a curious case of Cassava

 

Back in old days, we had fried ubi kayu, ketuk-ketuk (boiled ubi kayu mixed with sugar and kelapa parut then deep friend in gold-ball size), boiled ubi kayu and sambal tumis ikan bilis, ikan masin goreng and kelapa parut for breakfast. For tea, we had bingka ubi and air gula ubi. These dishes seem unhealthy but they sound fitting to shore up depleted energy after we have to do some serious ‘tug-of-war’ pulling them out the grounds!

However, if we wondered a little bit on how our forefathers and mothers could survive on ubi kayu during “Zaman Penjajahan“, living life unmechanically improvised, we would realise that this plain, starchy ubi kayu is their real deal energy bar!

Thanks to Dr. Joseph Mercola, who unveils his new Energy Bar called Organic Cocoa Cassava today, I finally found answers to my curiosity.

“Tapioca is the third largest source of carbohydrates in the world and is a staple food for more than 500 million people. Among crop plants, the cassava plant provides the highest yield of food energy per cultivated area per day, next to sugarcane.

A recent study conducted in the Philippines (one of the countries where cassava is an important crop) looked into the effects of root crops and legumes in lowering cholesterol levels among humans with moderately-raised cholesterol levels.

The study showed that cassava significantly decreased total cholesterol levels, decreased low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (considered as “bad” cholesterol), and may help lower triglyceride levels due to its high total dietary fiber content.

Other studies show that cassava may help support the nervous system and help alleviate stress, anxiety and irritable bowel syndrome.

 Cassava flour does not contain gluten, an allergenic protein found in wheat, barley, oats and rye. It can be used by gluten intolerant people to replace wheat flour.

Cassava can also be used for French fries instead of potatoes”. This made me thinking why we opt for fibreless, nutritional deficient, chemical laden fries when we could always go for a fresher ubi kayu fries!

So, how about their leaves, that taste heavenly, cooked in rich coconut milk along with boiled mung beans, tinged with spicy bird eyes chillies, ikan bilis and shallots pounded together, or plainly appetising when they are boiled till tender and then dip in peanut sauce (uncooked sambal kacang)?

I found one research paper on their nutritional values. Surprisingly, they are high in proteins, minerals and vitamins, compared to other vegetables, Healthy-wise, they could be used to treat and prevent anaemia, protein and Vitamin A deficiencies.

My curious case of cassava has been answered and I hope you could see them in brighter, healthier light now.

How to Plant Tapioca?

• Tapioca can be planted at the end or at the beginning of the rainy season.  Tapioca planted during the end of the rainy season has less steady growth than that planted at the beginning of the rainy season especially when the long-stored stem is used.
• Tapioca grows well in land with depth and loose soil, with minimum weeds.
• Most varieties are recommended to harvest in 11-12 month maturity stage.
• The recommended spacing is 1 x 1 meter. Close spacing results in smaller roots and poorer yield.
• The cut-stem for planting has to be 20 centimeters long with more than 5 nodes, preferable from the middle of the original stem. When cutting from the original stem into planting stems, it should be made carefully - avoiding the damage of the nodes.
• When planting, the cut-stem should be put vertically at half depth of the stem into the ground. Make sure not to plant it upside down! (our Trainer Ian did that once!… ….).

 “Ms. Doolittle accidentally started her first garden at 4 when she saw little green sprouts emerged from the spot she pounded her Mak’s rotten red chilies weeks before while playing masak-masak. Since that Eureka moment, she finds her perfect self in a garden that feeds one’s soul, mind and body. For passion or ration, she believes gardening is life-changing.”

Growing Children Growing Garden

My Farm Fitness’s co-owner, Ms. Doolittle will be my guest-blogger this week where she will post various interesting stories on organic farming and gardening, including her own experience of growing the vegetables in pots. She is very concerned that the public should have the knowledge of where their food comes from.

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A visit to Organic Day

Past few weekends, I went to SS2 Petaling Jaya to attend an Organic Day carnival organized by the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development of Malaysia (CETDEM). Founded in 1985, CETDEM is an independent, non-profit, training, research, consultancy, referral, and development organization. It is committed to improving environmental quality through the appropriate use of technology and sustainable development.

Organic farming is gaining popularity in Malaysia today, partly due to the effect of CETDEMs Organic Farm which operated for some 10 years at Sungai Buloh. What began as a one-acre experiment in 1987 grew well enough to be a proven venture. The small farm was growing vegetables and fruits, without the use of any chemical pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. CETDEM decided that with its limited resources, it has to spread the good philosophy and practice of organic farming and kitchen gardening. The practical experiences learnt need to be shared, more so when there is an urgent need to increase the quality and quantity of organic produce in the Malaysian market. It also has become a learning environment, where many classes and workshops are offered to adults and children, as well.

There were many stalls at the carnival. Both, wifey and I had great time buying many great products and listening to free talks on organic farming, sustainable development and such. Please enjoy this little tour.

Note : Next Organic Day is scheduled on 4 July 2010.

Aside :

My Farm Fitness’s co-owner, Fisha a.k.a. Ms. Doolittle will be my guest-blogger next week where she will post various interesting stories on organic farming / gardening, including her own experience of growing the vegetables in pots. She is very concerned that the public should have the knowledge of where their food comes from. This is the best time to ask her questions and she’ll try to answer it.

 

re-potting my plants

As blogged previously, I had nothing scheduled to pull me away from home last Saturday. I decided to tackle a couple of cleaning and organizing projects in my little home. I went out to the balcony to check how my plants were doing. With so little free time nowadays, I don’t really get much chance to look after the plants anymore. The plants were not healthy, and decided to give the ‘life’ back these little green ‘friends’.

Edible Garden : Revisited

Last weekend, I visited the Edible Garden created by our previous First Lady Datin Jeanne, located at Perdana Lake Garden KL. The last time I went there was merely a year back when it was just opened to the public. Most of the plants have grown mature now. They are very healthy too. Come and have a look.

First Harvest

Few months back, I started this Edible Garden Project at my hometown upnorth. We planted seeds of Brinjal, Cucumber, Chillies, okras, long beans and as the list goes on. What I thought as ‘failed project’ (since my parents are hardly at home) has turned out very well. Thanks to the Taiping weather, showering fresh rain daily without a miss… so much of being the wettest town in Malaysia…:)! When my parents went back there two days ago, they were surprised that the plants were bearing fruits – for now; cucumbers, chillies, long beans and belimbing buluh (extremely sour fruit used in preparing gravy, mostly in Siamese dishes like Assam Steamed Fish, Tom Yum and our Tauchu Curry). 

My mom then stirred up the storm in the kitchen preparing Vegetable Tauchu (fermented soybeans) using all the first harvest, and invited their neighbour to join for lunch. Now, this is the true ‘From the Garden to the Kitchen’ meals …:)… Sorry, I don’t have the pics to prove it…(now thinking of just asking my mom to snap few photos and mms them to me…heheh)

These are some of the photos that I took during the last fasting month:

p/s – Wish I have the space in my home to plant them. Wish I have the time to prepare farm-to-kitchen meals for friends and family. Wish I can be like my parents when I grow old ….. (hey, it rhymes….)

Garden Fitness

Was away in Perak again last weekend, partly to check out on the veggies that my mom has been growing. Brought back more seeds purchased from MAHA 2008 (the annual agriculture show in KL)…. pity my mom…. but then again, she enjoys gardening alot, and she definitely doesn’t need any treadmills or yoga mats to burn calories. As a Personal Trainer, that’s what I’ve been trained to do – to let my clients make full use of the muscles that they have – not just to look aesthetically pleasing. I want people to have muscles that work for them. It’s no point of having 30% of solid muscle but could hardly run for 5 minutes. While my mom is definitely not one of my PT clients, she’s definitely a “Martha Stewart” to me… …. (whatever it means). She grows many kind of flowers and fruit trees at my parents’ one acre well-mowed lawn….I mean, very2 well-trimmed lawn (blame my dad for that, he’s a ’full-time’ golfer and needs a good putting green). My mom grows promegranate, dragon-fruit (the juiciest I have ever tasted), sugar canes, pygmy bananans (hardly a 1-2m stocky banana trees), starfruits (supplying a non-stop 2-3 jugs of refrigerated fresh juice daily), durian (yet to bear fruits), all sorts of ulam, lotsa flowers as well ….. and the ‘award-winning’ pandan coconut – pandan scented water & very sweet flesh…really2 good. (p/s -having some prob. uploading the photos, will definitely do that later)

While I try to stay away from the flowered plants (not so keen in ‘em), I was attending to my mini “Edible Garden” (soon to be ‘Edible Farm’…hehhehehe…) which is part of my ‘Bumbun’ Project. All credits should go to my mom – who has done a good job in making sure the chilies, brinjals, tomatoes, long beans all grow too well… Having my mom to look after them guarantees 100% organically grown plants…. that’s for sure.

As I was not engaging in any gym workouts over the weekend, I too got myself involve with Garden Fitness. I trimmed the Golden Pine tree into a 3-tier pagoda-shaped tree, I even made a brick stair to the small river behind my house (pity my parents – it was quite a hike to get up to the bank where more trees are planted – durian, sugarcanes and papaya to name afew). 

I also created a dish for the entire family – Baked Freshwater Prawns with Honey & Kaffir Leaves (almost fat-free if not because of the Olive OIl – but hey, OO is good monounsatturated fat). Too bad I wasn’t fast enough to snap few photos of the dish…..hehehhehe….          

Reached KL at the wee hours of Monday morning and all charged up for work that morning… no more Monday Blues – well, that’s what a short vacation can do to you ….

Tropical Spices

Since I was already up-north, I decided to bring the whole lot to Penang – With only 2 destinations in mind (Tropical Spice Garden & Hokkien Mee), we pushed off from Taiping quite early (the day that we went back to KL..:(…see, I told you that I don’t have the time…hehehe).

The Tropical Spice Garden was suggested by a good friend of mine at the Bank. She went to the place and straight away fell in-love with Penang. With such a great impact on her, I want to experience that myself… true enough, the garden which is not that big in size, is a very well-manicured planted area with over 500 varieties of tropical flora. It has three designated trails landscaped on natural jungle terrains; Spice Trail, Ornamental Trail and Jungle Trail. The Spice Trail has 100 varieties of tropical spice and herb plants used as flavourings, medicines, dyes and perfumes. My mind (and camera) was running wild, capturing ideas for my ‘Bumbun’. I fell in-love particularly with the stepping stones (in fact, i think I took more shots on the stones than the plants) which were so naturally constructed and installed throughout the garden….so many different kinds as well …. A hike up to the hill laid a Straits Colonel Holiday Bungalow known as Lone Crag Villa. The Villa has been beautifully transformed into a Spice Museum, a Garden Shop and a Spice Cafe. The latter has a wooden deck, stretching out into the ocean. No wonder my friend fell in-love with this place …. Will try to upload few photos if I have the chance (which most of the time I don’t…so, don’t count of it too much …).

After the short stint at the Spice Garden, we went straight to Fettes Park in search of the best Hokkien Mee on Penang Island. We haven’t eaten there before, but my mom found this newspaper clipping on it & decided to give it a try. The chef, know as Sifu Man, is just like my mom, a mualaf. I guess that’s what make this eating place particularly important and meaningful to her ‘tastebuds’…. moreover, the best hokkien mee should be from Penang. Hiding in a rather rustic wooden bungalow beside the Island Plaza, one will definitely not be able to find it … i.e. if one doesn’t open the mouth and ask around. His popularity ard Fettes Park makes it easy enough for us to locate him. Unfortunately, we were seconds away from the last plate … darn! and it was just half past 1pm …. the noodles must be really good then. We went to MAKSAK club house instead for a Chinese cuisine – we ordered the Assam Prawns, giant spring rolls, sweet & sour fish cutlets, Inche Cabin (herb-fried chicken) and the Nestum Prawns (really-really good).

Not wanting to leave the island rushingly, we decided to take the ferry back to mainland … aaahhhhh … just like the good old days …. queueing while wind from smelly polluted water breezing past the faces … a wellness therapy by itself! Once we were back to Taiping, we even have enough time to jump off into the pool at my dad’s clubhouse before made a budge back to Kuala Lumpur …. Rest? What rest? ….

"Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly."
- M. F. K. Fisher