Cooked greens with sweet banana porridge

Cooked greens with sweet banana porridge

This is an easy recipe that adds more green vegetables to your breakfast.

It also makes a useful meal at other times with different vegetables and sweeteners added.

Chop a cup of mixed greens that do not require extensive cooking to remove any toxins, such as Okinawa Spinach, Malabar Spinach, Leaf Amaranth, Longevity Spinach, Silver Beet and Spinach.

OR 

Cook chopped greens that do require cooking to remove toxins such as Chaya, Cassava leaves, Taro leaves. 

Add to a microwave bowl with a cup of porridge oats (I prefer traditional oats rather than quick oats)  finely sliced banana, milk, and your preferred sweetener if desired. 

Microwave until the oats are cooked, around 3 minutes.  Enjoy.

................................

Experiment cooking greens into polenta and maize flour.

Related:

Growing and eating Malabar Spinach (Ceylon Spinach)

Okinawa Spinach Growing Information

This tasty vegetable grows very easily in the Bellingen Valley. It is a little cold sensitive. Protect from frosts.  Share cuttings with friends.
Green Harvest has plants.


From the Green Harvest catalogue 

© Frances Michaels

BOTANICAL NAME:Gynura crepioides
COMMON NAMES: Okinawa spinach, Hong tsoi, Okinawa lettuce
FAMILY: Asteraceae
ORIGIN: Native to Indonesia

PLANT DESCRIPTION
Okinawa Spinach is a dense, low growing plant to 70 cm high. Easily the most low maintenance perennial leaf vegetable; it is a hardy plant and relatively pest-free. Thriving in warm, wet conditions Okinawa Spinach does best in subtropical and tropical areas; it is sensitive to frost. An attractive plant with shiny leaves that are green on top and purple underneath; the flowers are very small and orange. It grows best in full sun to partial shade. It needs ample water, rich, fertile well-drained soil that is kept mulched and prefers a pH of between 6.1 and 6.5.

USES

• Food: It is a very nutritious vegetable, eaten raw or cooked. The leaves and young shoot tips are steamed, used in stir fry, tempura, stews, and soups. Try not to overcook it as it can become slimy. The leaves have a crisp, nutty taste with a faint hint of pine. In Okinawa the leaves are often fried and served as tempura. It can also be steamed with rice if it is added for the last 7 minutes of cooking time. This leafy green is also known as cholesterol spinach, and there are many claims that it lowers cholesterol. Young leaves have a much better flavour than the older leaves.
• Edible Landscaping: The vivid leaf colour makes this a good choice as a background plant in ornamental beds. Okinawa Spinach can be used in landscaping as a groundcover in full sun (with enough water) or it does well in partial shade. It is very adaptable to container gardening and hanging baskets and will grow inside on a windowsill with good light.

PLANTING DETAILS

• Recommended Planting Time: Cuttings are best taken when the soil temperature is at least 25°C. Rooting the cutting in water before planting will improve results. The plant responds well to pruning, rapidly becoming bushy. Pruning also prolongs its life.
• Planting Depth: Cuttings 10 - 20 cm long should be half buried in potting mix and kept moist.
• Spacing: Space plants at 60 cm apart.

Recipes from The Edible Plant Project :

Okinawa Spinach
Okinawa Spinach with Rice & Mango
Okinawa Spinach & Grits

Bellingen Seed Savers at the 2018 Autumn Plant Fair in Bellingen

Gillian coordinated an excellent stall at the Bellingen Autumn Plant Fair. Members turned up in droves to help our customers choose appropriate seeds and plants and to offer gardening advice. Many of our customers are new to our climatic conditions and welcome tips for gardening in a subtropical/warm temperate climate.

David and Michelle with Sweet Leaf cuttings,.

Seeds packed by our Seed savers, potted plants and cuttings were on sale for a tiny price because our main aim is to spread the cultivation of useful plants within our local area, not to make a profit.

Cuttings and plants of Surinam Spinach, Okinawa Spinach and Longevity Spinach were available.

Longevity Spinach is new to our area and is proving a popular choice as a leafy green vegetable... and of course it is claimed to promote health and longevity.

Our raffle of local produce is always popular.

Locally grown seeds of edible plants

We are happy when gardeners succeed in raising plants from our locally collected seeds and cuttings. We are very satisfied when families can raise their own food. We recognise that healthy, fresh food is often too expensive for many, despite the claims of the larger chain stores.

We aim to educate folk of the the benefits these subtropical and tropical vegetables have for our local gardeners

We had a huge array of locally sourced seeds.

Recipe: Green Vegetable Bake.

The half demolished Bake

I am always looking for recipes that utilise our abundant garden greens. The accompanying picture looks unappetising but the leftovers were refridgerated


 1. Collect your greens and any other vegetables. I prefer to use tomatoes in a salad rather than a bake but I use any of the following in a mix of greens :

• Small chokoes  • pumpkin leaves, • Katuk • Okinawa Spinach, • Ceylon Spinach, spinach • silver beet or beet leaves • Surinam Spinach • Brazil Spinach  •sweet potato leaves  • some chili or capsicum leaves • capsicum • various herbs • spring onions • Moringa leaves and flowers • cooked Chaya Spinach Tree leaves • cooked Warrigal Greens •mustard • rocket • zucchini 

2. Rinse well if required.

3. Fry some garlic and onion in oil (I prefer olive oil but coconut oil also works) .

4. In a 'kitchen whizz' chop a layer of hard vegetables such as pumpkin and carrot with the cooked onion and garlic. Add an egg or two and some cream or a little milk or yoghurt. Season. Also add some tasty cheese or feta cheese.

5. Layer the chopped vegetables in an oiled or buttered oven proof dish.

6.  'Whizz"/chop the green vegetables along with some seasoning,  eggs and a little milk or cream and add as another layer to the ovenproof dish. Keep the amounts of liquids small because the greens generate plenty of liquid. If you like you can just mix everything into one layer.

7. Bake for close to an hour in a moderate oven until dry on top.

8. Optional: Top with cheese (feta, tasty or parmesan) and bake for another 5 minutes.

9. Serve warm or cold with a salad.

See also:

Eat your Pumpkin leaves and links to vegetable recipes using indigenous plants

Spinach/Silverbeet Pie Recipe: Georgie's version of a Stephanie Alexander recipe

Okinawa Spinach

Note: This is a great way to use edible weeds and most greens.

Ingredients to make a pie the size of large pizza tray.

Pastry

2 cups plain flour (wholemeal if you like)

pinch of salt

1meagre cup of water

4 tbsp olive oil

Method:  Sift flour and salt into large bowl. Add water slowly and oil and mix with hands.  Make a good dough mixture that you can knead.  So all water may not be used as that depends on flour.  Knead it in the bowl or tip onto surface and knead for 10 minutes.  Put in bowl, cover (I put my bowl into plastic bag) and put in frig whilst you do the mixture.  

Saturday January 14th soiree with John & Carol in the leafy Fernmount Food Forest

Seedsavers on the upper path in the Fernmount Food Forest

A heavy but short southerly change and shower dropped the temperature from the 40 plus temperatures we had been sheltering from most of the day and made the

Fernmount Food Forest

garden walk much more pleasant.


The Cherimoya and Rollinia (flowering) were of interest as were the flowering and fruiting Carambolas. (Try Sweet and Spicy Carambola Chips)

We gathered for a quick stroll through the food forest then enjoyed a presentation on edible perennials - some surprises there. A Longevity Spinach (Gynura procumbens) cousin of the Okinawan spinach flourishes in the Bellingen climate.

Then we shared a supper till late. Elaine's herbal punch (lemon myrtle and lemon verbena tea base) was popular.

Noticed on the sharing table: tamarillos, Giant Russian garlic, eggplant seedlings, seeds of mustard, celery, bunching shallot and cuttings of Okinawa and Surinam spinach.

Tamarillo

Tamarillo cake (substituting tamarillos for plums in a recipe)

Perennial hot capsicum

Okinawa spinach

Curry Leaf bush

Unripe mangoes, yummy with sugar, salt and maybe a touch of chili.

Gramma Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) does well in this humid climate

Our first soursop fruit. Apparently the leaves are also steeped to make a herbal tea.

Jaboticaba

New Guinea Bean Gourd thrives in the wet weather.

Acerola

Carambola. Some say the leaves are edible as well.

Phyllanthus distichus  Star Gooseberry

Golden Lyre Grevillia

Black Grumichama

Beneath the Mexican Weeping Bamboo arch

Presentation on Edible Perennials

A shared dinner

Rae's coconut cake

Bellingen Plant Fair- Our Bellingen Seed Savers Stall

Bellingen Seed Savers had their usual stall at the Spring Bellingen Plant Fair. It was very successful as usual.

Fi is selling our huge range of locally grown and packaged seeds.

We spreading the word about Okinawa Spinach, how easily it grows and how useful it is.

We even had some large cuttings of Moringa. I haven't yet seen the flowers grow into fruit in our semitropical/warm temperate climate.

If you are local and interested in attending our gatherings use the contact link at the bottom of our home page.

Seedsavers Visit, February 4 2016 to John and Carol's garden in Fernmount

Around 24 people visited John and Carol's garden in Fernmount.

At times they were lost amidst the foliage. Okinawa spinach and Surinam spinach were served with fetta cheese in pastry cases.

They came together for a presentation to Irene and David for their magnificent work for Bellingen Seedsavers and of course everyone enjoyed a 'deadly' morning tea. Thanks everyone.

Our next working bee will be packaging seeds for the Autumn Plant Fair is at 2.00pm, February 13 at 'The Stables" behind Bellingen Ambulance Station.

Garlicky marrow rings- Using zucchinis & carrot top pesto

Says Jack: This is one way to cope with a glut of marrows(overgrown zucchinis/courgettes). Why not try this with cucumbers.

Garlicky marrow rings… that actually taste good!

  See also

Preserving Courgette Gluts For Winter

  from

   

 

See also

Carrot top pesto recipes

From:

Carl Legge Seeking sustainability on the Llyn Peninsula

Says Jack: I suppose any green, which can be eaten uncooked, can be used to make pesto. I will use Okinawa Spinach because I have a glut at the moment.  A little perennial basil (also a glut) will add flavour and I have unshelled macadamia nuts I should use. There is a host of recipes for the use of pesto.