Quinoa Black Bean Salad Spiced with Cumin

The second recipe made in the South Arm Multicultural Community Kitchen is a high fiber salad.

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The Quinoa Black Beans Salad Spiced with Cumin is filing and nutritious.

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This salad is high in protein as 1 cup of black beans has 13g of dietary fiber.

Minoo shared with us some facts and nutritional values of quinoa in the kitchen. I had blogged about it here.

1/4 cup of quinoa has:

  • 170g calories
  • 3g fat
  • 5mg sodium
  • 30g carbohydrate
  • 3g dietary fiber
  • 1g sugar
  • 5g protein

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
  • 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup corn kernels (frozen or from can)
  • 2 x 15 ounces (540ml) cans black beans
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • juice from 1 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil or more for drizzling on the salad
  • chili powder for garnishing, optional

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Source: via Minoo

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Creamy Corn Soup

Michelle prepared a very simple Creamy Corn Soup for the Chinese New Year celebration at the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors.

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The Creamy Corn Soup can be made with ham, cooked chicken, cooked crabmeat, salmon or shrimp.

Ingredients

  • 2 cans 14oz cans creamed corn (about 3 cups)
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine or white wine
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons cold water
  • salt to taste
  • 1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped green onions
  • 1/4 cup chopped cooked meat

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Source: from “Quick and Easy Chinese” by Nancie McDermott

Serves 4

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Coconut Corn Pudding

Marian served the Stuffed Pepper with Beef and Brown Rice with a soup and a salad at the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors.

Spinach Salad with Orange Sesame DressingCream of Celery Soup

I had blogged about the soup and salad recipe before. They are Spinach Salad with Orange Sesame Dressing and Cream of Celery Soup.

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For dessert, Marian prepared a popular Filipino dessert called Coconut Corn Pudding or Maja Blanca Maiz. Since, there is not many turn up for this kitchen, I have to help Don to make this dessert. I was so sure that I had blogged about this before here, I did not take pictures of this recipe. However, when I got home and compare the recipe, it is slightly different. So, here is the recipe without the step by step pictures.

Maja Blanca Maiz is always served during festivals in the Phillipines. It can be served warm or chilled.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup cornstarch
  • 1 can (400ml) coconut milk
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 can (398ml) whole corn kernel
  • butter for greasing pan
  • 1/4 cups toasted coconut flakes (we omitted this)

Source: Marian
Serves 12

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Pork Neck Bone with Corn Soup

In the Caring Place Community Kitchen, Joanna shared some very homey Chinese dishes.

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The first recipe is a simple Pork Neck Bone with Corn Soup. You may use pork rib to make this soup for a meatier cut of meat. Pork neck bone is very cheap, 99 cents per pound.

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds pork neck bone
  • 4 corns, cut into chunks
  • 3 to 4 slices of ginger
  • 8 to 10 cups of water
  • salt to taste

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Source: Joanna;  Serves 6 to 8

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Filipino Cuisine: Maja Blanca Con Mais

Marian made a Filipino dessert at the Caring Place Community Kitchen which is one of the many that we had at Goto King.

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The dessert is called Maja Blanca Con Mais which is a corn custard topped with toasted shredded coconut.

Ingredients

  • 4 cups coconut milk (about 2 cans)
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups cornstarch (depending on the brand used)
  • 1 can (300ml) condensed milk
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 15 ounce whole sweet corn kernel
  • 5 tablespoons toasted shredded coconut
  • 3 1/4 cups milk

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Source: Marian
Prep time: 10 mins; Cook time: 30 mins; Yield 18 pieces

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Corn Muffins

June and Keiko made Corn Muffins to go with the Hamburger Soup in the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors.  June is a pioneer volunteer for the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors while Keiko is a new member.

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This Corn Muffin has corn kernels in it which adds a little surprise and sweetness to it.  You may add diced green chiles in it for the extra kick.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cornmeal
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3 tablespoons honey or sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Optional add-ins:

  • 4 green onions, finely chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
  • 1 can diced green chiles, drained

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Corn and Crab Salad

It is great to make use of fresh corns from the farm market in summer for this Corn and Crab Salad.   Fresh corn is much sweeter than the frozen ones.   We used artificial crab meat instead of real crab meat for this recipe.  You can always substitute with real crab meat when crab is in season and much more affordable.

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Ingredients

  • 3 cups fresh corn kernels, about 2 corn
  • 2 stalks celery, diced
  • 2 avocados, pitted and diced
  • 2 tomatoes, diced
  • half white onion, diced
  • 1 1/2 cups jicama, diced
  • 2 cups crabmeat
  • 1/3 cup minced jalapeno peppers
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander
  • lettuce and corn chips for presentation

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This recipe makes 6 to 8 servings.

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Corn and Shrimp Tortilla Soup

Carol and Charlene worked on the Corn and Shrimp Tortilla Soup at the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors.  Looks like we had fewer participants for this cooking meet as Charlene and Stella have to pitch in to help out the teams.

This recipe is adapted from Cooking Light and it serves 8.

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This Corn and Shrimp Tortilla Soup has the sweetness from the corn, the springy texture from the shrimp and the crunchy texture from the tortilla and a little kick from the jalapeno.  This is a very refreshing soup with the hint of sourness from the lime juice and fresh cilantro.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chopped red bell pepper
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
  • 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
  • 1 (16 ounce) can fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 (8 ounce) bottle clam juice
  • 2 cups fresh corn kernels (about 4 ears) or frozen ones
  • 1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (we used frozen ones)
  • 1/2 cup chopped green onions
  • 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1/4 cup lime juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups coarsely crushed tortilla chips

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Squash, Corn and Lemongrass Soup

The Greenhouse Social Club of the Richmond Fruit Tree Sharing Project met once again on the last Thursday of the month for a cooking workshop. Arzeena is the organizer for this workshop and Karen Dar Woon will be the demonstrator for this workshop. Karen is the chef for the community meal at the Gilmore Park Church. The Gilmore Park Church community meal ended end of November and will resume in January. Karen can now concentrate on her own catering business in the month of December which is a very busy month for her. I enjoy Karen’s workshop as she always shares cooking tips with us.

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The star ingredient for this workshop is Squash. Above are a few of the squashes for the workshop. The large white squash is called Blue Magic. The smallest one is Acorn Squash while the remainder two are Japanese Squash or also known as turban squash.

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The first recipe for this workshop is called Squash, corn and Lemongrass Soup. The soup is velvety, light and sweet with a hint of freshness from lemongrass and cilantro. We enjoyed the soup so much that we had second helping of it. The recipe is taken from Gourmet, November 2007 by Lilian Chou.

Ingredients

  • 1 fresh lemongrass stalk, root end trimmed and 1 or 2 outer layers discarded
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons grape seed oil
  • 1 3/4 lbs kabocha or butternut squash
  • 2 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels (10 ounces; from 2 to 3 ears)
  • 5 cups water
  • cilantro leaves for garnishing

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Click on Read More for the instructions.

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