Author: Sagar
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Banana Stem Salad
Like the fruit, even the inner stem of the Banana plant (which is technically actually a flower stalk!) is nutritionally rich. Particularly in terms of fibre, and micronutrients such as Potassium – which helps muscle function, nerve impulses, maintenance of fluid balance and blood pressure within the body, and vitamin B6 – which helps the…
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Vegan Tabbouleh salad
Tabbouleh is a Mediterranean salad with finely chopped veggies and bulgur. Well, we localize it! Millets are cooked in different ways, but the easiest is to toast it first, and boil it in twice the amount of water. Our recipe for the tabbouleh is best with Thinai or Foxtail millet, but Varagu or kodo millet…
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Mudakathan Keerai / Balloon Vine leaves
Cardiospermum halicacabum The Mudakathan is a locally growing weed that’s well known in traditional Tamil cuisine. It is a perennial climbing vine with feathery edible leaves and small light green balloon-like seed pods. When popped open, the pod contains an adorable seed imprinted with a tiny white love-heart, hence the name cardiospermum or commonly also…
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Hibiscus Juice
As I wandered around Auroville, I saw large quantities of Hibiscus flowers growing outside many houses, but when I asked people, “are you making juice with them?” I learned that they weren’t. And it was obvious too, because the Hibiscus flowers were all still on the plant! Hibiscus juice is so tasty though! Put the…
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Foxtail Millet Adhirasam dessert
A traditional Deepavali sweet. This traditional sweet that would make its way joyously from hand to hand and from household to household on the festival of Deepavali was originally made from Thinai (Foxtail Millet) flour.As millets were grown on a small scale, in villages throughout Tamil Nadu, foxtail millet was a staple and readily available…
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Banana Flower
The Banana is actually a kind of grass! And it exemplifies one of the very interesting characteristics of local food, which is that diverse parts of the plant can be used. Apart from the Banana fruit, the Banana stem and the Banana leaves, there is also the Banana flower which is used in various cuisines…
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Garlic & Thippili Spiced Soup
Poondu Thippili Rasam Traditional Tamil cuisine comprises numerous recipes that are as medicinal as they are flavourful. Medicine and food were not considered to be two distinctly separate aspects of living, in the manner in which it is often regarded in the modern era. Food was seen as that which nourishes the body, mind and…
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Drumstick Flower Sambar
The magnificent nutritional value of Moringa, or Drumstick leaves is quite well known, and they are still widely used in the cuisine of South India, but the flowers on the other hand have been somewhat forgotten. Drumstick flowers essentially work as a boost for the male reproductive system; helping alleviate conditions such as oligospermia, infertility…
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Kuthu song
Music, like food, is an essential part of life. Music has always been integral to the emerging Permaculture at Solitude Farm. Krishna’s band EMERGENCE is as much a fruit of the work as are the sweet papayas! In this video, we share with you a day at the farm; harvesting, cooking, eating, dancing, and celebrating.
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Agathi Keerai
Sesbania grandiflora / West Indian pea, Jayanti Agathi keerai is the Tamil name for this plant, also known as the Hummingbird tree or Flamingo Bill because of the characteristic shape of its flowers. It is a fast growing tree which thrives in plenty of sunlight. In Asia, this tree’s leaves are used in cooking, and…