Keep the Greens Green!

Well, we all agree that green leafy vegetables are powerhouses of nutrition! Greens are delicious and mingle well with many vegetables. Ideally, they should be consumed soon upon arrival but that doesn’t always seem possible. Especially during the pandemic, we try to stock these greens and other essentials to maintain a minimum contact with the world outside. Storing greens, if not done properly leads to losing their quality and nutrition, thus compromising their taste and quantity as well. I am sharing with my dear ELSAs a few tips to ensure a longer shelf life (either in the fridge or at room temperature) of my favorite green leafy delights. The whole idea behind storing them well is based upon the following factors which partly or wholly apply to the greens I shall discuss here:

• retention of quality and nutrition
• longer shelf life
• ease of usage
• availability when not in season
• storing in natural, washable fabric so that we consciously practice reducing burden of waste decomposition on Mother Nature while maintaining hygiene at the same time.

Let’s begin with the ones we tend to use every day.

CORIANDER:

Method 1: For storing up to 3 months

Suggested usage: good for adding flavour to soups, aata, drinks, and curries.

• Remove and discard roots.
• Wash well, drain, and chop the stalk and leaves coarsely.
• Grind to a coarse paste with very little salt.
• Pour into an ice trays and freeze overnight.
• Remove from the ice tray and lay in a box leaving a ½ cm gap between two cubes of the frozen coriander paste. Do not lay another layer over the first one.

When required, just take a cube out and add to simmering soups or let the cube melt at room temperature and then add to the recipe when needed.

Method 2: For storing up to 3 months

Suggested usage: sprinkle over raitas, dips, or curries and gravies.

• Remove and discard the roots.
• Wash well. Drain extra water.
• Spread on a cotton cloth and allow the leaves and stalks to dry completely either under the sun or under a fan.
• Pre-heat an oven at maximum temperature for about 5–6 minutes.
• Arrange the coriander leaves in a baking tray.
• Put in the oven at 180°C for about 10–12 minutes (for about 250 gm of fresh coriander).
• By this time the coriander leaves and stalks would have dehydrated and turned slightly brown and aromatic.
• Allow them to cool down to room temperature.
• Crush between your palms to form a coarse powder; you may get about 6–7 tbsp of this powder from the above-mentioned quantity.
• Store in an airtight glass or ceramic jar.

Take it in small quantities and sprinkle on raitas or dips to add flavour.

For storing up to 1 week

Suggested usage: practically for all recipes we use fresh coriander leaves in – chutneys, drinks, or for garnishing a dish.

This is a fancy manner of storing the herb and gives one a feeling of having a tiny kitchen farm on the kitchen counter! It is widely used in electronic and print media thereby motivating many of us to store the herb in this manner.

• Remove and discard the roots.
• Wash the coriander well and spread it on a clean cotton cloth so that the water dries completely.
• Take a glass or a fancy jar and fill it with water to a height of 2 inches.
• Submerge the stalks of coriander in it such that the leafy portion spreads as a bouquet out of the jar.
• Use scissors to cut off a portion you will use.
• Do remember to change this water each day.

For storing up to 10 days in the fridge

This is my favourite hassle-free method of storing coriander leaves.

Suggested usage: practically for all recipes we use fresh coriander leaves in – chutneys, drinks, or for garnishing a dish.

• Remove and discard the roots.
• Wrap in a cotton cloth and place in the fridge.
• Take out in small portions; wash and use as required.

The cotton cloth helps in soaking moisture if any and it also helps in retaining the fragrance and thereby keeps the herb fresh in its natural look for a longer time.

METHI:

For storing up to 3 months

Suggested usage: add to curries, dals, and non-vegetarian gravies; it can also be used for flavouring breads, rotis, parathas etc.

• Discard the roots and wash the stalks well.
• Spread on a cotton cloth so that the water dries completely. Pat dry to remove water from leaves.
• Spread the leaves in a basket or trays and sun dry them for 2–3 days. If the sun is strong then this may not take longer than 1½ days.
• Crush between palms and store the coarse fragrant powder (kasoori methi) in a glass or ceramic jar.

Well, I can easily say that this is a winter ritual I have grown up with. Once upon a time when packaged food wasn’t the order of lifestyle, almost every household of Delhi was engaged in drying their own batch of methi before they bid adieu to the season.

For storing up to 10 days in fridge

Please follow the same steps as mentioned under storing coriander for 10 days.

CURRY LEAVES:

For storing up to 3 months

Suggested usage: add to podis, curries, namkeens and snacks, buttermilk, chutneys etc. 

• Wash the bunch of leaves well.
• Spread on a cotton cloth so that the water dries completely. Pat dry to remove water from leaves if any.
• Pluck the leaves and spread them in a tray and sun-dry them for 2–3 days. If the sun is strong then this may not take longer than 1½ days.
• Crush between palms and store the coarse fragrant powder in a glass or ceramic jar.

This is one method I learnt from my neighbours here in Bengaluru. I credit Rama and Sumi for introducing this variant of curry leaves to me.

For storing up to 10 days in fridge

• Take a tiffin box and line it with a cotton napkin.
• Place plucked curry leaves on it.
• Secure the lid and place the box in the fridge.
• The napkin will keep the leaves moisture-free.
• Take out in small quantities, wash well and use.

MINT LEAVES:

For storing up to 3 months

Suggested usage: for adding flavour to buttermilk, parathas, drinks, fillings, and raitas or dips.

• Remove and discard roots.
• Wash well, drain, and chop the stalk and leaves coarsely.
• Grind to a coarse paste with very little salt.
• Strain to discard the bits of stalk and pulp.
• Pour into an ice trays and freeze overnight.
• Remove from the ice tray and lay the cubes in a box leaving a ½ cm gap between two cubes of the frozen mint paste. Do not lay another layer over the first one.

When you intend to use some, just take a cube out and let the cube melt at room temperature and then add to the recipe when needed.

For storing up to 10 days in fridge

Pl follow the same steps as mentioned under ‘storing coriander for 10 days’.

For storing greens like spinach, amaranthus, moringa, mustard leaves, bathua leaves, brown chana leaves and the likes:

• Pluck and discard spoilt leaves and stalks.
• Remove the roots, if any.
• Do not wash but pat dry moisture, if any.
• Now place the greens on a cotton cloth and wrap well such that no greens are exposed else they will lose moisture.
• Place these in the fridge.
• When you wish to use, just unwrap, clean as usual (pluck leaves and wash in clean water 3–4 times) and use as per recipe requirements.

 Celery:

For up to 10 days

• Remove and discard the roots.
• Pluck the leaves.
• On a cotton cloth, line the leaves on one side and stalks on another.
• Wrap as pockets and place in the fridge.
• Wash and use when needed.

The celery stalk has many popular uses but I was often unable to use all the leaves in one go. So once I sought suggestions from ELSAs and almost everyone suggested that I should use them in vegetable juices and smoothies … and that’s exactly what I do now.

Spring onions:

For up to 10 days

• Cut off the bulbs and keep them in a tiffin box lined with a napkin; secure the lid and place the box in the fridge.
• Wrap the green stalks in a cotton cloth and place it in the fridge.
• At the time of using the greens, wash well.
• You can wash and peel the bulbs. Wash again and then chop and use for a recipe.

Lemongrass:

For up to 6 months or more

• Remove the bulb up to a height of 6–7 inches or till the entire length of the white portion. Keep aside.
• Wash and dry the entire length of the grass.
• Place on a large cloth, wrap in a single fold and place under the sun for drying. It may dry in 1–2 days if the sun is strong.
• Once completely dry the grass turns brittle. You can break it into 2-inch long pieces and store in an airtight jar at room temperature.
• For the bulbs: peel and discard the first 2–3 layers; slice the bulb and place the slices on a plate and sun-dry for 1–2 days.
• Once it is dry you can store it in an airtight glass or ceramic jar at room temperature.

I started doing this as I love my lemongrass-flavoured tea. I wanted to make my own so started buying either fresh or dried lemongrass to make it. Later a bit of research on the internet helped me understand the sun-drying process. This was years ago so I am not able to recall the exact source but I do remember studying a few articles on how to sun-dry lemongrass.

Alternate process for drying lemongrass

Well, this one happened by chance. Sharing the experience:

• Wash and dry the entire length of lemongrass.
• Pat dry. Lay it on a piece of cloth and leave in an undisturbed corner for a day so that all the water completely dries.
• Place in a jar or tumbler and leave it undisturbed for 2 weeks. The grass will be completely dry by this time.
• Cut off the grass, cut it further in smaller portions, and store in an airtight jar at room temperature.
• The bulb needs to be dried now.
• So, peel 2–3 layers of the bulb and slice it into smaller portions.
• Spread on a tray and leave it undisturbed, covered with a sieve or a muslin cloth for 2–3 days.
• Now you can store this as well but in the fridge. Line a tiffin box with a napkin, put the slices on it, and secure the lid. Lasts in the fridge for months.

Suggested usage: it is best to crush the bulb’s slices or pound the dry grass before use as it helps to release maximum flavour. Can be used for infusing flavour in curries and teas. However, post the flavour infusion you should strain the liquid and discard the grass or the bulb to avoid rigid coarse fibre.