So abundant up top, all the trappings of a beautiful plumpsious beetroot bulb down under but on investigation it’s a miracle the shrunken marble sized beet has been keeping the verdant forest above afloat. For some reason they decided to channel all their energies above ground, not an ounce of beet below, we haven’t been able to bring ourselves to pull them up despite their feutile efforts to bare fruit. Im privately in awe of their defiance of what we expected of them, going their own way and my way really as the leaves are my best bit.
The beetroot leaves can be cooked in just the same way as large spinach leaves tho with a little more water. Steamed in batches with a smidge of water boiling under neath them, left to drip and steam dry in a colander before being squeezed tight in my mits and tossed through garlicy olive oil.
These leaves were a potentially necessary visual decoy for my first attempt at making mung dhal. I envisaged an off colour soggy body of mush that might need shrouding, then dousing (in tahini dressing) and finally crowning in fuscia pickled onions to fully divert attention, but; happy to report Im a convert the mung and its really not such a bad looker after all.
