Chick pea burgers and pickles

We had a lovely weekend. Hanno worked at the food and coffee stall at our local organic farmers markets on Saturday morning. Our Centre runs the stall and we make quite a pretty penny from it. Hanno gets to socialise and I get some alone time - win/win. He was home just after lunch so we sat on the front verandah with a cup of tea while he told me all the news from the markets and relaxed. Then we closed the front gates and spent the rest of the weekend together, alone, in our little semi-rural homestead.

Most of my weekend was spent gardening, knitting and cooking. The garden of tomatoes and cucumbers was pulled out, raked over, had worm castings and compost added and will be planted up again this week with more vegetables. A basket of cucumbers was harvested and although there were a few good ones the majority of them had marks on the skin. I sorted out the good ones for salads and put them in the fridge, the others were made into bread and butter pickles. I had to peel the skin off two of them, some where given to the chooks because the damage was internal, the rest were fine for pickling.

I have written about pickled cucumbers - called bread and butter cucumbers - before, but here is the recipe again. It's a good recipe to have as it will help you preserve a glut of cucumbers or those that aren't perfect. When you're a gardener, it's important to have recipes such as this because you don't want to waste any food. It's fine to give some to the chooks, but as long as the vegetables are okay inside and just have damaged skin, it should be human food.

BREAD AND BUTTER CUCUMBERS

5 medium cucumbers cut into 5 mm slices

350g onions, sliced very thinly

green capsicum and red chilli are optional

50g salt

350 ml cider or white wine vinegar

350g sugar

2 level tablespoons mustard seed

2 level tablespoons celery seed

½ level teaspoon turmeric

¼ level teaspoon cayenne pepper

Slice the cucumbers, onions, capsicums and chilli and place in a bowl, and salt and let stand for 3 hours. Drain, rinse under the cold tap and drain thoroughly. Bring the remaining ingredients to the boil in a stainless steel saucepan and then add the vegetables. Reduce the heat, bring just to the simmer and cook 2 minutes. Pour hot into sterilized jars, making sure the liquid covers the cucumbers and seal.

I also did up one large jar of mustard pickles. That used up two of my small cauliflowers, some of the celery and cabbage.

The recipe is from here.

MUSTARD PICKLES
Chef: Mrs. Betty McVinish Rockhampton Qld.

In the ABC Gardening Talkback Great Home-made Pickles and Jam Challenge, this recipe won second prize in the Best Pickles category.

You need:
500g Cauliflower (Chopped) [1.1 lb]
250g Beans (Chopped) [9oz]
360g Onions (Chopped) [13 oz]
150g Red Capsicum (Chopped) [6oz]
¼ cup coarse cooking salt
2 tabs seeded mustard
2 teas dry mustard
3 teas curry powder
¼ teaspoon turmeric
1 ¾ cups white vinegar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tabs plain flour
¼ cup white vinegar – extra

[I added ¼ chopped cabbage and green capsicums (peppers) as we had no red ones on the bushes.]

Method:
Combine cauliflower, beans, onions and capsicum in large bowl.Sprinkle with salt, cover and stand overnight.
Rinse vegetables under cold water and drain.
Combine vegetables with other ingredients in large boiler.
Stir over heat without boiling until sugar is dissolved.
Bring to boil, simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes
Stir in blended flour and extra vinegar.
Stir over heat until mixture boils and thickens.
Pour into sterilised jars.

The mustard pickles are on the far right with the green lid.

On Sunday we had a delicious lunch on the front verandah with the sun streaming in to warm us. I'd made wholegrain bread rolls, collected lettuce and tomatoes from the garden and also added the coleslaw I made on Saturday. It was a very local meal - chickpea burgers.

This is a simple recipe that is very easy to make.

CHICKPEA BURGERS

Into a blender or food processor add:
two cups of pre-soaked chickepeas
2 small onions
one carrot
1 stick celery
2 eggs
1 cup dry breadcrumbs or two potatoes
salt and pepper
¼ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon cumin

Whiz that up until it forms a thick paste. Form into four patties and fry in oil until brown on both sides.

Hanno had two of these, I had one but will take the other, and some coleslaw, to work today for my lunch. Chick pea burgers are delicious, healthy and cheap and I think meat eaters would enjoy them.

I have a very busy day ahead with work, then a meeting after it. It looks like a 10 hour day for me. But I feel rested and loved so no matter what comes my way today, I'm ready for it, with a smile.

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