An Oriental Touch from HsuH

How not to waste pea pods

Our garden peas are coming along fast. This reminds me of how surprised I was when I first saw MrH preparing peas and throwing away the pods. Considering that a large proportion of peas are pods, it seems such a waste after spending so much effort in growing them or money on buying them . With a little effort the pods can be made as palatable and as tasty as the peas themselves:



1) remove any string, open the pod and take the peas out as you normally do.
2) with the inside of the pod facing you, break one tip of the pod by folding towards itself then pull upward. This will lift a piece of hard skin from the pod. Pull it carefully. If you are lucky, the hard skin will come off from the pod in one piece. But more often, it will break.
3) carefully insert a sharp, thin knife blade between the fleshy and hard skins and lift the hard one off the pod. The job is done.

The process is simple and straight forward. Once you get a hang of it, it can be done quite quickly. I often do mine when I'm listening to radio. Very relaxing and therapeutic on a hot summer afternoon.

The pods taste like mange tout. To cook them, do it exactly the same way as you do with mange tout. I'm going to stir fry them with mint tonight (I've learned a few things from MrH ). There are other ways of cooking them I'll leave that for another day.

 

Brilliant tip! I've often done the peeling you describe to nibble on the pods, but never gone that step further to cook them. However, this is a mange tout / sugar snap household now!

 

Aubergines Sichuan style

This year I've got quite a few aubergines from our plants. Had moussaka 2 days ago, so today I cooked them in Sichuan style which is 'hot and numb'. 'Hot' comes from chilli and chilli bean paste, 'numb' from Sichuan peppers.



Fry aubergines in oil till they are nearly cooked. Grind the Sichuan peppers, mix with finely chopped ginger, garlic, chilli and chilli sauce (use quantity to your own liking). A bit of soy sauce and a touch of sugar if needed.


Put some more oil in the wok, quickly fry the sliced spring onion, then add the spicy mixture and some water and fry for a couple of minutes. Then return the aubergines to the wok for a few more minutes. Add a few peas to give it a bit of colour.

 

That looks delicious!

 

My taste buds are working overtime HusH - that looks fabulous!