Tonight I made a coconut curry veggie dinner using what we had. I used malanga instead of potatoes, carrot and butternut squash, leeks including the white and dark green, an onion and extra garlic, fresh ginger chopped fine, madras curry, Chinese cabbage, a green and red sweet pepper, unsweetened coconut cream, craysins, a little salt and chick peas served over brown rice. I had a little left over chicken which I cut into bite size pieces and added for the last 12 minutes but meat is not needed because chick peas and brown rice are a complete protein. This recipe is good for you and inexpensive as most of the ingredients are in my garden, besides, I love madras curry and coconut. These are not necessarily the veggies the recipe calls for, you can use what you grow, or whatever is on sale, it’s all good. The craysins I used are an import, we do not grow cranberries in Costa Rica. Thanks Mr. Food for this inspired recipe. Fast to prepare and cook in about 30 minutes, one pot plus the rice, and delish!!! The photo is the original recipe from my old Mr. Food magazine.

I have not written about cooking lately, but I am always trying to create recipes using indigenous veggies. Sometimes I must ask my workers, what is it and what do I do with it. Sometimes the situation is reversed and they are asking me how do we prepare the leaves of that tree? Yup, we eat tree leaves and they are good. Chayamansa is one medicinal plant whose leaves we really like.