More About Topinambours: Sunchoke Saag

I bought these because I didn't know what they were. I say "more about topinambours", though, because it turns out I did know. Jerusalem Artichokes. They make one of my favourite soups. The ones I bought just looked different...they were clean, and smooth. I honestly had no idea what they were. Turns out the 'topinambour' (what's the store clerk called them) is jerusalem artichoke in French, but the French also translate it as the 'Canadian truffle', the 'ground pear', or the 'deep-rooted or hardy sun" (the last in reference to the sunflower, the species of plant to which it belongs). Someone (or something) went to a whole lot of trouble to get these cleaned and into a plastic bag in an organic store near me. I'm also concerned about how they seemed unnaturally large and un-knobby. Like they were artichoke hybrids...bred for these genes. They were 'organic' but as that could mean that no fertilizers or chemicals were used, and not that nothing fishy happened with their not-so-natural selection process. Either way, they were VERY easy to work with. I could have made a whole soup of these in less than half the time it takes me with my local Ethiopian organic farmer's version of the jerusalem artichoke.

Anyway, instead of soup, I set about making a variation on aloo saag, without knowing what I was cooking. Normally made with potato (aloo) and spinach (spinach. Succinct, Indian cooks. Apparently not big fans of adjectives), I figured I could replace the aloo with my mystery root vegetable. Instead of "potato spinach" (potatoes aren't a kind of spinach...), I would make Mystery Vegetable spinach (neither are mystery vegetables. Perfect substitution). Probably whatever I had would be more flavourful than a potato anyway. It actually worked out well, it just took longer to cook the artichokes. They don't break down as easily as potatoes it turns out. I chose the second saag recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking and only made one other change...

Mystery Saag ("Sunchoke Saag" sounds better doesn't it?)

Water
2 packages frozen spinach
Onion seeds
Oil
Asafetida
black mustard seeds
garlic, finely chopped
jerusalem artichokes, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes...roughly
cayenne
salt

First you boil a cup and a bit of water and cook the spinach...I figured since the spinach was going to cook in the spice mixture later, I should just get it defrosted in the water and not drain as much of the boiling liquid as was recommended. No point taking all the good things in the spinach out of it. I generally hate boiling spinach in the first place, but it was my first time with the recipe. Better to do as your told, at first...

Which is exactly what I didn't do next. I had no onions. When do I ever have no onions in my fridge? Kind of hugely important in Indian cooking. All I had were onion seeds but I figured I'd just add them with the mustard seeds and that was the best I could do. So I put a tablespoon of olive oil (I know, not the kind of oil you want for high-heat Indian cooking, but all I had) in a pot, heated it over medium-high heat and grated a little bit of asafetida into the oil. I had never used this before, but had finally hunted fresh lumps of it down at Olives et Epices, and was very excited to use it. It's optional, smells like onions, and is used to help digest lentils and beans in Indian Cooking. Kind of like a French digestif...but instead of alcohol you get onions. Doesn't seem fair.

The mustard seeds and onion seeds went into the pot a second later. You're supposed to use more than a 1/4 cup of oil, but I just can't bring myself to do that, so I added small amounts of water to keep the seeds from burning. They need the oil to start popping and release their flavours, but they don't need 5 tablespoons of it.

Then I added 4 cloves of minced garlic. I figured I'd add more garlic than called for to compensate for the lack of onions. 2 minutes later I added my artichokes and cayenne. After tasting it, I should have added about a 1/2 tsp more cayenne. I like it a bit spicier than this book usually calls for, and I always forget. Actually, I should have added some of my Guizhou Chile Paste. Then I'd get more oil and heat...hmm...next time.

1 minute later (I'm really getting used to this precisely-timed Indian cooking business. I barely get angry when I read "30 seconds later", "2 seconds later", "10 minutes and 27 seconds later". I added the spinach, salt and 2 tbsp of water. The spinach had been waiting patiently in a bowl after being mostly drained of its cooking liquid. It should also be rinsed in cold water after draining to stop the cooking process. Here, the recipe and I agreed.

Then I put a lid on the pot, turned the heat down to low, and let it simmer very, very gently for 45 minutes. You could leave it up to 55 minutes or even 60 if your chunks of artichoke are big. Potato will cook in 40, max. The only thing to keep in mind is that there should always be liquid in the pot, and while the spinach will release some as it stews, the artichoke will absorb it, and you don't want to lift the lid after an hour and find your spinach sticking to the sides. So make sure you check the pot periodically to make sure there's water left.

The taste of the artichokes actually worked well with the dish. Potatoes don't really add much flavour, just mushy texture, so the jerusalem artichokes give your tongue and teeth some taste and texture to look forward to in between delicious sweet mounds of spinach. I admit I make this with frozen spinach like the recipe says just because cleaning fresh spinach is a nuisance, and I hate chopping it. Everything turns green and you always end up with grit in your food. This way is so easy. Just open the package and throw it in. Normally I'll put in the extra work, but sometimes it's nice to have a quick and easy dish. Is it weird that saag has become as comforting to me as pudding? My roommate would say yes, I'm sure.