Tasty Kale Salad with Balsamic Vinegar & Sweet Potato

Nom Nom Nom! So, I had a bunch of kale in my refrigerator and I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do with it. In the past I’ve had kale steamed with 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar and some black pepper. While this is good, I wanted something a little more interesting. So, I tried the recipe below with a few twists of my own!  This salad is a must try: it tantalizes the senses with a wonderful combination of the sweet and savoury. This salad is also low in calories, high in nutrient content, and therefore relatively guilt-free. If it tastes great and is easy on the waist line, I’m all in!

INGREDIENTS

·         1-2 tablespoons butter

·         I medium onion, diced

·         1 red pepper, chopped

·         I sweet potato, cubed

·         4 cups kale

·         4 cloves of  garlic, minced

·         1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

·         ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, shredded

·         salt and pepper to taste

Shredded kale leaves

Chopped red peppers

INSTRUCTIONS

1.     Boil the sweet potatoes until soft. Then remove and set aside. In the meantime, melt one - two tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Then, add the onions and garlic; saute for several minutes until onions are clear.

2.     Add the kale, peppers and balsamic vinegar. Saute until the kale is darker green (before the leaves wilt!). Turn off the heat and serve with Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Hearty Lentil Soup

There’s nothing like a bowl of some good, hearty soup when it’s cold out. I love soup, and after red peas soup, lentil soup is my favourite.

Ingredients: 

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 medium sized tomatoes, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth

3 stalks celery, chopped

3 pegs of garlic

1 teaspoon ground cloves

3 sprigs thyme

1 stalk scallion, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

4 stalks parsley, chopped
1 small dried chile pepper

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tsp salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander 

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 

1/2 teaspoon grains of paradise (ground)

Directions:

Saute the salt, onion, ginger, scallion, garlic, parsley, thyme, pepper, carrots and celery in hot olive oil. Next, add the broth, tomatoes, lentils and seasonings. Bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat and cover, cooking for about 40 minutes. You may blend for a puree – like consistency. I did not blend mine.

Jamaican Stewed Peas

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This is a very tasty Jamaican dish that is relatively easy to make. It is traditionally made with salted pig tails, which can be substituted with fresh beef or oxtail (if you can afford it!). This dish can be converted into a vegetarian meal by bypassing the addition of meat altogether.

[ ]  1 lb kidney beans (red peas)

[ ]  2 cups of coconut milk (one can's worth)

[ ]  1-2 lb of meat, cubed (salted pig tails, fresh beef or ox tail. Ignore if you wish to go vegetarian)

[ ]  1 onion

[ ]  1 green bell pepper

[ ]  2 Scotch Bonnet or habanero peppers, whole

[ ]  1 lb carrots

[ ]   2 stalks of scallions

[ ]  3 medium potatoes, diced

[ ]  6 cloves garlic, diced

[ ]  2-3 teaspoons of cracked allspice grains (approx. 25-30 grains)

[ ]  4 sprigs of thyme

[ ]  black pepper to taste

[ ]  Salt to taste
[ ] Approximately 6-10 cups of water

Directions: 

Rinse beans then bring them to a boil (3 minutes) and let them sit for 1 hour for a quick soak. Otherwise, soak them overnight. 

After soaking the beans, bring to a boil in 2-3 cups of water over a low flame. Boil the beans together with the  with the meat, potatoes, Scotch bonnet peppers, allspice and scallions.

NOTE: If using salted pork tails or salted beef, soak the pork tails or beef overnight in cold water, or boil them in 4 quarts of water for at least 45 minutes to remove the excessive salt content. 

Add the onions and coconut milk when beans have softened (the beans are relatively soft, but still uncooked). This is at the point where the beans are approximately half-cooked.

Make "spinners" (rolled flour and water dumplings) and add to the stew. This can be made by combining 1/2 cup of flour and enough water to bind the flour. The "spinners" should not be too wet nor too dry. They should have the consistency of play dough.

Cut up all other vegetables and set aside. Add vegetables when beans are fully cooked. 

Add flour or corn starch to thicken the stew.

Serve with white rice.

This is when I just added the "spinners." :)

 Finished pot of stew peas

DIY Coconut Milk

Coconut milk is a popular ingredient in many dishes, particularly in Caribbean and Asian cuisine.

This is a step by step guide in making your own coconut milk, as opposed to going to the store to purchase the canned or the powdered variety, which contains many additives.

Ingredients

• 1 dried coconut
• 6-8 cups of water

Method:

First, crack the dried coconut and remove the "meat" from the hard outer shell. This task is made easier by using a dinner knife to pry the inner husk away from the dry outer shell. On cracking the coconut itself, to be quite frank, the easiest way to do this is to crack the shell on a sturdy piece of concrete. Don't crack it too hard at first, because you'll want to collect the coconut water inside the shell for a refreshing drink, instead of paying $4.00 or so for the same thing at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's.

After this, use the front of the grater to grate the coconut. Use the side of the greater that is the least rough. Take care not to grate your knuckles!

Then, add the flakes to the blender. Add approximately four cups of water. If your blender is small, you may have to divide this into two batches.

Blend on high for about 8-10 minutes. Pour the mixture from the blender through a fine-meshed strainer into a separate container. Squeeze the mixture to extract the milk. Put the squeezed grated coconut into a separate container. Do not discard yet. After the first round of squeezing and extraction, put the squeezed coconut flakes back into the blender. Add 2 - 4 cups of water to this. Blend on high again for 6-8 minutes. Repeat the process. This yields about 6 cups of coconut milk. This can be frozen to preserve the integrity and taste of the milk. 

This is how my mom makes her own coconut milk. Before the age of blenders, my grandmother would have to use the rough side of the blender, squeeze the mixture with her hands through a  strainer, using warm water.  This process would be repeated at least once more. 

Note: A very smart friend of mine suggested that a juicer could also work. I do not own a juicer, so I made my own coconut milk using the method described above. For those of you who own a juicer, try that and see if it works. I'm sure it would save a load of time :) .