Leeks! You know how every recipe for leek-dishes tells you to use the white and lightest green parts but abandon the dark green? Well screw that! The dark green part of the leaf is a little more aggressive, but not eating it is a waste. So this dish is made from nothing but the darkest green part -- I only composted the very tips where they were dry and ragged.
I decided on a starter and thought I'd like to fry again, so pakora was a natural option. basically, you just coat your veggies in spiced (salt, cayenne and garam masala) chickpea flour and add enough water or seltzer to turn it to a thick batter, and fry. I decided to add spinach and cilantro to the leeks and also to make a chutney. Here's most of what I used:
Above, I made a big deal about using the green parts, right? But they are tougher than the whites. Here's what you do: separate the layers and wash them thoroughly -- like you always do with leeks, blanch them in boiling water for a couple minutes (see how green it makes them?), and use them in whatever. This shows them in the hot water, then being added to the pakora mix, and then pakora being fried.
You just fry until it's done. and that depends on the heat of your oil and the size of your blobs. These ones were a little too big (slightly doughy in the center) and so I made the rest about half the size. Also, it's common for the oil temp to drop while cooking if you're adding too much product, so you have to balance your speed against the head below your pot. But they turned out great:
The chutney was a slight problem for me because our small food-processor died as I started to use it. I should have gotten out the big one, but I decided to do it by hand. It's minced cilantro, mint, lime, sweet pepper, hot pepper, garlic, ginger and onion. It ended up sort of a fine salsa fresca, not saucy enough to be what I think of as chutney, but very tasty.
Overall, it was a good time and good food.