My salad comes from my patch everyday !

 Cherry tomatoes and lettuce for today's salad...
Fresh from my little green patch !!!

More cherry tomatoes...!!

What a beautifully inexplicable feeling it was this morning, to have come back to my little green patch after a break of four days (That seemed like four months...) and see it smiling brightly at me...

Cherry tomatoes that my little patch is gifting me so selflessly...

And then, I couldn't help adding pictures of a few other varieties of tomatoes growing in my tomato patch...

It's time again for tomatoes !!

I don't think we'll ever know everything there is to know about gardening. And I am just as glad there will always be some magic about it.
Barbara Damrosch

And right now, it's my tomatoes that have chosen to weave a spell of magic in my little green patch...

These tomato plants came up from the compost and I transplanted them to the narrow long bed in the front of the house, that Bhuvan, Gautam and I had made during the Dasara vacation. The soil there had only an addition of home-made (aerobic) compost at the time of planting. Luckily for me, all of the plants settled well and began to shown good signs of growth. Within a couple of weeks I had to fix stakes (My coconut frond stake) to support the fast-growing plants. I planted them somewhere in the end of November and they began flowering by the first week of January. That's when I added about a handful of compost per plant. By January end I mulched the bed around the plants and when the green tomatoes appeared to be growing in size, I once again added handfuls of vermicompost (I buy vermicompost from an old student of mine who has recently started a vermicompost business on a farm. And the vermicompost is the best I have seen around here !) around the base.

Apart from leaf miners creating bizarre patterns on the leaves, I have not faced any pest issues yet. Touch wood ! I have been snipping off the leaves affected by leaf miner an the older wilting leaves regularly. This promotes good flower and fruit development. At one point when the plants were outgrowing the stakes, I pinched off the tips. That encourages lateral growth/branching. Which means more flowers and more fruit. The coconut frond stakes are doing a good job of supporting the plant. Just that, when the fruit started getting big, a few of the stake began to gradually bend and I had to add additional support with stones at the base. I have seen a couple of aphids here and there. But that doesn't bother me much. I know, if the number increases, a couple of ladybird beetles will arrive on the scene to devour them. Even otherwise, by the time they multiply, my plants would have already provided me enough tomatoes. And then, we need to understand why plants attracts pests. If a plant is well fed, well watered (with good drainage) and healthy, the chances that it will attract pests are very slim. It is an unhealthy plant that attracts pests. In that case, my mantra is to discard the unhealthy plant rather than deluge it with a number of sprays and douches. It is prudent to do away with it and begin a completely new healthy plant.

I usually grow companions for my tomatoes, whether I grow them in containers/pots or in the ground. This time I grew my regulars, marigold and basil and since it was a ground bed, I took advantage of the space and also grew palak, hunchikk soppu/sorell/chukka koora, spring onions, garlic chives and a couple of nasturtiums. I am sure all of those contributed too, in keeping the pests at bay.

Right now, the cherry tomatoes have begun turning red and the other larger (a mix of naati and hybrid varieties) ones are still green and getting bigger. A couple of days back, a truss of tomatoes grew quite large and heavy and ended up snapping the thick stem. Well, it was an unexpected harvest, but this morning, the lovely green tomatoes got converted into a green chutney to have with neer dosas.

Last year, my volunteer patch of tomatoes (Growing on the kitchen side of the house) very magnanimously gifted me an abundant harvest. At one point, I was collecting almost half a kilo of tomatoes everyday ! This time around, I am ready to accept whatever my small bed of tomatoes gifts me. Tomatoes apart, I am already revelling in the utterly aesthetic visual- feast it is putting up for me. I don't know what problem I may encounter tomorrow with my tomatoes... But, rather than worry about that, I am trying to make the most of the moment and thanking my stars that there is still so much magic to be excited about...

 Ah there they are, the cherry tomatoes !!

The first truss pf cherry tomatoes to turn red...

 A lose up of the cherry beauties !

 Don't they look beautiful ?

And when the warm morning sun falls on them, they glow and look almost translucent...

And when the warm morning sun falls on them, they glow and look almost translucent...

Can't wait to pop them into a fresh salad... Or better still, pop them into my mouth, straight from the plant !

Another bunch beginning to blush...

More cherry tomatoes...

Some more...

And more...

The other variety...

Another one...

And they are growing real big !

And they are growing real big !

A look at the stakes when I had just fixed them...

When the plants had begun to take good support of the stakes...

When the cherries had just begun to form...

And one of the palak harvests from what was growing at the base...

My spiced and herbed paneer

My spiced and herbed paneer


Presenting two takes of my spiced and herbed panner.

The first one is spiked with chilli flakes, shredded baby spinach, fresh aromatic oregano and finely chopped young tender beans.

The second one features finely chopped fresh red chillies, some chilli powder and loads of fragrant dill.

The recipe is very simple. When you add lime to hot milk and it begins to curdle, add all of the spices and herbs and salt, (Add a bit extra salt as some of it will drain out with the excess whey) and give it a quick mix . Strain it through a thin cloth immediately and allow all the water/whey to drain.

Gently knead the lumpy paneer inside the cloth. Remember, be gently, or you may end up losing most of the soft paneer through the cloth. Now flatten the potli a bit and place it on a sieve. Weigh down the flattened paneer potli with a heavy steel lid or vessel filled with water, or whatever else suits you. If the weight is too much, your paneer with get too flattened and will turn hard. So, ensure you place a weight that is just right. Place this sieve on a bowl, so the extra water/whey drips into it.

About an hour is more than sufficient for the paneer to set. Once set, you can further refrigerate it to make it more firm and easy to cut/slice. The spices and herbs make the panner so tasty, I am tempted to eat most of it, as is...

Here's what I did with my spiced and herbed paneer . I of course ate a few slices fresh. I cut the rest of it into slices and marinated them in lime juice and a little more chilli flakes and pan fried them on both sides till they were golden brown. It takes just about a few seconds for the paneer slices to roast on a medium flame. Be careful to take them off the flame soon enough or you could end up burning them. I had the slices as a topping on whole wheat crackers with fresh dill as a garnish and some fresh crisp lettuce alongside. You could drizzle a bit of olive/mustard/sesame oil on top. Ah, that sure was a fantastic visual experience as well as a feast for the taste buds.

The palak spiked paneer got turned into a lovely salad. I crumbled the paneer into chunks and marinated them in sesame oil, lime juice, mustard powder and a wee bit of salt and chilli flakes. I added fresh di ced cucumber, tomatoes and capsicum and gave all of the ingredients a good toss. I just had to step into my patch and get some fresh iceberg lettuce to serve alongside...

And folks, wen the herbs and greens are from your garden, the sense of achievement is all the more magical.