Upma Polenta, Fricassee of Roasted Asparagus and Spring Onions

The best thing about this cookbook is that everything has a really silly name, making the food sound a whole lot more complicated than it actually is. In celebration of my favourite season, asparagus season, the first dish I made was the "upma polenta, fricassee of roasted asparagus and spring onions". Now I usually hate polenta, as it typically is one solid mass of flavourless corn-mush. This, however, was surprisingly delicious.

This dish calls for all kinds of delicious spring vegetables - asparagus, peas, and lots of herbs. I didn't have access to spring garlic, so substituted leeks, and I had no idea what "kokum" was (still don't really know), so I left that out all together.










First I made the polenta, except that it wasn't really polenta but rather Indian semolina aka cream of wheat semolina aka "Suji". I hadn't heard of that kind of semolina before so was surprised to find it in the grocery store in Stratford of all places. A giant bag for $1.79 -bargain. In one pot, I toasted the polenta in a bit of oil. In another pot, I added a bit more oil, the mustard seeds and cumin, toasted until they started popping into my eyes, and then threw in the shallots (I love shallots), chiles, and ginger. It turns out that if you add a whole chile pepper to the recipe when it calls for half, the polenta will be very spicy. Be warned. When the polenta was toasted, I combined it with the shallot mixture and added some warm vegetable stock, cilantro, and chives.

Next up: the fricassee. Now I'm not sure why this is called a fricassee, since that typically implies something cooked in a cream sauce. Being vegan, this fricassee obviously lacked cream. But it also lacked sauce. Hm. Anyhow, making the 'fricassee' was really straightforward since I'd prepped all the vegetables beforehand. I sauteed the spring onions, shallots, asparagus, leeks, sugar snap peas, ginger, and chiles. When they were cooked but still crunchy, I added more cilantro and chives.

Next - plating! I used a ring mould (mold? I never know) to shape the polenta into a disk and then placed the asparagus mix around it. Voila!




I then made my not-super-enthusiastic family eat it. They claim they loved it. I thought it was good but not mind-blowing. The polenta was really delicious - all the chiles, ginger, and herbs gave it quite a kick - and I much prefer the wheat 'polenta' to cornmeal. The chile flavour provided a great contrast to the crunchy green-ness of the asparagus and pea mixture. Would I make this again? Probably, but I think I'd put half the chile mixture in with the asparagus, like I was supposed to!