Red Lentil and Sweet Potato Curry with Sorrel

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
Olive oil (or canola/rapeseed oil)
2 tablespoons (30ml) grated ginger
6-8 garlic gloves, crushed
2 teaspoons (10ml) curry paste or powder
1 teaspoon (5ml) ground cumin
1 teaspoon (5ml) ground chilli powder
1 teaspoon (5ml) turmeric
2 medium-large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-3cm chunks
1/2 cup (120g) dry red lentils
1 can coconut milk
1 cup (240g) of water
1 cup/a good thick handful of Sorrel (or Spinach/Chard leaves), larger stems stripped out and leaves torn up a little.

Steamed rice

1. Prepare vegetables and spices.

2. In a large pot, add some oil, and all the ginger, garlic and spices. Stir, and cook this for a few minutes on a medium heat.

3. Stir in the sweet potato, lentils, coconut milk and water and bring to a simmer. Then cover, turn the heat down for c. 20 minutes or until the sweet potato is tender.

4. Add in the Sorrel. Stir, replace the lid, and cook for a couple more minutes.

5. Serve immediately over steamed rice.


Notes
a) The Sorrel adds a lemony tang that we think goes really well with this recipe. And with Sorrel being a perennial vegetable that is so easy to grow, we tend to choose it over Spinach and Chard now.

b) We are generous with the garlic and ginger and use double the amount from the original recipe. So do start with less if you aren't sure you like quite that much.

c) This is a great recipe for batch cooking. We often make 3 times the recipe, then freeze most of it in containers. A standard (not small) takeaway container will hold enough for two. Then just unfreeze when you want, heat up and make rice, and there you have a healthy and yummy meal for when you are low on spoons.


Source
Spilling the Beans, Julie Van Rosendaal & Sue Duncan, 2011, page 146.
ISBN: 978 1 77050 041 9


About Gwenfar's Garden's recipes

Forest garden border: reviewing the first season

The L-shaped forest garden border along the south (left) and west (right) facing fences,

in July, prior to the new kitchen garden beds being created in front.

My forest garden border was first planted out in March this year, and I thought it would be useful to review it's first season. It's an awkward border to photograph on whole, so I tend to do it in sections, South (the left side) and West (the right side), which I'll use to refer to when discussing specific plants. A full plant list is at the bottom of this post.

The L-shaped forest garden border along the south (left) and west (right) facing fences,

with the just finished (in August) new kitchen garden beds in front.

I'm pretty pleased with the results from the first season. For a start, the blueberries already started producing, in particularly, Vaccinium corymbosum 'Hortblue Petite' on the South side. This was enough to add to several breakfast muselis.

First blueberry harvest

I had put up temporary netting to protect the fruits from the depredations of birds. However, this isn't an easy way to harvest, at least from an ME perspective, as it uses up more energy than you might expect trying to negotiate the netting and access the berries. So I need to make up a better long term netting set-up. I'm thinking of sewing my own netting cage together, I just need to work out the proportions, based on the size the blueberry bushes will eventually reach (about 1m square). A job for winter/spring.

Temporary netting around one of the young blueberry bushes

The Sorrel bulked up quickly and produced plenty of leaves throughout the season, which I have used in curries and other dishes. And the Rhubarb supplied a couple of kilos of fruit. We added manure around the crown at the end of the season, and will add more in Spring, to feed the hungry roots.

The comfrey has provided it's first harvest and I now have a bucket brewing (right) over winter that will give me comfrey tea, a homemade liquid fertiliser, to feed both edible and ornamental plants plants this coming season. Comfrey is rich in Nitrogen, which supports leafy growth, and Potassium, which promotes strong stem growth, flowering and fruiting of both edible and ornamental plants. I decided I didn't need two comfrey plants, so one has been dug up, and an apple tree has been planted in its place.

The apple trees were finally added at the end of November, after I chose and ordered three varieties at the October Apple Day that I attended. The trees that are all 4-5 years old, and there is a slight chance I might get fruit as early as next season. Fingers crossed.

The apple trees I chose were the following: Newton Wonder - double cordon (west-facing border)

Lord Lambourne (left) and Egremont Russet (right) - both single cordons (south-facing border)

A damson has been added to another part of the kitchen garden area. So not in the forest garden per se, but very close by (like, a couple of metres), so I thought it was worth a mention. I suspect it will be 2 or more years before I get any fruit off this tree. And I have planted some crocuses and daffidols in the border, so I get some early season pretty and the bees will have some food.

Overall, I feel like I've harvested quite a lot for the first season of my forest garden border. I'm not expecting to make any further changes to the planting and layout, so now all the plants can settle in and get growing for this coming and future seasons. And maybe, just maybe, I'll get a couple of apples next autumn?!

 Overview of the south-facing border in December.

Overview of the west-facing border in December

If you are interested in seeing how I planned the forest garden border, see my post creating a mini forest garden border.

* * * * *
Plant List
I've updated the plant list for the whole border, to include the recent additions.

Canopy layer
Apple trees: Malus Newton Wonder, Malus Lord Lambourne, Malus Egremont Russet
Prunus domestica 'Golden Transparent' (greengage)

Just outside of the Forest Garden border are also:
Amelanchier x grandiflora 'Ballerina' and Prunus insititia 'Shropshire Damson'

Shrub layer
Azalea (variety unknown)
Cranberry (variety unknown)
Vaccinium corymbosum 'Bluecrop' (blueberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum 'Hortblue Petite' (blueberry)

Perennial layer - edible
Akebia quinata
Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum'
Origanum vulgare 'Aureum' (golden oregano)
Rhubarb (variety unknown)
Rumex acetosa (non-flowering sorrel)
Symphytum x uplandicum 'Bocking 14' (comfrey)

Perennial layer - ornamental
Knautia macedonica
Lychnis coronaria Atrosanguinea Group
Omphalodes cappadocica 'Cherry Ingram' (ornamental)

Ground cover (plants mixed all around the border)
Ajuga reptans 'atropurpurea'
Allium ursinum (wild garlic/ramsons)
Armeria pseudarmeria 'Ballerina Lilac'
Crocus Etruscus Zwanenburg
Crocus Orange Monarch
Crocus Sieberi Spring Beauty
Cyclamen hederifolium
Fragaria x ananassa 'Samba' (strawberry)
Galanthus 'Ophelia'
Narcissus Brackenhurst
Narcissus Minnow
Narcissus Mother Duck
Narcissus Rijnvelds Early Sensation
Phacelia tanacetifolia
Primula vulgaris
Pulmonaria 'Blue Ensign'
Viola odorata 'Queen Charlotte'

First border

Thanks to my gardener Andrea, who spent a day starting to tidy up the garden, I now have my first border in the new garden. I'm rather excited. This was the border back in April. Well, not really a border. A mess of plants, grass and weeds.

The border that wasn't a border anymore, in April.

Andrea did a major weed out, discovered some border edging stones buried under all the mess, dug them out and put the edging stones back in. I got her to remove quite a bit of the rhubarb as I didn't need two patches. She also tidied up the raspberry canes, removing the dead ones. And she trimmed the ivy on the back corner. I don't want to remove it, it's good for the birds, I just didn't want it taking over.

The border in May, after all Andrea's hard work. Plus I pruned the plum tree.

I then had the first plants added. On the left you can see my first of two sorrel patches, and on the right is Thalictrum 'Anne', which was getting burnt in the pot in the hot sun. It's now in part shade, which I hope it will like more.

The name of this border, is rather originally, the Raspberry Border. It's hard coming up with names for borders.

The plum tree is on the outside of the border. Despite my pruning, it's heaving with fruit. 

I'm going to add in some herbs and lower growing ornamental hardy perennials adjacent to the raspberry canes. And on each side of the sorrel patch will be some pink Japanese Anemones, to add height. It will be so nice to get some of my plants out of their pots and into the ground; they have been waiting 18 months. Then I'll sit back and wait for the raspberries to fruit and see what they taste like.

My first border in the new garden. How exciting!

Spoonie Veg: Sorrel

Spoonie Veg rating: 1

Ok, my hands are up, I admit this isn't the most obvious first choice for an individual Spoonie Veg blogpost. Bear with me, and see if I cannot convince you that Sorrel (Rumex acetosa) is one of the best and easiest veg to grow when you are low on spoons.

In my post introducing Spoonie Veg, I gave Sorrel a rating of 1. That being: 1-2 requires few spoons, 3-4 moderate spoons, and 5 hard, lots of spoons needed in order to grow that fruit, veg or herb.

Growing
Sorrel is one of my favourite vegetables. It's a hardy perennial vegetable, which means in hard winters it will still will come back the following spring, and in mild winters as the one past has been, you can continue to harvest, though less often, throughout. It can be used just like spinach or chard, but I think it's even yummier than those, with it's lemony tang. A lot of people forage for sorrel at this time of year, when it's new leaves are fresh. If you grow it yourself you can continue to harvest most, if not all, year long.

Sorrel is very easy to grow. It needs a bit of space as the roots can grow deeper into the soil and each year the patch can get larger. My current patch (see pics) has trebled its size in just one year. It is in light shade between October and March, so it doesn't need the sunniest spot in the garden. This one plant is enough for two people to regularly use it in cooking. Just three weeks ago I cut it almost back to just a few young stems, and you can see how much it has already grown.

Next year I will be able to divide this patch and create a second. On top of all this, I've found non-flowering sorrel to be pest-free. What a plant!

Sorrel can also be grown in containers, but as sorrel can have deep roots, it does need to be a large pot (either plastic or terracotta). With sorrel in the ground or raised beds, I don't worry about watering it unless we go through a really dry period. Container grown sorrel will need watering more often, so you need to plan a few spoons for that task too.

I purchased my young non-flowering sorrel (garden sorrel) plant from Alison Tindale of The Backyard Larder. Alison has written an excellent blogpost going into depth about the different types of perennial sorrels worth eating, which is well worth a read.

Sorrel tastes like a lemony spinach. I've come to prefer it to spinach as being a perennial there is no annual sowing, it just comes up every year with few spoons needed, maybe just give the patch a mulch each autumn. And I find the lemony tang delicious, and even the older leaves, if you cut out the stalks, still taste fresh and crunchy and haven't gone over into bitterness.

Cooking
Now cooking sorrel, how many spoons does that take? To some degree it will depend on the recipe, but in general I feel it still fits into the 1-2 Spoonie Veg rating.

It's pretty easy to pick sorrel. I tend to grab a section of the clump and cut with my pruners, though you can use scissors too. A lot of gardeners will say they love to pick the veg and cook and eat it within a short space of time, to enjoy the food as fresh as possible. However, as Spoonies will know, you have to break down your tasks into micro-tasks in order to have the energy to do anything.

Sorrel and Mushroom Pasta

I find sorrel keeps it's freshness quite well, so I pick it earlier in the day. Preparing it is straight forward, but requires slightly more spoons as you need to give it a wash and cut off the older stalks. To healthy people this might not seem like much, but for Spoonies washing vegetables (or anything else for that matter) etc can be very tiring. So here is how I break down the tasks*:

1. Put the Sorrel in the sink and soak it for 30 minutes or so, and rest.
2. Shake it in the water to make sure you have got off any residual soil etc, then rest.
3. Tear off the stalks of the older leaves in the clump, then rest.
4. Next up is putting it in the salad spinner to get rid of the excess water. There, your sorrel is prepared and ready for cooking.

As sorrel can be used like spinach or chard, you can use it as a substitute for these in recipes. Specific sorrel recipes can be found searching the web. I've adapted Alison's Sorrel and Potato Gratin, swapping the onions for garlic (I'm allergic to onions), and sometimes adding some cheese on top towards the end of the bake. From a spoonie perspective, this dish is great as it is enough for two people, with a bit of salad, for 3 nights. It remains just as tasty each evening, just needing 2 minutes in the microwave to heat it up.

I've posted my Sorrel and Potato Gratin recipe, and I've also created my own recipe, Sorrel and Mushroom Pasta (above), which my partner and I think is rather divine.

So, have I convinced you that sorrel is a spoon-easy vegetable to grow and eat? How about give sorrel a go and let me know what you think.

*I won't explain the preparation process in every individual Spoonie Veg post, but I thought it was worth spelling it out here for the first time.

* * * * *
I welcome your thoughts and comments. And if you blog about gardening with ME/a chronic illness, do link to this post in your blog and leave a comment below with a link to your post, so we can all find each other.

About Spoonie Veg and Gardening with ME.

Twitter hashtags: #SpoonieVeg, #GardeningWithME

Recent Gardening with ME and Spoonie Veg posts...
  Gardening with ME: May garden update
  Spoonie Veg: growing in raised beds and containers

Sorrel and Potato Gratin

This recipe is a based on a mix from Alison Tindale and Martha Stewart. I've swapped the onions/shallots for garlic (I'm allergic to onions and shallots) and added a cheese topping. I converted the measurements to grams etc, and for Spoonies, I have added in good places when you can stop the preparation and have a rest.

Sorrel and Potato Gratin
With a side salad, this serves 6 people, or 2 people over 3 nights.

700g peeled potatoes (i.e. charlottes, something that is happy being boiled)

250g sorrel shredded – make sure tougher stalks are cut out
2-3 large garlic cloves
284ml double cream
100ml milk
Pepper
Butter

Optional topping: cheddar cheese, or a mix of cheddar and Parmesan cheese

1. Turn oven on to 180 degrees
2. Butter the dish
3. Crush the garlic into the buttered dish
4. Slice the potatoes into thin pieces (not wafer thin, but not too thick either), This is a good point for a Spoonie rest, if you haven't had one already.

5. Place ½ of the sliced potatoes on top of the garlic
6. Place ½ of the sorrel over the potatoes
7. Repeat with potatoes and sorrel. When complete, you can put the dish in the fridge and rest, coming back to complete it's cooking later.

8. Place the cream and milk into a pot, add pepper and bring to a gentle boil
9. Pour cream and milk evenly over the sorrel and potatoes in the dish
10. Cover dish (with lid or with tin foil)
11. Cook for 1hr under cover, and of course have another rest.

12. Remove the lid and add the cheese (but skip this step if you don’t want cheese)
13. Bake until potatoes are tender and cream is thick, for about 20 minutes more.
14. Serve with a side salad.

See also my Sorrel and Mushroom Pasta recipe and my post on why sorrel is an easy vegetable to grow for Spoonies.

Sorrel and mushroom pasta

Sorrel is one of my favourite vegetables. It's a perennial vegetable, which means in hard winters it will come back the following Spring, and in mild winters as the one past has been, you can continue to harvest, though less often, throughout. It can be used just like spinach or chard, but I think it's even yummier than those, with it's lemony tang. A lot of people forage for sorrel at this time of year, when it's new leaves are fresh. If you grow it yourself you can continue to harvest most, if not all, year long.

This recipe is based on the classic French sorrel sauce, but adapted because I thought it would work with mushrooms and nutmeg. I've cooked this in both single and multiple batches (double, triple amounts etc) and it tastes just as good the second night. You just need to cook some fresh pasta and heat up the sauce the second night.

And no, this isn't going to turn into a cooking blog. It's just that after a conversation I had with other gardeners a couple of weeks ago, it was suggested that it would be good if the recipe could be published. So try it and see what you think.

If you would like to grow your own sorrel, I got mine (a non-flowering form of Rumex acetosa) from Alison Tindale of Backyard Larder.

Sorrel and mushroom pasta

 Serves 2

100g sorrel leaves, stems removed

100g mushrooms, sliced

1 garlic clove

150ml heavy cream

45g butter

30ml vegetable stock

80g pasta*

A pinch of nutmeg

Salt and white pepper to taste

___________

1.      Cut up the sorrel by curling up a few leaves at a time and slicing them very thin.

2.      Slice the mushrooms.

3.      Put on the water for the pasta and start cooking it.

4.      Pour the cream in a small pot and bring it to a simmer slowly. Doing this will prevent it from curdling when it hits all that acidic sorrel in a few minutes.

5.      Meanwhile, in another small to medium pot, heat the butter, garlic and nutmeg over medium heat and add the sorrel.

6.      As the sorrel stars cooking, add in the mushrooms and stir often.

7.      When the sorrel has cooked down (i.e. turned an Army green), stir in the cream and bring the sauce to a bare simmer. It can get thick, so add the stock to thin it out. You can add more stock if you want the sauce even thinner.

8.      Taste the sauce and add a little extra nutmeg if you don’t like it too lemony.

9.      When the pasta is cooked, portion it out on plates. Add the sorrel and mushroom sauce on top, then serve.

*the amount of pasta is based on keeping the carbs down. If that isn’t an issue for you, then add more pasta. There will be enough sauce for a larger serving of pasta.

I use a gluten-free Rice and Millet spiral pasta, but wheat-based spirals or penne would work just as well.