Celery Root Salad - Antillana Supermarket

 The whole multi-cultural experience reveals interesting things from time to time.

As a kid, I used to love a salad made from Celery root, but most supermarkets do not carry it. Once in a while, I could find it at the Green Market by Virginia Park (Parkchester Station), but it was hit or miss.

Now we have a new Antillana Supermarket at 2750 East Tremont Avenue. They carry celery root, and I made my favorite salad immediately.

The recipe is simple, you need to vary it with the size of the root, but here it is:

Celery root.

And here again, before I skinned it with a potato peeler.

On the left you see them skinned and quartered and above,
and above I julienne them to match stick size.

And finally the end result.

Here is the super simple recipe:

• one celery root, julienned to match stick size.
• juice of 1-2 lemons depending on size,
• about 2 tbsp honey per lemon
• about 2-3 tbsp of raisins per each lemon (soak in warm water first, till they are soft)

Mix it all together, let it marinate in the fridge for a day, it is always better the second day.

You can eat this on toast or a cracker. I love it on a Wasa cracker.

And now the mission is to find out what the Dominicans make with it. 😉

Begian Endives Oven Dish

I made this with fingerling potatoes and some mushrooms on the side, and a salad.

Absolutely 5 star!!!

Belgian Endive with Besan Sauce

for two

Ingredients

8-12 heads of Belgian endive, cored and sliced 1/4"

4/5 red skin potatoes

1 medium/large onion, cut-up fine.

1 Tbsp Panch Puran

4-6 cloves of garlic

1-2 thumb sized pieces of turmeric, grated, or a tsp of turmeric powder

2-3 tbsp besan flour

2-3 tbsp pinenuts & cashew, minced (food processor)

2-3 tbsp nutritional yeast

1/4 tsp of black salt (kala namak)

1 cup veggie stock

1 tbsp panch puran

3-4 tbsp Panko Whole Wheat bread flakes

Directions

dry roast pine nuts briefly and put aside

dry roast panchpuran

cutup the onion

caramelize the onion for 5 mins at medium high dry roast, with the panch puran

mince the garlic

grate the turmeric

add the garlic and turmeric

stir fry at medium high for 5 mins while slowly adding about 1/4- 1/2 cup of veggie stock

add besan, ground-up nuts, nutritional yeast and black salt, add the rest of the veggie stock

cook for 10-15 mins at medium while stirring with a whisk to make sure the besan is dissolved and does not clump.

boil or steam the potatoes

steam the Belgian endives for 30 mins

Preheat oven to 350F

cut the endives in half lengthwise

arrange an oven dish with endives in the center and cubed potatoes (with skin) around the edges, and cover with the besan sauce ( this amount of sauce is sufficient for making this dish twice, or for 4 people instead of two).

bake for 20-25 mins at 350F, allowing some of the moisture from the endives to boil off, and the sauce to thicken, with a light crust forming on the sauce.

finish with 5-7 minutes under the broiler to brown the top.

Precooked Belgian Endives, covered with the Besan Sauce.

Panko flakes for a finishing touch

Ready to go

350 Oven 30 mins

P.S.: Another pitch for titanium pans, roasting the pine nuts, and then the panch puran was never easier, and then to caramelize the onions, first dry and then with gradual addition of some veggie broth, or water with Yondu.

Locro de Lentejas revisited

First:
Locro de lentejas means Lentil Stew, not lentil soup, this is intended to to be a meal. "You can stick a fork in it."

In our cooking classes, we made this recipe, which came from Fatima, in one of the early classes. The original recipe is from Ecuador, and quite mild, but my interpretation has some jalapeños and serranos in it. I like it with just a little "zing" and the juice of one lime is the finishing touch.

We had a few minor glitches, but it came out OK.

I was motivated however to do it again and specifically also to use my Forever pan Pro, which is made with Titanium for the dry roast of the panchpuran and the onions, etc. and that worked very well - see pics.

Browning the onions, in the forever pan, while gradually adding some water with Yondu.

I also put in 2 celery stalks sliced thin and a grated carrot.

And then all the spices before transferring it to the soup pot. Then I added the broth.

The cabbage is added on the right.

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Recipe: ================================
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Locro de Lentejas (Ecuador)

Lentil soup with Cabbage

blogspot.com

Ingredients

1 tsp panchpuran

one small green or savoy cabbage, quartered and sliced in 1/4" strips

1 white onion cut up in small pieces,

2-3 large red onions, sliced thin

1-3 serrrano peppers - to taste

2-3 jalapeño peppers, sliced thin (without seeds)

1 cup water with 1 tsp Yondu

6 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped fine.

1-2 king mushroom cut in strips, or other mushrooms

2 celery stalks

1 shredded carrot

1 tbsp tienjin vegetables (optional)

1 teaspoon of savory

1 teaspoon of tarragon

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp thyme

5 bay leaves

2 pints of low sodium vegetable stock

1 lb whole lentils

1 lb young potatoes (the kind with the thin skin, either yukon gold or redskin), quartered or smaller, depending on the size and personal preference

1 cup of barley (I consider this optional, if you want more "substance," than soup)

2-3 pints of water

1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 lime (juiced - optional)

Braggs Liquid Aminos, to taste, alternatively gochujang, or better than bouillon veggie bouillon

If using miso instead dissolve one heaping tablespoon of miso paste in water and add at the end and use less liquid aminos - never cook the miso.

Directions

Dry roast the panchpuran just enough to release the flavor.

Dry fry the onions with the peppers, panchpuran and the king mushroom over a low flame for about 5 minutes until they get soft and start to brown. Add the cup of water with Yondu during this process, so it does not stick to the pan.

Once the onions are sufficiently caramelized, add garlic, the vegetable stock and the herbs, the lentils and the potatoes (with about a 15-20 minute delay). Let cook for another 10-15 minutes, and add the cabbage.

Let it simmer for 30-60 mins. until the cabbage is soft.

At the end, add some miso, dissolved in water and some chopped cilantro. If you want it spicier, you can use gonchujang instead.

(Notes:

1) Some people would peel the potatoes, but if you buy thin-skinned potatoes, you can easily cook them in the skin, even cut-up: you lose less nutrition that way.

2) Evidently, you can vary the herbs and spices to taste.

3) Don't boil the miso, or gonchujang, just dissolve in hot water and add at the end.

4) I like to make it spicy, but the traditional Ecuadorian way is mild.

Strawberry's - a Treasure Trove of Mexican Herbs and Spices

 My core shopping area relative to my own apartment and also for the cooking classes at St. Helena's is what I call the Starling Avenue Triangle, which is formed by three supermarkets,

1. Chang - Li on Benedict Avenue, across the street from St. Helena's.
2. Key Foods on Unionport Avenue
3. And what used to be Pioneer, but it is now SuperFresh at 1345 Castle Hill Avenue.

In between lies a Mecca for food shopping with the whole range of South Asian flavors, mostly Bangladeshi, with some Indian thrown in for good measure.

Some of the outliers are a WestIndian store by Castle Hill Station, and an African Store, as well as another Bangladeshi supermarket on Castle Hill Avenue, and then two Mexican stores that are a bit further out:

1. Frutas Y Vegetales La Reyna at 1300/1302 Beach Avenue, Corner Westchester Avenue
2. Strawberry Farm, at 2403A Westchester Ave, between Zerega Avenue and Rowland Street, which is not exclusively Mexican, but they have a veritable  treasuire trove of Mexican herbs and spices. Recommended!

I leave just the photographic evidence here:

They had three kinds of Mexican Oregano, just leaves in two forms, or with the stems, to make tea when you have a cold or the flu.

Lois Lynn, nutritionist

 Funnily enough, today, my first cooking class was canceled because people had scheduling problems or were late paying. Then I saw the announcement for Lois Lynn, who was doing a presentation and a book signing at the Bloomingdale library on West 100th Street, all about meal planning on the basis of whole foods, plant based nutrition principles.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I will let the pictures do the talking.

Delicious cold Mung bean noodles with a sesame sauce.

And fresh veggies cut up as a garnish with the noodles, and more sesame seeds and/or sauce if you wanted it.

And a lovely drink, Golden Milk, based on almond milk and some almond butter, with a ton of spices: dates, peppercorns, cardamom, clove, cinnamon, turmeric and ginger.

And here is a pic of me with the author.

Great Barbers Eat Plants

I got a kick out of Trump´s visit to the Knockout Barbershop at 1189 Castle Hill Avenue, around the corner from me. It turned out, of course that Trump was entirely correct in sensing that people are ready for change, and with the team he brought in, he also showed he is ready for change.

To celebrate the positive mood, we organized a plant-based lunch for the crew. 

Clearly. this stuff went over really well. I kept it moderately spicy, and that worked out well, as always when you do not know your crowd in advance.

For the occasion, owner Javier Rodriguez donned his T-shirt

MAKE BARBERS GREAT AGAIN

And people were really enjoying the food.

And some people came back again and again.

It started out with a trickle, but once I announced I was leaving, the food disappeared very fast.

Javier Rodriguez sampling the food.

We had one box of  Black Bean Salsa

Ingredients

2 cans of black beans, drained

One 15 Oz can of Corn

Bunch of fresh Cilantro

1-2 celery stalks, sliced thin

Juice of 2-3 limes (depending on how juicy the lime)

16 Oz jar of medium green salsa

Liberal amount of pickled jalapenos.

Directions

Soak and Cook the beans with a kombu strip (Abt. 45 mins.), or simply drain the cans and rinse the beans.

Slice the peppers, especially the hot ones, as thin as possible, and small chunks.

Celery also, paper thin slices are the way to go, that way, the taste blends throughout. (Use the mandoline).

Wash and chop up the cilantro

Add lime juice, mix in the black beans and the salsa.

Mix well.

And we had:

Cactus Salad - Ensalada de Nopales

It all started with Tacqueria Tlaxcalli 
mexicoinmykitchen.com

Ingredients

Cactus leaves

Red Onions

Tomato

Pressed Tofu in lieu of ch

2-3 TBS¨P of nutritional yeast

Cilantro

(Mexican) Oregano

Sliced Radish 

Serrano peppers or pickled Jalapeño

3/2/1 dressing with lemon and lime

a sprinkle of Green Salt

Pepper to taste

Directions

Cut the nopales paddles in 1/2" strips and cut those to 1" lenghts. Cooked: boil the nopales paddles in ample water for 15-20 mins with a small onion and some garlic in the water.Let cool.

Place the nopales in a large bowl; add the chopped tomato, onion, serrano peppers, radish and cilantro. Mix the ingredients.

In a separate bowl mix the dressing with oregano, salt, and pepper.

Add this to the nopales mixture and stir.

Top the salad with crumbled fresh cubed tofu and the nutritional yeast and avocado slices.

(Radishes go well with this salad also).

Eat with corn tortillas or tostadas.

And they still have the picture of Trump coming to visit the shop.

Lots of fun was had by all. 

We'll do it again after the inauguration.