Herbs from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Herbs harvested from the BBG Herb Garden: Thai basil, fennel, hyssop, lemon thyme, different chiles, bay leaves and Cuban oregano. Outside the bowl: eggplant, okra, Malabar spinach leaves (alugbati to Filipinos) and Asian pears.
On Sunday, August 15, 2010, Purple Yam will be at the BBG to give out some Filipino home cooking using herbs harvested from the BBG Herb Garden. Thanks to Herb Curator, Caleb Leech, we were able to go this Friday and get these precious flavor agents that nature gives us so freely (herbs are very easy to grow).
Purple Yam will be making two types of empanaditas (baked turnovers): vegetarian and beef.
The ground beef filling has fennel, thyme, garlic chives, bay leaves and chilies along with yellow peppers, carrots, potatoes and onions.
Vegetarian filling for empanaditas
This is the base for the vegetarian empanadita: corn, carrots, onions and purple sweet potato. Then we have the harvested greens from the BBG garden (see below)
Swiss chard and beet leaves
Yellow and red Swiss chard
Aside from the two empanaditas, our friend, Ayesha Vera-Yu and her nephew, Casto, are cooking up a delicious rice croquette (which will be sprinkled with freshly harvested herbs from the Garden before serving) made with the rice grains grown in Ayesha’s family farm in Capiz, Philippines. Ayesha and her mother are passionate believers in growing organic rice and rescuing heirloom rice species that are endangered bringing them back to Filipinos and sharing with us here in the US to get a taste of our heritage.
Whenever Romy and I are asked to cook to showcase Filipino food, I try as much as possible to cook something that came directly from the Philippines. The rice grew from Philippine soil with grains that our ancestors harvested and ate. There is nothing better to share with others than something that came from our land and tilled by farmers in the Philippines!
Enjoy and hope to see you at the beautiful Brooklyn Botanic Garden. If not on Sunday, just go to the BBG and support what it does for our health and well-being!
