kitchen IQ
Chayote
Known as vegetable pears, chayote is a subtropical member of the gourd family, along with melons, cucumbers and squash. The pear-shaped, gourd-like fruit is used as a vegetable; the tuber of the plant eaten like potatoes and other root vegetables, the leaves and shoots often consumed in salads and stir fries, especially in Asia. Like other members of its family, chayote has a sprawling habit and grows only over large expanses. It tastes similar to zucchini and is commonly used in Creole cuisine, especially around New Orleans in winter, as a festive dish with seafood stuffing. The fruit is usually served with mild seasoning. It is rich in amino acid and vitamin C, and has diuretic and anti-inflammatory properties. A tea made from the leaves has been used in the treatment of arteriosclerosis and hypertension, and to dissolve kidney stones. In Tamil Nadu, chayote is known as seemai kathrikai and is widely used in sambars, kootu, poriyal, thuvayal, chutney and mor-kulambu.
This Too
Sambar, the signature south Indian dish, in one telling, has it origins in a chance change of ingredients. Sambhoji, great cook when the Marathas ruled Tanjore, was cooking his ‘amti’ when, lacking kokum, he added tamarind pulp.
