I have various Indian recipes requiring fresh fenugreek but have not yet tried to grow it. Have any of you? The seeds are available in a number of the herb catalogs. Does it love blaizing hot weather? Or lots of water or both? Would love to know whatever you all have experienced.
This message was edited Jan 15, 2007 8:54 PM
Anyone growing fenugreek? Methi that is.
It grows like a weed!!! One thing you can do that is easy easy easy is to go to Johnny's Select Seeds. They have seed sprouters (can't recall the name...) and they sell organic Fenugreek seeds as well.. I haven't bought any from then in long time so I hope they still do anyway..
My fenugreek never made it long enough for me to give you a hot weather report though. I just sprouted the seeds and ate them on sandwichs!
Nicole
Glad to hear! It was the sprouting I was most worried about. Thanks for the info.
Before you spend any extra money on methi from a seed catologue, try sprouting the ones you cook with.
This assumes of course that you have some in the spice cabinet. Fenugrek costs a lot less at Indian markets if you have one around. I've never had any trouble sprouting the ones sold for cooking. The fresh fenugrek will taste best if you harvest it before it gets to big. Our farmers markets sell fresh fenugrek that is often overgrown, but the Indian market has fresh fenugrek that has been harvest at a nice 6"-8" of growth. It's easy to grown some in a container. Fenugrek is a great cover crop to open up heavy clay soils. I know that's not an issue with the Los Alamos moon dust. It is a legume and will help to fix nitrogen though. You can sample the taste of it as it grows to see which "age" you prefer. Methi is to the seed fenugrek like cilantro is to the seed coriander. The fresh greens of fenugrek are delicious when cooked with potatoes. What dishes are you going to make? Please let us know so we can all salivate. :-)
I have several recipes that call for methi in curries. That is what I was planning to try. I also will look up some of the ones with potatoes. I also saw a recipe on the internet that was little pastries with methi inside for an appetizer.
I was just frustrated with the fact that once in a great while they sell the fresh greens at our Asian market 100 miles away, but I always come home with more fresh things than I can cook in a hurry, so I grow the things I think might work. I tried a curry tree, but alas, it was very small and grew very slowly and then one day, I forgot to water it. Alas it is no longer with me. I might try ordering another some time, but I thought I has seen fenugreek seed for sale in an herb catalog so I thought perhaps I could grow my own.
Now that I know I can grow it, I will definitely give that a try. The fact that it fixes nitrogen is even better. I suppose I can keep cutting it back to produce young shoots.
I was recently in a restaurant in Los Angeles that listed Methi Chicken. I didn't order it -- there were so many interesting things to try -- so maybe I can find an internet recipe for it. I think I also read that it was cooked with greens or by itself as a green. I will probably try that as well.
I am so glad to hear that the seeds from the Asian Market will sprout. I think I have some. I will give them a try.
I like "medu vada", which is a south Indian dish made from urad dal and rice, fermented similar to making iddli or dosa, that includes chopped fresh methi as a flavouring. I don't make these at home much anyone because they are deep fried. Fresh methi is also a great seasoning in chakli, a crispy snack made with besan (chickpea flour). Methis is used in many dishes. Most of the recipes I see posted that call for it are potato dishes.
Well, I love potatoes, so as soon as my methi gets going, I will try some potato dishes.