recipe: quick-braised zucchini & leek

ingredients:

half a small zucchini
half a big leek, sliced in halfmoons (wegmans sells ginormous leeks with half a foot of unusable green leaves)
1 medium tomato
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
3 pods of cardamom
4 cloves
1 inch of cinnamon
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 sprig of coriander
1 teaspoon of extra virgin mustard oil

i start with hot oil and cumin for this. i used to always start with hot oil and onions and then add the cumin because i was afraid i'd burn the spice. not anymore. i think i add cumin and ginger to everything. also turmeric, because it makes everything look more... cooked, and golden yellow and cheering. for this recipe, i think using the really kancha shorsher tel kinda lends a lovely yellowness to everything, so i don't miss the turmeric. it also makes everything acquire a little bit of a bite, so no peppers need to be added to supply some heat. so this is slightly different from the trusted cumin-coriander-ginger triad i use for fish and vegetables, often with a little bit of coconut milk and lots of bright peppers.

anyway, so i let the cumin sizzle in the oil a little bit, then add the leeks, garlic and zucchini (in that order), cover and let everything brown a little on low heat. i then add the diced tomato, and the rest of the spices--bruised cardamom, cloves and broken cinnamon, salt the whole thing and cover up again. at this point, the vegetables release a little pool of water that can act as the braising liquid. i like wet food, so i don't bring the heat back on high and evaporate the  juices. i just switch off the stove and add coriander. it's really flash, bang and all done.

if you're a stickler for not diminishing the nutritional value of vegetables, and like them squeaky or crunchy, you could just saute everything and add the salt after you've removed it from the heat. i just like my vegetables soft, and pliant and well-seasoned. through and through. my only concession is to salt everything at the end. i also try and cook small batches of food on very low heat, all covered. which still kills most of the good stuff in vegetables raw food enthusiasts rave about. but, considering the fact  that i tend to eat out and eat tonnes and tonnes of atrociously unhealthy dessert, this is positively the zenith of healthiness for me. i'm thinking of investing in a powerful blender/smoothie maker for summer. i'll just have yoghurt and pulped fruit for brekker lunch and dinner and give up on cooking altogether. wishful thinking, i suspect.