More Indian Please

I really do enjoy Indian food. The flavors are so complex and although it's nearly impossible for me to recreate exactly the flavors I've had in India it is easy for me to recreate the essence of Indian in the kitchen.

During my travels in India I learned two things about Indian cuisine. One, that curry is just a gravy or sauce with vegetables or meats. Two, the spices that goes into a curry is... pretty much everything but the kitchen sink in different ratios.

I was at the Surf Club one night giving moral support to the boys trimming the last harvest. It was late and dinner time and the request came from upstairs. Indian. So I started out by pulling out every herb and spice they had in the cabinet. I put back all the traditional European herbs and was left with the spices, seeds, etc.


A dash of this, a teaspoon of that and within seconds I whipped up a dry Indian flavored chicken marinade. Add some sliced onions and I let the chicken bake in the oven.


While the chicken was baking in our pretend "tandoori oven". I sliced up some black kale from the garden. (Yes its insane that the black kale's still going.) Mixed it with garbanzo beans (another Indian staple) and Trader Joe's Masala simmer sauce. I made some brown jasmine rice to serve with. The only thing I forgot to do was make some chipati, but I'll get Ken D to show us how it's done the next time I make Indian.

Composting

Every gardener should know the importance of composting. Even if you don't garden its not a bad idea to compost your food waste. 26% of US municiple solid waste is yard trimmings and food residuals, so if everyone composts that would be almost 1/4 less stuff going into our landfills! If you also recycle on top of that, half our waste will be reduced.

So where do you begin?

Composting is an art. There are few ground rules that apply to every form of composting.

1. Stuff does not "compost" when left exposed to the elements. It is a biological process where usually bacterial is employed to decompose waste. Waste should be covered with soil present with the microbes.
2. Particle size of the waste also plays a huge role in composting. Smaller the size, the larger the surface area for the microbes to get at the waste to break it down.
3. Since these are living organisms, so the temperature, oxygen flow and humidity of your compost heap will play a major role in how fast the composting process occurs.
4. You need to feed your compost the right amount of green organic materials (nitrogen) and brown organic materials (carbon) for it to be nutritiously balanced.

Once you learn to understand the basic principles of composting the fun begins.

There are several different methods of composting. There is the traditional way of composting which is throwing everything into a giant heap and allowing it to break down slowly. This method is great if you have a yard you can pile everything up in. Vermicomposting is a very popular method which utilizes red worms to help speed up the process of composting. It is also my recommended method if you have a lot of food waste instead of yard waste. There is bokashi composting which is an anerobic method of composting developed by the Japanese. Finally, I've recently learned about black soldier fly larva composting from Tilapia Mama.

Since I have a yard I go with vermicomposting. Nothing's easier than converting a few large tubs into worm bins. Just keep it fed, moist, and turned regularly. However, I have tried the bokashi method which worked great when I lived in an apartment. The pros of bokashi composting is that you can throw everything (including meats) into the compost. The con was that I was filling up the 5 gallon bucket much faster than the food could break down, so I ended up with several 5 gallon buckets sitting outside my door. I havn't tried the black soldier fly composting yet but I'm very tempted to check it out. It seems like a great method for me to compost my rabbit manure while raising tasty grubs for the chickens.

I may go into the different processes more later on. But here are some good sites I've found online that you can refer to.

163 things you can compost: http://www.plantea.com/compost-materials.htm

Vermicomposting: http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/442/442-005/442-005.html

Bokashi Composting: http://www.cityfarmer.org/bokashi.html

Black Soldier Fly Composting: http://www.thebiopod.com/index.html

Warm Fruit Pasta Salad

GAWK

When fruit's in season you should eat it. When it's not you shouldn't (or just eat a lot of jam). I went to the store this evening and everything was on sale and you could smell the sweet nectarines the second you walked through the double sliding glass doors.

All I wanted to do was eat stone fruit till I got sick. But being a responsible adult I decided I needed to make a "balanced" meal. The result was my warm fruit pasta salad. So idea is kinda weird. The salad is actually a cold fruit salad with fruit, homemade yogurt (courtesy of Dior), and whole wheat pasta. The secret of the warmth comes from just a light drizzle of toasted walnut oil.

I don't normally eat walnuts due to a mild food allergy, but I discovered my body had no qualms with toasted walnut oil. Just a drizzle of this adds a lot of flavor to salads, sauces, and desserts (yummm banana bread).

I'd say this was a fresh and balanced summer dinner. :)