cat versus pig

This is more on the vegie patch. Here’s a look at the Chinese vegies we have growing in the garden...



Choysum is a common Chinese vegie. I think of it as a bit of a staple veg because it’s easy to find and quite versatile in use. It looks a little bit like bok choy, but has a greenish stalk while bok choy has a white stalk. Choysum and bok choy are both common vegies, but I don’t think they are all that good for you – high water content, no great nutritional value. They do turn up quite a bit though; go to any ‘roasting house’ and you’ll get a little bit of choy sum or bok choy with your ‘roast duck noodle soup’ or ‘bbq pork rice’.



If you've ever had 'Such and such with salted vegetable' at a Chinese restaurant, then you've most likely eaten this. Kai choy can be eaten fresh – Piggy makes a soup of it with a dried scallop base – or preserved to make salted vegie (or haam choy, lit. salty vegie). You can buy cans or sealed packets of salted vegie from your local Chinese shop for cooking with.



Tong ho is another vegie good in soup, very popular for steamboat. It’s generally eaten quite ‘raw’ and only needs about ½ minute (or less) in boiling soup as it is pretty much all leaf.
I find tong ho has a faint bitter taste, which is perhaps why I think of it as one of the more Asian vegies. Asian vegies to me are vegies which are good for you and taste good for you, but don’t necessarily taste good. I remember being told tall tales when I was younger to try to get me to eat my Asian vegies – “It’ll make your hair long and shiny”, “It’ll make your hair curly”, etc. Rubbish!



Watercress (sae yong choy, 西洋菜) is really lovely in soup; actually I’ve never had it any other way. I especially like it with meehoonkueh (I’ll leave this a mystery for now because I’m planning on doing a post on it in the near future).



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This is a bit of a photo post to show what's been growing in Mama Cat's garden.



These chilies burn your mouth, throat, esophagus, stomach, large intestine, small intestine… you get my drift. Blardy hot! The little round chilies above are also hot, but more like Jewel's vindaloo (a slow burning heat) rather than an instantaneous fire explosion!



Curry leaves are pretty easy to grow and fresh leaves are always handy when you’re making a curry. Piggy’s mum also uses some in her gam heong gai (golden fragrant chicken). You could always grow a small curry plant in a pot if you don’t have the space for something big.



Chives, spring onions and shallots are handy to have and easy to grow. Also essential for Asian cooking!



I might have the wrong pea variety here, I’m not sure. Peas are soooo pretty!! And something I’ve been introduced to recently is using the shoots in steamboat – you have to pick them pretty young though, otherwise it becomes tough and chewy.



If you’re anything like Mama Cat, then you won’t be able to resist digging every few days to see how the taters are comng along. THIS IS VERY BAD!!! Try to resist giving into temptation and leave those tater tots alone to grow. We got these potatoes by burying some bought ones that had gone off.



Papaya (or pawpaw) can grow in drier climes and here is proof. It does end up tasting a little different to the papaya you might be used to though – still sweet, but not as ‘nectar-ey’ sweet as tropically-grown papayas.



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