Recipe: Indian Pilau Rice – Vegetarian

This recipe serves 4 – 6 people

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of white rice

1 1/2 cups of mixed frozen vegetables (peas, beans carrots and sweetcorn)

1 1/2 blocks of paneer (indian cheese)

1 1/2 medium onions

1 1/2 heaped teaspoons turmeric

some pepper

2 1/2 heaped teaspoons garlic

2 1/2 heaped teaspoons ginger

1 1/2 heaped teaspoon winter spices

some salt

Method:

 First you need to pour the rice into a pan and fill it with water. then drain that water and fill it up with water again. Put it on the stove and let it cook with the water until dry. Be careful to not let the rice stick to the bottom of the pan! You must chop the paneer into square blocks.

Now you need to start preparing the spice mix.Fry the onions in a frying pan and add the garlic, ginger, turmeric and winter spices. stir until you get a brown paste. Remove 75% of the paste and put it into another container. Add the mixed vegetables and paneer blocks and cook them in the remaining spices that are in the pan. Towards the end of cooking, re-add the rest of the spices you removed earlier and cook this further. Add some salt and pepper to taste. Once fully cooked, remove from heat.

Now that the rice has finished cooking and has dried up, add it to the vegetables and mix well. Serve and enjoy!

Tip: you could use a different kind of mixed frozen vegetable such as peas, beans, carrots and cauliflower.

Tip: Why not try serving this with some meat or meat curry such as lamb or chicken curry?

5 Beneficial bugs that can help your garden grow

The word bugs immediately conjures the thought of pests within our brain. This is because we see and deal with quite a few pests in a certain period of time – for example, summer. Not all bugs are pests, however and some keep nature working smoothly. Here is a list of 5 beneficial bugs that can help you and your garden

1. Tachinid Flies eat caterpillar, fly and beetle larvae that will eventually prey on your fruits and veg and their plant leaves. Planting lemon balm, parsley and chamomile will attract this fly.

2. Robber Flies dine on non beneficial flies as well as grasshoppers and wasps. The love mint so why not add it to your garden?

3. Pirate bugs are another beneficial bug. They control aphids, thrips, scales and whiteflies. They personally like daisies and sunflowers.

4. Ladybugs are more beneficial than you realize. They prey on aphids.

5. Lacewings are predators to scale, aphids, mites and other soft bodied insects. Planting medicinal plants such as dill, cosmos and tansy will bring them to your back garden.

Oranges containing pig genes are on the horizon

Oranges are the latest target for Genetic Engineering due to their susceptibility to a disease that leaves them sour and dry. As a result of the disease, called citrus greening, the orange producers have no option but to fund development of GM oranges which are being worked on right now. These GM oranges are likely to contain pig genes and while everything else has been tried, nothing has worked. Southern Garden Citrus, a major orange producer has already tried chopping hundreds of infected trees but this has not stopped the disease and therefore the company, as a last resort us funding the development of GM oranges.

Is creating a Genetically Modified orange, however, really the answer? Using pesticides to keep the C. Liberibacter asiaticus bacteria under control wont work and this has only lead to overuse of the pesticide chemicals. This in turn has lead to the rise of superbugs. As with all modified crops, the heavy application of chemicals will only add to the problem. This is only adding to the consequences for food production.

I, myself do not like the idea of having another genetically altered product. It only causes a variety of health problems and is not the solution for things like world hunger. The toxic chemicals used on the engineered plants not only cause superbugs but are also toxic to human life. Glyphosate, found in roundup for example, causes cancer even in the parts per trillion range. GMO’s are a contradiction. The developers claimed they would have many benefits and solve many problems but they don’t. The GMO’s are doing the exact opposite of what they were supposed to do. If you would like to let me know your thoughts on this topic, please comment. Thank you.