Grow food towers

A special video made by the person who inspired us to do this project! ( more details soon )



( the original video that inspired us)

Recipe : Spinach Kofta with Yellow Curry

Your home-grown vegetables needs special recipes. Here is one that I enjoyed. Its inspired from a cook book called " Great Tastes: Indian " by Bay Books.




Yellow Curry
1 cup plain yogurt
4 tbsp besan( chickpea floor)
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground turmeric 
1 tsp fenugreek seeds( meethi dana)
2 tsp black mustard seeds
8 curry leaves
4 cups water


Spinach Kofta
400 gms spinach leaves steamed 
1 cup besan
1 medium sized onion finely chopped
4 garlic cloves crushed
1 tsp cumin powder
a spring of fresh coriander leaves


Bhagaar (optional)
2 tbp oil
1 onion thinly sliced
3 whole dry red chilies
6 curry leaves
a pinch of cumin seeds


Yellow Curry
1. Mix together yogurt, besan and water in a bowl. 
2. Heat oil in a deep, heavy base pan and add fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Stir fry for a minute. 
3. Add chili powder and turmeric powder and stir for a minute.
4. Add yogurt mixture and mix well. Season with salt and let it cook on medium heat until the mixture is little thick. This will take around 15-20 minutes.


Spinach Kofta
5.  Blanch spinach leaves in boiling water for a minute and then refresh in cold water. Squeeze as much water possible.
6. Chop spinach and mix remaining ingredients using little water. Make a soft mixture that can easily turn into a ball.
7. Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry spinach koftas until lightly browned.


Combine koftas with yellow curry before serving. Prepare bhaghaar for more flavor and finish. 


Heat oil in a frying pan and add onion. Stir until its golden browned. Add remaining ingredients and cook for 30 seconds. Add bhaghaar to your dish. 


Serve with roti or boiled rice.


*Caution!
Be careful when adding bhaghaar to the curry. Oil 


If you have a recipe that you would like to share with us, post it on www.facebook.com/cropsinpot with a picture. 

Two motivational talks by two inspirational gardeners

While browsing through TED.com, I came across these two brilliant short videos that will leave you charged and you might end up plotting a new garden ( like me!!).

Here is the first one by Britta Riley who dint want to depend on anyone to come up with an idea to grow food food even in harsh winters. She knew that NASA uses hydroponic systems to grow food in space, so she made her own system that is now getting famous around the world. The best part is that its surprisingly easy to build! Watch the video to learn more.

Britta Riley: A garden in my apartment
www.windowfarms.org/

Loved it? I know !
Here is our next inspirational video of the day. Roger Doiron is the founder of the KGI.org Kitchen Gardeners International that has over 20,000 members from 100 countries! He grows his own food and wants everyone to grow their own food too. You must watch and listen to what he has to say!

Roger Doiron: My subversive (garden) plot
http://kitchengardeners.org/ 



I am sure you enjoyed these videos and learned something from them too. If you did, share! :)


happy gardening!
Zahra

Lets swap our plants!

Plant exchange is a brilliant practice that lets us swap plants from our gardens.  

My first home-grown pineapple!

To initiate plant-swap on Crops in Pots, I am offering my home-grown Pineapple plant.


2 years back, a friend gave me a Pineapple plant that was 1 year old. Last year it produced the most delicious Pineapple I have ever tasted and later it left me with 4 baby plants. 


I am keeping 3 for my own garden. 1 of these plants can be yours if you have a special plant to make a trade :)


So hurry up! Post a photo of your plant on Crops in Pots that you wish to swap for my pineapple plant or email me at crops.in.pots@gmail.com




Note: Pineapples loves to grow in containers but will take up some space. They fruit when they are 2 years old and after fruiting they will leave 3-4 new plants for you.


* this offer is only for Karachi.

Sunny Solutions

Guilty of overindulging in bottled water? You’re certainly not the only one. 


The number of “health-conscious” people in Pakistan, who carry their bottles of mineral water while rushing off to work, sauntering in parks and shopping at malls, is on the rise. Bottled water is now ubiquitous in Pakistan — not only is it on the checklist of essentials of most people; it’s also served during conferences and business meetings. And there are figures to prove its rampant consumption. The use of bottled water — typically considered as high quality and safe drinking H20 — is growing by 40 per cent each year. In the year 2000 alone, Pakistan experienced an astonishing 140 per cent growth in bottled water usage — the highest in Asia. It is estimated that the cost of mineral water for one person is roughly Rs1,400 per month — equivalent to Rs. 16,800 per annum. That is a lot of money for something that is our basic right: drinkable water!


The increasing acceptance of bottled water has obviously made consumption of tap water — generally associated with nasty stomach bugs — unthinkable in today’s age. But what if I told you that you can purify water, straight from the tap? You won’t even have to filter or boil it. All you need are some empty PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) bottles, clear tap water and some bright sunlight and you can start the solar water disinfection (SODIS) process at home! This process, developed by the University of Beirut in 1985, has been practiced in many countries and regions around the world, including Pakistan.

To purify your water by using sunlight, simply follow these steps:
Find PET bottles with a resin identification sign of 1. Your plastic water or juice bottles are safe to be reused for this project. The bottles must not contain more than 3 litres of water.
• Wash the bottles thoroughly with soup.
• Fill them with tap water. Make sure your tap water is visibly clean. This method is not very effective for hard water.
• Put on the cap and place the bottles in full sunlight for at least 6 hours. If it’s cloudy, keep them out there for two days.
Your water, without any added chemicals, is now ready to drink!
Despite being the simplest way to purify your water, SODIS has a few disadvantages:
• The process will only be fully effective on sunny days
• It does not work on hard water (water with high mineral con tent)
• It takes time and effort.
But look at the bright side (pun intended) of the entire procedure. It’s a natural, eco-friendly and healthy way of disinfecting your water and will allow you to save money in the long-term. And as far as the exertion required in disinfection is concerned, a light workout never harmed anyone!
So go ahead: make use of nature and purify your water the sunny way!

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, December 11th, 2011