Hello,
I'm wondering how people, more so in traditional cuisines, cook their super bitter vegetables. For a while now, I've tended to cook indian food and pretty much only that. There are numerous greens more bitter than what's typically eaten now in any modernized cuisines and restaurants such as methi (fenugreek), bitter gourd/melon, gongura (hibiscus), and daikon radish leaves as well as non-Indian such as dandelion, red dandelion (chicory), daikon radish leaves, etc. as well as more bitter ones used in traditional cuisines such as lamb's quarters, amaranth, stinging nettle, etc. Any mixed veg I make tends to be a majority of bitter greens with roots/tubers and fruits (eggplant, capsicum, sometimes okra, ) in lesser quanitities along with garlic, onion, herbs and spices.
I've found that including sweet, and perhaps acid (just makes it taste better anyway) seems to be the only option. More traditional cuisines tend to do more than roast or sauté but mix numerous herbs and spices into some sauce, curry, soup or stew. I think those cuisines any from the tropics and temporate climates, as well as those part of the spice routes such as North Africa would have the best ideas though I haven't looked into many except Indian. I eat little meat, and don't really cook with it, so am looking for plant, herb, and spice combinations. Mixing with sweeter roots such as carrot, sweet potato, and yam works well. Sometimes I use crushed date and maybe fruit works the best. One that I like though is a bit hard to find even at Indian markets is dried black nightshade berries. I think in Persian cuisine there's a particular dried fruit though I've never tried it and am not sure if it's more acidic than sweet. I'd prefer not to use blanch or rub with salt as many do as I think that removes nutrients.
I'm wondering how people, more so in traditional cuisines, cook their super bitter vegetables. For a while now, I've tended to cook indian food and pretty much only that. There are numerous greens more bitter than what's typically eaten now in any modernized cuisines and restaurants such as methi (fenugreek), bitter gourd/melon, gongura (hibiscus), and daikon radish leaves as well as non-Indian such as dandelion, red dandelion (chicory), daikon radish leaves, etc. as well as more bitter ones used in traditional cuisines such as lamb's quarters, amaranth, stinging nettle, etc. Any mixed veg I make tends to be a majority of bitter greens with roots/tubers and fruits (eggplant, capsicum, sometimes okra, ) in lesser quanitities along with garlic, onion, herbs and spices.
I've found that including sweet, and perhaps acid (just makes it taste better anyway) seems to be the only option. More traditional cuisines tend to do more than roast or sauté but mix numerous herbs and spices into some sauce, curry, soup or stew. I think those cuisines any from the tropics and temporate climates, as well as those part of the spice routes such as North Africa would have the best ideas though I haven't looked into many except Indian. I eat little meat, and don't really cook with it, so am looking for plant, herb, and spice combinations. Mixing with sweeter roots such as carrot, sweet potato, and yam works well. Sometimes I use crushed date and maybe fruit works the best. One that I like though is a bit hard to find even at Indian markets is dried black nightshade berries. I think in Persian cuisine there's a particular dried fruit though I've never tried it and am not sure if it's more acidic than sweet. I'd prefer not to use blanch or rub with salt as many do as I think that removes nutrients.