Red Chard with Yukon Gold Potato and Carrot, Uttapam

I was intrigued a day or so ago to find red chard in the grocery store. I wish that I had taken time to photograph the chard - I've cooked with chard in the past, certainly, such as a rainbow chard dish from this past May, but this red chard had much more delicate stems and a lovely red color. I don't think that I've seen red chard before. I made a simple dinner that turned out pretty and tasty.

Ingredients

• Approx. 1/2 cup onion cut into 3/8" cubes (I used about a third of a medium onion)
• 2 plantains cut into 1/2" slices and then quartered
• 2 small carrots cut into 3/8" slices
• 2t chopped basil (I used frozen cubes)
• Medium Yukon gold potato cut into 3/8" squares
• Red chard, stems excepted, roughly hand torn into approximately 3/4" squares
• 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 t (or to taste) salt
• (Optional) Hot sauce to taste

Process

• I put into a large Saladmaster stock pan, in this order, the onion, plantain, carrot, basil, and potato.
• I cooked, covered, on medium high for a few minutes till the vapor release started jiggling, then cooked on low heat (low enough to stop the jiggling) for about 20m.
• I quickly opened the pan, added chard, and covered again for just a minute, then I turned the heat off, stirred in the salt and pepper, and served, adding hot sauce at the table.

My wife fermented some uttapam (South Indian crepe made from lentils and rice) batter last night. I made uttapams, with onion and ginger, by cooking on a cast iron pan with no added oil.

Results

The main dish was better than I expected, and I loved the red color. Uttapam is usually good, though I wish that I had some chutney to serve with it.


Ideas for the future

I should more often cook with chard. I really liked the more tender red chard that I used today.