GYO #35 Roundup

It was a great experience hosting my first Grow Your Own Event. Thanks to all who've participated and as promised, here's the roundup :

I tried out an interesting recipe of Thai Rambutan Salad with rambutans I received from a family friends orchard.

SE of Denufood prepared a healthy Moth Bean Sprouts Curry made from their own sprouted beans.

The Gulo gulo or Banana fritters prepared by Ela was interesting as it reminded me of the common pisang goreng or fried bananas back in Malaysia.

Graziana prepared Vegetarian Balls in Roti Bread - something I hope for as a quick bite during lunch.

While Andrea's Zucchini Risotto seemed like a hearty meal one could have for dinner after a tiresome day at work.

The Spicy Green Bean, Potato and Carrot Tortilla by MangoCheeks seemed well as a healthy evening snack or quick lunch bite.

Vincent & Linda Simon from Kitchen Therapy made a lovely Ground Cherry Jam with Orange with ground cherries produced from their garden.

As something entirely different, Nathan prepared a refreshing barley with pandan leaves drink - prepared for a hot day.

Lorelei's prepared a hearty portion of Apple Pie from the apples growing on her tree. Nothing beats a slice of Apple Pie for me when it comes to dessert.

Mom's Gateway prepared Kimchi - something that came out as a bright delight. It also reminds me now that it's been a while since I've hit Korean joints downtown Kuala Lumpur and should be heading there pretty soon.

Sense explosions! Tropical Rambutan Salad

It has been a great pleasure hosting the Grow Your Own #35 event this month and I sincerely thank all those of you who've taken the effort to submit your dishes for this event.

Hoping I'm not too late, I'm going to finally send in my GYO submission before the clock strikes 12 in a couple of hours today. For those who are familiar with Asian fruits, you just might have heard about this hairy little things called rambutans. These tiny fruits are distinct with their hairy exterior - dig in through the skin layer and you would be duly rewarded with the sweet and fleshy fruit.

I was lucky to receive a bag of freshly plucked rambutan fruits from a family friend, who owns a farm in the state of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia about an hour and a half away from Kuala Lumpur. Below is a nice recipe of a tropical rambutan salad i adapted from Maritasays with a Thai influence.

Tropical Rambutan Salad

( Adapted from Maritasays)

8 rambutans, skinned and carefully pitted

½ tablespoon crushed peanuts
1 small red chili seeded and minced
8 very small pieces of lime, optional to keep the skins on
½ tablespoon of minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon soft brown sugar
a little water

Method

1. Heat sugar with a little water in a saucepan over medium heat - stir consistently.

2. Once sugar has melted, the water reduced, and the mixture becomes sticky - remove from heat. Scrap the melted sugar into a bowl to set and then crush slightly to achieved a hard and crumbly texture.

3. Once the rambutans have been deskinned and pitted - take a little of each ingredient and assemble inside one part of the halved rambutan - spread some melted brown sugar on the mixture and cover with the other half of the rambutan fruit. Serve chilled.

4. The sensation you would get at a bite of this dish would be an explosion of crunchy, sweet, sour and spicy senses.

Grow Your Own #35

As many of you might already be aware of, I’m a frequent participant of Andrea’s Grow Your Own event. I love the feeling of picking fresh produce from the garden and putting them right through the stir fry pan and on the dining platter and with the myriad of vegetables and herbs in my garden, I’m thankful I wouldn’t be running out of ideas so soon. It was delightful to have the opportunity to host this round of Grow Your Own – after sending in my Baingan Masala and Carrot Mint Raita as submissions in the past.

So in case you’re wondering :-

What exactly is Grow Your Own?

Grow Your Own is a twice-a-month blogging event that celebrates the foods we grow or raise ourselves and the dishes we make using our homegrown products. Anyone with a blog can participate! Do you write a food blog? A gardening blog? A farm blog? A hunting or foraging blog? An eco blog? A frugal blog? Anything whatsoever related to home and garden or fun activities to do with children? You can write a post about some of the edibles you have raised, grown, or found and cooked with. Having a food blog is not a requirement for participation.

So how would I join this thingamajiggy?

The rules are simple:

• Make a dish that uses at least one item from your very own garden or farm and post about it. Your garden doesn’t have to be big. Container gardens are welcome! If you hunted or foraged, those items are also eligible. You can also use something that was given to you, but the giver must have personally grown or raised the item. If you paid for it, then it doesn’t count.
• Anything edible that you have grown or raised qualifies, including fruits, vegetables, herbs, sprouts, edible flowers, nuts, grains, legumes, dairy products, eggs, livestock, and anything else I might have forgotten. Produce from both indoor and outdoor gardens are welcome! Different regions will have different things available, so feel free to feature things unique to your area. We are all about celebrating variety!
• Please make sure your dish is posted during the month of the event because we like to celebrate seasonal items. One post per blog, please.
• As a courtesy, please include a link to this announcement in your blog post, and then update later with a link to the round-up.
• If you want to include one of the Grow Your Own badges in your post, feel free to grab one from below. (Please upload to your own server/image repository.) Logos professionally designed by Jeff Meyers.
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Sounds good – I’m interested. What do I do next?

Drop me an e-mail at mangomaples[at]gmail[dot]com by the 15th of September 2009 with the following information:

• Subject line: Grow Your Own #
• Your name and location (country, state if applicable)
• Your blog URL
• Permalink to your post
• 300×300 pixel photo of your dish (As long as the photo is no larger than 300 pixels in either direction, it will work.)

I’ll post up the roundup within a day or two after the deadline.

Lets go green people . Cheers!