I went to Sainsbury's to get the names of the strange veg's?

Question

i.e yams sweet potato chole rabi egg plant etc..all in the same section ..some look like small peppers .why don't they tell you how to use them...?

Answer 1

Great question!! I, too, find it so frustrating not knowing what to do with all these great veggies. I guess most stores figure that if we buy it, we'll find out a recipe or vice versa. Then, they aren't catering these products to those folks who do not know what they are or how to use them, they have a distinctive clientle. I'm beginning to feel alone in the vegetable aisle!

Answer 2

I love that I can experiment and see how things turn out. If you understand vegetables you can usually deduce what you can do with them.

I think you'll find that some do and some don't have instructions and the ones that do are very simple and not that adventurous.

If you want to experiment just take the plunge and pick one or two up then search online for recipes (so long as you know the name and/or any aliases). If you don't have everything you need you can always go back.

Yams and sweet potato are tubers - just treat them like potatoes. Boil and serve with a gravy or mash with a little milk and butter. Roast them, slice them thinly, and deep fry them........They done when they're soft.

Kohl Rabi is a turnip - treat them like swedes, parnips or carrots.
peel and cut into fingers or cubes. Roast, boil or stir fry them. They're done when like a carrot.

Eggplant is a league of it's own although you could just treat it like a courgette. I either grill or bake them with butter, stir fry them, make a curry or mousakka (Turkish type of lasagne using potatoes instead of pasta). They go flimsey/floppy when done and loose the white colour to their flesh.

Snake beans, snow peas, sugar snap peas - treat them like every day beans and eat the whole thing. Just top and tail and boil or stirfry. Cook them lightly, they're nicer just done and not yellowed, floppy or mushy.
You may need to destring the snowpeas and sugarsnaps when you top and tail them if the crop is a little mature.

Okra/Bhindi is a bit special, they go slimey/gooey if you add water or over cook them. If you want it to go gooey you should be making a soup or casserole because the gooeyness acts as a natural thickener.
Click on my avatar and refer to my answer for 'Okra-Anyone know how?' for how to prep and cook them.

Answer 3

Sweet potatoes are generally used in the same way as white potatoes but are much healthier. They are a good source of vitamin c, beta carotene and vitamin a.You can make chips, sweet potato wedges, mash, baked sweet potato and you can also use in curries, stews and casseroles.

Answer 4

Thats what recipe books are for and you get them in the book section at Sainsburys(so you have'nt got far to go)

Answer 5

I couldn't agree more! My local Sainsbury's sells these red things. I believe they're called 'tomatoes'. Any suggestions as to what you're supposed to do with them?

Answer 6

Google them for recipes.
The 3rd one you mentioned is actually spelled Kohlrabi, and are generally sauteed in butter or used in soups. Some people like it raw, too.

Answer 7

The bbc website is a great place to find recipes as you can search for recipes by ingredient. I use this quite alot :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/

Answer 8

i have found them to be very good, if you can get them prepacked they have cooking instructions on them, i recently bought a peanut squash (i think that's what it was called) and it had a large sticker on and when i removed it the instructions were on the back.

Answer 9

cos they haven't a clue how.hahahha!

Answer 10

They probably do, on their web pages...