Street Food: Urban foraging and world food

Street Food: Urban foraging and world food by Ceri Buckmaster

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Street Food: Urban foraging and World food

Street Food: Urban foraging and world food by Ceri Buckmaster

 

South Asian Street Food with Ceri Buckmaster

 

South Asian Street Food @ Myatts Fields Harvest Festival with Ceri Buckmaster

 

Lots of things to celebrate from yesterday at Myatts fields harvest festival. The collective spirit of those who hung out with us all afternoon, the amazing salsa, dancing in the nature garden with Mary, Marion … and Hamid! Ramya’s creativity and focus in doing the henna designs, Simon’s fun spirit in doing the nails and the henna also, the rug full of gorgeous children, Zeca’s school mate and f…

amily coming along, soul family Rashda and Hamid’s generous contribution, Ramya’s solid friendship and community spirit, Nikki’s time and peaceful energy, John’s friendship and practical skills, Segen, Mary, Ellen, Mitzi, as ever, friendly faces, willing spirits, Malin and Una, herbs, love and grounded spirits, Fan – a lovely catch up and chat about our commitment to the community and to ourselves as part of that community (Brixton People’s Kitchen next Sunday 12 – 5pm), the food, the abundance, the delicious tomatoes from the greenhouses, pakora, biryani, wonderful contribution of South Asian culture to our contemporary London, Suneil’s bbq corn, Barnaby, Stefan and the bees in London, Tori, Ola and Kasia and all the wonderful people who make Myatts Fields what it is. Katy, Aga, friends, friends, friends.

Chestnut and fig biryani – one pot version

 2 cups basmati rice  3 tbsp oil (or 5 tbsp if you don’t have ghee)  2 tbsp ghee [clarified butter]  1 large red onion,sliced  2 tsp each garlic & ginger, finely chopped  3 finely chopped tomatoes  Chopped fresh coriander, fried brown onions for garnish  2 bay leaves  2-3 fresh green chillies  3 cloves,3 green cardamom pods, 5 black peppercorns, crushed  1 stick cinnamon  1 tsp turmeric powder  1 tsp crushed coriander seeds  1/2 tsp garam masala  1 cup boiled and peeled chestnuts   1/2 cup hazelnuts  3 or 4 figs

1. Soak the rice for at least 15 mins before cooking. 2. Heat the oil for about 2 minutes.Add the ghee to the pan followed by onions. Fry onions until golden brown. 3. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for about 2 minutes. 4. Next tip in the chopped tomatoes, and all the spices. Cook for a few minutes. 6. Next, add the nuts and figs. 7. Add the rice and 1.5 cups of water for each cup of rice. 8. Add salt and cook for 10 minutes. 9. Serve with torn coriander and salad burnet leaves.

Wild herb Pakora

1 cup gram (chick pea) flour 3 tablespoons rice flour (optional) 1 tablespoon of coarsely ground coriander powder (dhania) 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera) 2 chopped green chilies 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves (hara dhania) 1 teaspoon salt adjust to taste 3/4 cup of water (Use water as needed) Burdock root, plantain leaves (finely chopped), nettle leaves Oil to fry

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together: gram, rice flour, coriander powder, and salt. Add the water slowly to make a smooth batter (batter should be consistency of pancake batter or dosa batter) 2. Next, add the wild herbs and roots, green chilies and coriander leaves. Mix well. 3. Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium high heat.(To check if the oil is ready, put one drop of batter in oil. The batter should come up but not change color right away). 4. Add a spoonful of the batter and vegetable mix to the oil. 5. Fry the pakoras in small batches. The pakoras will take about 4 to 5 minutes to cook. 6. Turn them occasionally. Fry the pakoras until both sides are golden-brown.

 

7 herb porridge

 

Invisible food monthly walk 7th May

Saturday 7th May: 11.45am
Invisible food monthly walk. Learn about wild herbs and their uses in a fun and friendly way. We’ll be visiting Ruskin park’s new pond area and finding safe places to forage in the park.

Some of the participants from the Spring training day will be around to continue to develop their plant id and knowledge with you. Come, support them and learn with them.

Start time
11.45am at Loughborough Centre, corner of Barrington Road and Angell Road, SW9 7TP We’ll leave around 12pm.

Bring suitable clothes for an outdoor walk with some overgrown areas. Bring a picnic to eat outside after the walk. Please get in touch for more info. or click here for a map http://projectdirt.com/events/invisible-food-monthly-walk-10

Previous walks:

In April, we collected wild herbs for a spring tonic soup and sang songs from around the world with Shilpa Shah.

In February, we beat the winter blues with a party in Myatts Field, with some food prepared by Invisible Food participants. The end of January and the beginning of February is the time of the Fire Festival of Imbolc, when the earth in the northern hemisphere is awakening from the stillness of Winter.

In November we looked for frost resilient edible plants such as the plentiful chickweed and goosegrass which loves this time of year. Now’s the time to harvest goosgrass while it’s young. We tasted goosegrass seed coffee made with seeds collected in dry July. Back at base we made festive wreaths from evergreen plants and a lavender and rose face cream.

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The aim of Invisible Food is to strengthen social cohesion in disadvantaged areas throughout Lambeth, and specifically in the Coldharbour ward, through engaging with the natural environment. Invisible Food walks and workshops aim to increase opportunities for local residents to contribute their environmental, botanical and culintary knowledge and experience as part of a reskilling process towards a low carbon future.

 

How to create a new page

The About page is for a general description of the project.  You might want to create other pages, maybe to upload photos, or to write a report about the project, or to write other related articles.

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Dashboard / Manage / Pages / Create new page

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For more writing projects

 

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Next SOMA workshop in London – Tuesday 20th JuneSOMA is a series of physical workshops, which are based on principles of self-organisation. It seeks to recover communication skills and encourage solidarity, which are being lost in today’s highly competitive, branded world. Social and psychological well-being are so interlinked that it is possible to both change the way we organize our lives/ activities and maintain our mental and physical health in the process. SOMA is always conducted in groups with an emphasis on the autonomy of the individual within the support of the group.

SOMA is concerned with the politics, not of institutions but of everyday life. Capitalist values of competition, profit, aggression and sacrifice of pleasure contaminate our belief in the possibilities for freedom, equality and peace. With so many blatant and latent repressive forces in society, the search for your own health, pleasure and happiness can be a highly political act.

At the beginning of the 1970s, SOMA was created in Brazil by Roberto Freire as a means of resistance to help people fighting against the military dictatorship. SOMA uses drama games, sound and movement exercises and Capoeira Angola to help salvage spontaneity, playfulness, communication, creativity and awareness of anarchist organization where no one is boss.

Capoeira, like SOMA, was created under a repressive regime. As the African slaves were developing Capoeira to withstand the inhuman conditions they were subject to under the system of slavery in Brazil, they were also freeing their bodies and minds so that demands for freedom could no longer be ignored.

The body is the material to resist and create with in the world. The pleasure of being yourself challenges the body forgotten, develops new skills and turns the capitalist reality upside down.

Introductory Workshop

Tuesday 20th June 2006 (and further dates)

7 pm

Venue: The Square – 21 Russell Sq

Info: 020 7733 6220 or 07722003465 or jorge.goia@bol.com.br