Tomatillos

Vastly underused vegetable in cooking. Most people have eaten them without realizing it, as they are a major ingredient in Mexican salsa. But they work fabulously in stir-fries, with seafood, and other sauteed dishes. They're relatively cheap and widely available these days.

When you buy them, try to get the largest, firmest ones you can find. Unlike some veggies, but like Godzilla, in my experience size matters. Since they are enclosed in this papery husk, be sure to feel them to make certain they are not soft. After peeling off the husk, a quick rinse in cold water will remove the sticky coating of the outer rind. Then just quarter them up, and notch out the tough stem connection area at the top. In cooking, add them to dishes relatively late, as they cook quickly and can get mushy. They are an excellent substitute for regular tomatoes (to which they are closely related), being a bit more tangy, and green-yellow instead of red. I'm going to make some spaghetti sauce with tomatillos instead of tomatoes, just for fun, sometime.

Unfortunately, they are an even longer-season vegetable than tomatoes are, and I can't grow them where I live (I've tried). But if you live in the southern U.S. they should be an excellent choice for a garden and will work well in a big pot.

caw

L M Ashton said:

blacbird, you might just be tempting me to see if I can get some seeds...

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They should grow fabulously well in Sri Lanka, where I'd guess you could grow them year-round. They get to be a pretty big plant, but would work well in a large pot. I don't know how available seeds for them would be in Asia, however. They are native to the Americas, and are a staple of Mexican and other Latin American cookery. But there are abundant seed sources via the Internet, so good luck.

As for sugar, I never use sugar with them (or with tomatoes, for that matter). Tomatillos are more tart than most tomatoes, with a naturally salty tang.

caw