, paratha, naan, rice. Makes a great side dish to Channa Masala ;)

SB...you rock!  That sounds amazing....I have all that stuff and will use option #2....can't remember what "hing" is though.  I've got some paranta in my freezer, I can thaw out to serve it with....but need to get some chili peppers.......

Thanks......

Hing is asafoetida. You told me that, remember?  ;)b

SB...you rock!  That sounds amazing....I have all that stuff and will use option #2....can't remember what "hing" is though.  I've got some paranta in my freezer, I can thaw out to serve it with....but need to get some chili peppers.......

Thanks......

You're welcome. I've been cooking nothing but Indian food lately. I'm very into Southern Indian and Tamil style cuisine recently, and my recommendation is in that style. If you don't have fresh green chilis you can use red dried. I just really like the flavor of fresh green chiles, and I think it would make for a nice contrast of colors against the purple but whole dried chili would be awesome as well.

not necessarily a must use up, but just some ideas for sumac.

I bought some the other day having remembered someone on here loves it (?fb), so tell me what do I do with it?