Foodie Blogroll

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

A Few FunThings


I ran across some fresh cranberry beans and garbanzo beans at our Amish market. I have never had them fresh like this before so I had to pick some up.

I have never shucked beans before either, so this was fun in small batches, I'm sure it would get old if I had to do a whole bunch.

Here is the fresh green garbanzo bean...funny to see them like this all green and fresh. Have you had them like this? How did you prepare them?

I cooked them in water until tender, and then sauteed them with shallots and some greens. What would you do?

Remember that turmeric root that I planted? It grew into a beautiful plant, and I used the leaves cooked in some dishes I made. A while back I was able to harvest some more of the roots.

I will cook with some and then plant some more again. I have it in a clay pot and planted some in the ground as well. It was fun to do, the one in the pot grew bigger than in the ground. I planted some ginger a few years back but did not harvest the ginger each year, so they come back every summer and produce some beautiful flowers and a nice green foliage near my back border. I wonder if the turmeric will come back and flower?

Next I love sweet potato fries, but when I make them at home I never deep fry anything, so when baking regular sweet potatoes they are so moist it is hard to get them crispy without frying. So I baked some Japanese sweet potato fries, seasoned nicely, they are dryer and turned out great! Of course these were in a little long, but I do like them crisp. Now I want to find the perfect dip for them, any ideas?

Finally, I picked up this herb at the farmers market last weekend. I have never seen this before, it's culantro, also known by many other names. Found in and used widely in Mexico, the Caribbean and through south Asia. It tastes similar to cilantro, but a little stronger. It is supposed to be easier to grow than cilantro, which is good because I just can't seem to grow cilantro, or parsley for that matter. It likes partial shade so I have it in a pot on my front porch. I'm excited to try it. Have you ever used this culantro before?

25 comments:

  1. Lyndsey I love beans and like yours I made always this recipe that I think is delicious I let you the link if you want try:)

    http://canelakitchen.blogspot.com/2009/01/beans-with-grinded-corn-and-basil.html


    The beans are with grated corn and basil and really are delicious!is typical from here!
    You can make with freeze corn too

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  2. That was a Fun post; I have never cooked these kinds of fresh beans before;must be good. I am so impressed with your turmeric plant; you are creative. I am now taking Curamin for muscle and arthritis pain, made mostly of Turmeric.
    Rita

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    1. Yes, I've heard turmeric was very good for you.

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  3. I forget bto say you I love your beans:) and the turmeric of course!

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  4. Interesting post I have never seen cranberry beans at all. Have also never seen turmeric root, but I remember you saying that you had planted it. Looks like it has done well. Now I know cilantro but I have never heard of culantro. I have learnt a few things today. Diane

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    1. Diane, I love seeing your garden, it is fun to see what other can grow! The culantro is tasty, I wonder if I can get seed to grow more?

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  5. Gorgeous pictures, love the cranberry beans!!

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  6. Very interesting! We have cranberry beans here too and I usually cook them in soup with some pork ribs and seasoned with just salt and pepper...yum! I have never seen the garbanzo beans in their pods before! so lovely! How nice to have a thriving garden, I can't grow anything in mine:S!

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    1. Mmmm that sounds good. Do you get the cranberry beans fresh or are they dried?

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  7. Japanese sweet potatoes are my new most favorite discovery! I've been eating them, roasted, nonstop lately.

    SO cool that you grew your own turmeric!

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    1. Yes, turmeric was fun to grow. I hope it comes up this year.

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  8. Where is your farmers' market? I want to go!! I've never seen fresh garbanzo beans. My mother loved those cranberry beans. She called them "shelly" beans. Not sure why other than they have to be shelled. She would add them to a pot of green beans and both together made a really pretty dish and tasted delicious!

    Best,
    Bonnie

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    1. We have a large farmers market downtown on Saturdays. The Amish market is closer and is open all week except Sundays. It brings in a lot of local food, even eggs and cheese.

      I guess I should of said shelled the beans instead of shucked :)

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  9. Love this fun post! I want to visit the farmer's market too!!

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    1. It is fun! Come on over. I always like to find new things and see what I can do with it.

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  10. Actually i did not know that bean i use to cook soup with pork ribs call as cranberry bean, hehehe..Is this bean pluck from the real cranberry plant? just curious..

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    1. Beans and pork seem to go together. I think they are called cranberry beans because of the color.

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  11. wow..homegrown turmeric root!! That's really cool.
    Love those cranberry beans..simply adorable.

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  12. Thanks for this post, Lyndsey. I wouldn't have known garbanzos came in a pod like that ... doesn't seem to look like its shape.
    Love the turmeric roots. You've inspired me to plant some. I'm a hopeless gardener ... I have 10 purple thumbs :D

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    1. Ha! I would like to see your garden with 10 purple thumbs. I usually grow what grow easy around here. I haven't seen garbanzo beans fresh like that before.

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  13. Wow, now you have all the ingredients you need. So, what do you want to do with the fresh turmeric? Oh, my neighbour growing their own culantro too. Though I have no idea what it was. Thanks for sharing. The cranberry beans is very common here but not the garbanzo beans. Can't wait to see what you will do with those beans as well.
    Happy weekend.
    Kristy

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    1. Thanks for stopping by. I think I will by using culantro in many things I like it so far. Plus it's easy to grow.

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  14. oh, i didnt know they are called cranberry beans, they are available here most of the time and really, i do not know how they are being cooked but was once told that the chinese here mainly use them for cooking soup.

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  15. I have not yet seen fresh garbanzo beans, but pick up the cranberry ones when I see them. Freshly grown turmeric is so cool! And love those fries :)

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