Onion bhajis are a popular and delicious starter in Indian restaurants and common veggie fast food in supermarkets in the UK. They are basically onions in a gram flour batter which are deep fried in oil. Gram flour is made from chick peas. If I could get it, I would prefer to use broad (fava) bean flour which could be grown here in Norway. I have a lot of (bulb) onions left in the cellar, so decided to make some bhajis…..and with my cellar full of sprouting dandelions I decided to mix some dandelions into the batter for a slightly more healthy meal :)
Apium nodiflorum (shoots from my cellar), parsley and dandelions from the cellar
Broad (fava) bean diversity 2018! This was the first harvest at Væres Venner community garden in Trondheim! This is the only (and original) bean for making falafel and hummus! We should be growing large areas of this bean here in Norway for food security and climate friendly vegan food. It annoys me how little self-sufficient Norway is in particular in vegetarian food when it doesn’t need to be that way!
The first harvest at the KVANN vegetable sanctuary garden at Væres Venner was broad beans (bondebønner) from a mixed grex and this was turned into delicious falafels that almost melt in the mouth! The year’s first falafels or hummus is a real highlight of my gardening year…and did you know that the original falafels and hummus were made using broad (fava) beans, sadly replaced by inferior (in my opinion) chick peas….and we can experience this dish fresh even in cold areas where other beans won’t grow!
AND the colour is a natural beautiful green inside….they are often made with some leafy green vegetable added to supply the greeness of the “real” falafel!
NB! Falafel doesn’t have to be ball shaped and deep fried…these are pattie shaped and shallow fried..
Ready to harvest at Være
The first harvest!
Cooked and mixed with onion, garlic, cjhili, cumin (should have been golpar!), coriander, salt and pepper, with a little egg and einkorn flour!
Fava falafel: tastewise, it doesn’t get much better than this!
19th October 2014: Broad beans / bondebønner were harvested today and made into falafel with onions, apple, chilis, garlic and golpar (Heracleum persicum / Tromsøpalme spice) with barley flour…
A hardy perennial bean has been a wish amongst permaculturists for some years, and one of the most interesting species is Phaseolus polystachios. Jonathan Bates of Paradise Lot fame (with Eric Toensmeier) kindly sent me seed last year. The 2-3 plants sadly all died. This year one of my remaining seed germinated and the resultant plant has grown well, kept indoors all summer.. It is now in full flower in the living room, but has been invaded by aphids. Is it self-fertile?
Here are just a few pictures of lupins I’ve grown in my garden (click the pictures for more information)! Lupins have been grown for food since ancient times in the Mediterranean countries (>3000 years) and in the Andes (>6000 years)….. There’s been an upsurge in interest and cultivation of lupins for food in recent years as they can be made into the gluten-free lupini flour, but some people with peanut allergy (peanut is also a legume) are also allergic to these…look carefully at the ingredient list as lupini flour is even used in Norway!
I’ve never tried Lupinus angustifolius which I’ve heard is cultivated for food in Germany (recently developed low alkaloid varieties)!
However, it’s the development of low alkaloid varieties of perennial Lupinus nootkatensis that I most look forward to trying as there are few perennial bean crops!!
Lupinus mutabilis – an annual cultivated in the Andes since ancient times. Read more in Lost Crops of the Incas…my summer is too short and cold for them to mature outside, but I’ve grown a few in my old cold greenhouse… I prefer not to have a greenhouse now and only grow hardy crops, so I won’t be trying again until someone selects a more cold-hardy variety :) They are also sometimes grown as ornamentals and I grew a variety called Sunrise once. Others I’ve tried are K’ayra and var. cruickshankii
Lupinus mutabilis “Sunrise” on my balcony in 2014, flowered well but produced no mature pods..
Lupinus mutabilis “Sunrise” on my balcony in 2014
Lupinus albus – this picture was taken in October 2016 in the Stavanger botanics in an area devoted to pulses (it’s the International Year of Pulses! The seed were almost ripe. I once grew a variety called “Edible Large Seed” sourced from Seed Savers Exchange in the US, but yield was poor (1 bean!!)
Lupinus albus in Stavanger
Lupinus albus in Stavanger
Lupinus luteus has been used as a green manure in Norway; low alkaloid varieties were selected in the past for food
Lupinus nootkatensis is black listed here in Norway (invasive). In Iceland, I’ve heard that some work has been carried out on low alkaloid varieties (I’ve just been in touch with an Icelandic researcher about this). This is very exciting to me as lupins represent probably the best cold hardy perennial bean!! More later!
For the first time this year I have two different Yam beans growing in my office in Trondheim, Ahipa and Jicama (Pachyrhizus ahipa og Pachyrhizus erosus). I’ve grown and eaten Jicama before and here’s an album of pictures about my experiences of this delicious vegetable…worth growing for a little taste each year!
On the left, Ahipa (Pachyrhizus ahipa; Andean yam bean) and Jicama (P. erosus, Yam bean) in my office; September 2016… I hadn’t realised that Ahipa doesn’t climb, hence the stakes on both plants…the yellow things are models of my company, OCEANOR’s marine environmental monitoring buoys that I tested in a wave tank back in the 80s!
Reaching for the lights..
The first time I grew Jicama was in 2008. The yield wasn’t fantastic, but enough to try, here with tomatillos
Peeled Jicamas
Quinoa boiled and then stir-fried with chili, tomatoes and onion.
Home grown Norwegian tomatillos ready to cook ;)
Cooked tomatillos with other salsa ingredients!
The final dinner, grated Jicama with lemon bottom left was one of the tastiest vegetables I’ve eaten, salsa (bottom right) and quinoa (top)
My daughter painted a Jicama tuber… I’ve always liked this :)
September 2014 and I was visiting a friend in Woodstock, Vermont and we found Jicamas in the local food coop!
Jicama and chilis
This Woodstock edimental jicama salad was delicious (with foraged greens and flowers)
In July 2011, I noticed that a beautiful black-flowered broad/fava bean had appeared amongst my Crimson-flowered broad beans (a UK heritage variety that I’ve grown for some years)!
In July 2016, another black-flowered bean appeared (the bottom picture below)
Originally introduced by Alan Kapuler of Peace Seeds, who gave them to me during my visit last September and sowed in my garden today! This a large-seeded tall variety originating in Guatemala ! The bright yellow seeds are reputed to contain elevated levels of dopamine, and may have benefits for those at risk for Alzheimer’s disease….
