Getting creative with Kale

My vegetable of the week this week is kale. Before living at PEACE farm I'm not sure I had ever tasted kale and now it's a staple that sees us right through winter time when most other veggies die back. My good friend Karina introduced me to kale curry a few years ago and since then I've adapted it slightly but the essence is there. But the simplest way to cook with kale is fry it up with whatever other veggies you need to use. So that will be tomorrow's recipe. Stay tuned.

Kale Curry

Veg oil or ghee

Garlic 

A large onion

2cm knob ginger, grated 

2ts garam masala

2ts cumin

1ts ground coriander

1ts turmeric 

1ts fennel seeds (or ground)

A large bunch of kale

A smaller bunch of silverbeet 

Small fresh chilli

2 Anchovies (optional)

2 cups vegetable stock

1tin coconut cream 

Method

Fry the diced onion, garlic, grated ginger and chilli with ghee or oil and spices for 5 minutes. Chop the kale (stems removed) and fry with onions and spices. Add stock, anchovies and coconut cream. Cook until kale is soft and dark (about 15 mins). Add silverbeet and cook for another 5 mins. Blend well until smooth. season to taste and serve with rice. I also topped mine with homemade fried paneer.

And the verdict?  Reika joined us for lunch and she said it was "Delicious and nutritious! I'm just so happy and satisfied after eating your kale curry."

What to do with Daikon

I have decided to set myself the challenge of trying to find creative ways of using up some of the more unusual items in our weekly veggie box. Last week I got a massive daikon in the box. At the end of the week I still had the massive daikon sitting untouched in the fridge. Time to google some daikon recipes. One thing you should know...I never follow a recipe exactly but rather use recipes as inspiration to create my own unique dishes from what I have on hand. For this reason I don't always measure the quantities accurately - it's more created by feel and taste. Try it - it's fun.

So the first recipe I attempted was ... 

Grated daikon, beetroot and carrot salad

A big chunk of Diakon

2 large carrots 

2 beetroots

Sesame oil

A small chunk of ginger, grated

Rice wine vinegar

Chilli garlic soy sauce

Lemon juice

Grate daikon, carrot and beetroot into a bowl. I used both golden and red beetroots. 

In a seperately bowl mix sesame oil, brown rice vinegar (or similar), grated ginger, and some chilli garlic soy (you could substitute this with whatever you have in the cupboard that would match). I put a bit too much of the chilli soy, so added some lemon juice. 

The verdict? Vicky says YUM! Next time I might add sesame seeds and some coriander or mint.

So after that was made there was still a large chunk of daikon left. So I decided to try roasting it with some other veggies.

 

Roast Diakon with other root veggies

Diakon 

Pumpkin 

Sweet potato

Garlic

Carrot

Potato

Olive oil

Salt

Chop all veggies. Coat with oil and salt. Place in a baking tray and bake at 200-220•C for about 30 mins or until golden. I mixed my roasties with couscous, chopped parsley and cubes of feta. 

So the last chunk of daikon was sliced and eaten raw and I even put some slices  on the pizza!

And the verdict... I say yum!

The beauty of organic farming

I took so much pleasure in picking the silverbeet and rainbow chard this morning for our veggie boxes. I had to search through the mandala gardens to find the chard amongst so many other herbs, veggies and weeds . 

 It made me appreciate the amazing wild confusion and vibrant colors that nature gives us in our beautiful organic garden. The perfect imperfections of slightly chewed leaves and finding tiny snails and slugs under some of the stems. For me it's a sign of all the elements working together beneficially without the need for chemical control or forced neatness. 

This is nature at it's best. One thing that  has stood out for me as a participant in PEACE Farms first PDC (Permaculture Design Course) is a quote from Bill Mollison's  PERMACULTURE A Designers' Manual: 'Order is found in things working beneficially together. It is not the forced condition of neatness, tidiness, and straightness all of which are, in design terms, disordered. True order may lie in apparent confusion'. 

Helping with the veggie boxes is also a way to truly connect with the veggies that we eat and enjoy. 

Thank you to our active members Rachel and Angela for helping with today's pick and pack, laying out our gorgeous multicolored beetroots.

Some more perfect imperfections...