Shiitake Pho

I keep reminiscing the Pho we enjoyed at a resort in Ninh Van Bay, Vietnam. What was memorable was that the greens came straight from the herb garden in the resort. So I tried making my own no-meat version from scratch today. 

1) Char a slice of ginger, a stick of lemon grass, a piece of shallot in a pot

2) Add water, a few table spoons of fish sauce and shiitake balls

3) Bring broth to boil

4) Cook kway teow in a separate pot and run under cold water when done 

5) Put kuah teow in a big bowl and pour broth over 

6) Add Thai basil, cut green chilli and some cut key lime

7) Serve with a saucer of fish sauce and cut green chilli

8) Yum!

This version is not overwhelming in taste. It is a clear broth version that is not greasy and super comforting to enjoy in the morning. The shiitake ball is a great alternative to meat. It gives the broth flavour and texture. 

Love that the basil came straight from the plant. Working towards eventually being able to harvest all these required green ingredients from our own backyard. 

UPDATE:

I have been asked how we maintain our supply of organic Thai Basil as they do deplete quite quickly after each harvest. 

Right now we just maintain one illustrious pot. I hope to not have to keep buying, so I am working hard on propagating these lovelies. 

Each time I harvest about 3-4 inch stalks (average one stalk per person) and after I cut out out the leaves, I pop the stalks in water to root at the window sill. 

Once the roots take shape and I have enough stalks, I intend to pot them in soil. Hopefully the next generation of basil will be in time to maintain our demand for freshness!

In the meanwhile, new shoots are sprouting in the original pot. Yay! 

Our original pot of Thai Basil flourishing along the corridor, with some direct sunlight.

3-4 inch clippings of the basil stalks. For a bowl of Pho, we serve one stalk worth of leaves per pax.

Stripped of leaves and left in water glass to root. We top up water daily and occasionally change the water entirely.

This lot has been left at the sill for about a month. You can vaguely make out heathy roots at the base.

We keep the water glasses by the window sill which is bright, without direct sunlight.

Hope this works!

Passionfruit flower

We were treated to the majestic blooms of the passionfruit flower yesterday. These ones are white with deep maroon hearts. 

This plant is bearing fruits. We are still twiddling our thumbs and waiting for them to ripen. Planning to enjoy them with meringues.

Summer salad

Nothing beats a refreshing cucumber salad as a guilt-free snack:

• shaved cucumber

• pumpkin seeds

• apple slices

• citrus yuzu dressing

Light brunch

Today's brunch:

• Mini bagels with sundried tomato cream cheese and smoked salmon

• pomegranate 

• ginger lemongrass tea

Mushroom

A little visitor popped up in the shade of the jasmine plant. Too cute to not share! Xoxo

Lemongrass

I am rooting some organic lemongrass in water glasses. They started without any roots, in a couple of days they sprouted leaves (at the top) and developed thick roots. I leave them at the window sill - northwest facing, well lit, with no direct sunlight

It has been more than 10 days and the stalks are still going strong. The new leaves are longer and are a healthy green. The roots have extended and are starting to grow more rigorously. A couple of stalks have even developed a tiny shoot at the base. 

I should start to pot them in soil soon. 

Update 28 May 15:

So I potted the lemongrass in the images above about 2 weeks after. There were more roots and even little saplings. Some of the outer leaves were even dried up.

I left them by a lit window that did not have any direct sunlight (bad choice), but I did read somewhere that lemongrass does not need direct sunlight.

The entire stalk withered and died out in 2 weeks.

So I repeated the process of rooting. I selected thicker stalks to root this time round. I also potted the stalks in 3 weeks and am leaving the pot by a window sill that gets a couple of hours of direct sun each day.  Fingers crossed!

Update 5 August 2015:

For nearly 2 months after I potted the lemon grass, they looked like they were on the verge of dying off too. In fact one stalk did conk off. The remaining 2 looked fragile and were barely able to stand. Progress was super slow.

Then after ignoring the entire pot and almost neglecting it, the lemongrass stems started to firm up and new leaves appeared too. So now I leave the pot to its own devices in the background and hopefully it will sprout new shoots soon.

Kangkong

We picked up a bunch of organic baby kangkong (with roots) from the local wet market about 10 days ago. Stir-fried half the lot and kept the other half in water by the window sill - northeast facing, bright but barely any direct sunlight. 

The happy campers are thriving and have grown about 2 inches on the average, with new roots and leaves - which I take as a good sign. 

Some of the lower leaves turn yellow, so I have been picking those off. In a couple of days, I will be potting some stalks in soil, to test if they can be cultivated as a more steady source of vegetable. I hope to find a more permanent way to keep them, as I doubt they are getting enough nutrients in drinking glasses.

In the meanwhile, they just look so fresh and cheerful at the window sill.

Update 27 Jun 2015:

It has been about 10 weeks since I started experimenting with the Kangkong.

I tried planting a batch in soil and the rest in glass vases. The ones planted in soil started developing yellow spots on the leaves and eventually died out. The ones in the glass vases thrived.

I read that there are 2 different varieties of Kangkongs available here - land vs water based. The small organic saplings, about 10cm height, that I managed to get had roots that were not soiled. So I figured they should be the water-based variety that was grown via hydroponics. So I will continue keep them in the glass vases.

So far I have not been using fertilisers.

Some lessons learnt:

1. Vessel

I started the saplings in drinking glasses and when they were tall enough, I transferred some into larger glasses vases from IKEA. The ones that were grown the larger vases did better. I keep about 10 stalks in each vase.

2. Stalk

Generally, the saplings with thicker stalk and healthier root systems did better. When I got a second batch of saplings, I was more selective with the stalks and roots. Almost all of the saplings survived.

3. Sunlight

I tried out the original batch of Kangkongs saplings at two different locations. One was at a brightly lit window sill, with barely any direct sunlight and the other at a sill that gets a few hours of morning sun. Strangely the ones without direct sunlight did better. So I transferred them there. 

However, after a couple of rounds of harvesting, I noticed that the stalks got thinner and more strangling. The leaves got few and far between and smaller too. Classic signs of seeking for sunlight.

So I transferred the whole lot to a sill with a few hours of morning sun and the improvement is so apparent after a week. More shoots are growing, they grow straight up, with bigger leaves.

4. Roots

I top up the water whenever the water level drops. Once in about 10 days, I will rinse out the roots and glass and change the water. If left unchecked, the roots turn brown and cloud the water. 

To rinse out the roots, I just run it under the tap and gently rub out the rotten (brown) roots, careful to leave the healthy roots intact. I try to avoid taking out the main root but if it is partially rotten, I will rub out the portion that is brown and leave the stump. I also rub out any algae that might be forming. 

5. Harvesting

So far, because I have only established a few vases, harvesting is limited. Currently, 5 vases can only yield small portions for 2 pax once a week.

For cuttings, I have a few rules of thumb. Each time I will not take more than 1/3 of each stalk. I try to cut above where shoots are forming. If there are no shoots, I cut just above a node, leaving the leaf.

So far I have been leaving the Kangkong indoor by the window. I will work on bringing them outdoor and eventually try again to grow them in soil. Will keep this post updated!

Update 28 August 15:

The yield from growing the kangkong in water vessels without fertilisers is inefficient.

So it became inevitable that I had to pot them in soil. 

I have been experimenting with different containers to pot the kangkong shoots. Best results were yielded from the deeper pots. This pot is about 20cm deep.  

 

To plant the shoots, I generally select the stronger ones and plant them as deeply as I can in the soil. Here I have 3 shoots in a 30cm diameter pot. I top the soil up to at least 20cm.

When harvesting, I generally snip off entire shoots that are about 10-15cm. 

The idea is to let clustering shoots develop at the soil line. Once that is established, new shoots will sprout from that point, so harvesting can be more regular.

Kangkong when grown in soil needs full sun and regular watering. I use chicken poo occasionally to keep the soil fertile.

From time to time, spider mites may visit. I just cut off the infected leaves and wait for new shoots to grow. 

Hoping to establish 3 pots of this to supply a weekly dish of our favourite sambal kangkong. 

Update 19 Feb 2016:

We now have 5 pots of matured kangkongs in the yard. 

They are very abused. We return from trips and they would have flopped down and lost most of their leaves. At the end of a scorching day, the leaves turned yellow and fell off. They have endured multiple rounds of whiteflies, red mites, grasshopper attacks. 

After each calamity I brutally chop and trim back the stems, often leaving practically no leaves. After each trim, they bounce right back with edible young shoots. 

Another joy of keeping the matured stems are the flowers. Kangkong belongs to the morning glory family. They bear the most fragile white trumpet flowers at the break of dawn. 

Here is a matured stem bearing a spray of more than 6 flower buds. Too pretty. Let's hope I can catch these in bloom.

Update 20 Feb 2016:

Morning bloom on a rainy morning... Xo

Lime-anade honey

It cheers me up to sip refreshing drinks created out of pickings foraged from the garden.

I enjoyed this extra zesty lime that is freshly picked and added lock stock and barrel into very light honey water. I do not have lemongrass with me, so I improvised and added a couple of blossoms from the chives. It was enough to give a very light tinge of spiciness.

This lime plant like most in our garden is grown in a container. It gives me versatility while I test out a perfect spot for it. So far, it's still quite a hardworking plant, so I am hoping that it will keep up. Fingers crossed!

Update 6 July 2015:

This line plant had not flowered in a couple of months. I read that it was crucial to cut the fruit off rather that twist it off. Problem was I did not even harvest that many limes, some of them fell off even before maturing. 

So I decided to snip off all the stalks that connected to the fruits (this plant came with a lot of remnant stalks). And the most amazing thing happened! Within a week, the plant flowered and are fertilized! So now I hope the limes are here to stay.

These lime flowers are so fragrant!

Amazing what a snip can do! Apart from flowers, little shoots also started to grow after snipping of all the stalks still attached to the plant. I did not even prime the plant. 

Mulberry

These little babies are mulberries. There are no flowers (which means they do not need to be pollinated) and the little furry babies will ripen to black (a deep red) within 2-3 months. The leaves make a sweet tea when boiled.

Mulberries need full sun and daily watering. The setback is these bushes are seceptible to insects. I use an organic insect spray (at night) on the front and back of the leaves. Incidentally, these are the leaves that are fed exclusively to silkworms. 

Update 13 April 15:

Some of our happy mulberries are ripening. Started picking the berries that are falling off. These are tangy and tarty little cuties. I can imagine them being perfect in summer drinks. Cannot wait for the fully ripened ones.

Realised that mulberry leaves are popular breeding grounds for insects - which probably explains why they are preferred fodder for silkworms. I was told by the horticulturist that picking off the affected leaves may not be sound long term solution - as each picking traumatises the plant. So I spray an organic repellant on the top and underside of the leaves. So far it deters and holds out the bugs for a couple of days. Although the spray is specifically for edible leaves and organic, it still means that the berries need proper cleaning before consumption.

I alternate weekly between a NPK solvent and an organic fertiliser Bio-Plus (from BioFlora Singapore). Both are organic and specific for fruit trees and vegetables. Hopefully, it will help with the yield of the berries!

Update 28 August 15:

Mulberry leaves boiled with organic goji berry. 

Apparently, mulberry leaf tea can help to flush out the build up of high cholesterol plaque in the arteries by slowing the oxidation of LDL (bad) cholesterol.

Not the best tea in terms of taste, but the benefits sound like just what I need after my meepok dry. You could add sugar, but it just feels too oxymoronic.

And since the mulberry bushes are not fruiting, might as well use up the leaves I am pruning off.

Update 29 August 15:

Apart from pruning the mulberries, I am also trying to root the cuttings in water. Out of about 6 cuttings, one of the least promising looking one rooted after what feels like months.

I kept it in the water until a healthy root system develops and a new set of shoots appear. 

Then I transferred it into the biggest pot, so it does not need to handle tranfer shock in the near future.

The parent plants are starting to yield minuscule berries. But they fall off, so no luck with the fruits.

Should find more resources and avenues for advise.

Update 26 Sep 2015:

It's been almost a month since we potted the cutting in soil. Happy that it's establishing itself.

Update 23 Jan 2016:

We changed location of the 2 parent plants to the balcony which has a longer sunlight exposure and gets the morning sun.

One of them started to throw out fruits immediately. 

We pruned the plants after a bout of dry spell and most of the leaves fell off. We also had to bring the plants back to the yard. 

Now the plants are laden with clusters of 'flowers' hope they will form fruits. 

Fingers crossed. 

Chives

Back in March, I got a bunch of potted chives, which are from the onion family. What was amazing were the blooms, which are essentially mini Alliums. These flowers are onion flavored and are great to add to salads and omelettes. They grow so prolifically I add them to my floral arrangements too.

Chives are great, stir fried with beansprouts or added in omelettes.

Update 19 Sep 2015:

Our original pot of chives died on us. A few possibilities:

1) Over fertilized - I was feeding generous amounts of chicken poo and watering with dissolved NKP. 

2) Over pruning - I was overzealously removing and cutting off yellowed leaves and 'harvesting' the blossoms.

3) Too shady - as the plants weakened and burned with too much fertilizing, they wilted easily in the scorching heat. Moving it to the shade sort of created a slower but eventual demise.

So I got a replacement, because the blossoms are just too lovely.

This one is left to its own devices to fend for itself in a sunny spot, against all the natural elements. No fertilizers for now. If I need to, I will probably only add in soil and compost mix. It seem happy for the past 2 weeks.