Swiss Chard Slaw with Peanut Dressing

The Gilmore Park Church Community Kitchen made a Swiss Chard Slaw with Peanut Dressing in the theme of Swiss chard in this kitchen. Thank you to Richmond Sharing Farm for the donation of Swiss chard to the community kitchen.

Ingredients

  • 2 large bunches of Swiss chard (about 12 cups)
  • 2 red peppers, cut into fine strips
  • 2 carrots, sliced very thin
  • 3/4 cup roasted, salted peanuts, divided
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes


Source: community kitchen
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Chickpea Kale Stir-Fry

The main dish we made in the South Arm Kitchen is an Indian infused chickpea stir fry dish.

This Chickpea Kale Stir-Fry is simple to make and yet pack with nutrition. The flavour is bold and the ginger and cayenne gives this dish some spiciness. Serve the chickpea stir-fry with a dollop of lemony yogurt.
Ingredients

  • 4 cups cooked or canned chickpeas (rinsed and drained)
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
  • 1 tablespoon garam masala
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 6 cups finely chopped kale
  • 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1/4 cup hempseeds
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 1 cup plain, 2% Greek yogurt
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest

Source: “One-Skillet Meals” alive #378, April 2014
Serves 4.

For dessert, we made some Almond and Honey Cookies. You can find the recipe here.
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Okra, Corn and Tomatoes Stir Fry

The South Arm Multicultural Community Kitchen made a stir fry vegetable dish to be served with basmati rice.

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This Okra, Corn and Tomatoes Stir Fry is Minoo’s favourite okra recipe.

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Minoo shared a remedy of drinking okra water which is believed to help lessen diabetes symptoms. Okra water is made by putting sliced okra in warm water and soak them overnight.

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Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 8 ounces fresh okra, halved lengthwise
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups corn kernels (from 2 large ears)
  • 2 pounds fresh tomatoes, cut into 8 wedges each
  • 2 ounces slab bacon, cut into large dice (optional)
  • 1 medium white onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 large garlic clove, minced
  • extra virgin olive oil for drizzle

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Source: South Arm Community Kitchen

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Sweet and Savory Swiss Chard

With the Swiss Chard donated by the Richmond Sharing Farm, the South Arm Community Kitchen made a Sweet and Savory Stir Fried Swiss Chard.

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Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 4 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
  • 4 cups stemmed, chopped, rinsed Swiss Chard
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/4 cup sliced almonds
  • salt and pepper to taste

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P/S: You can substitute the Swiss Chard with Kale

Source: South Arm Community Kitchen

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Pepper Garlic Vegetable Tofu Stirfry

One of the participant of the South Arm Women Community Kitchen asked for stir fry recipes as her stir fry usually comes out bland.

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So, Michelle shared the above Pepper Garlic Vegetable Tofu Stir fry in this session.

Michele shared the following article from EatingWell.com:

You can get what your body needs just by eating a colourful variety of fruits and vegetables. Nature has found a clever way to highlight the nutrients in foods. Different nutrients actually impart different colours to the foods they’re in.

For instance,

  • the anthocyanins that turn blueberries blue can also keep your mind sharp.
  • the lycopene that turns watermelon and tomatoes red may also help protect against prostate and breast cancers.
  • the beta carotene that makes carrots and sweet potatoes orange can help keep your bones strong, your eyes healthy and boost your immune system.

While fresh fruits and vegetables are great in season, frozen ones are convenient to keep on hand and just as nutritious.

Ingredients

This is her general formula of stir fry:

Protein + Onion + Green Vegetable + colourful vegetable + homemade sauce + some crunchy topping

  • Protein: pressed tofu, chicken or beef
  • Onion: yellow, white or green onion (both green and white parts)
  • Substantial green vegetable: broccoli, bok choy or gai lan
  • Colourful vegetable: bell peppers, carrots, celery, mushrooms, frozen peas or edammame
  • Crunchy topping: cashews, almonds, sesame seed

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Ingredients for the Pepper Garlic Stirfry Sauce

  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper or more to taste
  • Optional: 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger

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This recipe is easily adapted to the vegetables and protein you have on hand. It is a great way to use up the leftover vegetables in the fridge at the end of the week.

The stir fry can be served with steamed rice or noodles. This recipe yields about 4 to 6 cups of stir fry vegetables.

Source: South Arm Women Community Kitchen

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Simple Sauteed Chard

Michelle shared another not so common vegetable in the South Arm Older Adults Cooking Club; Chard.

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Chard really tends to cook down significantly, so start with a huge pile of greens.

Ingredients

  • 2 large bunches of chard
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
  • 1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves (not the powdered version)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt or more to taste
  • 2 tablespoons ketchup (or a touch of tomato sauce or a tomato, chopped)

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Notes on preparing chard:
Let chard soak in water for a few minutes and swish around to remove debris. Rinse.
Rip stems from leaves. Separate into stems and leaves. Finely cut stems. Roughly chop leaves.
Cooking the stems for a few minutes before the leaves makes them much more tender. Small, tender chard stems do not need this treatment and can be roughly chopped and cooked with the greens.
Source: South Arm Older Adults Cooking Club

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Brussels Sprouts Stir Fry with Onion and Mustard Seeds

The second Brussels sprouts dish demonstrated in the Gilmore Park Church community kitchen was a warm side dish.

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How do we maintain a vibrant green on Brussels sprouts when cooking them?

Ingredients

  • 8 cups (about 2 pounds/1 kg)  small Brussels sprouts
  • 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper each
  • 1/3 cup chicken broth
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice

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Source: this recipe is adapted from Canadian Living

Serves 6

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Swiss Chard and Mushroom Stir Fry

The second dish that Minoo prepared for the South Arm Community Kitchen is a stir fry vegetable dish that incorporated Swiss Chard. Swiss Chard is a fall vegetable but it is easily available in winter in the groceries stores. This is a hardy and versatile vegetable that can be used in soup or stir fry. It is rich in dietary fiber. It is high in vitamin A, K and C.

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We love the color of this stir fry dish, which is very Christmasy. The sesame seeds add crunch and nuttiness to it.

Ingredients

  • 2 bunches Swiss chard
  • 1 sweet red or yellow pepper
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin oil
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped mushroom
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup sesame seeds
  • soy sauce to taste

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Source: Minoo

The other 2 recipes had been covered before; i.e. Salmon and Potato Chowder and Oatmeal Blueberry Muffin.

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Sesame Green Beans

Minoo prepared a second side dish to go with the pasta. This week’s recipes were mostly vegetables which is a good thing.

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The Sesame Green Beans are aromatic with sesame oil and the sesame seeds add nuttiness and texture to this simple stir fry vegetable dish.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds green beans, washed and trimmed
  • olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 2 tablespoons or more sesame seeds (a handful)
  • soy sauce to taste

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Source: via Minoo

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Ian Lai’s Healthy Asian Cooking: Broccoli and Beef Stir Fry

Are you overwhelmed when you shop at the sauces aisle in Chinese groceries? I am. There are so many types of sauces that even as a Chinese I have not try all of them.

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Ian Lai shared some of the more common sauces that he uses in the Healthy Asian Cooking workshop. They include soy sauce, oyster sauce, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, hot bean sauce,  etc.

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One of the sauces that stands out is the Korean Gochujang Hot Pepper Paste because Ian Lai said it is MSG free. As for soy sauce, the Japanese Tamari is also MSG free.

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The last recipe in the Healthy Asian Cooking is Broccoli and Beef. Ian’s Lai take for the popular Broccoli and Beef you find in Chinese restaurants is very different. He cooks the beef separately and he added multigrains and goji berries into this dish.

Ingredients

  • 1 flank steak
  • 1 head of broccoli, cut into flowerets, slice stem to same bite size so that they cook evenly
  • 1 package of snow peas
  • 1 bunch of cilantro, rough chopped
  • 1 bunch of green onions, chopped
  • 1 bunch of water crest, rough chopped
  • 1 handful of goji berries, re-hydrated in cold water for a few minutes until plump
  • 1 or 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 1 whole garlic clove
  • 2 slices of ginger

Marinate for flank steak

  • salt to taste
  • 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
  • 1 big tablespoon Gochujang
  • 1 big  tablespoon of oyster sauce
  • 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar

Sauce

  • 2 red bell peppers
  • 1/2 block of soft tofu
  • 1/4 teaspoon of togarashi (Japanese spice mix)
  • salt to taste

Grains

  • 2 cups of multigrains
  • 3 cups of water

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The above is the package of multigrains that Ian used. You can get them from T&T or Osaka Supermarket. The 2 kg package costs around $1o to $12.

It’s a very cultural thing for Chinese to eat steamed white rice with dishes. The rice is usually washed a number of times until the water runs clear. Ian shared with us that their family gradually changed to not washing the rice as it’s his daughter’s responsibility to cook rice. After much complaints, they forgo the washing of the rice. Nowadays, they try to eat other grains instead of white rice. White rice has the least nutrients as all the good nutrients have been polished away.

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