This winter we are growing many vegetables that are new to us and we don't have any idea on what best cooking method to prepare them. Any advise are most welcome and will be deeply appreciated. We harvested our first rainbow chard and baby beets (thinnings) last Monday. Both of these vegetables are new to us and will be our first tasting experience. There were 2 rainbow chards growing in the same pot, so I harvest one because it is getting crowded. Other vegetables that were harvested was tomatoes, giant purple mustards, snow peas, capsicums, chilies and corianders. Join in and see what other gardeners are harvesting all around the world in Harvest Monday hosted by Daphne.
Rainbow chards and other vegetables were chopped. They danced in the wok for the making of salted dried mackeral fried rice dish. We like rainbow chard and will plant some more again in spring. I still don't know what suitable dish for beetroot and how to prepare it since it really bleeds. Boiled those baby beetroots together with Rayyan's porridge. It was a really bloody dish especially after using the mixer to chopped them into pieces. We tasted Rayyan red porridge and it was sweet with beetroot blend together.
We grow dill for the first time and I keep on forgetting that I planted them. Out of curiosity, Lenay keep on reminding me of those dills because we never used dill in our cooking before. So snipped some for the kitchen. We also harvested some baby leeks, capsicums and chilies last Saturday.
I was clearing up some containers and areas in the veggie patch. From that we got some onion leaves which did not bulb last year, ginger rhizomes and our last beans. Our wong bok were looking really bad with caterpillars and snail attack that we harvest some of it. It took a lot of washing to get rid of snail and slug hiding in between these wong bok leaves. We have not enjoyed any wong bok since last year and Lenay was really missing it. After she experience growing brassicas especially wong bok and cabbage and know they are so difficult to grow 100% organically due to pest, we keep on reminding each other never to buy brassicas again in the market. When we passed by organic market, we still see sign of minimal spray used on those cute cabbages. Ours might not be a beauty but at least it does not contain hazardous chemicals. Cut some of wong bok and onion leaves to make a vegetarian fried rice noodles for Saturday breakfast.
With the newly fresh harvested ginger and dill, I made stir-fried ginger chicken for Saturday dinner. Usually we used boneless chicken meat for this dish but they were only chicken wings in the freezer so we had to improvise.
Last weekend we harvested all of our daikons. The ones which is not forky or broken due to digging it out were shared with other generous gardeners. I did not preserved any daikons this time. Hopefully there will be another empty space in our veggie patch this month to sow another small batch of daikon. We also harvested some chilies, peas and sweet potato shoots.
We harvested some white sweet potatoes this month and I wasn't sure how to prepare it since I never tasted one before. Cikmanggis my cooking guru gave me some nice tips. So with her help I cook the sweet potato and sweet potato shoots with coconut milk. In Malaysia, this kind of dish is commonly known as masak lemak putih.
Ingredients (this is roughly what I did)
White sweet potato (one bowl cut into chunks)
Sweet potato shoots (one bowl-washed)
4 medium size garfish (boil in 1 litre water with just a little bit of slice ginger, keep the boiled water)
Red onion/shallots (I used 1 Red onion)
Black pepper
150ml coconut milk
Salt
Take only the meat from the boiled fish and in a mortar mash it with red onion and black pepper.
Heat the boiled water again and add in coconut milk, the mashed fish with red onion and black pepper and white sweet potatoes. Frequent stirring.
When the sweet potato is almost tender, add sweet potato shoots and stir well. Add salt to taste. Done.
It was really delicious, I had many servings and I was a satisfied cat.This will be my comfort food. White sweet potato has the sweetness that I like and it is a bit starchy. It reminds me of young tapioca that I had in my childhood. Hopefully with our next white sweet potato if we have good harvest, I would like to try Cat-in-Sydney suggestion of making pengat (Malaysia traditional cake). But I need some lesson on how to make it. I think mama showed several time how to make banana pengat a long long time ago but I forgot. My knowledge in making traditional cake is very limited.
28 comments:
I think you've got the veggie garden thing down to a science to have all those wonderful vegetables. I think rainbow chard is so pretty/.
Dear MK, I think you're very adventurous trying out all these new veggies and giving them a tasty Asian twist. You could write a recipe book. whenever I read your blog lately i get hungry! Did Rayyan like the blood red colour of his porridge? cheers, cm
You are managing quite nicely in finding good ways to use veggies you are less than familiar with! Well done!
Your harvest looks wonderful. One way to deal with beet root and not have them bleed so much is to bake them with the skins on until tender. Then the skins just rub off with little bleeding. You can season them and put the roasted beets on salad.
Wow everything looks great. Those white sweet potatoes sound very interesting.
Tina~I only seen rainbow chard in gardening books and wonder do they really look pretty in real life. They do and I am so happy they only not just look pretty but taste delicious too.
Catmint~He finished a whole bowl. So I think he must have like it.
KitsapFG~It was fun growing and preparing them in the kitchen.
Emily~Thank you for the tips! Will like to try that next harvest.
Allison~We are growing to plant them again. Its fun to have different type of sweet potato to harvest because each have their own special taste and different way to cook them.
hasil kebun diana sungguh lumayan....semua ada.Cm baru tanam keledek dengan cara rendam batang keledek dalam air,Bila dan tumbuh akar baru Cm tanam dan nampak gayanya akan hidup..Terima kasih Cm ikut cara-cara yang Diana tunjukkan .
Hehe lucunya bila sebut Cm ni guru...tak layak panggil guru....terima kasih sebsb sudi cuba masak daun keledek dgn ubi keledek tu..Cm suka sangat dan partnernya pastinya Budu:)
Your garden is so wonderful and the things you cook from it are amazing! I'd love to come to your place for dinner :)
You cook very healthy food. I admire your ability to grow and cook so well.
I grow and give them to my neighbours. Today I received assam laksa in return. :)
Your chicken dish looks very yummy. BUt, What is next to your chilis? It looks like giant worm?
Your veggies continue to flourish despite the season! I usually use swiss chard as I would spinach. I have a few recipes on my blog if you like. With beets, my favorite way to prepare them is to roast them in the oven then peel and slice them on salads. Wear gloves to prevent your hands staining red. Don't forget that the beet leaves are edible also. You would use them as you would the Swiss chard. Your prepared dishes look delicious!!
You always have such a nice variety of things. I like dill with vegetables like green beans and squash. Also with cucumbers and yogurt.
You are so right about the brassicas and pests. Ours don't always look perfect either but they are organic and safe to eat!
You are so good in gardening and cooking! Your kids sure enjoy the fresh vegetables!
Beautiful harvests. I always grow my brassicas under a row cover. I'd never be able to do it without one.
Beautiful pictures, I love these tasty food.
Nak try la tanam keledek macam cikmanggis sebut tu..suka makan rebus keledek dgn gula! So many types of vegetables in your garden Diana, I have to try a few more varieties like maybe carrot, radish and dill which is I think good with fish.
MKG dear,
Mama used to just juice the beetroot with some apples and carrots and celery. I think the portions are 1 beetroot + 1/2 apple + 1 carrot + 1 stick celery. yummm..... purrr...meow!
So much harvest and so many yummy dishes. You're not only a great gardener but also a great mama. I bought a pot of dill last week but it died on me the next few day after i transplanted it to the ground. Duh.
I have recently discovered coconut milk and love it for lentil soup.
This recipe looks delicious, thanks for sharing.
I grow dill in my garden. It is one of the herbs that has started to creep everywhere, so watch out!
I confess that I don't like Rainbow Chard all that much until late in the fall when frost makes it sweeter, but I use it in small amounts along with other greens.
The sweet potato dish looks great - I've never cooked the shoots before.
We're like you. We don't mind the bugs so much. There's plenty of food to go around.
Is that Napa cabbage I see in the picture. We're very jealous. We want to make gimchee. Do you think we can substitute our regular cabbage? We're going to try.
I don't know much about veggie gardens, but it looks delicious :)
Your harvests always look so beautiful! My father has been making a new kind of dumpling with I think lamb, a bit of cucumber, and dill. It's really delicious, flavorful and juicy.
I LOVE any dish with coconut milk.
You always have good harvest! All your veggies are just wonderful. And you are such a good mother, cooking all the delicious and healthy food for your family. Have a great week, Diana!
So many delicious vegetables. You certainly cooked very well with all of them! I love roasted beetroot. Harvest them small, so they are baby beets, then wrap them whole in a bit of foil, with a splash of oil and salt. Bake until tender. When cool to touch, rub the skins off, they will be very sweet, and you can mix it with pecans or walnuts, and baby spinach leaves and goat's cheese for a salad. Dress with lemon juice. Yummy. Or steam the beetroot, it won't be so bleedy as boiling them. Have fun! Can't wait to see your next harvest.
CikManggis~Semoga keledek tu tumbuh dengan cepatnya. Budu tak nampak pula ada jual ke idak kat sini. Tapi cencaluk ada.
Mrs Bok~I was hopping to have a piece of your kids desert. Look so yummy.
One~Wah, I wish I have neighbour like yours. I like to grow stuff but cooking is a must here since no pasar malam.
Barbie~ Its turmeric. I hope some of your trees will recover very well.
Holly~I am interested with your pickle swiss chard recipe. Hope we have some to make this year.
Villager~Home-grown brassicas taste so sweet too. Not plain at all like the market.
Malar~Hopefully when they grow up, they understand the important of having home-grown vegetables.
Daphne~Hopefully when we have our new garden. We can use net to cover the vegetables. At the moment with the layout its a bit difficult with nettings.
Leovi~I enjoyed visiting your blog.
Aarthi~You have many wonderful recipes on your blog.
p3chandan~Tempat kak Shidah lagi senang keledek nak tumbuh. Lagi sekejap dapat hasil dari kami. Good Luck with more varieties to grow. You will enjoy it very much.
Cat-from-Sydney~Interesting juice. have to wait for our celery to grow. Growing so slowly in winter. Definitely someting I would like to try.
Milka~Nah not your fault. Dill does not like to be transplanted very much. It is preferably direct-sowed. Will try to keep some seeds for you. Although the ones that are growing now in our patch, I did transplanted it. But mine was small seedlings so it was much easier to transplant.
Rosey~I will watch out for it:).
Entangled~I will try to remember sowing some rainbow chard in spring and see whether it taste differently with winter ones.
Jody~Napa cabbage. I am not familiar in making gimchee so not sure whether regular cabbage works well or not. I want to make one. but have not find the time yet to find easy recipe for gimchee.
Mama Monkey~Good comfort food with the sweet potato dish.
Wendy~Your father dumpling sounds delicious.
Joyce~I try my best to cook some different dish on the weekend. Since they all been very supportive to me during my busy week days.
Shaz~Thanks for the ideas!Waiting for the beetroots to grow bigger so I can try roasting and steaming it.
I love your blog! I've just started a very small garden patch of my own and was looking around how other people build their gardens when I found your blog. You have amazing green fingers - all your plants look so luscious! Now I just have a tiny sweet potato patch, lemongrass, pandan and exactly 5 tapioca plants, but am slowly adding more to the list! And thanks for sharing the lovely masak lemak putih recipe. Hopefully I can try it out one day :)
Oh! and this is my blog: makan2.tumblr.com
just a bunch of cooking endeavours for now but hopefully will add on garden adventures as I have more (successful) results! :D
Hanie~ Hi, Thank you for the visit so I can visit you back. I think you already have good many plants in your garden. I wish we can grow pandan and tapioca here too. But alas the weather not suitable for them here.
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