Recipe: Palak Ki Roti

'Palak ki Roti' is a special treat for a monsoon day. This time we dint had a single shower but that shouldn't keep us away from the delicious "Palak ki roti"

Making Palak ki roti is simple. There are three steps. 

Step 1. Make Spinach Purée

Remove stalks from a bunch of fresh spinach leaves and wash them. Now put the leaves in a pan with 1/2 cup of water, 2 garlic cloves, 1 red whole chilli and a tsp cumin seeds. Simmer for 3 minutes. Next, let it cool for a few minutes and then blend it into a smooth paste. Keep it aside.

Step 2. Prepare Dough

Take 2 cups wheat flour and add a tbsp of olive oil to it and mix. Make a well in the centre and add the spinach purée to it. Gently bring the ingredients together and knead until the dough is firm. Add more water if its too dry or flour if its sticky. Allow it to rest for 1/2 and hour. 

Step 3. Roll a Roti 

Divide the dough into 2 inch balls. Heat the Tava or heavy based griddleon medium heat. Use extra flour to roll the balls into 5-6 inch diameter roti. Place it on the preheated tava, let each side cook for 30 secs or until it has lil brown spots. Brush extra olive oil or butter on top if you like :)

Palak ki roti tastes brilliant with grilled eggplant dip or garlic chutni and kachomar salad. 

I made these this month but without rains, they seem incomplete. Do make these to remember monsoons.

DIY: Eid-able Pots

A beautiful pot deserves a perfect spot in your home, especially, when it is from the famous Satrangi designer, Fizza Ali, who happens to be my little sister :)

Designing "Truck Art" inspired pots its not exactly what Satrangi is famous for but Fizza can put chamak-patti on just about anything! Luckily, this time it was a set of pots for me. Dazzling vibrant tapes on coloured pots looked stunning and had to have a special purpose.

I had pots from Satrangi and super fast growing seeds from Muslim-Grower and a brilliant idea of growing Crops in Pots for EID. Here is a simple 3 steps to make your own Eid-able pots that you can proudly place on your dinning table on this Eid and inspire your guests.

DIY: Eid-able Pots

Things you will need:

• A decorative 3-5 inch container
• Fast growing herbs or lettuce vegetables such as mustard, cress, fenugreek , leaf lettuce etc.
• Soil and compost mix 
• Some coconut husk

Simply, fill your pots with soil mix, scatter seeds on the surface, cover with coconut husk and water gently.

Since, I planted mine just a week before Eid, I used Mustard (3-4 days), Fenugreek can be harvested in about 1-2 weeks and Cress that can be picked as early as a week.

Some ideas

• You can also transplant your herbs into a beautiful container and place it nicely on your dinning table for special occasions. Of course, they can not live indoors so do bring them out in the sun after a day or two. Alternatively, place them near a sunny window indoors.
• Do keep a tray under your pots to avoid water leakage.
• Coconut husk is just to make it easy for the young plants to spring up. It also makes your pots looks neat and highlights the green foliage. You can use marble chips, gravel or beads once the seeds have sprouted and standing strong.
• Do visit Satrangi for their collection of truck art accessories. And Muslim Grower to  meet and learn from vegetable growers from around the world.

Have a lovely Eid ! 

Happy Gardening!

- Zahra

Celebrating Pakistan

Lets redefine the colors of our flag today.

 White is love, peace and unity.

 Green represents sustainable growth,

 social equity and green economy. 

Happy Independence Day Pakistan!

Very Busy Bees

Every organic garden loves to have bees around. Bees are visiting my garden more than ever since I got these flowering pots. Its a simple joy to watch bees at work. Enjoy!


Do share your videos, photos, ideas and thoughts on organic gardening at www.facebook.com/cropsinpot 


Happy Gardening
Zahra

Taro: A crop for flooded fields

Taro ( Arvi ) loves warm weather and lots of water to grow.

Hot Summer days might be unbearable for you, but some vegetables just spring into life during this time. Taro (Arvi) is one of them.

June seems to be just the perfect time to plant Taro in my container kitchen garden since we are expecting monsoon in a couple of weeks. This will bring lots of rain water for my Taro plants to grow into stunning huge plants. Some fields in Sindh might not have to wait for monsoons for Taro to be planted.

Badin on June 10th ,2012. Water from 2011 monsoon is still there!

Floods, during last monsoon, devastated many areas of Sindh in Pakistan. Badin, the most affected area, has still not recovered from it and the next monsoon is on the way. Acres of land is still under water, making it useless to grow any crop. I feel growing Taro must be experimented with there, as this might just turn into bliss for farmers who lost their land. The reasons are multiple, because of heavy rains, poor maintenance of drains across a very large region and criminal diversion of flood water to save certain fields. 

image of a Taro feild by http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=1022015

Since Taro loves lots of water and is grown in water, it seems to be an ideal crop for flood affected areas. According to A K Khan's book, 'The Vegetables', Taro (Kachalo, Arvi) is grown from February to March and from October to November. Early varieties are harvested in 3.5 months while the late varieties are harvested in 5 months. From a 400 to 600 kilograms (kg) tubers, that will be used as seeds, farmer can expect an average yield of 60,000 to 80,000 kg per acre !

Imagine what profits farmers can gain from using flood water to grow Taro.

Although, this research seems to be a perfect solution, experts in growing Taro can share their expertise with NGOs and individuals who are trying to help villagers in the affected areas. 

 A fisherfolk community in Badin during a meeting with volunteers from the fisher folk forum and friends.

Pakistan Fisher Folk Forum is working in Badin with a village of fisherfolk to help them recover from previous monsoons, and to help prepare them to bear  next one. May be some of us can work with this same community and teach them to grow Taro!

Join us for a discussion on www.facebook.com/cropsinpot