Word Around Town

This is one of my favorite books at the moment. It’s essentially an autobiography of Helen (and Scott) Nearing, famous before-their-time back-to-the-landers, vegetarians, and intellectual, and authors of Living the Good Life.

Helen and Scott went “back to the land” during the Depression, moving from New York City to rural Vermont. Scott was a professor who was basically barred from teaching in universities in the U.S. because of his “radical” views on child labor (he was against) and his opposition to the first World War. Helen, an accomplished violinist about 20 years his junior, grew up in a comfortable Theosophist family in New Jersey and spent a time in her teens as a companion of Krishnamurti.

Living the Good Life is about the Vermont project. It discusses Scott and Helen’s general philosophy, the vegetarian diet, raw foods, stone house building, greenhouses, etc. Loving and Leaving The Good Life is a much more personal account of Scott and Helen’s lives, and their life together, including their time in Vermont and later in rural Maine. It’s also the story of Scott’s death, by voluntary starvation, at just over 100.

If you enjoy this book, you might want to check out Helen’s Simple Food for the Good Life, an unconventional, simple cookbook from a woman who never wanted to cook but ended up feeding thousands of visitors.

This recipe is adapted from an old New York Times Magazine recipe for Cabbage-Poblano flatbread and it’s essentially what my (Indian) mother-in-law makes and calls “Thepla”. Thepla (in its various forms) is an excellent savory bread that travels very well. Depending on what you put in it, it can keep for several days unrefrigerated and still be very tasty. Also a good way to get kids to eat vegetables.

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 T. chicpea flour
1 T. coriander powder
1 t. cumin powder
1.5 t. salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 – 1 1/2 cups shredded green cabbage (or grated carrots, or squash, or fresh dill, or other vegetable)
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons minced hot pepper (optional)
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil (more for pan frying)
2/3 cup water (more or less, as needed)

Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Stir in the cabbage (or other vegetable), ginger, pepper (if used) then add oil and water. Knead together until smooth (a few minutes is all that’s necessary) and let sit for about 15 minutes, covered.

Separate the dough into 12 equal balls. Roll each on a lightly floured surface until round and quite thin.

Heat a medium skillet, and pan fry on each side, until just golden.

Note: more oil (in batter and in cooking) makes these breads more pliable, but you can adjust to suit. Thepla can be made without vegetable and will keep longer this way.