Root Curry Recipe and Papaya Trees

Our big Yucca tree and the giant snake plant in the kitchen sink, getting deep feedings and a good drink of water.

The past week has brought some Big Snow this way. We’re buried under about 12 inches, which is an impressive amount for Southern New England.

Since it was a stay-at-home weekend with nothing to do but shovel snow, I got into the kitchen and invented a new vegan recipe. We have a good stock of root veggies, and a spicy curry is always great on a cold day, so I chopped turnip, onion, garlic, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, and pumpkin, sautéed it in coconut oil, then simmered it for about an hour in coconut milk, diced tomatoes, fresh ginger, scallion, and hot Indian curry. We made a pot of red quinoa to go with it. It was an amazing meal. It filled our tummies and warmed us up before we went outside to move snow around.

Here’s the recipe:

1 large turnip, peeled and chopped

12 large onion, peeled and chopped finely

6 cloves garlic, minced

6 carrots, peeled and sliced

6 white potatoes, peeled and chopped

I head cauliflower, washed and chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 small pumpkin, washed, peeled, and chopped

½ cup coconut oil

1 cup coconut milk

1 large can diced tomatoes

3 stalks scallions, washed and chopped finely

1 large piece of ginger root, peeled and minced

Indian curry spice

Red quinoa

Saute all the raw veggies in the coconut oil for 5 minutes. Add coconut milk, tomatoes, scallions, ginger, and curry spices, bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, cover partly, and cook for 45 minutes to an hour. Season with sea or Himalayan salt as needed. Serve with the cooked red quinoa.

I also kept a pot of homemade chai going all day Sunday. I buy the ground masala spice from a local Indian grocer. This tea was a combination of Tulsi (Holy Basil) tea, black tea, and a lot of masala. It was super spicy and dark. Some hemp milk softened it a little.

I also opened a ripe papaya and ate it, then took the seeds, washed them and removed the husks, then placed them in the fridge to stratify for three weeks. In early March, I’ll remove them, pot them up, and place them under the growl lights to germinate. If they decide to grow, I’ll raise a few in the house and bring a few outside for summer.

I’ve finally learned that fruit trees don’t like going from indoors to out or from outdoors to in. If you’re lucky and live in a tropical climate, then the fruit trees should be outdoors all year. If you live in New England, and want fruit trees in your life, the best bet is to cultivate them indoors in a sunny window and keep them there.

My favorite hang out, Moon Dog Café in Vermont, has a storefront of ceiling-to-floor glass, and behind the glass all year round is a variety of fruit trees that are thriving. The micro environment that the south-facing glass creates is warm and bright all year long.

Our banana trees are doing well. It looks like they may survive just fine until summer, when the cold-hardy basjoos go outside permanently, and the Thailand Black Stems are placed in one large pot in the house where they’ll get as much sun as possible.

Finally, I gave the Yucca tree and the giant snake plant deep feedings and water. The Yucca also got a pruning.

I spent the rest of the weekend looking at photos of gardens on Instagram and Pinterest and drooling. It was a pitiful sight. The good news: only 35 days until spring.

Live in peace.