Brown Basmati Apple Walnut Salad
If I remembered correctly, June shared this recipe of Brown Basmati Apple Walnut Salad. Brown Basmati Rice is gaining popularity for it’s higher nutritional values. It also tastes nuttier than regular white rice. A friend told me that after a few months of changing from white rice to brown rice, she is actually losing weight. I may try to include some brown rice in my regular rice and my family will slowly accept it. I’m sure Ben is going to make a fuss of it as he hates grainy stuff like whole wheat or whole grain bread.
This Brown Basmati Apple Walnut Salad can be kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days, which makes it the perfect make-ahead dish for company. You may add the apples and toasted walnuts just before serving. In fact, this salad tastes better the next day.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup toasted walnuts
- 4 cups cooked brown basmati rice
- 1/2 cup dried cherries, raisins or cranberries
- 1 apple, sliced
- 2 stalks celery, sliced
- 5 to 6 celery leaves, chopped
- 4 sprigs parsley, chopped
Dressing:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- zest of 1 orange
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
You may toast the walnuts in the microwave. Microwave them on high at 45-seconds intervals, smelling for doneness. It takes between 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
June and Frances make this healthy and nutty salad.
Cranberry Feta Pinwheels
For the first meeting in October, the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors whipped up 5 dishes. What a great start for fall. Stella decorated the dining tables with a spaghetti squash and some miniature pumpkins. The squash and pumpkins are gifts from members of the community center. Initially, Stella wanted to use the squash as a prize for some kind of quiz. However, at the end of the cooking session, no quiz idea yet. So, the squash went to whoever who wanted it and it went to Chris. Stella also shared some pears and prune plums with us which she got free from friends who harvested them from their gardens. It is the time of the year where lots of sharing is going around.
The first item on the dining table is Cranberry Feta Pinwheels. These pretty pinwheels are perfect for a Christmas buffet with the festive colours of red from the dried cranberries and green from the chopped green onions.
The Cranberry Feta Pinwheels are great as appetizer. They are so rich with the feta cheese and cream cheese. This recipe is taken from tasteofhome.com. Christina and Ken made this delicious pinwheels. More on following page. Click here to continue reading.
Applesauce for Home Canning
Due to the great response to the home canning workshops organised by the Richmond Food Security Society, Arzeena and Karen decided to hold three more workshops on home canning. This time, it’s home canning apple sauce as it’s the season for apple harvest.
The apples we used were donated by various sources which include groceries stores and people’s backyard who has planted apple trees. You dont have to use perfect apples, just trim off the bruises.
Ingredients
- 12 to 14 pounds apples, roughly chopped; peeled and cored if desired
- 3 cups sugar (optional)
- 4 tablespoons lemon juice or 2 teaspoons citric acid, dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water
- ground spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cardamon and allspice for flavoring (optional)
- 8 x 500 ml jars
Applesauce is a great snack especially for kids and babies. It is also a good substitute for fat in baked goods. Substitute half of the fat in baked goods for a reduced fat diet. It is not advisable to substitute all the fat in baked goods as the result will be denser and chewier and not as tender as those baked with fat. To use the applesauce to substitute for fat, the applesauce must be of a thicker consistency.
Applesauce can also be used as a savory glaze on poultry. Season the applesauce with thyme or rosemary and salt. Glaze on roast chicken about half way through the roasting time.
A thicken applesauce can also be used as a filling for cake like swiss roll or used as a spread for your toast.
Pork Jowl Stirfry with Green Bean
I have a piece of the pork jowl left in my freezer. I decided to use it to stirfry with green beans for the vege dish for dinner. Ben’s requirement for dinner is a meat dish. a vegetable dish and a soup.
This is a very simple stirfry dish. You can use other meat like chicken to substitute the pork jowl.
Ingredient:
- a slice of pork jowl, about 5 to 6 oz, thinly sliced
- a tablespoon light soy sauce
- a tablespoon oyster sauce
- a tablespoon rice wine
- a teaspoon sugar
- a drizzle of sesame oil
- a sprinkle of ground white pepper
- a teaspoon corn starch
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- salt to taste
- a bunch of green beans, trimmed both ends and sliced at an angle
Instructions:
- Marinate the pork jowl with the soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine, sugar and white pepper for at least 30 minutes
- Add cornstarch to the meat and blend well just before frying
- Heat a frying pan with a tablespoon of oil
- Saute garlic until fragrant
- Stir fry the marinated pork jowl for a few minutes or until almost cooked
- Add the green beans and stir fry to combine
- Add a few tablespoons of water and cover to simmer for another 5 minutes or until the green beans are tender.
- Add a pinch of salt to taste
- Serve with steamed rice
Peruvian Cuisine: Dulce De Leche Cookies (Alfajor)
The last item which Erika shared with us is a cookie filled with dulce de leche called Alfajor. Erika made this cookies for his son’s school party and it was a hit. Many parents asked for the recipe. Dulce De Leche is a caramel like spread that can be made by simmering sweetened condensed milk in the can for hours. But, we are very lucky that we can find them in jars in Real Canadian Superstore for about $3.
The Dulce De Leche Cookies (Alfajor) is very delicate and they just melt in your mouth with the caramel sweetness lingering in the mouth. I enjoyed the cookies very much as I have sweet tooth.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of sifted all-purpose flour
- 1 cup of corn starch (or more)
- 225 gm unsalted butter
- 6 tablespoons confectioners sugar
- Dulce de leche (manjarbalnco) for filings
Peruvian Cuisine: Potatoes Huancaina Style (Papas a La Huancaina)
The second dish which Erika shared with us is called Potatoes Huancaina Style (Papas a La Huancaina). It has a few similar ingredients as in the Chicken in Aji Sauce recipe. You can kill two birds with one stone for these dishes, i.e. prepare 2 dishes with common ingredients which helps to reduce preparation time.
The Potatoes Huancaina Style is relatively salty because we use feta cheese. You can reduce the saltiness by using a mixture of ricotta or cottage cheese with feta cheese.
Ingredients
- 2 to 5 aji amarillo fresco or fresh yellow aji peppers
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 3/4 cups (400g) farmers cheese (ricotta, cottage, or feta)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 hardboiled eggs
- 4 Spanish olives, pitted and cut in halves or quarters
- 2.2 lbs (1 kg) yellow flesh potatoes, boiled, peeled and sliced (use white potatoes if not available)
- lettuce for plating
- salt and pepper to taste
For this recipe, Erika used the Aji peppers in whole in a jar. Under normal circumstances, canned peppers tend to be hotter than fresh ones. Erika shared with us tips on how to reduce the heat of the peppers, especially if you are serving the dish for children. For those who cant find the aji peppers, you can replace it with sweet yellow peppers.
Peruvian Cuisine: Chicken in Aji Sauce (Aji De Gallina)
Erika Pereyra is a relatively new member of the South Arm Community Kitchen. We were glad that she’s sharing some of her favourite Peruvian dishes in the South Arm Community Kitchen. Erika shared with us that Peruvian cuisine has lots of influences from Spanish cuisine. One can also find a lot of Japanese and Chinese restaurants in Peru.
I bet you will never guess that Peruvian Cuisine has one of the most diverse in the world and is at the same level of cuisines of the Chinese, Indian, French and Spanish. Lima, the capital of Peru, is referred to as the “gastronomic capital of the Americas”.
The video above on Peruvian Cuisine is a bit long but I find it interesting that the country of Peru is so rich in gastronomic heritage. Did you know too that Peru is home to about 2000 types of potatoes? Peru accounts for 40% of all potato varieties in the world.
The first dish which Erika shared with us is called Chicken in Aji Sauce (Aji De Gallina). Aji is a kind of pepper, also known as Peruvian hot pepper.
The above are two types of Aji pepper which Erika introduced to us, one in the form of paste while another is whole. Erika told us that we can find Peruvian groceries in Killarney Market at 49th Ave East Vancouver. For the Chicken in Aji Sauce, we used Aji paste. More on following page. Click here to continue reading.
