This is where I was last week. Yup, that’s Niagara Falls and I’m standing on the Canadian side looking at the US. I even went on that boat, Maid of the Mist. Covered in a paper thin blue plastic poncho, we sailed straight for the falls – or as close as we could safely get. It was super humid and windy, with ice-cold water battering our faces. In the end my shoes were soaked but it was awesome!

We went to Toronto for my cousin’s wedding. And if you don’t know about Indian/Pakistani wedding, well they last for days. This particular one was four days, and that’s four different parties each with its own traditional meaning. We spent the week in Canada. There was nothing scheduled for Wednesday so we (dad, sister, and myself) decided to ditch the FAMILY and go off on our own to Niagara.

By Friday we were home with Labor Day in a few days. I was in the grocery store and next to the zucchini, which is a staple for me, there were cartons of Brussels Sprouts. I’ve never eaten Brussels Sprouts before. Growing up, the veggie side dishes my mom made were zucchini (of course), eggplant, okra, potato, and broccoli. It wasn’t all South Asian, just chock full of chili flakes, cumin, and turmeric. Earlier this summer I tried grilling beets, another vegetable I’ve never eaten before. It came out quite nice, but wasn’t good enough for me to make again. That might have to be another experiment of its own.

Wanting to explore different vegetables that are foreign to me, I decided to grill these Brussels Sprouts. Most folks are pretty divided about them, either loving their taste or hating it. After this experiment I fall to the side of being thoroughly enchanted by their flavor. In the following recipe, I kept it to the bare minimum of ingredients so that I could let the vegetable shine through. That means no chili powder – though, afterwards my mom and I decided that as good as they turned out, we just need a little kick in our food.

Ingredients

• 1lb. Brussels Sprouts
• 1 tbsp. Olive Oil
• 2 tsp. Sea Salt
• 2 tsp. Black Pepper (freshly ground)
• 2 tsp. Garlic powder

Method

Wash the sprouts. Remove any yellowy leaves. Then cut back the hard stem. I also scored the bottom with my knife so it cooks evenly.

Now you need to parboil them for 5 min. In a pot, bring a cup of water to boil. Once the water is boiling toss in 1 tsp. of Salt and the Brussels Sprouts. Don’t forget to take them out after 5 min. You don’t want them to cook all the way through or else they will turn to mush on the grill.

At this stage they’ve got a vivid green color. Drain them and toss them in a bowl with Olive Oil, Salt, Black Pepper, and Garlic.

I’ve read that you can skewer the sprouts and place them on the grill. But you’ve all seen my previous grilling posts (and for those who haven’t, what are you waiting for?) where the grill starts out uniform, but turns into a chaotic jumble once my stomach starts to growl. Therefore, I simply poured them onto the hot grate and moved them about so they didn’t burn. It took 10 min and they were tender with some flavorful char.

I placed them back into the same bowl and tossed them again to get a little more spices on them. I was tempted to squeeze some lemon onto them, but after trying one I was amazed by the subtle hint of lemon it already had. So I think this is a good base to launch off for future brussels sprouts endeavors. And yeah, definitely going to make again.