Thai vegan green curry and more vegetable gardens, in Christchurch and Clevedon

Eating from the veggie garden: even if I don't have 'quantity' I do have variety enough to make a colorful vegan curry. First I started with a simple paste made with a small piece of ginger (peeled), one shallot (also peeled), fresh coriander (with stalks), green chili (not too much for me, maybe one or two), and fresh lemon grass (one stick). If you have kaffir lime leaves or rind, the are good too, apparently, but I didn't have any so I added a little lemon juice. Mush with a mortar and pestle or with a blender (I used the blender, too hot for the mortar and pestle!) adding salt towards the end. 

Now, the only thing in the paste that came from the garden was coriander, and frozen (from last year) as this year my plant died! I also have lots of frozen chills to use, and a little plant that don't even have flowers yet! 

The veggies: 1 carrot, 2 yellow zucchini, a few tomatoes, a few broccolini, borage tips, the only tiny capsicum I had in the garden, Thai mint, basil, onion weed flowers (these were foraged in spring and frozen) and borage flowers to decorate.

From the supermarket: organic tofu and coconut cream.

I cut the tofu and placed it in a pot with the coconut cream plus one can of water (to rinse the coconut cream can). Added the green curry paste and simmered the lot for 10 minutes and then I added the rest of the vegetables in this order: carrots, borage tips, capsicum, zucchini, broccolini, tomatoes (leave a couple of minutes between each vegetable). To stir I used a lemongrass stalk. Then I tasted for salt then I added the herbs and onion weed flowers (because they were frozen), turned the heat off and cover the pot with a lid for 5 minutes. Then I added the borage flowers.

Actually, the curry paste took longer than the curry to make! Serve hot with rice.

Community Garden in Christchurch

This short video is about a community garden in South Christchurch I visited last winter. It is very inspiring to see how it was organized, and what it does for the local community. A must see if you work in or plan a community garden.

A garden in Clevedon

The other week I went with Slow Food Waitakere to visit a garden in Clevedon, South of Auckland.

Designed, built and cared for by James and Rebecca, this was one of the best gardens I have seen. Here are some pics, but click here to see even more photos: truly inspiring!

I want to grow beans on a pergola!!

Her name is Lilly, so sweet!

Even the pumpkin grows on the pergola!

Citrus all year round!

Fruit trees lovingly covered with nets, one by one!

Clevedon Farmers Market

After the garden visit we went for lunch and shopping at the Clevedon Farmers Market, and just look at these beautiful tomatoes and eggplants!

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©