Cilantro Cumin Sauce

The original inspiration for this recipe was created by Ilene Rosen (Check out her book Saladish) and I stumbled across it via this New York Times Cooking recipe adapted by Melissa Clark. In my version below, I’m adding roasted sesame oil, skipping the MSG and otherwise unrefining it—let’s make a small batch and skip the hassle of the food processor!

This combination is mouthwatering and I’m excited to eat this up. Try it over rice noodles and thinly sliced kale with tofu, or over your grilled or roasted protein or veggies, as a salad dressing, or as a dip for crackers, crusty bread, naan or other flatbread. So many possibilities!

INGREDIENTS

1/4 toasted sesame oil (or a blend of extra virgin olive oil and toasted sesame oil)

2 heaping teaspoons of cumin seeds (or 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin)

1 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

2 tbs rice vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard or ground mustard seed

1 pinch chile, optional (could be cayenne, or of course, in my case, chiltepin)

1 tsp miso paste (optional, but adds good flavor!)

salt and pepper, to taste

sweetener, to taste (we have so much citrus, I’m using the juice of 1/2 a tangerine. You could also go with a little bit of honey or sugar.)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oil and cumin seeds in a small pan over medium-low heat for 2 to 3 minutes.

2. Let oil cool, then mix in the cilantro, vinegar, mustard, miso and chile

3. Add in the salt, pepper and sweetener to taste

Dig in or serve it up!

Pad Thai-Inspired Yummy Noodles-With-What-We-Got

We’ve tried growing pea shoots year round, but it’s this in this change to the cool season that they are the happiest! Just look at how beautiful they grew this week.

The cool season is here, I have to admit it. Even with the current warmth brought by the latest Santa Ana winds (that my bones jump to absorb!), you can feel the change in the crisp cool of the evening air. I’ve been grappling with my ritual conflicting feelings with this yearly season change. I must fend off the blues that come with thinking that I won’t be running into the warm ocean waves for many moons. I counter those feelings by looking ahead at the beauty of the rains to come AND the yummy cool season veggies that remind me that even in the cold of winter, life flourishes. One of these cool season veggies that we grow and my kids love are pea shoots! And what better to do with pea shoots than a makeshift Pad Thai-inspired dish that uses lots of what we’ve got. I should mention, staples in our house are peanut butter, miso paste, rice noodles and tamarind paste. I use Aunt Patty’s Tamarind Paste, which I can usually find at Sprouts. I love it because I don’t have to spend a bunch of time picking seeds out. I should also mention that this is by no means meant to rival or replace the authentic pad thai dish that we all love so much! If you’re interested in some invaluable tips (including a few key ingredients to add to your shopping list) for making that at home, check out this Edible San Diego article by Chef Fern Tran on Master Thai Take Out Recipes at Home.

Ok here’s this week’s quick recipe—

Ingredients:

3 carrots, grated into long thin strips with a potato peeler

1 bunch green onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

3 tbs tamarind sauce

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 tbs molasses or 4 tbs brown sugar and/or juice of 2 oranges (or some combination thereof depending on what’s around and the call of your sweet tooth…)

1 or 2 tbs peanut butter

1 heaping tbs miso paste

1 heaping tbs chile (again, use what you’ve got—dry or fresh, maybe chili paste or even Sriracha. I tend to grab the chiltepin for most chile-related matters)

1 or 2 boxes of tofu (depending on how many hungry mouths you’re feeding…my two kids are tofu-eating-monsters sometimes and could easily finish a whole box themselves)

1 package rice noodles (around 14 oz)

1 box pea shoots (or bean sprouts, of course, but I highly recommend the pea shoots here!)

cilantro (another cool season ‘weed’ once it’s established in your yard) if you’ve got it

1/2 bunch of kale (and/or cabbage), chopped into fine strips

1 cup peanuts (chopped or crushed)

lemon or lime to taste

Instructions:

Prepare rice noodles as directed on package, drain, toss with the tiniest bit of sesame oil and set aside.

In a sauce pan, stir fry green onions and garlic in a spoonful or two of sesame oil.

Add tofu and stir fry a bit more (the aim here is just to warm the tofu up)

Add tamarind paste, sweetener (this your choice blend of orange juice, molasses and/or brown sugar), soy sauce, peanut butter and chile (optional, if you want it all spicy—with kids, I keep the chile on the side so people can spice up their plate individually) and mix over heat for a couple of minutes. You probably want to add a little water here to make a nice thin sauce and get everything blended up, especially if you didn’t add the orange juice.

Turn off heat and add miso (this keeps the probiotic goodness of the miso alive)

Add rice noodles, pea shoots, kale, carrots and toss to coat

Top with chopped cilantro and peanuts and chile (if you didn’t add it in before) and a squeeze of lemon or lime

Enjoy!

Pico de Gallo Fresh and Simple Salsa Recipe

The freshest, most simple salsa recipe—pico de gallo (some also call it Salsa Bandera because, you know, red-green-white are the colors on the Mexican flag). I’m no flag waver of any kind, but I do love the tasty simplicity of this mix: Tomato, onion, chile, cilantro and lime. It brings so many dishes to life—a bowl of frijol de la olla (just fresh cooked beans in its own broth), a quesadilla, pretty much any taco or tostada, oh and nopales and verdolagas! And of course, all of the above-mentioned dishes look and taste great with a sprinkle of microgreens. There’s nothing like the raw goodness of this rainbow of fresh fruits and veggies to keep you healthy. The raw onion alone has so many medicinal properties!

So, here’s the basic recipe for a good-sized batch. Proportions can definitely be adjusted to your personal preference—

Ingredients:

1 lb tomato, diced (any kind will do! This could be roughly 1 large tomato, or 3 roma tomatoes or 1 dozen cherry tomatoes)

1 onion, diced (white is most traditional, but yellow, red or green onions could work, too!)

1 to 3 jalapeño or serrano chiles, finely chopped (you decide how spicy)

1/3 cup cilantro, chopped (I love it, but if you got someone with that weird cilantro-tastes-like-soap gene, you can leave it out or substitute with a handful of fresh oregano, maybe even parsley but that’s a big step away from Mexico and into Greece, I think!)

1 to 2 limes or lemon (the more you put, the better it keeps)

salt to taste

This fresh salsa has the best texture if eaten that same day but will keep just fine for a couple of days in the fridge.

Butternut Peanut Soup

Ingredients:

1 butternut

1 large onion and/or 1-3 shallots if you want to get fancy.

3 cloves garlic

2 heaping tbs chopped ginger (about a 1/4 cup)

4 heaping tbsp peanut butter

4 tbsp Soy sauce

Veggie boullion (1 or 2 cubes)

oregano

Salt and black pepper to taste

Kale (chopped in thin strips)

and/or any other veggies you want to toss in (carrots, broccoli and cauliflower are yummy additions but really, anything goes!)

Fresh herbs (basil, cilantro or parsley)

Lime

INSTRUCTIONS

Chop butternut and fry in olive oil or palm oil until browned

Transfer to a pot with just enough water to cover it and boil until soft. 

In the meantime, saute onions (and/or shallots)

Once soft, mash the butternut in the pot and then add the rest of the ingredients (except the fresh herbs and lime) and more water.

Bring to a boil and stir until peanut butter dissolves (just a few minutes)

Garnish with microgreens and/or fresh herbs (basil, cilantro or parsley works!)

And of course, I recommend a splash of lime juice and crushed chiltepin or cayenne in your bowl to spice it up.