Lettuce and Strawberry in Thrissur Kerala

Lettuce although a Winter type Leafy green is surviving at my home in Ollur. Strawberries are growing in my home for the last 8 years. Recently I replanted them into a PVC Pipe in a vertical garden style. May be they will flourish in a year and I hope it will cover the whole PVC Pipe. 

Bush Pepper and Ginger at Ollur

Bought 100 Bush Pepper saplings for Rs. 150/pc. Transplanted them into grow bags. Lost some 20 plants by now due to some unknown reason. Hope some of them will survive and give me the 'Black Gold'. Also seen are Ginger grown in Grow Bags with no soil but only Coir pith and manure. They are growing up vigorously and even flowering. You can see the Pine Cone type flowers which has some lovely lilac-purple tiny flowers on it.

Organic Ash Gourd and Pumpkin harvested at Ollur

Organic Kumbalanga and Mattan at my home in Ollur. We shared some of the Kumbalanga with our relatives and the Mattan is getting ready to be harvested. Both of them had germinated by themselves in my backyard. Probably from the leftover vegetable waste.

Breakfast with Rice Flakes or Aval and Banana

Rice Flakes or Aval is a staple in Kerala long before. It is not trendy now. But it is a very good breakfast cereal loaded with Iron and other minerals. Here I made it more palatable by adding some local ingredients. Boil some water in a pan. Add a cup of Aval with some crushed Jaggery. Add some mashed Banana (Nenthran) plus Cardamom, Raisins and grated Badam or Almonds. It makes a sweet breakfast dish in the morning.  

Karela or Bitter gourd masala curry

This is a yummy karela or pavakka masala curry made by my wife. She marinated karela in red chili powder, salt and corn flour for 1 day. It is fried in oil. Onion and tomato are sauteed in oil. Garnished with coriander leaves. Very good for chapati or rice.

Shallots or Chuvanna Ulli in Ollur Thrissur

Shallots are a good veggie which is having lot of medicinal powers as well. It is easy to grow Chuvanna Ulli. Just plant the Bulbs in a grow bag with the roots touching the soil. It will automatically grow and steep some soil to cover the bulbs later. The leaves are used in soups and the bulbs for curry and soup as well. Shallot juice are very good for cough and cold. Also seen are African Malli and Kanthari Mulagu(Birds Eye Chilli)

Strawberry in Thrissur Kerala

Strawberries are cold loving fruits. But these plants on my terrace survived many years battling the summer heat, the pouring monsoon rain and the mildly cold winter climate in Dec-Jan of Kerala. Seen here are Strawberries in the Monsoon of August 2017. The poor plant thought it is winter already when it was cold for some days in last August when it rained for some days together. It flowered and gave me some bright red fruits. Love you Strawberry.

Koorkka or Chinese Potato in Ollur Thrissur

Koorkka is a favourite of Malayalees. Koorkka with Beef or Pork is a weakness of Christians all over Kerala. It is Koorkka season already and I have some to harvest. Kappa is next in line. 

Broccoli in Kerala

Broccoli although a Winter veggie, is thriving for a third year in my terrace garden in Ollur, Thrissur. I cut the leaves and tender stem to make a soup. I get some little broccoli flowers as well occasionally.  

Bhutanese Soup Kokpu Chamin Kokpu Onion

Here is a Bhutanese Onion broth Kokpu Chamin Kokpu Onion made by my cousin's Bhutanese friend Dechen . They came for a visit to my home and I gave her some Shallot Shoots, Broccoli leaves, Bird's Eye Chilli etc. from my Organic garden. They made this yummy looking soup out of it adding some cheese, milk, butter and salt. 

Thinai or Millet Dosa in Kerala

This Dosa is made of Thinai or Kuthiravali/Horse tail Millet. I bought this Millet from Pollachi during my recent trip to Kodaikanal. It was made into a coarse powder in the home grinder. Then it was mixed with Uzhunnu mavu as usual in Dosa batter 3: 1 ratio. Millets are highly nutritious and a real boost for energy. The Coconut chutney and red chili chutney made of Kashmiri Chilli, Olive oil, Apple cider vinegar is also healthy. Go for it. Do not use oil, butter or ghee on the dosa to make it healthy.

Quinoa and Raagi Super food Cereal with Chana

The fish thief caught in the pond

It was a sad sight to see the desperate grey heron caught up in the net and was unable to escape. The poor creature was coming to snatch the fish on and off in the the summer months when the water dries up in the ponds and the fields... but due to the pond covered with net, would walk by the sides and see if there is any scope to enter the water. And finally it did. But since the fish was big, it was unable to catch any and was in panic to escape. So I lifted the side of the net and helped the poor bird to fly off.

Grapes Harvest 2017 in Ollur Thrissur

The grapes this season was late and small in qauntity. Blame it on the climate change. I pruned the plant as usual after the rains in August 2016 and waited for the flowers. But hardly 1 or 2 appeared and that too with less grapes. It died prematurely and some of the flowers even got perished in the sunlight. I pruned the plant again 2 times to finally get some 10-15 bunch of flowers. The final harvest is all that is seen in the plate. I however ate some before tasting it in the final days...!! Gave to some well wishers also to taste. 

Beetroot grown in Ollur Thrissur Kerala

This Beetroot an American variety with pink rings inside on white flesh is grown in Ollur, Thrissur. Some have grown to normal size but most were small due to the climate, a whopping 38 degrees in March April. The curry tastes good and I made fresh Beet juice as well.

100 percent organic food is not a dream in Kerala

Here is my Lunch plate. Apart from the rice, the curries and fish fry plus pickle are all organic. The fish GIFT Thilapia grown in my backyard pond although small is deep fried. The fresh beetroot harvested although looks more of Carrot because it is an American variety. The Brinjal or eggplant also came from my backyard. The pickle made of dried Irumban Puli is ofcourse organic. It is good to cut a lot of chemical ladden food from your plate and eat fresh home grown fish and vegetables.   

Mushroom Cultivation in Ollur Thrissur Kerala

Mushroom is a very tasty and nutrient rich vegetable which comes close to dummy meat as well. The Mushroom dishes like Chilli Mushroom, Pepper Mushroom and Chinese variants are very popular in high end restaurants. Growing Mushroom is a bit tricky but the harvest day will bring immense joy and the preparation of Mushroom dish is very satisfying to your taste buds. Seen here is my getting ready for the crop to be hoisted on beams in a dark room of my home in Ollur, Thrissur. I got the seeds from the KAU, Mannuthy, Thrissur and I am using Saw dust as the medium to growm Mushroom.  

Grapes in Ollur Thrissur Kerala

Grapes is getting popular in Kerala as well. Growing Grapes in Kerala was not common until recently. The change in climate and the cool winter months is favourable for growing grapes in Kerala now. Cool nights and hot sunny days are ideal for grapes. I have both rose and green grapes at home. Timely pruning and giving the right manure will foster the plant and in return gift you one of the tastiest fruit on earth.

Jarjeer or Salad Rocket or Arugula in Ollur Kerala

Jarjeer as called in Arabic or more commonly known as Salad Rocket in the West and also known as Arugula is an excellent green leaf which is very good for heart and rich in getting Vitamins, Minerals and Anti-Oxidant. The leaves are popular in the middle east as a pre meal appetiser. It is eaten raw and as part of a Salad in many countries.

Italian Beetroot homegrown at Ollur Kerala

Fresh Beetroot juice from Italian variety Beets. The seeds were given by a friend from Saudi Arabia and this variety has pink and purple rings when split into half. Mine, it is not fully developed I guess. Grown in grow bags at my home in Ollur, Thrissur, these beetroot leaves are also edible.

Plavila Thoran or Jackfruit Leaves Curry

We just tried the Plavila Thoran recipe published in Malayala Manorama. It came up excellent. In our dish, Moong Dal was in excess but it tasted perfect. 3 Cheers for Chakka/Jackfruit leaves Thoran

Lebanese White Chana Dish Hummus

Last week Malayala Manorama Metro had published 2 Lebanese dishes, Felafel and Hummus. I tried Hummus at home. I have eaten it several times when I was in Saudi Arabia. I used to visit the Lebanese, Turkish restaurants for these type of food.
Hummus can be easily made with White Chana or Kabuli Chana, White Sesame, Olive Oil, Garlic and Lime juice plus salt. It is a good side dish for Chappathi, Roti etc. You can garnish it with red chilli powder and some mint/parsley leaves while eating. Can be stored in the fridge for 1-2 weeks. 

GIFT Tilapia in Ollur Thrissur Kerala

This is our second season of growing GIFT Tilapia at home in Ollur, Thrissur. The fish although assured of not reproducing, gave us a bonus of 2 more batches of Tilapia. This Sunday morning catch was immediately processed for lunch. The fish is tasty and with raw mango and Kudampuli is so tasty the next day and afterwards......

Sambhar Oats Vs Masala Oats

A lot of Keralites are now having Oats as their breakfast cereal. More than a dozen brands including the Multinational giants like Quaker are cracking the huge Malayali market. Mallus eat Oats just to beat or control lifestyle diseases and not for health or fondness of the foreign grain. They eat it somehow and mostly with some type of sweetners or make Dosa, Idli etc. But the Market researchers found out that generally people like spicy and salty taste for the porridge. Thus the Masala Oats was introduced. But somehow it did not stick well with the plate. Price was high and it was suspected to have more additives for taste than the regular Oats.
Here I made Oats (Quaker) by adding some Sambhar powder (Kitchen Treasures) chopped Onion, Tomato, Green Chillies and salt to taste. It was just tasty enough to make it palatable from the regular stuff.