Beauteous carrots at the Erntezeit project. Even a lifelong carrot hater like me was seduced by these.

Here, in the community of Schaferhof, is a startlingly successful kitchen garden project called Erntezeit run by Jule and Henry Vickery. Translated from German to English, it means harvest time. Started in April 2010 by the energetic couple, the project already has 130 members and a waiting list of about 100. Each member has a 50 sq metre plot, where he/she/they can grow vegetables. In this part of Europe, namely northern Germany, the growing season is from the beginning of May to the end of October. The cost of renting a plot is a very reasonable 160 Euro for six months. (That would be about 10,400 Indian rupees.) The members are of all kinds: middle class folk from nearby, millionaires, artists, photographers, schools, gay couples, couples with specially-abled children who come for the peace and quiet.

The organic way

The gardening, or farming if you will, is entirely organic. The couple insist that members buy ‘old’ seeds from a company called Dreschflegel, which sells good quality, preserved (obtained from plants) seeds as against the genetically modified, high-yielding varieties that are often used in commercial farming. The seeds are planted with the help of simple hand-pushed machines, the technology that was used a hundred-odd years ago. No chemical fertilisers are allowed, and in the first two years, not even natural fertilisers were used. There is no irrigation, in fact, Jule and Henry ask members not to water their crops either. The couple feel natural rainfall is enough to sustain the plants, and moreover, that this will make the plants strike deep roots in search of water. This, naturally, will make them hardy in the long run. The soil here is of a sandy, loose variety, not fabulously fertile. Yet, each plot yielded, in Jule’s estimate, an average of 320 Euros’ worth of produce. The garden plots are not very demanding in terms of time. A couple of hours of weeding a month is about all the tender loving care it needs.

Carrots and curly kale

The vegetables grown are universal household staples like carrots, potatoes (a German obsession), radishes, pumpkins, and European specialities like mangold, curly kale, parsnips, lettuce and herbs like fennel and dill. I had the privilege of tasting some freshly dug-up carrots and lettuce at the garden. I have never enjoyed carrots; growing up, I detested them. And truth be told, apart from the fine dirt dressing that I was unable to shake off, these carrots tasted no different from the supermarket variety I have been eating in my stay in Hamburg so far. I have said this before as well, in another post here (http://goodfoodgood.com/blog/713/this-thing-called-organic-2), that organic food has left no special taste in my mouth in comparison with the regular stuff. It was no different here, yet there was something perhaps about digging up the carrots with a pitchfork, or the wind in my hair, or the geese in the distance that made me warm to the carrot. I wanted to come back, I wanted to do this again.

I am no convert to the organic school though. Jule tells me that the yield might have been twice the amount if commercial varieties of seeds had been used with the standard fertilisers, so this is more expensive. Still, I want to give this a try. There’s something special about the carrots you bring to life yourself. When I go back home to India, I will find out about the nearest kitchen gardening project. And if there isn’t any, I think I’ll  look around to see if one can be started.

The English name for the flower is nasturtium blossom (Tropaeolum majus). Kapuziner is what they call it in Germany.  The good things in this flower, that it has antioxidants activity, anthocyanin, which also available in blueberries and red cabbage. These antioxidants help you neutralise the bad effects of free radicals from the pollution, chemicals, and smoke. They also protect us from cardiovascular disease and cancer.

I was thinking of making a recipe with this flower. My friend suggested that I make some salad with it. But I wanted to do something more, something in an Indonesian way. We have Indonesian salad called Gado-Gado. Most salads taste sour, but the Gado-Gado has nutty, sweet, and spicy taste. Indonesia has different types of Gado-Gado based on the city of origin. There are Gado-Gado Solo, Gado-Gado Surabaya, Gado-Gado Jakarta, and Gado-Gado Padang. Basically, Gado-Gado is a mix of vegetables, with fried tempeh and Indonesian tofu, and served with spicy peanut sauce and some sweet soy sauce.

Indonesian Gado-Gado

What I’ve done to this kapuziner flower was make it into a part of my Gado-Gado. I bought Indonesian Gado-Gado sauce in Indonesian market here. It’s ready to use, you only need to add hot water to it. So, let’s break the recipe down here!

What you need for the super simple Gado-Gado (serving : 1 person)

3 small potatoes

2 carrots

Mangold (you can substitute with spinach or water squash)

1 boiled egg

5 Kapuziner flowers

2 tbs ready to use Gado-Gado Sauce (you can find them in Asian Store)

Indonesian Bumbu Gado-Gado

Method:

1. Boil the potatoes for 20 minutes, make sure they cooked well. This will take the longest time compared to the other ingredients.
2. Boil the carrots for five minutes. I like when it’s crunchy, so I didn’t cook it for long time. It depends on your taste.
3. For the mangold, I would suggest that you blanch them, and not boil the leaves. That way, you will retain its freshness and it looks nice,bright and green on your plate.
4. Chop all the ingredients into smaller size, it’s okay with not so fine chopping.
5. For the sauce, we just need hot water, maybe about 4 tablespoon of water for 2 tablespoon of the peanut sauce (as you seen on the picture). You can add more or less. Then, mix it until you get the right consistency. Last, sprinkle chopped Kapuziner on the sauce.
6. For the dish to look good, separate the sauce with the vegetables. Only mix them when you want to eat it.
7. For me personally, I will blend the peanut sauce with some chillies and put some sweet soy sauce on it. Because I love the combination of sweet and spicy.
8. Done and done

My Super Simple Gado-Gado with Kapuziner

Yay! Wherever you are, now you can try Gado Gado. Enjoy guys!

Sources:

http://www.herbsarespecial.com.au/isabells_blog/isabells-articles/delicious-salads.html

http://factoidz.com/edible-flowersnasturtium-or-indian-cress-culinary-uses-and-nutrition/

http://www.herbalgardens.com/archives/articles-archive/nasturtiums.html

(gado-gado picture)