Every time I would walk into an American grocery store and come across asparagus I used to wonder how it would taste but never had the courage to pick it up and use it. Then as I started watching the Food network frequently, I saw that it was used mostly as a veggie side dish or in Asian stir-fries alongwith sesame seeds.
So I somehow went ahead and bought it the next time I was grocery shopping . It is supposed to be very healthy and surprisingly very easy to chop and cook also. I have replaced the sesame seeds with flax seeds here too but if you do not have flax seeds on you you can always use sesame seeds in this recipe.
Ingredients:
1 bunch fresh tender asparagus shoots. (Choose the asparagus with the tight purple heads).
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp urad dal/split black gram dal
asafoetida a pinch
1-2 tsp toasted flax/sesame seeds
salt to taste
1 tsp sambhar powder
oil for tempering
Procedure:
Wash the asparagus shoots well and discard the base.
Chop the rest of the asparagus into 1 inch pieces.
Heat the oil in a kadhai or wok and add the cumin seeds and mustard seeds to it.
When they crackle add the urad dal and asafoetida .
When the urad dal turns slightly golden in color add the flax/sesame seeds to it and also add the chopped asparagus to it.
Season it with salt and sambhar powder.
The asparagus cooks very fast . You can eat it while they are still lightly crunchy. They look and feel like beans but still have a unique flavour to it.
Serve it hot with any rice dish of your choice.
The dish look delcious.
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