Green Leaves.

The Fruit Trees.

A few fruits, lots of leaves

The fruit trees in our backyard-apple, nectarine and citrus are good, they look so green, plenty of green leaves, but no sign of having decent fruits.  In the past few years, they did very well, enough to harvest for our family and was able to share with friends.   But this year is a different story, the trees look good, standing straight and stable with beautiful dark green leaves, more leaves that the tree needs to have.  No fruits but lots of leaves.  Disappointment!  The nectarine tree has fruits, but no one can see, as they are hidden by these pretty green leaves.  Sadly the mandarin tree is just the same, lots and lots of green leaves, no flowers, no mandarine.

Tahitian Lime

The lemon, we have a few, and they are tiny, I don't think the fruits will get any bigger, as the Tahitian lime, I am not too sure, again it has plenty of leaves, and they are glossy dark green also.

The bird picked the best fruit.

What is wrong with these trees, it could be due to the weather, they do have tender and loving care from the gardener.  Instead of bearing the fruits, they producing these gorgeous green leaves.  They look lush.
The birds helped themselves to harvest the nectarines, and they bite the fruit and left them behind to hang on the tree.
Today, the end of January, I harvested the nectarine and altogether I had 11-eleven fruits, Cool!
Well, enough of that, to comfort yourself, a treat has to have.  Thinking of mother, it was fun, and I was so lucky to be living with mother and father,  at my parent's house, delicious fresh food was served daily.  Missing the childhood favourite, and I thought it is easy enough to cook the dish using the braising technique for our dinner tonight.
Simple cooking, but delicious dish. It is 'Terik' (braised beef with coconut milk) to be served with steamed rice and garnished with Acar Cucumber.  It was good to have the cucumber of a friend's garden, thanks, Ann and Max.


The Recipe

Terik Daging (Braised Beef with Coconut Milk)

Ingredients

Sliced meat and the spices

650 blade steak, cut into large pieces.

Acar cucumber for the garnish

Juice of one Lemon
2 cups meat stock and 2 cups hot water
6 boiled eggs, peel to get rid of the shell
A standard tin of coconut milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil and more.
Spices
1/2 teaspoon  freshly ground coriander seeds
2 small onions, peel and chop finely
2 large clove of  garlic, peel and chop
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons sugar
kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass
Fried shallots to garnish
Method

The first stage of the braising

Place the meat in a bowl, and chopped onions, garlic, and lemon juice. Add the salt and sugar, mix all together.
Heat a large heavy-based pot, seal the meat until brown,  Take them out and keep in a bowl.  Using the same pot, saute the rest of the onion, garlic, and turmeric, the ground coriander with the oil until the onion and garlic are softened.
Add the meat, stir them around to mix with the spices.  Add the stock and stir,  and add the kaffir lime, and the lemongrass.  Place the lid on, and braise over medium heat for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to a shallow setting and continue braising for 1 hour.  After the long braising, add in hot water and continue cooking for 35 minutes, taste the seasoning.  Remember to stir from time to time.
Check the meat, by this time, it should be tender enough, and it is the time to add the coconut milk, the eggs and continue braising in low heat for 25 minutes.

The Dish-Terik Beef dan Telor

Sprinkle fried shallot to garnish.
Now, you have it, delicious braised beef with very mild spices, the coconut milk gives an extra creaminess to the sauce.

The egg is served boiled or fried and well done.  No soft and runny egg, in the traditional Javanese cooking, just the way I like it. On the other hand, the French people won't take hard-boiled and hard fried egg.

Place a good scoop of rice in the middle of the plate, the braised beef and egg on the side, and garnished with the Acar.  You notice, this is the way to enjoy rice with the accompaniment (Javanese Way).
People over here tend to have only a spoon of rice, lots of side dishes, but of course, do as you like.

You always long to the dish which you were custom to.  If I am hungry and tired, I long to this kind of cooking, never thought of roast beef dinner with the Yorkshire pudding or prawn bisque and fancy cheeses.  Sincerity is a winner.

It was a kind beautiful day really, in the mid-morning we had to wait for a visitor, early morning deed was accomplished with no problem.  And the rest of the day was busy but very relaxing.

A recipe for you to try, it works well for me, and I hope it works for you too.  Have fun and happy cooking.

Pink Apple Balerina Tree

Go back talking about plenty of green leaves but no fruits, it is so true, Rayner's apple tree is not fruiting at all, only producing these funny, weird leaves, some small and pointy and some are large, overall it is lush, green and looks good.

I was told that fruit trees don't have fruits regularly, not every year is the same, sometimes they need a rest.

Potted espalier apple Fuji

The other apple tree is my espalier apple Fuji, it is a life, and well, it has lots of leaves too.  I did not grow the tree for the leaves, but these leaves what I got.

I will find out why? Learning more about fruit trees is the way to go.





Until Next Post
Susy