When I was in engineering school, I stayed with my grandparents. My grandfather had decided that the only way to cure his diabetes was by exercise and the Atkins diet (This was in the 80’s, a very unusual diet for Indians). So, he would swim for two hours a day, eat soft boiled eggs for breakfast and make my grandmother cook meat everyday. Meat is not eaten daily in Indian homes, even in families who are non vegetarian. So my grandmother would accommodate him reluctantly, muttering about his eccentric habits.
She would also cook greens everyday along with the rest of the meal of rice, chapatis (Indian whole wheat tortillas), dal, vegetables and salad. At the time, I didn’t particularly care for greens and sadly, didn’t partake of them enthusiastically. It was only later on in life that I would discover the delight of fresh greens.
Eat local, they say. Although I use a lot of Indian lentils and beans in my daily cooking (who knows where they are imported from), fresh vegetables is something I have never bought from Indian stores. My nostalgia for Indian greens such as fenugreek, a particular favorite of mine, is assuaged by young dandelion greens, fresh from the garden, kale, chard and other local greens. I prepare them all the same way my mother used to make them, with lots of onion, lots of garlic and lemon juice.
Luckily, Shreesh also loves greens. So, armed with the recommendation of a good greengrocer from Crete who stocks the freshest produce (we found out later he also supplies a lot of restaurants) in Thessaloniki we were delighted to discover the amazing variety of Greek wild greens like the common golden thistle (Scolymus hispanicus, ασκόλυμπροι), endive (Cichorium endivia, αντίδια), common sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus, ζοχοί), chicory (cichorium spinosum, σταμναγκάθι) and samphire/sea fennel (Crithmum maritimum, κρίταμο).
Out of these, the most commonly available is chicory or σταμναγκάθι, which is quite bitter. The Greeks prepare it by boiling, then adding a ton of olive oil and lemon to tame it’s bitterness. But could we cook it Indian style without quite so much oil?
Shreesh and I experimented in the kitchen. What we came up with satisfied me completely, σταμναγάθι cooked in oil spiced with mustard seeds and asafoetida, its bitterness relieved by the sweetness of onion and raisins and acidity from lemon juice and dried golden berries with a richness and depth lent to it by garlic. It is one of the more spectacular and unusual dishes we have ever made.
As our time here in Greece comes to a close, one of the things we will always remember are those greens, or χόρτα, universally present in all Greek menus, the actual green never specified but always understood to be that which is the freshest and in season.