Green beans, potatoes and parsnips roast - love and hate that followed

How lucky for us all to be bombarded with Sarah Palin again. I have to be truthful here, I actually quite liked her before my feelings did a total flip but this was before she was unleashed on us as a Vice Presidential candidate. About 3 months before her selection, there was a show on PBS(our local public television) about her role as governor of Alaska and her taking on the oil companies leaving me impressed. Then she became a candidate and the rest is history. You have to grant her this much, just like our President she is one cool customer. Can you like someone and then completely hate that person? you betcha!

Well my feelings for parsnips went through similar ups and downs. I had been reading parsnips in recipes in a few blogs,the roasted ones looked specially appealing. I decided on Sunita's aloo bean bhaaji to give the parsnips a try, though the recipe does not use any parsnips. I have tried her recipe before with just potatoes and green beans, with sambhar powder added (but of course) and they turned out delightful. The kids especially enjoyed them. A few days ago, I found parsnips in a farmer's market fresh and crisp. I read they are just like potatoes and can be roasted and even mashed. They tasted just fine when eaten raw, like carrots with a hint of peppery taste. I kept tasting them along the way as they were getting cooked, they tasted just fine and the final roasted parsnip was pretty good. But when I sat down to eat it was totally different, my tolerance for the thing took a flip, I could not stand the parsnips at all. Strange I thought but not very surprising considering I am not fond of roasted carrots and these are pretty close to carrots in taste and texture. Carrots are fine raw, in sambhar, in chutneys or in kheers and sweets where they loose their personality but when cooked in a way that retains their carrotty taste that is hard to explain but easy to dislike. But the reaction from the kids and DH was not negative, they liked the parsnips alright. Give parsnips a try, you might like them after all.

Recipe Source: Aloo bean bhaaji

Green bean, potatoes and parsnips roast
1. 1 1/2 cups of greens beans cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
2. 4 Potatoes scrubbed and cubed
3. 2 Parsnips peeled and cut into match sticks 1 (optional)
4. 3 tbsp onions chopped
5. 1 tbsp sambhar powder
6. 2 tsp turmeric powder
7. seasonigs: cumin seeds, mustard seeds, 2 red chilies split in half
8. salt to taste

Method
1. Boil the green beans to tender and set them aside
2. Boil the potatoes and parsnips in salted water till tender
3. In a pain heat oil add cumin seeds, mustard seeds and red chilies, when they start to pop add the onions and saute till translucent.
4. Add the green beans and saute for 3-4 minutes, followed by the turmeric and 1/2 of the sambhar powder, salt, then the potatoes and parsnips.
5. Roast for 4-5 minutes and then another 5-8 minutes or longer for a good roast.

Serve with rotis or as a side for rice.