coconut fun

i will let it remain in mystery of how we opened it for now.... bring me a coconut and i will show you how!

Dal and Cabbage Curry

Meanwhile, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, Mana and Pop cooked Max and Zoë's recipes for dal and cabbage curry. They were delicious. I'm pretty sure they followed the official Indian instructions almost to the letter. Pop made the dal (I think he said he used a slightly different kind of dal?), and Mana made the cabbage, using a bit less coconut than Zoë specified. She wondered if it would come out differently because she wasn't using fresh coconut right from the shell. Here are several pictures of Isaac enjoying our meal:

meat ethics in india

it is common belief that cows are not consumed in india. i arrived in this country thinking that but found out otherwise. we had a discussion with a local about meat consumption in india. in the cast system brahmans are the only ones required to be vegetarian. it is quite common that the poor consume meat.

back in the day when it was illegal to eat cows the poor farmers or peasants would pay off the police men to eat beef in peace. considering the farmers'/peasants' situations it is quite ethical to consume the cow in a country with such high malnutrition.

also back in the day, at birth often the female calves were killed or consumed at a very young age. the bulls were valued a lot for their ability to do work in the field. now it has become the opposite, the bulls are needed less because of cheap fossil fuels and the females are valued because of the high milk demand. i believe you would find a similar pattern in the united states.

i have yet to see beef on the menu, but you never know. as we venture further north i think we will see more meat on the menu. alexis, a fellow traveler, told us about going to remote villages and the families making her a meal of chicken broth or sauce and these black balls. she was informed by the villagers these black balls were almost completely fiber and were to be soaked in the chicken sauce. she said you couldn't chew them because they would immediately fuse to your teeth.

considering the village was probably half starving she said she could not turn the meal away without being offensive. furthermore, she had to finish the meal as to not be rude and recognize the importance and value of food to those people.

i expect we may run across this situation. despite being vegetarian, i am prepared to eat whatever is offered as long as it's cooked well. i really cannot imagine doing anything else. it is difficult playing with food ethics on such a large scale.

i had a discussion about vegetarianism and ethics with a local man. he had quite a global view, the line he said that has stuck with me the most is: "how can you argue about fertilized and non-fertilized eggs when so many people are hungry? the majority of people eat what they can."

it was a difficult discussion and made my gut turn. it was a shot directly to the heart of my food ethics. he made veganism, the diet i consider most ethical, seem wrong. the fact is that vegans cannot eat entirely local, at least not in maine, without becoming deficient in something. he is right, choice is luxury, but his view was so completely global, a dog-eat-dog view.

i consider local the best and most responsible when teamed up with veganism. obviously these two cannot work together completely, but my buddhist perspective kicks in that i am not greater than a cow, and feel nothing different from a cow or any other creature.

i did not mention it to him, but he did talk about how i could either treat local animals really badly by eating them or treat some humans really badly exploiting them overseas for some stupid exotic fruit.

the day the dog killed the monkey i tried to explain to one of the people involved in the incident (10-year-old Milan) the monkey probably had a heart attack. he looked at me, confused, and said, "monkey has a heart?" india in general seems a bit more distant from animals, especially in dog treatment, compared to the states.

as for conclusion about my current food ethics since that chat, i still prefer vegan/local with some mindful cheating, and for now vegetarianism while i travel. what makes me feel awful about it is i know i am picking the lesser of the two evils, neither is really that close to perfect or fossil fuel-free. it would take the commitment of really going back to the land and networking within a few miles to get relatively close.

kitchen equipment

I thought you might appreciate a bit of a description of the kitchen at the farm, so that you have an idea of what we were working with when we made all these recipes! Max said: "At first I was afraid of it, but then I realized it's the most awesome kitchen ever." This sums it up pretty well. It's basic, but it has everything you need to make delicious food -- in many ways, it's more well-stocked than my kitchen at home.

The highlight of the kitchen is definitely the grinder. It came with the house (they had to pay a couple thousand rupees extra) and Max estimates that it weighs about 500 lbs. That may be a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea. Here I am (a little blurry) grinding masala paste:



The stove in the kitchen is simply an open fire with three holes on top for heavy metal pans. Max making pancakes over the fire:



Health risks aside, it is a very effective stove, and pleasantly warm in the morning when we manage to get up at six or seven to help make breakfast.

Vegetables are kept in a corner that's shady throughout the day. See the coconuts in the back?



Bananas hang from the ceiling.



Water is kept in this large silver container.



Curry leaves are kept on top of the water container. When I asked what they were, no one knew the name in English. Ranjana told me, "You find these leaves in all Indian cooking, I think." For a while I couldn't figure it out, and I thought maybe they were something I'd never heard of before. Then I figured it out: curry leaves! Of course! They have a nice smell and nice mild (but distinct) flavor. Y'all can get them at the Indian market in South Portland.

Various spices, sugars, and condiments.



Plates, cups, bowls, and minimal silverware (i.e. three spoons) -- all made of metal.



Various covered pots and pans full of leftovers sit here throughout the day. Most are eaten with meals or as snacks. The rest go to Gunda, the neighbor's dog.



I really appreciate this kitchen and had lots of fun here cooking with Ranjana and Max. Also, my ability to grind masala improved significantly, and hopefully the strength of my left arm as well! I'll miss the farm kitchen for sure.

Bimboli pickle

Before we left Sangatya Farm, I had the really fun opportunity to participate in the making of bimboli pickle. Bimboli is a small, green, extremely sour and bitter fruit that has the consistency of apple and is white inside. It's in season now, so on the farm it's all we eat for pickle -- and we eat pickle with lunch and dinner every day. The first time I had bimboli pickle, I didn't like it at all, finding it much too strong. Now I can't believe that. Something sour really, really adds to the overall experience of this food, and now I savor every bite of bimboli pickle.





The bimboli experience starts with this tree. Unfortunately I failed to get a photo of it before or during the harvest. Harvesting bimboli consisted of watching Milan climb WAY up this tree, picking bimboli clusters as he went and tossing them down to me. I caught most in a big striped bag. The rest I collected from the ground. It was incredible watching this little boy scurry up this tree so easily and pick the bimboli.





Next, I washed and chopped the fruit. It took over two hours in all, and I only did maybe two-thirds of it (Svetlana and Max helped.) I put the bimboli in jars.







All the jars of bimboli:



Next, Ranjana added salt and let the pickle sit overnight. It reduces in size considerably and you can consolidate the bimboli.



Then Ranjana made the masala. I did get to watch her do this, and I wrote down the recipe, but now I don't have it with me and I don't remember it exactly. I will, however, do my best. First, you toast, dry, 3 tbsp each whole cumin and whole fenugreek seeds in a frying pan. After they are brown, remove from heat and grind to a fine powder. Heat about 4 tbsp oil in a frying pan, and add mustard seeds. When they begin to pop, add the spices you just ground as well as three tsp chili powder. Wait for the mixture to cool (at least an hour.)

Finished bimboli pickle. Notice the jar's already half-empty. Bimboli is yummy.



I have enjoyed making pickle in the past, but once I go home, I will definitely expand my repertoire! Pickle goes so well with everything, even just curry and rice. That sour flavor adds something really essential to a meal, I think. (Same is true for sauerkraut. It makes a sandwich about 100% better.) Ranjana recommended that I substitute green chilis slit in half. But she said that chili pickle should be made with about twice as much oil. Other ideas: garlic, onion?

ranjana

ranjana is the chef who we have been learning from. she has been very kind in taking the time to explain to us how she makes each dish. she is from east india but does not stick to a specific cooking style of any region in india.

we think she considers us as really goofy people writing down all the recipes that she knows from memory. we don't mind, it is completely worth it. a lot of the recipes and spice mixes she makes up on the spot, and usually we are there to write it down.

she is a really great person, she is sort of the glue of this community and her work seems to be done in the background. she cooks pretty much all the meals with the aid of us and shree kumar. she also does gardening, farm work, and in the afternoon during resting time she is often spinning cotton.

although many of us work out in the field under the blazing sun we would not be there without ranjana feeding us so well. i come across a guilt feeling quite often because she is usually out in the field with us. the amount of work she does is absolutely incredible.

Making coffee

We have made coffee three times so far. The first time we used the coffee we found on the farm, which came out a bit strange and definitely too weak. However, no one on the farm could drink it because they found it so unbelievably strong! And unsweetened, even though we put plenty of maple syrup in.

We set up our shiny red filter-holder:





What could improve such terrible coffee?



Maple syrup, clearly.



The set-up (note the lumpy milk):