Cooking Wild Green Seeds With Tempeh And Eggplant

Nature has provided various sources of food and wild edible plants are a costly boon to life.

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People say it's easier to live in a village with a natural feel close to plantations. People living in villages can easily obtain fresh natural food sources, even for free. Fertile soil for growing various types of vegetables and fruit. Also, minimal air pollution compared to the city.

It's just that, all aspects of life have their own negative sides when related to other aspects. For example, from the aspect of modernity, living in a village can be very boring and annoying for city people who are used to accessing technology and entertainment centers in modern markets.

I am grateful to be able to return to the village after working for several years in the capital in the past. Born in a village, but works in a big city. It makes me have a lot of comparisons and choices to make. In the end, I chose to live in the village, but still occasionally visit the city.

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As a vegetable lover, I prefer to harvest vegetables and fruit directly from plantations compared to buying them at the market. It makes me very happy to be able to live in the middle of a village surrounded by lots of food resources, especially from wild vegetables.

So, this time I will share with you about wild green seeds which local people call PETAI CHINA/CHINESE PETAI. I've looked for several references on the internet for the name of this type of wild seed but I didn't find one that was simple to mention. So, I hope you can add in the comments column if you know about this type of wild seeds.

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HARVESTING WILD GREEN SEEDS

Several days a week my husband and I walk in the morning around the vegetable farm and rice fields. Also, I visited a simple garden that I bought a year ago.

This morning I stopped by my garden and I was interested in the CHINESE PETAI. which can be harvested. Luckily, the plants still had short tree trunks so I could easily harvest them without any special equipment.

CHINESE PETAI trees can easily be found along the roads in agricultural areas and rice fields on the edge of our village. For large CHINESE PETAI trees, they can be a shelter for farmers to rest.

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I excitedly harvested the CHINESE PETAI. Seeds that are ready to be harvested will be visible from the outside of the pods because the pods are somewhat transparent. I took just enough to cook for lunch and left the rest on the tree. Usually, my other family will also come to the garden and take various vegetables that are available at that time. Fun isn't it? Can share food sources from the garden even though there are not many.

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This is my harvest in the morning and I will mix tempeh and eggplant, to serve as a lunch meal. So, stay tuned for the recipe!

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USING CHILI OIL

For me, the best way to cook CHINESE PETAI is by stir-frying with chili oil. So, I chopped quite a lot of red chilies and then cooked them with garlic and red onions using olive oil to create the best taste in my version. Use a little more oil but not enough. So, I suggest using olive oil if you want a healthy dish.

The oil used is around 5 tablespoons of olive oil and you won't need to use water. Tempeh will absorb the oil and make the taste of tempeh and green seeds more delicious.

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THE INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of wild green seeds
• enough chilies (I used 5 red chilies)
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 5 small cloves of red onion, chopped
• 1 pack of tempeh, diced
• a small eggplant, cut into pieces and soaked in salt water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• (optional) 3 dried or fresh bay leaves

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COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

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REMOVING GREEN SEEDS FROM PODS

Make sure the eggplant pieces have been soaked in a bowl filled with salt water, where they are soaked for at least 15 minutes. Then, move on to removing green seeds from pods.

The method is to cut off a small portion of the tip of the pod, then take it apart and slowly open the pod skin. Pull it back so we can see the green seeds inside the pods.

From the harvest in the morning, it turned out that I managed to collect one cup of green seeds. So grateful about that.

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MAKING CHILI OIL

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We need to preheat oil and stir-fry garlic, red onion, and bay leaves first. Stir-fry for a while then add red chillies.

Add salt and keep stirring them until the chili pieces look perfectly caramelized. But you have to pay attention so that the garlic and red onion don't burn.

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STIR-FRYING

Then, add tempeh and let the seasoning completely absorb into the tempeh while continuing to stir. Don't leave them out because they are oil-free and can easily burn at the bottom of the ingredients.

The last way, add green seeds and eggplants. Continue stirring until the texture of the eggplants is cooked. Meanwhile, we don't need to worry about green seeds because they can even be eaten raw. :)

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SERVING

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For this afternoon's presentation, I used rice as the perfect pair for these stir-fried green beans with tempeh and eggplant. Before serving, I added seaweed flakes and chili flakes.

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By the way, I often cook a combination of these wild green beans. They were part of my happy childhood. In the past, my late mom always took me to the agricultural fields to harvest wild green seeds and other types of vegetables.

So, have you ever seen wild green seeds with similar trees in your area? Well, whatever type of wild green veggies you can enjoy is a great blessing to be grateful for.

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❤️❤️❤️ See you, Veggie Lovers!

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Thank you for reading my blog and reblog if you want my blog this time worthy of reading by others.

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Best Regards,
Anggrek Lestari

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