When the blogs turned green!

This was orginally posted on October 1, 2006. I lost this post on my old blog. So posting this again from Google cache.

Sunday, October 01, 2006

There were days when food bloggers innocuously cooked recipes handed down by moms and recipe books. They did not bother about where the ingredients came from.

But one bright and sunny day, a little future blogger asked his mama blogger.

“Ma, from where do you get this snake shaped vegetable?”

His mama however was busy typing away on her blog and gave a quick reply.

“From the Indian store near the run down Movie Theatre dear, shoo...I got a comment on my blog, don’t disturb me for sometime”, said the mama blogger.

“But, grandpa told me, it came from a plant”, our future blogger was persistent.

“Oh! plant?”Mama blogger stopped typing, looked at the kiddo, took him outside, let him play with the dirt and the water can. They sowed seeds together and reaped. Bountiful!

Thus, every blog on earth had its own tiny harvest festival.

(All of the above is from my fertile imagination and no blogger was harmed during the process)

Before I start with the entries, don’t you want to see something special, my garden loving friends? Come along, walk with me through a two acre plot of a friendly family in tropical Florida and they have every plant you have heard of or even didn’t hear about.
Sounds like “weeeee” “oooooo” “that too” “really” “oh my god!” “I think im dizzy” were heard during the walk. I warn you too.
Coconut tree
Which came first?
Hmm, I heard about your Green Blog Project
Jackfruit
Sugarcane
Tapioca
Kovakka

During a recent physician visit, a blogger to her doctor,

“Doc, I have a problem.”

Doc: “Yes.”Blogger: “I can’t find my green thumb!”

Doc: “You are not the first person to approach me with this complaint.”

“Let me explain. Actually scientists have proven in rats and pigs for the past 1000 years, that there is nothing called a green thumb.”

“But doc, I am not a pig or a rat.”

“Oh, I mistook you. But wait, this year we had a breakthrough! We even proved humans don’t have a green thumb and we pinpointed the origin of the myth to a grandmother’s tail...sorry tale.”

“So you mean, I can plant anything and it will grow?”

“Absolutely! It won’t grow if you keep on looking at and sighing at your neighbor’s plant. You require seeds, some soil, some water and some tender loving care.”

“Do you have scientific proof?”

“Of course!” The doctor pulled out his laptop, typed in injimanga.blogspot.com.The day was October 1st 2006.

(Well, I was trying to be funny. If you didn’t laugh, please ask someone near to tickle you)

Now that I have bored you to death with my comedy, finally the entries!Green Blog Project - Summer 2006

Lovely Karthi showed me and fellow bloggers, that you can grow drumstick in cold climate and that too in a pot. I actually fell out of my seat when I saw that. She grew it from tiny seeds and she cooks with the leaves.
Drumstick Leaves

Then, she grew tomatoes and made tomato rice.


Tomato Curry

I thought, oh tomatoes are easy!
No wait, she said. I have okra too…

Okra

Now a secret, I do think indosungod doesn’t actually exist and is my imagination. Why? She grows everything I love! Here, my theory on green thumb myth falters a little. But…I cannot grow keerai here, due to heavy pest attack and I saw her entry. Grr..
Keerai

I was so jealous; I hoped her plants would turn bitter…and Viola! She had another entry and this was indeed bitter!
Bittergourd

Then, she created little Ben Johnson’s with much difficulty. She has a story about it.



What do you think one fellow blogger did for this project? She played a nice and sweet sister to her brother and sneaked some vegetables out of his garden. Well done, my girl! That’s what I want to hear. Hope all our brothers had beautiful vegetable gardens like that so we can sit and blog while they grow vegetables.Special thanks to Tanuja’s brother.(No, the kid you see on the photograph didn’t grow on any of those plants)
Gongura


One day this mama heard a scream, while she was daydreaming about her vegetables. “mama birds eating your flowers”. But, she managed to get us some mint.
Mint

Did you know, the fall of the green thumb myth was heard all around the World and of course in beautiful Japan too. All the way from Japan, from a tiny balcony garden I got an entry from Obachan.
Basil


I have a complaint. This blogger misleads you by the name ‘Trial and Error’, all the while cooking and baking beautiful stuff everyday.She grew potatoes from thin air. Her home grown potatoes are very chic, since they were growing in Ikea pots. What more could a plant ask for?
She promptly finished off the dish before taking a picture. But we can at least see how they looked.

She then grew basil.
Basil

Forgive me fellas, but I want to sneak in an entry with no dish, but as far as I can see dirt on a picture I want to put it. Lovely Sarah grew three beans, yes, exactly three. She who strongly believed in the theory of green thumb now is a convert.She and her cute kids vouch that it was indeed a myth!

This lovely doctor grew a plant which is hard to pronounce. Well, doctors always do that, don’t they? Write prescriptions which you can hardly pronounce.
(Look at those lovely babies peeping out of their blankets)

When I got her entry, I first thought this blogger is angry with someone. Look at all her chili plants…she is keen on growing all those peppers! Well, she sends me an entry with a mild pepper, so I know I am not her target.
Bell Pepper

No idea what this disease of mine is called, but when I see dirt on a vegetable, my knees become weak. Since I know it is freshly cultivated and the smell of it would be heavenly. Gini somehow knew about my weakness and she sends me pictures like that on purpose to torture me.
Radish

Then, she bathes a fish with her home grown herbs.
Fenugreek

By this time, we all know how to grow simple tomatoes. But what do you do with those extra tomatoes? Well, Kalyn has a solution and I loved that!
Tomato

Let me also mention, she has a great event “Weekend Herb Blogging”

We all know this popular blogger can cook and mesmerize us. I was very anxious of her popularity and wanted to trick her. “Okay, I know you can cook and all, but can you grow, eh?”, I challenged her. Hmm…what to say my dear friends? She can grow, she can paint, she can write, she can knit and I do suspect she is not one person.

(Hurray! We get to see her hands...sorry...plants)
Methi

As usual she gives you more, friends.
Basil

She was my inspiration to start this project. Thank you my dear Indira.
Cherry Tomato

Shaheen who started out recently writes so well and takes excellent pictures. Well she can grow too. She says she is cool as a cucumber with her first entry.
Cucumber

Okay, I get it that she is cool. But will she stop? No, she sends me another cool vegetable.
Malabar spinach

Okay baba? Nah! She says can grow tomatoes too!


Tomato
(Even after all this, she even tells me she has couple more entries too! Ah! The deadline is over. I got her! Phew! I am the only one cool here, okay!)


If you stay near this blogger, watch out. She will squeeze and take the pulp out of you. This lovely girl send me a healthy drink.
Tomato Juice

She can string some beans too, but did anyone see a Jack climbing that beanpole?

Beans

African Blue, Dark Opal, and Genovese – Do you think they are some kind of exquisite jewllery? Ha!They are different basils. Mel sends me an entry with three basils.
Three Basils

Gardener Christa had a hard time growing Squashes. But when they started to grow, they grew crooked!
Squash

Luv2cook had a single tomato plant in a 20 inch pot. A plant like that, I suspect might have some psychological problems growing up in nuclear families like those. So next time, I recommend her grow more plants.Tomato

I like Revathi. No, it is not because she said, I am Guardian of Tropical Plantation or because she remembers me when she water her plants. I am not that kind of person who falls for flattery. You think so? I like her ONLY because she grew something. ;)
Mint

Every time spicyana creates something and posts on her blog, I feel like dating the dish. They are so pretty. She whips up beautiful stuff and tugs at my heart strings. Good for her, that I am not in Portland. Only if she had helped God, when God was creating me.
Basil
Grape Tomatoes


I couldn’t believe I got this wonderful entry from Madhuli. I actually did a little dance.(No, we dont believe in videos in our house). This is a spectacular entry


Mandira lives in Buffalo, NY. It is a warm tropical haven where you can grow anything. You just need to sow your seed on the ground. Just kidding! It is as cold as Canada….brrr… I need a blanket even thinking of the snow there. But, did she think she can’t grow? No! In fact, she grew both the ingredients for this dish. I am so proud of her!
Tomato and Cayenne


My dear friend, RP in her workshop took the word 'Project' to her heart and she made cute little display cards with her plant pictures.
Herbs


No, she didn’t grow the waffle, but grew mint.
Mint


She, in this entry did a great marketing for the Green Blog Project. I am sure lots of people were inspired by her easy instructions on planting the easiest thing on earth which you can grow in just two weeks. If you can’t grow methi leaves, I can only say shame, shame puppy shame.


You know I like to sneak in plants without dishes too. So let me sneak in one more.

Sudha too grew something, but forgot to make a dish.

(This is only for this time, Next time any plants showing up for the event without your companion dish is a big No!) :)


Oh! I missed this when I posted the round-up. Guess the entry was not sent thru email or as a comment? But saw chocolate and remembered about this. It would have been a shame, if I had missed lovely Vineela’s creativity.She grew mint and then she dipped it in chocolate after making rice. Bliss!



Let us all drink to the Green Blog Project. Ah! We have a right entry for that.
(Dear Anita, Could you serve that without alcohol for me, please?) :)


Finally, these are my entries for the Green Blog Project.
May - Roma Tomatoes
June - Yellow Banana Pepper
July - Snakegourd
August - Hyacinth bean

This wouldn’t have happened if not for some friendly lovely cutie sweetie bloggers who advertised on their popular blogs about this project. I really thank them all from the bottom of my heart for spreading the word. Thank you! Thank you all for the great participation!

Request: Is someone interested in hosting the next GBP? No, it is not because I am lazy, but I believe in sharing :) . Please leave a comment if you are interested.

A fresh page

Just the other day I was trying to outsmart Google and I lost my blog. Simple! Then I pleaded and pleaded and they gave it back, but missed one or two posts (I know, I know, I lost the GBP round-up). But I can’t do anything, edit or even put a comment on the old blog.

This is my old blog. http://injimanga.blogspot.com/.

Instead of waiting for them to correct it, I think it is time for me to create the new one. I can't thank enough all those dear dear friends who were really worried about my disappearance. I didn’t really think people will miss me and it really feels so good to know that I was missed
(What’s that? I have a good imagination?) :) -- though the reason for my disappearance still scares me. :(

When I first started blogging, I only had to thank Indira.

Now I need to thank a lot of dear friends and if I don’t mention their names, I won’t be happy.
Back from the dreadful hospital, when I saw each one of your comment, it really made me feel good.

Thank you RP, Manisha, Nabeela, Renu, Gini, Archana, Indira, Sarah, Shankari, Sumitha, SK, indosungod, kitchenmate, Ashwini, KrishnaArjuna, Laksmi, Saffronhut, Bindu, Priya s&s, Chandrika, Mandira, Shaheen, yum, kalyani, Krithika, Luv2cook, Kerala girl, jac, Jacob, Daly, Vempalli, Priya, Linda, Annita, Anamika

Thank you so much each one of you for your kind wishes.

I still can’t cook, so there won’t be any updates for some more time.

Guess? Fish Roe

No, it did'nt grow in my garden :)
Yeah...Yeah...Yeah...! Whenever I think I am smart, someone would come and burst that bubble! How I wish I could get spicyana! :-) She got the correct answer first and lo...everyone followed! :-)

Yeah, it is fish roe or fish eggs. Arent they same? We got a big blue fish and there it was, half a pound. But ahem...sorry, ate it all! hehehehe... :-) (Ah! atleast that way I can get back at you guys who guessed it correctly!) Just kidding!:)

Fresh Catch - Fish Fry

So, did you get anything? – I asked

Yeah – he said with a wide grin

My husband loves fishing. He is like a 10 year old boy when it comes to fishing. He would gladly resign from his job if he could and would do fishing every day. He and his friends wakeup at 3 a.m in the morning and would go fishing during certain seasons near a beach here. They catch so much fish, it lasts almost a year for us.

What is happier than getting it fresh? Making a fish fry instantly! It reminds me of my trips to the beautiful Kaveri Dam where street vendors with small kerosene stoves sell you fresh fried fish. Yumm…This is a very delicious recipe for fried fish.

Fresh caught fish - 2. Yeah, no compromise! (hehehe, rubbing some salt, eh?)
Clean the fish, pat dry and cut across lightly for the marinade to get into the fish.For two fish, Grind 2 tsp chili powder, ¼ tsp turmeric, 1/2 inch ginger, 2 sprig curry leaves, enough salt and 1 tsp lemon juice. Marinate the fish and keep aside for half and hour.Heat a pan, add ¼ cup oil, and keep heat in low to medium. Fry fish on both sides.Serve with lemon wedges. My husband loves it just like this as a main dish, so it reminds him of his favourite Bharat Seafood Resturant at Mumbai.

Sorry dear friends, I first had problems with Blogger Beta which made me crazy so wanted to take a break until it got resolved. But then, got lazy ;) Needed some days, when I didn’t have to worry about the camera or about a write-up to eat food :)

Pumpkin with Red Moong Beans

Guess which food blogger has never cooked with something good and delicious like pumpkin?

Clue: We all love her to death…This post is for her. When you correctly guess I will keep a link :)

Excerpt from the link: The bright orange flesh of pumpkin is loaded with beta-carotene. This vitamin is an important antioxidant that helps us fight free radicals.This is called Erisseri in some places which I think is not right :-).

As spicyana corrected me once, Erisseri gets it name from erikkuka, which is the last process of erisseri where coconut is fried and added. This dish is not prepared like that.Pumpkin diced into 2 inch pieces – 3 cups, Red Moong Beans – 1 cup (soaked over night and cooked or cooked in a pressure cooker without soaking) Grind 1 cup grated coconut with ¼ tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp red chili powder, 6 garlic pods, ½ tsp cumin seeds. Grind to a fine paste.

Cook the pumpkin covered in little water and when half cooked, mash them lightly and add cooked red moong beans and the ground paste along with 2 cups of water. Cook in medium heat uncovered.When it is cooked, heat 1 tsp of oil, splutter ¼ tsp mustard seeds, sauté 2 sprigs of curry leaves and sauté 2 dried red chili split into two.You will love this! Serve with rice or roti.

Shredded Chicken

My dear friend ‘I’ who was actually a very novice cook taught me this wonderful recipe.

Shredded Chicken. This is exceptionally good and I love chicken made this way. People love this with wine or alcohol as an appetizer.

4 cups of chicken breasts (trim any fat) diced into two inch pieces, boiled in ¼ cup water with salt and 1 tbsp of vinegar. Cook covered for first ten minutes, then cook open and let the water completely evaporate.
When cooled, shred the chicken with your hand into strips. This is very easy. Do not use a food processor.

2 cups of Onion diced thin. 2 springs of curry leave, 7 green chilies, 2 tbsp of peppercorns. That’s it. It is so simple but delicious!

Heat 1/8 of olive oil, sauté the onions and green chilies slit well until light brown. Add the shredded chicken. Add the crushed peppercorn and mix. Now, keep in medium flame, sprinkle some oil around 2 tsp and sauté this again. Sauté well for around ten minutes until the shredded strips looks a little brownish.Serve with rice or roti or as an appetizer.

Bittergourd Theeyal

Tired attending the parade?
Let me make you some rice and theeyal? :-)

I think every Malayalee has a slightly different way of preparing theeyal. It is a very Kerala type dish.Theeyal can be made with so many different vegetables and ulli theeyal (shallots) is the most delicious one.I make it usually with bitter gourd. As we all know bitter gourd is so good for you and when prepared as theeyal, its bitterness doesn’t bother you.Bittergourd deseeded - 2 diced into bite sized pieces about 3 cupsCoconut - 1 cup.
Shallots diced – ¼ cup, Curry leaves – a sprig, Coriander seeds(or powder) – 2 tsp, Chili powder – 2 tsp

Heat ¼ tsp coconut oil and fry the coconut and shallots(shallots is very important) until light brown in color. I actually don’t fry them in oil. I don't like too much oil so I dry roast them. Sauté curry leaves also for one minute.

Add coriander seeds to this, sauté well. Add chili powder and ¼ tsp turmeric powder and take off from fire. Grind to a smooth paste.

Soak a 1 inch square sized tamarind in warm water.Heat 1 tsp coconut oil. Splutter mustard seeds and 1 sprig of curry leaves. Sauté 1 tsp of diced shallots and add bitter gourd to this. Fry the bitter gourd until it the skin light brownish. Add the strained tamarind water to this and the ground paste.

When the curry thickens, remove from fire. Set it aside for 15 minutes. Theeyal stays good the next day without refrigeration.Serve with rice or dosa, idli, appam etc.

See Priya's Theeyal

My India, My Country

When idea-girl Indira came up with the theme of Independence, I wanted to write about some food that would be equally pleasing to North, South, East and West. Nah! I was not at all successful. I think we might agree on Kashmir some day, but not on a common food likeable by all of us.

The thought of food made me think of a great man who fasted seventeen times for all of us. Without him we Indians cannot mention the word freedom. Without his non-violence and leadership our freedom would have been a lot more bloody and our country would have turned a hell. Without his guidance and willpower, our leaders would have been lost with a huge country with so many different languages and cultures.

When British left us, we were robbed to the last penny. Famine and violence were everywhere.When they left us, they wished, we ‘uncivilized’ Indians would fight among ourselves and would disperse and they could laugh at that.

We might be a little poor, we might be a little corrupt, and we might have lot of follies of a nation celebrating only the 60th Independence Day.

Yet, we are surviving…beautifully! We are having the last laugh.

India has gained respect in the eyes of others. We didn’t do that by bombing another nation or demeaning another country. We did it with our passion and internal strength. For that, I am a lot thankful.

Thinking of fasting, it occurred to me that Gandhiji ended his fasting with nimbu pani. Yes, a simple sweet lemon juice.So, I made lemon juice…in a different way. It is called bonji in Trivandrum, Kerala. The fun part is equal amount of sugar and salt is added. It gives the lemon juice a very special taste. It is mainly available in small shack teashops. Since sugar is beaten well to dissolve with a steel spoon against the steel glass and it makes a taka taka noise and this process is called bonji adikkal which translates somewhat to beating bonji :-)

To celebrate our hard-earned freedom we need something sweet. Distributing sweets to near and dear is our common way of celebrating any happy occasion across India.

So, I made payasam. Kerala's own 'Pal Payasam'. God's own Country's special!
This sweet dessert is made with matta red rice.
Bring 3 cups of milk to a boil. Add ½ cup of sugar. Add 1 cup of washed rice. Let the rice cook in this. Add 1 tsp of cardamom powder.Heat 1/8 cup of ghee. Sauté 2 tbs of raw cashew nuts and 2 tbs of raisins. Add to the payasam.Serve as a dessert.

Freedom is sweet. Wishing and hoping every child on this earth would enjoy freedom!

Uruli

This cooking pot is called uruli in Malayalam. It was normally made of bronze and now is available in aluminum which was easier for me to carry. It is very useful for frying or making payasams. It has a large surface area and a wide open mouth. Look at the peculiar shape. I don’t know whether the shape has any significance.

Made Avalos Podi in this. The large ones are now used for decorative purposes representing a small pond.

This is for Indira's Indian utensils series.

Guess the plant? It is Ginger!

This is a very easy one. Clue is spread all over my blog!! hehehe :).

Everyone of you guessed it! Ah! I should'nt have left the clue. Thanks a lot guys!

GBP Summer 2006 - August - Amarapayaru Thoran (Hyacinth bean stir fry)

Finally, it happened! No, the sky didn’t fall nor did pigs fly…but my computer crashed. My PC’s motherboard gave upon me. Enough blogging, it protested! pretty vehemently this time.

But, hey I am back again…and it feels so good. Well, maybe you guys didn’t notice :), but I didn’t blog for ten days. Ah! What a loss to the blogging world..hehehehe.. Just kidding!

Now, dear non bloggers, if you don’t have a blog, but have a pot and a plant and a recipe; please do email me your pictures at, greenblogproject AT gmail DOT com.

Folks, hurry up! Summer is about to get over in a month. I will be posting entries on October 1st. If you have not received a reply from me, I haven’t got your entry yet. Let us all have fun and turn the blogs green on that day!

Here is my last GBP-Summer 2006 entry.This is called amarapayaru in Malayalam and Hyacinth bean in English. If you have a tree in your yard, I request you to grow this vegetable. It is so easy to grow, a prolific producer and rich in nutrients, fiber and vitamins. Moreover, it is disease resistant by nature. This also grows anywhere and will enrich your soil with nitrogen. It is a climber. So you can just plant them around a tree and it produces such pretty and long lasting flowers, the flowers are used for decorating too. Or you could just grow this as an ornamental plant in your flower garden too. Mix the violet and the white and you have long lasting flowers in your garden.I planted both the white and the purple. I don’t recommend the red variety since it is very hard to get it to produce. Don’t know why. Right time to pluck the bean is when the skin is smooth and the seeds haven’t started to protrude beneath the skin.

You have to string the beans.Then dice them thin.
For 3 cup diced beans,
Heat 2 tsp of oil; splutter ¼ tsp of mustard seeds, sauté two split dry red chilies, sauté 2 sprigs of curry leaves and ½ cup diced shallots or onion. To this add ¼ tsp turmeric powder and 6 green chilies split.

When the shallots turn translucent, add the diced beans, add salt and sprinkle 2 tbsp water. Cover and cook in medium to low flame.

When 3/4th cooked, crush ¼ cup fresh grated coconut with 2 garlic pods and add to this and cover the grated coconut with the beans and cook for another 6 or 7 minutes in low flame.Rice and beans packed in lunch box.Serve it with rice or roti.

Avalos Podi (Rice Flour Snack)

When JFI Flour was announced, I wanted to make something flour-y to project the theme.What else other than Avalos podi? Flour, that you can eat?

How many jars of Avalos podi, we, ever-moving Keralites would have taken to hostels or homes abroad, to eat with a little sugar or a simple banana? If you pass by my home in Kerala and get the whiff of avalos podi frying, you can be sure someone is leaving the next day. What other snack is there, which is simple to make, stores very well yet so filling and needs very simple accompaniments?

'Podi' means flour in Malayalam. No clue what Avalos means. Maybe it is the creator’s name?This is a very simple recipe and a good snack item. This will store good for 6 months if done properly.

Raw Rice Flour coarsely ground to sooji like consistency (If you don't get raw rice in that consistency, soak raw rice overnight, dry it completely on absorbent paper, then grind it coarse in your spice grinder).

Mix 1 cup of coarse ground rice flour with ½ cup of freshly grated coconut with ½ tsp of cumin and ¼ tsp of salt water. Keep aside for 3 hours.

Now take a flat pan or an uruli, heat it well and fry it until it turns light brown. Make sure you keep on stirring so that it won’t get burned. It should only turn a light brown color. Be very careful. You have to continuously stir so that it doesn’t burn.Now sieve the fried flour through a corase strainer and grind the lumps and add it to the fried avalos podi.Serve with a little sugar or a banana.

We also make 'avalos unda' with this which will test the strength of your teeth. About that later…

I am tired! Not from cooking but from thinking up stuff for events. My brain really hurts! No more events…please…for couple of months. :-)