Fruits of Neglect

A garden is both resilient and fragile at the same time. Luckily for me, although 2011 is probably the year I most neglected my garden in the past 10 years, it continued to reward me with fruits and seedlings. Notably missing this year is my Manila Mango which was setting fruit during the heat wave while I was away. Most of the fruit did not set. However, my garden's rewards is motivating me to steal time form my impossibly busy schedule to get my hands dirty.

Thompson grapes

Tomato Coconut Drumstick Curry

Lucky me! I was about to walk out of the Indian grocery store when I saw a beautiful sight - a gorgeous pile of drumstick (botanical name: Moringa Oliefera) My Indian friends call them -Munaga Kaaya). They were absolutely fresh and long- possibly the longest drumsticks I have ever  come across! I grew up eating drumstick in Malaysia. My artichoke before I knew about artichoke.

Drumstick is the seed pod of a tropical tree. The seed pod are long. Some of  the pods I purchased this time were over long as 3ft!! Longer, than any I have ever seen in Malaysia. The vendor tells me in India, they have even longer drumsticks. The pods have a triangle cross section, splits open to 3 sections with a pulpy interior with winged seeds. When cooked, you scrap the delicious pulp against your teeth like an artichoke leaf, discard the hard outer skin. I remember a rented house we lived in for awhile, where the landlord would come each month to harvest the drumstick and collect the rent. You know me - at this point, I am not just thinking about eating the drumsticks but growing them!! A healthy bundle of drumstick followed me home............

Normally, I would cook the drumstick in a sambar/ dhall type curry. I decided I wanted to try something a little different. I remembered a tomato based drumstick curry I used to eat in Malaysia. A quick harvest of curry leaves from my garden, tomatoes purchased from the Farmers Market a few days ago and frozen grated fresh coconut from the freezer and I was on my way. I served it with Basmati Pilaf

Tuscan Kale Chips

I was at the Farmers Market two weeks ago when I saw some gorgeous Tuscan Kale. I decided to finally try making Tuscan Kale Chips that have been popularized by Bona Appetit magazine. I am sharing the Bona Appetit link but really it could not be simpler. It is literally: -

12 Tuscan Kale leaves, rinsed, dried, cut lengthwise in half, remove center rib and stem, toss in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, arrange in single layer on 2 baking sheet, roast in preheated 250F oven for 30-33 minutes. Thank you, Bona Appetit - it is ingenius!

I love that this healthy snack is baked instead of fried. During one of last trips back to Malaysia, I snacked on Fried Spinach (Bayam) chips. Spinach leaves were deep fried- utterly delicious but not so healthy. I think I will try to bake some Spinach leaves next and see how it compares with the fried version. For your information, the Baked Tuscan Kale Chip has the texture and taste a bit like Nori (seaweed).

Flowering despite neglect.........

I realize that I have not posted anything for awhile but I just wanted to share some pictures of the beautiful Dragon Fruit Flower in my garden this morning. I had vaguely noticed that the Dragon Fruit ( Pitaya) plant was sprouting some buds recently. This morning, I took a quick stroll through my neglected garden and was rewarded with this breathtaking display. The plant had actually fallen down during a windstorm recently, and I had yet to upright it. Despite the neglect, it has numerous buds on it. So far, despite flowers previous seasons, it has yet to form the Dragon Fruit. Hopefully, this year will be the Year!

"ORANGE YOU COMING SOPHIE?" scones

I have been here since March 30, waiting for my niece Sophie to grace the world with her presence. For awhile, before I flew across the country to be with my sister as she welcomes her second child and to help with those initial blurry nights and days of a newborn, we worried I would not be on time!! Needless worry..... Her brother was 10 days late and she wanted to follow suit. I had almost given up hope of seeing her before my trip ended. Today, 6 days after her due date, she is deciding to grace us with her presence. She is making her track into the world even as I am writing this blog posting.


This morning, my sister had a hankering for some scones. As I gathered the ingredients for an Orange Raisin Scones, my sister leaned on wall by the kitchen and remarked " Hmm, that might be a contraction". I was not falling for that! We had some false alarms along the way- only to be punctuated with a "No contraction at all" proclamation during yesterday's stress test. Turns out, it is the Real Thing this time. In honor of this event I am calling this scone -"Orange You  Coming Sophie?" Scones - get it???

Kuih Kapit

Traditional Kuih Kapit Mould. Different design
on each side of mould

A few years ago I had made some Kuih Kapit quite successfully on my outdoor gas barbecue grill. This time I decided to stay indoor - the weather was a bit nippy. I decide I would only make a small amount of cookies instead of my usual ambitious attempts. I decided to heat the kuih kapit moulds over my gas stove. Probably, not the most economical but I was making a small amount of cookies. It worked out fine but I think I have to find or fashion a satay style grill for future. I used the recipe from Nonya Flavors.

Chapati and Dal

What to eat, what to eat? After arriving home after our annual binge feast in Malaysia, our stomachs were caught in gastronomical jet lag.... Hunger struck at odd hours. At times, we knew we had to eat but were not hungry. Once night, the solution was a simple Chapati and Dal. Luckily, I had a bag of atta flour in the fridge but the bottle of ghee from my pantry that I opened smelt rancid. I substituted unsalted butter which surprisingly resulted in a richer, more tasty chapati.

Some might say that this is a recipe for Paratha........ it appears that there is a general confusion as to what constitute a chapati or a paratha. Generally, chapati are thinner than paratha. Parathas tend to be more flaky because of the folding of dough. In the past, I had just rolled out the dough ball to circles and cooked them - chapati. This time I folded the dough to form more layers - parathas. Either way, plain good eats!