9 April 2014.
Yesterday we too had our “cricket” moment, this worldwide phenomenon,
apparently. As we were having supper under the canopy, we heard a tap on the
tarpaulin every so often. A few crickets were hopping around but hey!, we’re on
a small holding with lots of hiding space for crickets (and other interesting
bugs) and fresh stacks of manure. At about 9.00 pm we were outside, again with
more rows of strawberries, when my friend screeched and dusted a few crickets
off her legs. I looked down instinctively and what do you know?, there were a
few on my feet as well. I tried to look blasé, and dusted them off lightly with a:
“these little bugs?”, but inside I was feeling quite squeamish and I wanted to
stomp on them before they crawled up my leg.
The thing about organic gardening is that it goes so perfectly with good
cooking, you kind of wander around the patches and pots, break off little twigs
here, some leaves there and inhale deeply and a dish is conjured up. Since
Sunday, we have had all kinds of no fuss lunch and supper. Some left over leg
of lamb - cubed and made into a salad with fresh breads; sausage and a baked
bean braise and left over sausage sliced on an angle and fried in a thick bread
batter (my Dad called it sosuis chappaties).
Early morning - a quick reconnaissance of the garden, watering, checking
how plants are doing after transplanting, a quick tidy up and a quick breakfast.
And then it’s tapping the keyboard, working on prep for our first class after
the vacation and workshops to motivate matriculants. All day now I am in the
process of copying a text into word from a PDF and its painstaking work. If I
am able to do this it will be half the pages to copy and the text will be
clearer. Most of the words copy exactly as it should and the rest - some
slashes and dashes and swear words. So it’s working between documents and
sometimes I think that retyping it would have been quicker. On top of that the
charger of my laptop is stroppy- switching itself on and off, as it pleases.
 |
| jeera en koljana |
The moment I completed the work I had this overwhelming desire to cook a
lekker heartwarming pot of food. I mean really take my time, no short cuts. Hmmm
maybe some Akhni? So I rummaged through the freezer to find some meat (maybe a
kilo, maybe less). While it was defrosting I par-cooked two and a bit cups of
basmati rice and strained it; toasted some cumin and coriander seeds and ground
them; cleaned some fresh ginger and garlic and then I cut 3 onions into thin
rings.
I warmed a fairly big pot, some oil on the base, tossed in a few sticks
of cinnamon, cardamom and 5 cloves and then fried the onions. By then the meat
had thawed – I rinsed it and seasoned it with turmeric, jeera en
koljana (cumin and coriander) and kokni masala (I only use Shaikhs). I rubbed
it in the meat with the grated garlic and ginger. If I still had a mortar and
pestle it would have been even better. Placed
the meat with spices into the pot and left it to cook, oh so slowly.
Enough time to go back and check if I had captured the text exactly as
it was published. As the meat softened I
added a handful of fresh curry leaves and chopped up a huge tomato, courtesy of
the garden and allowed it to cook through quickly then added pieces of potato and
carrot and eggplant and allowed it to cook for maybe 10 more min. By that time,
everyone had scooped out some meat and sauce when they thought I was not
looking, just a taste. Ja right! Just
before I introduced the meat to the rice, I rinsed and snipped some danya
leaves with the scissors right into the pot.
I layered the curry with basmati, dotted it generously with butter,
sealed it with baking paper and put on the lid. I allowed the pot to continue
on medium heat till I felt the lid was warm and minimized heat to low feeling
quite chaffed with myself. As I was glancing through some paperwork, I got an
unfamiliar smell. I raced to the kitchen and found the pot on top speed, lid trembling
like a choo choo train. Immediately I took off the lid, I got a whiff of burn.
Like a woman possessed I pulled out another pot and transferred the
food, thank goodness the scorch was just on the base. So I pushed in porcelain
side plates down the sides and on the top of the Akani and simmered it to
finish (porcelain absorbs any burn smells and tastes), warning everyone that if
the gas flame blew out to ensure that the flame was not on high. Some plain
yoghurt, garlic and danya; an onion and tomato sambal; and we had lift-off
thank you Allah.
Oh before I forget not all the vegetables come from the garden – the
tomato, rocket, brinjals danya and curry leaves. The rest is from Nefies.
Plant food and also support your local green grocer.
Yasmine
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