[Vegetable review] Indian Cucumber Tindora

Spotted these tiny cucumbers at the local Indian grocery store, it turns out they are Tindoras, mini cucumbers.
Tried the raw and they were quite bitter.

spiny gourd / spine gourd vegetable

Picked this up at some Indian grocery shop and found out that it was another variant of bittermelon so I had to try it.

The appearance looked more like a berry or conker so who would have guessed it was a vegetable and its relation to a bittermelon.

These are good stir fried with onions and tomato with some spices just like bittermelon or okra and the seeds inside are crunchy and can be eaten.

Avozilla the biggest Avocado from South Africa

Last year, there were these huge avocados about called the Avozilla but I happened to miss it. Luckily I got a chance to see them this year!

As well as giant avocados you can also get baby avocados the size of eggs which I reviewed last year.

Here is how big it is and it costs £4 from Tescos.

M&S British Rhubarb

I love fresh rhubarb so this time I got some rhubarb from Marks and Spencers.
Visually it is not as pretty as pink forced rhubarb but it tasted how it should.

Rhubarb is delicious with custard so I paired with with pandan custard inspired by some rhubarb pandan tarts recipe online.

The pairing of super sour rhubarb and fragrant sweet pandan custard was simply divine.

rhubarb with curiously cinnamon crumble 

As well as desserts, you can also cook it with chicken or spare ribs.

If you cook it with spare ribs, it will taste like steamed ribs with pickled plum which is quite nice!

M&S White Asparagus (selected farms)

Marks and Spencers has a wonderful selection of fruit and vegetables.

On this trip, I spotted white, purple and regular green asparagus.

Normally I have white asparagus at the restaurants when it is in seasons which costs a bomb but it wasn't that expensive here so I grabbed a pack.

The asparagus is white because it was grown in the dark.

In terms if taste it is not as grassy as the green ones and there is a slight bitter taste.

Ended up blanching the white asparagus and having it with maple cured bacon as well as Monkfish.

[Vegetable] Echalion shallots also known as banana shallots!!

Echalion shallots also known as banana shallots!! The bigger ones are called banana shallots and Echalion shallots for the smaller ones.
I first spotted them at Marks and Spencers where they sold the banana shallots which are the bigger ones.
Ended up getting them as Lidl was doing them for the Pick of the week promotion.

Pickled them and they tasted quite nice and they were natrually sweet which balances the vinegar.

Taro (Eddo)

Taro is a lovely root veg just like pototoes but the texture is quite different.
Some taros have a strong taste with a viscous texture.

The one here is an Eddo taro native to China.

I decided to add it in my African Okra soup with chicken and it came out nicely.

Morrisons Savoy Cabbage review

Savoy cabbage is a cabbage that is distinct for its wrinkly leaves making it ideal for stews because it hangs the sauce.

The savoy cabbage was made into Sichuan style sour cabbage fish soup where you have cabbage, pickled cabbage and fish.

Overall, it was delicious.