Ways to use them up

We love the Spring and Summer seasons just because we could plant so many wonderful veges and and flowers.

And like I’ve said before, the produce this time around is quite a lot.

Even after giving loads of them away, they keep on producing everyday!

Hari2 kena petik kacang panjang and tomatoes sampai dah tak larat nak makan.

And every few days kena petik terung and cucumbers and chillies.

The Other Half punya pasal lah ni. Dia yang beria2 nak tanam berlambak2 pokok kacang panjang sebab dia kata cantik melilit2 kat trellis tu!

I don’t think that’s a good reason to plant 10 pokok kacang panjang!

I’ve used them in asian dishes, in western dishes, in asian and western style salads.

Memang kiranya kalau tak guna kacang panjang or tomatoes in one day tak sah lah!

Nasib baik orang2 kat rumah ni gemar makan sayur so everytime I serve kacang panjang to them, they didn’t complain.

Even then, still masih banyak berlebih2.

The chiller compartment in the fridge dah penuh dengan kacang panjang and tomatoes and terung and cucumbers, hehehe.

So, I had to do this.

Freeze or dry them!

Kacang panjang ni I potong kecik2 and put them in ziplock bags and suck as much air out as possible and freeze them.

I don’t think they’ll still be crunchy in 6 months time but hopefully they’ll still be edible and I can use them in dalca, in stir fry, in nasi goreng or just steam them.

So, nanti masa Winter when we all teringin sangat2 nak makan kacang panjang, tak lah kempunan kan. Because dah ada stock frozen kacang panjang in the freezer .

And this was what I did to some of the grapes.

I left them in the sun for 6 days to dry into raisins.

Luckily masa I was drying them, Perth was so so hot reaching 44C on the one day tu so sempatlah the grapes dried up

We’ve been eating them everyday. Some are nice, some are still very sour because some of the grapes were still unripe when I dried them tu yg sour.

And the same goes with the tomatoes.

This batch I oven dried first and then sun dried it. Tu yg kering sekering2nya, hehehehe.

The second batch pulak, I completely oven dried but this time I added rosemary, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper to it.

So, they are a bit more flavoursome.

Ini rupa after a few hours of oven drying. My homemade semi-dried tomatoes.

Lepas tu, I put everything in a clean jar and fill it up with olive oil and simpan dalam fridge for future use.

And the eggplants pun I roasted them in olive oil untilt hey are soft and freeze them.

And pagi tadi, gadget yang I order dah sampai.

It’s a food dehydrator.

You basically lay your thinly slice fruit or veges on the rack and turn on the powerand set the temperature and it’ll dry the food slowly.

Maybe after this I can dry the veges and fruits much better lah kan.

Boleh lah I buat pisang salai, apple salai, pear salai, mangga salai, daging salai….

Hahahahahahaha…..