food talk
Pineapple pleasure

This Hawaiian fruit when used as a vegetable blends the phoren with the desi, says Pushpesh Pant

Annanas ki sabzi

Ingredients

A can of pineapple 500 gm

Red chillies three

Mustard seeds `BD tsp

Coarsely pounded

oriander seeds `BD tsp

Oil 1 tbsp

A pinch of rock salt

A large sprig of curry leaves

Method

Drain out all sugar syrup from the pineapple. Immerse the pineapple slices in a bowl full of water for at least half an hour. Remove and dry with kitchen towels. Cut into bite size pieces. Heat oil in a large frying pan. When hot, put in the mustard seeds and the whole red chillies along with curry leaves. Do not forget to put the coarsely pounded coriander seeds at the same time. When the mustard seeds begin to splutter and the chillies change colour, add the pineapple. Reduce heat and stir-fry for about two minutes. Sprinkle the rock salt and stir well. You may add half tsp of lemon juice if you wish to cut the sweetness. Enjoy hot or cold.

Pineapple is for most Indians an exotic fruit. There are few outside the North East who have enjoyed it fresh on a regular basis. Memories for the multitude are made of pineapple slices devoured wolfishly from a tin can.

There was a time when preserved pineapple was the staple fall back to provide a sweet dish for an unexpected guest or to add a touch of the stylishly continental to a desi dessert.

In Mukteshwar, a small town in the hills of UP then, even canned pineapple was rarity. It certainly transformed the humdrum fruit salad almost effortlessly. Years later the pineapple pastries at Nirulas, Wengers and the India International Centre always rekindled nostalgia about this Hawaiian fruit.

One can easily understand the predicament of the great French novelist Marcel Proust who could not get rid of the burden of the past and was forever left distraught by the chain of recollections triggered by a whiff of familiar aroma or a taste lingering on the palate since childhood.

Decades passed before we discovered the joys of pineapple in other forms. During a field trip in South East Asia we encountered the chicken and fish rendered sweet and sour distinctively with the aid of pineapple. Still later, it was good friend Mohammad Farooq who treated us to an absolutely dazzling annanas ka muzafar, a pleasantly sweetish pulao that is simply out of this world. Since we have sampled many delicacies that have used the pineapple in an innovative manner but the fruit has always been an accompanist not a show stealing solo performer. This is the reason we were delighted recently when Veena Bharadwaj in Chandigarh sent us into raptures with her annanas ki sabzi.

There are quite a few fruits that are used once in a while in different parts of our land as vegetables — the Kashmiris have a special variety of apple, guava is popular in Rajasthan and bananas, even ripe ones, are pervasive in Kerala and in Bengal our favourite is the cauliflower cooked with oranges. But we digress. What lent particular charm to Veena’s recipe was the fusion between North and South. No other veggie was allowed to adulterate the substance, the tempering comprised mustard, red chillies and curry leaves. She had carefully drained off the excess sweetness by immersing the pineapple in a bowl of water for sufficient time. The sabzi was equally enjoyable with roti and rice and provided a beautiful blend of phoren with the desi. We urge you to try this on.

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