Mum lives in a house with a small garden, and a few years ago, I decided to use the space to try to ‘preserve’ some edible plants. I’d noticed fewer and fewer of my familiar childhood plants, in favour of ixora of all colours with no nectar – sterile hybrids developed by scientists.
So when I found someone with bunga telang, I asked for a plant, and grew it on the fence. Bunga telang is the blue flower that cooks use to colour their kuey. Then there was leftover serai, or lemongrass, after cooking, which went into the ground and did quite well – well enough to invite the neighbour, who makes great rending, to come over and help herself whenever she wants. Ditto with leftover tumeric.
The guidelines are simple – don’t pay for plants wherever possible, and don’t pay for pots or fertiliser whenever possible, either.
So far so good. Lots of plants have come my way for free. Ditto with pots, as long as you’re not too fussy about how pristine they look. People have moved, and had to give away their plants. That’s how I got my limau purut (kaffir lime) plant. In fact, I even got a second one when another friend moved, and passed this on to my sister-in-law.
At the garden fest in 2008, they were giving away Indian borage, which grows very easily. That went into a pot. Some sugar cane growing wild that I spotted on a walk has been doing well in a corner. Too well, actually, since I don’t actually eat the stuff, and when they grow, the canes are leaning against the fence and threaten to bring it down. Thankfully, we’ve found someone who likes it.
Other stuff includes curry leaf, pandan, and dill, which grows so easily from cuttings anyone will give you some. Very nice with tuna sandwiches and fish dishes, too. And a belimbing plant, courtesy of an aunt with a proper tree. This might give fruit when it grows up in a few years.
Bizarrely enough, some friends once gave me a grape vine. It has given lots of leaves, which I have never tried to turn into dolmades (one day, I swear I will!), but this year, it finally squeezed out a bunch of 5 grapes, which something ate before I plucked them. Another lot of 3 grapes has disappeared, but I hold hopes for a third bunch of 4 whole grapes. I think I should just use the leaves for dolmades.
One of my happiest finds was when I visited an aunt who was about to move, and found bunga kantan. Also called torch ginger, the bud is used in rojak, but I prefer it in a prawn dish. The plant is huge, but I don’t mind, since it gives me the occasional bud, reminding me to start cooking. Those without the plant, don’t despair – its available in Geylang Serai market, at about 50 cents each.
Here is the recipe:
1 torch ginger bud, sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic
3 onions, chopped
Assam (tamarind) juice
2 limau purut leaves thinly sliced
1 stick serai
1 red chilli, chopped
Prawns, peeled
Salt and pepper to taste
Fry the onions, garlic, lemongrass, limau purut, torch ginger bud and chilli. Add assam water,simmer a while, then add prawns. Add salt and pepper.
