Garden Update..

Flowers everywhere

I just love spring too much coz of the sun and also flowers everywhere....colourful and vibrant....they just make me happy...!!

Below pics are from my own garden... :-D

Mesembryanthemum Mauve 

Scarlet Rose 

Dark Pink Snapdragon 

Osteospermum Serenity (Daisy Family)

Marigold Boy O'Boy

Blessed Kartigai all.....

Hie folks…Happy Kartigai Deepam to all those celebrating….nuthin much of a celebration here besides usual Pournami prayers in the morning and lighting up the oil lamps inside the hse (couldn’t light them outside the hse due to strong wind)…

 

After morning prayers, headed straight to vege garden to harvest English Spinach (Popeye variety)…. Cooked Spinach curry for lunch today together with Vege Ikan Bilis sambal , cabbage stir fry and papadums…

 

 

 

 

 

Below is the recipe (it is Presh’s Grandmom’s recipe handed down to my mom in law… This recipe was the 1^st recipe I wrote down from my mom in law before migrating to Oz).

 

1 bunch Spinach

2 handful Mung Bean (Pasiperu)

2 medium Tomato

4-5 Green Chillies

1 Tsp Tumeric Powder

2 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste

 2 medium Onions

3 dried Chillies

1 tsp Mustard Seeds

A sprig Curry Leaves

2 Tbsp Ghee

 

Method:

1.       Boil the mung beans with water. As it boils, add 1 tsp of oil, turmeric powder, Ginger-garlic paste, Green chillies and tomatoes.

2.       Once the beans turns mushy, add in the chopped spinach.

3.       Turn off the stove after 5 minutes and let it cool. Then blend it coarsely.

4.       Heat oil / ghee in a wok, add in the onions, dried chillies, mustard seeds and curry leaves.

5.       Finally add them into the blended Spinach and serve.

 

 

My new found passion

It is spring now and finally it getting sunnier….. My new found passion or love…??  GARDENING !!!!

Started gardening end of winter and **touchwood….it going on well….Planted 2 type of cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, Brussels sprout, varieties of tomato, spinach, silverbeat, bok choy, celery, mint, capsicums, zucchini, cucumber, potatoes, Vietnamese mint, eggplant, basil, watermelon and rockmelon….

 
Just started harvesting tomato and spinach so far….and it is still spring….hoping for a better harvest towards summer and early autumn……


Discarded the big oversize leaves and only picked the small to medium leaves….and yet I managed to get a bowl full of spinach. It’s just nice for the two of us and of course not forgetting our lil girl…

Dish up a quick Spinach Stir-fry (Poriyal). Heat Oil, add in mustard seeds, chopped onions and ginger-garlic paste, then add the chopped spinach leaves and finally add in lil grated coconut. In my case, I just add in the desiccated coconut. Salt to taste.


 

 

 

 
And it went well with Sambhar and Tofu Sambal....Simple vegetarian dish....;)

Fried Carrot Cake for the 1st time...

Tried cooking Fried Carrot Cake for the 1st time and it turned out quite well...Not too bad for a first timer..

P/s : Meenu , this is for you..

 Shredded Radish (I used 1 large radish)

 Cooked the shredded radish with very little water till the radish turned transparent. once cooked, turn of the stove and let it cool. Meanwhile, combine 1 cup of water with 250g of Rice flour and salt. Add the cooked radish to this rice flour mixture and steam it for 35-45 minutes.

Steamed radish cake. Leave it overnight in the fridge till it firms up.

Pan fried the cubed carrot cake( small portion - just nice for 1 person) with very little oil and set aside. Heat oil again, add minced garlic and preserved turnip(chopped). Then after 1-2 mins, add in the carrot cake, fish sauce (1 tsp) and drizzle dark sweet soy sauce as required and stir fry till well coated. Then add in 1 egg(beaten). Stir well, garnish with Spring onions and dish out.

Esha with her fav Aunty !!

Happy Friday Everyone....

Gloomy Friday and dinner today is Lamb Stew with Mashed Potato.... i cheated on the stew recipe...used bottled pasta sauce and cooked Lamb shanks with Pasta Sauce and Vege for almost 2 1/2 hours...and pressure cooked the potato and mash mash...thats it....easy peasy meal....lol...

Have a great weekend ppl !!

Red Bean Porridge

After moving to Pakenham, I had a tuff time arranging my Kitchen items as the kitchen pantry is smaller. I had to store half of my kitchen stuff in the Laundry room linen cabinet. So while trying to reduce my stored dry foods, I found red beans lying in the pantry shelf.

 

Made a very simple Red Bean Porridge using what I had in my pantry.

 

 

Serves 2

Ingredients

2/3 cups of red bean

2 Pandan Leaves

Coconut Milk

Sugar

Pinch of salt

 

Method

1.       I boiled the Red Bean with water and Pandan leaves in Pressure Cooker.

2.       Once the beans are soft, I transferred them to a normal pot, and added in sugar as required, pinch of salt and coconut milk. ( I added about 1/3 cup of coconut milk)

3.       Turn off the heat and ready to be served.

Cream Corn and Chicken Soup

After a year, finally I’ve got some spare time now..It is definitely not an easy task to up bring a toddler....Now that Esha is more independent, there is time for me to cook, snap snap and update this blog.

 

Anyways, with the wet winter weather, I dished up this soup for Esha and she loved it….

 

This recipe is for your future reference baby girl….muaxxx !!

 

 

Serves 2

 

Ingredients

150g minced chicken (season with salt & pepper)

1 ½ cup of chicken stock

1 small can of creamed corn

1 egg (beaten)

1tsp cornflour

½ tsp grated ginger

½ tsp soy sauce

Spring onion (garnishing)

 Method

1.      Combine cornflour with 3 tbs of chicken stock and add them to the seasoned chicken.

2.      Boil the remaining chicken stock with creamed corn, ginger and soy sauce. Once it’s boiling, add the chicken and stir well to avoid lumps.

3.      When the chicken is cooked, turn off the stove, pour in the beaten egg and stir continuously for about 1-2 minutes.

4.      Garnish with Spring Onion. ( i didnt add this )