Tender Steak Roll filled with Vegetables

The South Arm Community Kitchen made the main dish last as it is to be consumed hot.

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The main dish we made was Tender Steak Roll filled with Vegetables. This can be grilled or pan fried.

Ingredients

  • 8 thin slices sirloin or flank steak
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Rosemary, chopped and crushed
  • 1 red pepper, sliced into thin strips
  • 1 medium zucchini, sliced into thin strips
  • 1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
  • a few mushrooms, cut into thin slices

For the Rosemary Balsamic Glaze

  • 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 large clove garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup dark balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons dry red wine
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • Rosemary
  • 1/4 cup vegetable stock

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Source: South Arm Community Kitchen

Serves 8

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Garlic Parmesan Roasted Broccoli

The South Arm Women Community Kitchen serves a side dish of Garlic Parmesan Roasted Broccoli with the Beef Stew with Noodles.

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These roasted broccoli flowerets come together with just few minutes of preparation time. It’s the perfect and easiest side dish to any meal.

Broccoli Health Benefits from Medical News Today

Broccoli contains high level of fiber (both soluble and insoluble) and is a rich source of vitamin C.

In fact, just a 100 gram serving of broccoli will provide you with more than 150% of your recommended daily intake of vitamin C, which in large doses can potentially shorten the duration of the common cold.

Broccoli is also rich in vitamin A, iron, vitamin K, B-complex vitamins, zinc, phosphorus and phyto-nutrients.

Phyto-nutrients are compounds which lower the risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and certain cancers, according to the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.

Ingredients

  • 24 ounces (5 cups) broccoli florets
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
  • juice of 1 lemon

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Source: This recipe is from http://damndelicious.net/

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Veggie Swords

The South Arm Older Adults Cooking Club served “Its Greek to Me” Chicken with Veggie Swords.

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These Veggie Swords are great on the BBQ too although we broiled them in the oven.

Ingredients

  • 8 cherry tomatoes
  • 1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and each half cut into 8 pieces
  • 1/2 medium onion, cut and separated to get 16 pieces
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 3/4 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary
  • 1/2 medium garlic clove, minced
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

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Source: Healthy Family Meals, American Heart Association

Serves 4, 1 kebab each

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Ian Lai’s Asian Inspired Soup

May is Asian Heritage month.  The City of Richmond and Richmond Food Security Society once again present Chef Mr. Ian Lai in demonstrations of healthy, fun, affordable and locally sourced Asian inspired cooking. Cooking demonstrations that will inspire you to create fresh and tasty food from the best Richmond and Lower Mainland ingredients. This is Ian Lai’s third year involvement in this event.

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Ian Lai shared with us why he keeps coming back to this event. As an Asian with heritage from Canton, China but grew up in South Africa, Ian continues to search what it means to be Asian. He even made a trip to Beijing recently but still unable to find his answer.

Ian realizes that he identifies his Asian heritage through food as he spends a lot of time cooking and enjoying food with Asian flare.

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The first recipe that Ian demonstrated is a Mixed Vegetable Chicken Soup. It is a light broth loaded with lots of seasonal vegetables.

Ingredients

  • chicken bones from 1 chicken
  • 2 pieces star anise
  • 2 pieces dried tangerine peel
  • 1 chunk of ginger, cut into half and smashed
  • 8 to 10 fresh shiitake mushrooms, remove and reserve the stems, slice or quarter
  • 1 package of enoki mushroom, remove ends and loosen the needles
  • 1 medium zucchini, rough chopped
  • 4 to 5 new potatoes or red potatoes (not russet), diced
  • 6 to 8 baby bok choy, cut into half
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 cup oyster sauce
  • chopped green onions and cilantro for garnishing
  • sambal oelek, optional

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Source: Ian Lai

P/S: some of the ingredients above are for another recipe.

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Spiced Carrot and Celery Soup

Minoo prepared four recipes for the South Arm Community Kitchen for this meet. We started with a simple, colourful, lively and warming soup.

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The simple carrot and celery is spiced up with curry powder. You can add any leftover food like ham or roasted chicken shreds into the  soup to make it more appealing to kids. The addition of potatoes or grains will make it more creamy and hearty.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder
  • 6 medium carrots, diced
  • 4 large sticks of celery, diced
  • 4 cups water or vegetable stock
  • salt and pepper to taste

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Source: this recipe is adapted from Vegan Family House (UK)

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Chinese Assorted Vegetable Stir Fry

Joanna decided to demonstrate a Chinese Assorted Vegetable Stir Fry at the Caring Place Community Kitchen when approached by Minoo. She told us that she just watched this stir fry recipe on the TV and want to put it to practice. Joanna had demonstrated Fried Magu Rice Vermicelli in this kitchen earlier.

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This Chinese Assorted Vegetable Stir Fry is a vegetarian dish. Joanna got the inspiration from another TV show to add lily bulb into the stir fry.

Ingredients

  • 2 carrots, peel and thinly slice
  • a small bag of snow pea, destring and cut into half
  • a handful of dry lily bulb, soak in cold water overnight
  • 6 to 8 fresh shiitake mushroom, slice
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 green onion, green part only, slice
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • salt to taste

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If you use dried shiitake mushroom, you will need to reconstituted in warm water for 2 hours.

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Dry lily bulb can be bought from Chinese herbal or groceries stores. Fresh lily bulb is also available from Chinese groceries stores. Lily bulb looks like garlic and the bulb is made with layers that resemble onion. It is a crunchy texture.

According to Joanna, lily bulb is good for the skin, cancer control and prevent inflammation. From my earlier post on Ching Po Leung, lily bulb benefit includes moisten the lung, cooling the body, stop cough and sore throat, lower fever, etc.

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Joanna came from the province of Jiang Xi, China. Joanna told us her province has beautiful mountains. Her village has a small river but the people there do not like picnic at the river because there is no facilities like picnic table and toilet.  The villagers have rice fields and raise their own chicken, grow their own vegetables and fishing for food. She said the life there is hard as there is not enough food. When asked if she misses her hometown, she said she usually feels homesick during Chinese festivals like Chinese New Year, Ching Ming, Dragon Boat Festival and Moon Cake Festival.

Source: Joanna

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Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini

Minoo served the Hoisin Baked Cauliflower with Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini. Tahini or sesame paste is a paste of ground sesame seeds used in cooking. Sesame paste is a popular ingredient in some Chinese, Korean and Japanese dishes. East Asian sesame paste is made from unhulled seeds, hence it is bitter than tahini. Tahini which is sesame paste from North Africa and West Asian is made with hulled, lightly roasted seeds is milder in flavour.

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The Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini has a nutty flavour and sourish flavour from the lemon juice.

Cauliflower got its name from Latin caulis (cabbage) and flower. Cauliflower is low in fat but high in dietary flber, folate, water and vitamin C. As part of the cabbage family, cauliflower contains several phytochemicals which protects against cancer, particularly prostate cancer. Boiling cauliflower reduces the levels of phytochemical significantly; for e.g. 20-30% after five minutes of boiling, 40-50% after ten 10 minutes and 75% after thirty minutes. However, other preparation methods like steaming. microwaving and stir frying had no significant effect on the compounds.

Ingredients

  • 1 large head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 4 tablespoons of olive oil
  • salt to taste
  • 1/4 cup of tahini
  • 3 tablespoons water
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley for garnishing

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Source: Minoo

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Vegetable Noodle Soup

Minoo prepared 3 recipes for the South Arm Community Kitchen.  A Vegetable Noodle Soup, a Chicken Chili and the Lemon Pudding which I had blogged earlier.

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This Vegetable Noodle Soup is a great vegetarian dish if you use tofu instead of chicken. It will be a great dish for the cold season if you made it with chicken stock.

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons sasame oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 medium potato, peeled and diced
  • 2 large carrots, diced
  • 1 small yellow bell pepper, diced
  • 1 teaspoon each dried thyme, oregano, cilantro and ginger
  • 5 cups water (more if it’s too dry)
  • 1/2 inch bunch (2 oz) whole grain spaghetti, snapped in shorter lengths
  • 2 cups cooked chicken or firm tofu, cubed
  • 1 1/2 cups broccoli, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon tamari
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 teaspoon red chili flakes for garnish

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Source: unknown

Serves 8

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Chop Suey

The second Chinese theme recipe which Marian shared in the South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors is Mix Vegetables Stir Fry which also common known as Chop Suey.

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You can be creative in this recipe that you can used up all the leftover vegetables and meat. It is a great recipe to clear your refrigerator.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup chicken, cut up into bite size
  • 1 cup broccoli, cut into flowerets
  • 1 cup cabbage, shredded
  • 1 cup cauliflower, cut into flowerets
  • 1 cup snap peas
  • 1 medium carrot, scrub and thinly sliced into coins shape
  • 1 red pepper, cut into medium pieces, same size of the carrot
  • 1 can chestnut or fresh ones
  • 1 can baby corns
  • 1 can mushroom of your choice, Marian used oyster mushroom in this recipe
  • 1 medium onion, peel and slice
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce or soy sauce
  • garlic powder, ginger powder, salt and pepper to marinate chicken
  • cooking oil
  • sesame oil

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Source: Marian

Serves 4

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French Cuisine – Ratatouille

It’s been a while since I attended the Caring Place Community Kitchen. The reason is Minoo usually demonstrates very simple and old recipes which I had blogged before for this group of participants. The Caring Place participants are mostly new immigrants or people who just started to learn to cook. Occasionally, we will get a participant who are willing to share some very ethnic cuisines and Minoo will let me know to join such kitchen.

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For this kitchen, we are glad to have Cecile to demonstrate some French recipes. Cecile is borned in Africa (not sure which part, South, maybe) and raised in France. The first recipe that Cecile shared with us is Ratatouille, a popular summer vegetables stew when zucchini, tomatoes and egg plants are plentiful.

Ratatouille can be served as a side dish along meat or fish entrees or as an entree itself when serve with rice. Left over Ratatouille can be served over omelet or pasta. The Ratatouille is usually better the next day when reheated.

Ingredients

  • 4 small or 2 big zucchinis (courgettes), peel and cut into small cubes
  • 2 small or 1 medium egg plant, peel and cut into small cubes
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 bunch of green onions, chopped
  • 1 x 780g can diced tomatoes (or fresh tomatoes if available)
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Bouquet garni herb mix, about 2 teaspoons
  • Herbes de Provence mix, a handful
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 splash of Balsamic vinegar

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For this kitchen, we used a combination of fresh and can tomatoes.

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The photo on the left is the Bouquet garni herb mix which comprises of thyme, bay leaf, marjoram and parsley. You may click on the photo of the of the Herbs de Provence to see the contents of it.

Source: Anna

Serves 5 to 6

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