mustard seeds, sweet potato

I was supposed to teach Corinne how to cook something cheap 'n cheerful before she left for good, but she was off before we (any of us) had a chance to catch our breath. She was the harder one to please, but she loved sweet potato and she LOVED rice. This was one of her faves - loads of black mustard seeds, though here I think they are nearly-out-of-date nigella seeds found when scrabbling about at the back of the spice rack  - and we would eat it over rice, usually with some sort of vaguely Indian chickpea thing and a salad of green. If there was eggplant in there, all the better. Anyhoo, just a little reminder-to-self that I must keep in touch with her. Gosh, when Oscar flies off in February, we will be alone far more often. Makes me the teeniest bit sad, that.       

Comments

[Meghan @ Making Love in the Kitchen]

yum! Looks fantabulous - love the sweet potato/mustard seed combo! Can't imagine how anyone could say no...

[Ganga]

Gorgeeeous, that sweet potato and nigella seed! How often I do a bowl of rice and some steamed veg - often steamed together over the rice in the rice cooker, dripping their goodnesses into the rice to be incorporated. I love to include chopped tomatoes as they release their drippings into the rice.
I have my favourite rices too. Basmati of course, always ask for one that is fragrant (not all are), and Sona Masori when short grain is required. And Rosa Matta, found for the first time in Adelaide recently, straight from Kerala, is a nutty rice, gorgeously pink, and half way between a brown and a white rice.
And kids leaving home? I found it a hard journey. Took me some time to get used to the absence of their laughter, joy and constant loud music. And voracious appetites that I had to cook for. It was the little things that I missed. And still do. It made me long for communal families.

[Lucy]

meghan: a great way to cut through all that sweetness, find. nice to see you!

ganga: rosa matta rice! i am going to get out and about looking for that, for certain. sounds wonderful. it's such a surprise that these kids, with whom i've shared my life for more than ten years (eep!), have made such an impact. not sure what i expected of step-parenting (i came in as a blank canvas, ready for whatever came my way, really), but i think we've all done a good job together! and thank you for the idea of sending them off with a little book of recipes - it's a GREAT idea!! x