The teachers and parents helpers burst into laughter after a student from the German European School shouted out that answer.
Why is there a frog prince in the first place?
We’ve got a new program for pre-schoolers and the German European School was the lucky first to experience it. The tour kicked off with a magical tale about a prince who gets stuck in an awkward and ultimately revelation-inspiring situation. Next on the itinerary was a sing-along. The kids were engrossed in the session and the song was so catchy that even the teachers found themselves singing along.
After the morning tour:
Reflection Time!!!
The school children were a bundle of joy to bring around the farm and we hope to see them again soon!
October Fifth Bakery Almond cake/ Lindt Swiss Thins Milk Choc/ Sun Kee Shitake/ Rickshaw Iron Buddha Tea/ Organic Udon/ Organic Soba/ Kangeroo Toasted Organic Mix/ Choc Petit Beurre/ Golden chef Pacific clams/Skylight Buddha jumped over the wall/ Redfern Creek Shiraz cabernet merlot/ specially selected Dried hashima/ JFF Royal BadgeTong Garden Asst Nuts/ Golden Chef Pacific clams/ New Moon Thai Sharks fin soup/ Redon Long Chocolate/ TS Seaweed Peanuts/ Redfern Creek Shiraz/ JFF Specially Selected Snow Jelly/ Jff Royal Badge/ Organic Soba/ Organic Udon/ Rickshaw Chinese tea Pu-er/ Mocha Choclate RL
Tong Garden Asst Nuts/ Golden Chef Pacific clams/ New Moon Thai Sharks fin soup/ Redon Long Chocolate/ TS Seaweed Peanuts/ Redfern Creek Shiraz/ JFF Specially Selected Snow Jelly/ Jff Royal Badge/ Organic Soba/ Organic Udon/ Rickshaw Chinese tea Pu-er/ Mocha Choclate RL
Black Pepper Venison Flanksteak served with seasonal vegetables
This dish is one of the many reasons why I have gone from a pure white meat eater to a fully fledged carnivore.
This was my first attempt at cooking this dish as well, which was made easier with the invention of ready-to-use sauce. I did was pour the delightful Sing Long Black Pepper Sauce (which we sell at the farm) over the venison and allow it to marinate for over 3 hours in the fridge. Then I fried it on a high heat with some canola oil.
Good news is I didn’t even need to prepare the steaks. When I thawed the packet of Silver Fern Boneless Venison Flank Steaks (which we Also sell at the farm) I was surprised to find that it was actually frozen in fillets which were already expertly prepared.
Last tip for my dear readers, please remember to tenderise the meat with the back of your knife of a tenderising hammer if you happen to have it. That will make a pretty good workout for your forearms.=) Enjoy the meat and savouring every burst of sweet juice with each bite.
The night before: Add the buttermilk to a large bowl with the frog legs. Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight (at least a good 10 to 12 hours).
The day of: Mix the flour, salt and white pepper in a large bowl. Dredge the legs, in the flour mixture, coating them completely. Shake off all of the excess flour. In a deep-fryer or heavy-bottomed pot, heat enough oil to come halfway up the sides of the pot, to 375 degrees F.
Add the frog legs to the oil and fry until golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter and serve with the mayo.
Pinot Grigio Mayo:
1bottle Pinot Grigio
4 cups extra-heavy mayonnaise
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a large saute pan over low heat, add the wine and simmer to reduce it to a syrup. Cool and combine with mayonnaise in a small bowl. Season to taste, refrigerate until needed
Though preparation(Inactive) is a little long but to get the meat soaked in buttermilk so that it taste fab, why not? You would also like to substitute your favourite white wine to create the Mayo.
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried oregano
½ teaspoon dried chives
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 Crocodile Tail Meat/Steak
Directions:
1. Mix seasoning in a bowl and pour onto a plate.
2. Brush steaks with melted butter and lightly coat both sides of each steak with seasoning mix.
3. Place a dry, heavy cast iron skillet over high heat for 5 to 7 minutes.
4. Place steak in pan and sear for 2 minutes; turn, brush with remaining melted butter, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
5. And a pat on your back! Enjoy your meal!
The farm might just be trying out this recipe and improvising on it for an upcoming event next year! So stay tuned!
Should you have any recipes that you would like to share feel free to leave us comments so that we can all benefit from everyone!
Add a generous dollop of minced garlic and ginger on the meat
Steam for about 10 mins.
Add coriander, chili slices and warmed frog essence or chicken essence last.
Serve warm!
Many people grouse over the cooking methods of frog meat. The enlightened ones would have already found out that frog meat when cook fresh does not even need to go with any condiments. The simplest method of cooking YET possibly the best way of savoring fresh frog meat, would be by steaming.. Or when steamed over more then 3-4 hours, the culinary people termed it as double-boiling.
About 10 days after I was back from India, I developed a bad rash all over my right leg. That patchy redness, saddled with itchiness started spreading across to my left and it wasn’t long before the skin on my arms started to feel rawness and of course that uncontrollable itch. My mum suggested very convincingly that it must have been the trip to India. The over dosage on Curry and rice. Lol..
The typical me who doesn’t believe in popping pills actually went to the doctor on the 2nd day of the breakout! The doctor diagnosed it as Eczema. What a dramatic irony! As a tour guide for our food trail and also as a salesgirl at the Frog Shop, time and again I would educate my customers on how frog meat is excellent for its detoxifying qualities and especially suitable for people with ECZEMA and who are recovering from illnesses. I was in absolute disbelief. How could I have triggered off eczema when obviously I have eaten much more frogs then anyone would ever have!
It goes without saying that my mum double boiled frog meat with bitter gourd on the night when the red patches and itchiness started. And I had that concoction over 3 days. By the end of the third day, the marks of the patchiness were gone! Life was back to normal.
C2 and I decided that we will start selling “Frog Meat Steamed in Bullfrog Essence with Ginseng and Cordyceps” at the farm after a group of men who had tried this dish were so full of praises for it. Looks like they will be back and we better be prepared for them!
Breyton from South Africa with his favourite goat!
This bright morning, we were brought to the Agriculture research centre where we met the key person for the success of the organising of the Warangal Agricultural Show. Most of us couldn’t stress enough of how much importance it was for Warangal to continue the Agriculture show. We demonstrated how a show can play a very important part in empowering these people; the show can be a medium for sharing ideas and promoting best practise, a vehicle to and a public stage to demonstrate basic principles of best agricultural practise. In doing so, educate and empower the young people giving them motivation and ambition to achieve. We all saw how much pride the famers have for the livestock and the success could be measured from the smiles of the local farmers, volunteers, merchants who had participated.
The Agriculture show is necessary to bring the people together and create that network for sharing of knowledge but it also has to remain relevant and accessible to the locals. In every sense, we would see how there would be many commercial benefits, like networking, showcasing of better agricultural practises and how the show could improve social welfare ( community spirit) to the people which will in turn improve their livelihood as their businesses stay sustainable and profitable.
During the discussion, the importance of the roles of the service extension officers is highlighted. They are the bridge to the technical education of these small holding farms. As literacy is a big problem in this country, government aids, research results and promoted agricultural practices do not get translated for these illiterate farmers who are the most in need of such information.
Many other points which were brought up again are women empowerment and education. It had been reiterated time and again that it is important for women empowerment to break away from the cycle of dependency. In the host’s house where Greg and I visited, the mum also mentioned how her daughter would be married when she turns 16. We also met a cotton farmer in that village who married a 16 year old lady in May this year and she is already 5 months pregnant. Looks like child marriages is, sadly, still very prevalent in Vijayawada!
The press meeting which we has after lunch was (I’m not sorry to say) an absolute waste of time. The reporters and journalists streamed in slowly even in the midst and towards the end of the 1.5 hours session. Phones were going off, blasting hippie Indian music, people talking to one another, journalists arguing about how the sharing of the 17 delegates should be organized, translators explaining the points and examples shared by delegates, people raising their voices questioning if subsidies were given in our respective countries, gasps of disbeliefs when they were told how farmers suicide is a prevalent universal problem. We heaved a heavy sigh of relief as the session was concluded by David.
Indeed there was no rest for the wicked. A de-brief with SYO was then conducted with about 15 of their male farmer volunteers and management team. It was another exasperating 60 mins as questions about subsidies persisted and questions like what kind of agriculture practices are practiced in your country which makes your agriculture industry so much more successful then India. In my head, I was screaming ‘why don’t you visit our countries, smell our air, look at our roads, see our buildings and perhaps you will see the light??” The grass is not always greener on the other side. It is not as though we have lesser problems compared to them. Our team leader of the day Will P, ended that sharing session by getting us to ponder over the difference between the cost of living, such that an Indian family could stay afloat with just 2 cows on 2 acres of land, or in the UK where average farmer need to have at least 150 cows on 150 acres. In NZ, an Av farm is over 232 hectares with 370 milking cows or over 3000 sheep often managed by one fulltime labour unit but no Govt support systems of any sort, a stark comparison to the production system visited!
India is truly incredible which heavy traffic shared with their billions of people, thousands of oxen, schoolchildren, shops only half meters away from the congested roads. Farms are largely owned by small holders who do not have access to transport their produce to the marketplace.
India Farmers should be proud that regardless of their struggles for a better livelihood, by stressing that agriculture is the backbone of India, with 70% of their population directly involved in agricultural practises but it appears they are simply feeding the vast populations with no great thought to the future sustainability of their systems or the great innate potential of their lands! They will in time come to realize how money cannot be eaten and eventually every gram of produce, which can be churned out will be so valuable when demand eventually outpaced supply.
With the 4 winners of the Commercial Produce stalls.
This India mission trip is a further piece of evidence to what I’m a firm believer of- “What do not kill you, will only make you stronger”. I have learnt and experienced so much these 10 days. It was ironic how I was still struggling to complete my work load, handling over the follow up receipts and payments, even right to the point as I was travelling to the airport on the 16/11/11; I had route a 5 kg delivery of our fresh frog meat to a client. That is a normal day routine of a day’s work.
This trip has put me face to face, in a world where all my principals in life have been challenged. I would NEVER ever litter in a public place; I would almost never see any people peeing along Singapore’s streets; I (ALMOST HARDLY EVER) jaywalk or walk between 2 moving vehicles; I have never eaten rice with curry gravy with my hands; I find it inconceivable to eat white rice with yogurt (Buffalo curd) especially after a hearty serving of briyani and curry; I find it a chore to haggle incessantly YET I had to ‘play hard to get’ mind game, to achieve a 30% discount at the airport only because we had 2 hours to spare; I also had to carry a vomit bag with me over the 8 days (a good mix of sewage stench, motion sickness, intoxication from Kingfishers and noise pollution). Despite that, the warm hospitality showered upon us from these Indians we see eking a living through subsistence farming around their homes, had very exponentially heightened my appreciation of the great diversity of life.
The difference between India and Singapore is stark; yet there is much to learn from the people I had met there. They had shown me what the meaning of contentment, humility, making do with their limited resource. It is almost seldom to be hosted in Singapore where the host will bring you to meet the other neighbours of the same vicinity. Especially the experience of being hosted in Kanchikacherla Village, Vijayawada, what looked like an impoverished village to me, demonstrated such an exemplary act of generosity and grace.
This mission trip to India is akin to going cold turkey – stripping us from our favourite food, wifi access, even the basic freedom to walk about in the streets. However, I’m pretty sure we left this beautiful country with memories which will linger with us in this lifetime.
