Recipes I just like
These are just recipes of things that I like to make.
- Aku poki
- Fruit Juice Popsicles (with photo)
- Non-alcoholic, Caffeine-free Tiramisu
- Sautéed Spiced Kale
- Three
Summer Coolers
Sautéed Spiced Kale
1 bunch of kale
1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 shallot, chopped fine
1 small onion, chopped fine
1/2 finger of ginger, grated or chopped fine
2 cloves of garlic, crushed or chopped fine
3 tsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbl powdered coconut milk
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 - 1/2 cup water
Chop and measure all ingredients before cooking. Combine salt, cumin seed, turmeric, and powdered coconut milk. You'll want a medium to large bowl to hold the chopped kale.
Heat large skillet and then add oil and heat. Add mustard seeds and stir to coat and cook a little. Add chopped shallot and sautée 2-3 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and combine with other ingredients.
Add water and stir. Add spice mixture and stir.
Add 1/3 (or more) of the kale and stir. As it becomes easier to stir it without tossing pieces out of the pan, add more kale till it's all in the pan. Stir until the kale is a bright, vivid green, such as when it's steamed. It should be firm, not soggy and fairly dry.
Serve hot or cold.
Variation:
This recipe works well with Brussels sprouts too. Just wash and cut the
bottoms off the sprouts. Boil enough water to cover and blanche the sprouts
for 5-6 minutes. Remove from boiling water and run under cold water immediately
(to stop them from over-cooking). Cut in half and add to the cumin-coconut
mixture in lieu of the kale. I usually make about 550 g of sprouts. Serve
hot.
1 cup sugar*
5 large eggs, separated
500 g mascarpone, room temperature
approximately 40 Löffelbiscuits (or ladyfinger cookies)
2 cups brewed decaf espresso or decaf Bustelo® coffee
2 tsp rum extract (not aroma or essence!)
cocoa (unsweetened)
25 g dark chocolate shavings (optional)
Combine sugar and egg yolks with a whisk. Gradually add mascarpone until mixed thoroughly. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites till stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into mascarpone mixture.
Add rum extract to espresso and stir. Briefly submerge cookies in the espresso and cover the bottom of a large glass dish or plastic container big enough to hold 3+ liters.
Coat the biscuits with half of the mascarpone mixture. Dust the mascarpone well with cocoa powder, then sprinkle with chocolate shavings. Place another layer of dunked biscuits, mascarpone, cocoa and chocolate shavings on top of the first.
Cover and chill overnight before serving.
*Note: Do not use rum aroma or essence because they are oily and will not blend with the coffee, but will sit like little oil slicks on top of the coffee. This will result in little hot spots of rum flavoring in your tiramisu, rather than a hint of it throughout.
Aku Poki (Hawaiian marinated, raw fish)
450 g fresh tuna or swordfish
or octopus*
/2 cup soy sauce (Japanese style)
1 finger ginger, grated
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 stalks scallions
1 dried chili (optional)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
Prepare all ingredients and mix together. Let marinate for 4 - 5 hours. Serve cold and raw. Try not to make a spectacle of yourself gobbling it up.
3 oranges
500 g strawberries (ripe, in season)
5-6 kiwis (ripe!)
4-6 popsicle molds & sticks
This is a fun recipe you can make with your kids.
Mash the strawberries. You can purée them or mash them very well, depending on whether you prefer a more even texture or some strawberry lumps in your fruity ice.
Pour the juice into the molds, just till they're about 1/3 full. Then freeze for an hour.
Squeeze the oranges and pour the juice on top of the strawberry, leaving about 1/3 left for the next layer. Be sure to figure in some room for expansion. Freeze for 45 minutes to an hour (depending on how good your freezer is and how long your sticks are). You may need to be able to push the sticks into this middle layer a bit. You don't need to have it be very frozen to stand up against the next layer, but if it's not frozen enough, there will be some blending of the juices.
Most people peel kiwis, but I have a cheap spoon with a rather sharp edge and prefer to cut the kiwi in half and scoop the fruit out. It's much faster and easier and you waste much less of the fruit. Purée the fruit with a hand blender and then pour through a strainer or sieve to remove the seeds. Then pour the remaining layer, taking care to allow some room for expansion, insert the sticks and freeze for several hours.
Note: Make sure you use very ripe fruit because things lose their flavor quite a bit when they get frozen. You have to have very flavorful fruit to have tasty popsicles. We've made orange-kiwi popsicles and they were also very good, although not quite as pretty. I tried banana once, but it was a pain to get the mashed fruit into the mold.
If you have store-bought popsicle molds, there should be a little mark that indicates where you should pour to. Not respecting this can lead to a lovely frozen mess all over the bottom of your freezer. Sound like the voice of experience? It is!
Cranberry Cooler
1 slice or wedge of lime, squeezed (about 1/8 of a lime)
200 ml club soda
50-75 ml cranberry juice
Orange Cooler
1 slice or wedge of lemon, squeezed (about 1/8 of a lemon)
200 ml club soda
50-75 ml orange soda
Passion Fruit Cooler
1 slice or wedge of lemon, squeezed (about 1/8 of a lime)
300 ml club soda
25 ml passion fruit nectar
Mix ingredients. Soda and juice or nectar should be mixed and served cold. Delicious on hot summer days or on any other day. To garnish, a slice of the fruit can be slit to the middle so that it slips onto and sits on the rim of the glass.
