Cooking recipes

Well, here it is; the first post about the spring gardening season. Yeah. Well... not too much to say besides the obvious: this is already shaping up to be a very different season than last year.


We got 2 beds of peas planted in the week between the main snow melting and this incoming batch of snow. One is here, in the lower "wet" beds. We covered it with light row-cover cloth in the hopes of both keeping it a little warmer and keeping the rabbits out. The deer fence we installed last year seems to be working very well. We have not seen any signs of deer in the yard in the last few months at all. Rabbits are another story though, and the veggies in the wet beds are particularly susceptible, being closer to their woodland home.

I was feeling like this was waaaay later than last year for planting peas, but in fact its only 3 weeks later. Only 3 weeks, but its still very cool compared to last year when we were working in short sleeves.


Its also a lot wetter than last spring. Last year we had hardly any snowcover and had to start watering right from the start. This years snow was not epic by any means, but there was a reasonable amount, and its been raining off and on this spring so we are off to a much better start in terms of water. Of course, we always have this one spot that sits as a puddle of water all through the spring after the snow melts. I dont know how to get rid of it or even if I should try.


A couple of years back we got our hands on an old ice-cream freezer which no longer works. We always intended to use it as a mini-greenhouse, but this is the first time we have filled it up and planted it. Last year there just didnt seem too much point, given how hot it got so fast.


Inside it, weve planted lettuce, broccoletto (new to us; dont know what its like, except that its a fast grower), baby bok choy and vivid choy, also new to us, but a chinese green with bright coloured stems. These are all fast growers and I hope they will provide us some fresh greens while we wait for things to get moving in the main garden.


Weve started sprouting some of our sweet potatoes. This is a bit earlier than last year, when we didnt start them until about the 20th of April. This year we started them in late March, a month earlier, which I think is much better timing. If it doesnt start warming up soon though, theyll have to go out under hoop-houses to get them growing in June.


Tomatoes are all up and growing nicely. Weve gone overboard, as usual. Peppers are much slower and spottier and I worry that we wont have enough. I worry about that every year, but we always have plenty.


Were growing a lot of onions this year. In addition to 5 named varieties, we are growing an unknown type of multiplier onion, some of our own saved seed from several varieties I let go to seed together, and seeds from both of the shallots that crossed with each other. And leek seed, which we got from Turkey.

The other thing I have big plans for this year is melons. I worry though, that if the bugs are half as bad as last year, they may not work very well. Last year was perfect melon growing weather, which is partly why I got so excited about them. The bugs, though; the bugs... our harvest was not nearly as good as it should have been because of them. I hope the colder winter has managed to cut them down to manageable levels this year. At any rate we will be planting all the cucurbits (melons, squash and cucumbers) at the end of the month - they grow quickly, should go out later than the tomatoes, and be smaller plants when they go.

And thats about it for the moment. Were trying to wrap  up a few indoor projects before things really get going outside, but other than that were just waiting around for the weather to warm up. Wed be happy to have that happen any time now... waiting... waiting...

Spring onions or as some may call green onions or Scallions are an interesting vegetable. Mainly used for garnishing/ salads or in Chinese soups, noodles and sauces, I have never tried to use them as a main ingredient in my cooking.

Its available in Bombay vegetable markets almost all year round. They are sold in bunches, one bunch having upto 8-10 sprigs. I have noticed that the smaller the onion bulb, the fresher the leaves are.

You cant store this one for too long as it starts wilting in a 2-3 days.This time a vegetable vendor managed to sell me a really huge bunch. Just using them for garnishing would have resulted in rotten onions in a couple of days and hence this recipe struck. Sometimes, one just starts of chopping a vegetable without having a definite plan in mind and as one keeps adding ingredients intuitively, a new dish is born.

In Maharashtrian cooking, there is something called a zunka-which is basically a cooked gram flour paste. The curry turned out something akin to a Zunka at the end of my cooking adventure.

Ingredients:

1 big bunch of Spring onions-Washed thoroughly and chopped finely
(Rinse the onions thoroughly as dirt may be lodged between the leaves. Trim any wilted parts and the tip of the pink root.)
1 cup gram flour (besan)
2 cups water

2 green chillies-finely chopped
1 dried red chilli crumbled
1/2 tsp finely chopped ginger
1/2 tsp finely chopped garlic
1 stick of curry leaves
1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
Pinch of asafoetida powder
Pinch of turmeric
Salt to taste
1 tsp oil

Method:

1.Heat the oil in a non-stick pan. Add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, curry leaves, asafoetida, chopped chillies, ginger, garlic. Saute for a few seconds.

2.Add the finely chopped spring onions and a pinch of salt. Saute for 1-2 minutes. These onions cook in no time at all.

3.Meanwhile, make a thin paste of the gram flour in 2 cups water with a pinch of turmeric powder and salt to taste. Once the spring onions are sauted, pour the gram flour paste into the pan and keep stirring constantly on a medium flame. In 5-6 minutes the gram flour will get cooked as the curry thickens.

4. Taste and check if gram flour is cooked. (It shouldnt stick to the tongue ) Remove from flame into a serving bowl. Serve hot with Phulkas / Chapatis.

This curry is very flavourful from the mild spring onions and tastes rich too. Its something you can make in a hurry without any prior preparations. Just make sure you have gram flour in your pantry at all times. In one of my posts, I shall tell you why...



Notes:

You will find gram flour in any of the Indian grocery stores.

Spring onions are very rich in Iron, Calcium and Vitamin A, Gram flour has a very low Glycaemic Index and high in protein, which makes this an extremely healthy recipe for weight watchers as well as Diabetics. Read this to know more about how chana dal /Bengal gram benefits diabetics.



Check out:

Nupur of One hot stove gives us the run-down about this traditional delicacy here.

And see what our Bachelor chef has been doing with Ivy gourd. And to think I saw this one only after I had made this dish for Tuesday night dinner.