Join Me For Merienda: Jesscafé - V,GF- Toasted Quinoa Salad

Hello everybody!

I hope that for most of you that spring has already begun and shown its signs. Over here, where I reside, it's still cold and in fact snowing at the moment =0 

The following recipe was requested a few months ago and I had it in queue, but didn't get to have all of the components to post it until now, but here we go =)

This is a multiple step recipe, but it is still a really easy one to put together, especially if you prepare some of the components in advance. It's also pretty simple because I use an electric rice cooker to get a near perfect quinoa cooked before adding in more flavorful ingredients, which create a simple dish with depth and complexity of flavor.

Jesscafé -Vegan and Gluten Free Toasted Quinoa Salad

Ingredients:

2 C Toasted Organic Quinoa*
3 1/2 C Filtered Water
1 TB Good Olive Oil 

1 Bay leaf

1 TB Shawarma spice or other favorite spice blend of your choice

1 Tsp Turmeric

1 Tsp Sumac
1 Tsp  Toasted Cumin Seeds
Dash of Himalayan Pink Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper to your taste

2-3 generous pinches of:

Organic- Basil, Oregano, Dill etc. (Use the herbs that you like)

Organic Dried Apricots/Cherries/Currants/Cranberries etc. (Your choice)

Toasted Sunflower Seeds/Pepitas/Sliced Almonds/Walnuts/ orPine nuts if you're feeling fancy ;p

Sauteed Vegetables-

Carmelized Red Onion

Variety of Bell Peppers chopped
Organic carrots chopped

Garlic

Vinaigrette:

1/3 C Apple Cider Vinegar

1 C  or less
Organic Extra Virgin Olive oil or any good quality oil

2-3 Tsp Good quality mustard
The rest of the herbs

Himalayan Pink Sea Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of Organic Sugar or organic fruit preserve of your choice (I have used an orange marmalade before)

* You could make this recipe without toasting the quinoa first and it will taste good, but it will not have the same nutty flavor and texture to it.

Method:

In order to expedite this recipe, you might consider making the vinaigrette, cooking the vegetables and caramelizing the onions the day before you cook the quinoa.

Caramelizing the red onions should be pretty straight forward, I cut the oinions into half moons, separate the rings, saute them in a good amount of olive oil, tossed with a tiny pinch of Himilayan pink salt and set to medium low heat and cook it down for about 20-25 minutes.

Making the vinaigrette is also fairly simple, just put everything together in a glass jar with a lid and shake vigorously. Stick it in the fridge. Done.

This is a recipe for a toasted quinoa salad, so you need to toast the quinoa first as well as the cumin seeds.I am not going to go into detail about pan toasting right now, but if you really want one in the future, I'll consider writing a future post about it. Here's a photo of the toasted quinoa:

Let the toasted quinoa cool slightly before putting it into your insert pot for the rice cooker, along with the bay leaf, toasted cumin seeds, shawarma spice, turmeric,sumac, half  the total amount of the herbs, 3 1/2 cups of filtered water, Himalayan pink Salt, freshly ground black pepper and olive oil. Stir together and then close the lid, select the 'White Rice,' setting and let it run its cycle. Once cycle is over, open up and check to see that the quinoa is done, you should be able to crush the grain easily, but it should still have some body to it (this is what the toasting lends to the quinoa, aside from a nuttier taste as well). Fluff the quinoa and then let it sit uncovered for 5 minutes more.

At this point, you could either leave the quinoa in the cooking pot or move it into another big mixing bowl.
Personally, as long as I have room and the heat doesn't bother the next components of the recipe, I'd rather keep it where it is, rather than dirtying another bowl/dish. My original toasted quinoa salad incorporated the vinaigrette, but you really could skip the vinaigrette all together and just mix in the sauteed vegetables and rest of the herbs and season to taste; if that's what you would prefer to do.

Fluff the quinoa again and then add in the vinaigrett in small increments and mix it in gently, taste the quinoa before adding in more vinaigrette. You don't want the quinoa swimming in it! Once you get it to the taste you want, you can then add in the cooked bell peppers,caroots, carmelized red onions, toasted sunflower seeds, dried fruit of your choice and add more herbs; if you desire. Keep tasting it as you're adding in the different components. Adjust your seasoning as you see fit. The residual heat of the quinoa helps the vinaigrette to be absorbed, but remember that as the quinoa cools down, the flavors will intensify.

I didn't add in any further fresh herbs to this mix because it was for a party and I wasn't sure if they enjoyed cilantro or not. You could always put some on the side as a option though =)

If you want a bit more herbal taste for the salad, you could add in some chopped flat leaf parsley/mint/cilantro (if you're not afraid of it ;p), probably an hour to 2 hours prior to serving,

You will be using a rice cooker for this recipe, but if you don't have a rice cooker, you can by all means cook it using the standard stovetop, just follow the directions on the package except for the water measurements, I would still use less than recommended. The usual ratio is for every 1 cup of Quinoa, use 2 cups of water, but in my recipe I suggest that you only use 3 1/2 cups of  filtered water for the 2 cups of dry Quinoa.

I bought this rice cooker (that also has a steam basket) for  a little under dollars. It's been a very good investment because I use it all the time, for a multitude of different dishes. 

My rice cooker has buttons for different settings, but you can still do this in a simpler rice cooker that only has an on/off switch, just check on it after it decides that it's 'done,' with its first cycle, if it still looks uncooked then go ahead and push the on switch again, but check it halfway during the cycle.

The flavors will keep on deepening as it sits overnight in the fridge. I would only mix in the final garnishes prior to serving at your gathering. I would also recommend letting the salad warm up a bit (not all the way to room temperature) before serving; so that all the flavors can be fully tasted.

I am sure that I may have skipped something, but I am more than happy to fill in any blanks. Please feel free to ask questions in the comment section.

May you all be well and enjoy this dish with your friends and loved ones!

Love,
Jessica

Join Me for Merienda: V,GF- Malunggay and Turmeric Rice

Can you comprehend that this year is nearly over?

I think like most of us, we're not sure where the time has gone.

A lot has happened this past year for me personally and for the world. I have had so many stories to share with you, but I haven't been able to let all the flood gates open, just yet. They are coming, but for now, in my own way I am paying tribute and homage to the Philippines by sharing this simple recipe with you.

I was in the Philippines not that long ago, in Metro Manila,Baguio,Pangasinan, Cebu and Bohol. When I came back from my trip, not even a  week had passed when, the earthquake struck and it decimated a lot of the places that I had seen in Cebu and Bohol. The feeling of helplessness because I cared about the people in those places that I had just been to and spent time with was intense. It reminded me a lot of the dark pit in my being after the attacks of September 11th. I had been in NYC not long before the attacks and spent a lot of time there at the World Trade Center, and I just thought of all those nice people who I met who were probably all gone. How does your heart not break or just turn to dust when bad things happen? Then Typhoon Haiyan struck and it was just senseless. Again the feeling of helplessness and anger of not being able to be there to physically help. It is now a month after the typhoon struck and everybody is still struggling. I am upset about so many things about how things were mismanaged for the preparation, the answer to the calls for help, basic needs and so on. I will be writing more about this in the future, but for now in my own way by sharing a part of my culture and experience from my trip, I remind myself and the people of the Philippines that they are never forgotten.

If you are inspired to help by giving a donation; the one that I can assure you is a 100% donation going towards the peopl is through the greatergood network. Please take a moment and follow this link to the greatergood network.

My brother also posted an entry about his experience and feelings about the current situation in the Philippines and you can check that post out, by clicking on The Canary Files.

Mahal kita, Pilipinas <3 I love you, Philippines

There are so many recipes that will be shared with you all, but today it will be a Malunggay and Turmeric Rice. This recipe was inspired by a meal that I had while I was in Baguio City. We had arrived in Baguio at 5am and visited the Ben Cab museum (which is tremendous and anybody who visits Baguio; should definitely go there for the art and also the food in the restaurant below it) went to the local markets and then came back to the hotel to rest a bit. My cousin had wanted to try and take us to a Vegetarian restaurant, but she had to leave early; so we couldn't go with her. We walked to the restaurant she suggested and the place was very interesting in décor, but the food was a bit lacking and they didn't seem to want to adjust anything on the menu for us (so it was difficult for us to really have a true meal, specifically for my brother and I). Then we headed downstairs (yes, we had to walk 5 flights of stairs to the restaurant!) and I reminded my brother about a deli with the name 'Greens,' in it and asked him if he wanted to check it out before we headed back to the hotel. Thank goodness we did because it was a revelation. Night and day in comparison to the experience that we had at the restaurant 5 flights above us. The service was awesome, the servers were willing to do whatever it took to make sure that we had a good meal, answered all our questions and always had a good attitude. True we had 'eaten,' upstairs, but we truly had a meal downstairs at the wonderful Azotea Greens Resto and Café.

Aside from the main dish that we chose, (I think it was called Tokwa sa Tinuktok) they had a choice of different types of rice: malunggay, turmeric, garlic ( of course) and plain. If you know my brother or myself; then you know that we ordered both malunggay and turmeric rice. Soooooo goooooooood! They were a perfect compliment to the main dish that we ordered which was tofu steaks that had been stewed in a coconut milk with chili based broth wrapped in nori. Naturally, I also tried mixing the malunggay and turmeric rice together and another lovely combination was born.

And now a photo show:

My brother standing in front of some of the dining area in the 'upstairs,' restaurant that was interesting, but didn't fit our bill.

My Dad, standing near some of the interesting décor in the 'upstairs,' restaurant.

At Azotea Greens Resto and Café, interesting art everywhere you look.

We had supernatural service! =)

Alkaline water for the win!!!

I will take that and then some, thank you very much!

One of the lighting fixtures. So cool.

The stars of my inspiration: The main dish was called Tinuktok and you can clearly see which type of rice is which.

Gorgeous Tinuktok

This is a real, 'Happy Meal.' 

Yesssssss!!!!

Is my brother tweeting about his glee?

Incredible meal, service and really affordable. We of course, left an awesome tip for them!

 Now back to the recipe and such. While I was in Cebu, we had a kitchen to use at our hotel and quite a few times I made a version of Malunggay rice, quinoa and so forth, using fresh malunggay leaves, but we although tasty; it wasn't the same as the experience at Azotea Greens.

Naturally, I bought a myriad of native ingredients to take back home to my 'lab,' with which to create and experiment. One of those ingredients was malunggay in powdered form. It was simply dried maluggay that had been pulverized. It looks similar to the green color of matcha green tea.

Back at home, I decided to bring it out one day and make a special rice. I went to my fridge and pulled out my turmeric that I had previously chopped and kept in olive oil. I sauteed about a tablespoon of chopped turmeric with some minced garlic and then added in some cooked short grain brown rice, coating it evenly and seasoning it with some pink himalayan sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. To finish it I added a heaping 2 tablespoons of malunggay powder and stirred it in to coat each kernel and added in a few splashes of water to 'revive,' it. Voila, my malunggay and turmeric rice was born.

As I went to eat it, the memories of Azotea came flooding back. Hurray!

Oh and I should include some links to what Malunggay and Turmeric are, just in case you are not familiar with these ingredients. If you're able to; please thank Wikipedia by donating a few bucks. Everybody uses it all the time; so if you're able to give a little; you know you'll get a lot back in return.

Malunggay is my type of gulay!

'Harvesting,' malunggay from a local tree in Villasis =)

Darasem!

Malunggay!!!!

Turmeric is terrific!

Turmeric in its fresh and dried/powdered form

V,GF - Malunggay and Turmeric Rice

Ingredients:

2-3 C Cooked short grain brown rice
1-2Tb Olive or any neutral oil
1 Tb of chopped fresh turmeric*
1-2 Cloves of Garlic minced
1-2Tb of Malunggay powder
2-3Tb of filtered water as needed
Himalayan Pink sea salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper, to taste

*A pinch of turmeric powder can be substituted, but the flavor will not be the same.

Method:

In a large skillet, sauté the turmeric and garlic together for a few minutes, just until you smell the turmeric and garlic. Immediately add in the cooked brown rice, moving it around to coat all kernels, seasoning it as you go. Let cook for a few minutes and then sprinkle the malunggay powder on top, stir it around to coat the kernels and then add in a few tablespoons of water to 'revive,' the rice. Stir around a few more times and then turn off the heat, leave on burner for a few minutes to settle and then it's ready to serve.

One of the most recent versions of my Malunggay and Turmeric rice. This one was made with an addition of scallions.

This is the current brand of Malunggay powder that I am using. I think I was able to buy it for less than 6  USD. You might be able to find this at Filipino/Asian markets, but if not; I guess you might be able to substitute chlorella or spinach powder, but it wouldn't be the same. Try it though!

One of the many versions of my Malunggay and Turmeric rice. Look at the gorgeous color and those toasted bits of turmeric and garlic dotted throughout it. Heaven =)

What can you serve this malunggay and turmeric rice with? The better question is, 'What can't, you serve this rice with? =)

I eat it along with any type of vegetables. A quick meal, I might add in some pepitas or sunflower seeds into it and mix it with some fresh salad greens etc. Yum, yum in my tum and it keeps me from feeling gutom (Gutom is Tagalog for 'hungry)!

So, this is my simple recipe for you that was inspired by the Philippines and their good will and upbeat attitude. I know that they are struggling right now, but they can never be broken. I will never turn a blind eye to them and I know that they can feel my love for them.

If, I don't post again before the end of this year; I hope that you all will have a wonderful new year filled with good health and lots of prosperity. Remember to always pay it forward and do whatever you can to help in whatever capacity that you can.

Wishing you lots of love and good health,

Jessica  <3

Join me for Merienda: Organic Carrot and Ginger Soup

Hello again,

It's been another stretch and so much has happened since the last post. I'm planning on a post about the Philippines, but for now it'll resides in my handwritten notes. Just be patient and it'll come =)

I've made this version of carrot and ginger soup a couple of times now. As almost all of the cooking and meals happen in my kitchen it was just out of happenstance. I think what prompted to me make soup was not only the chillier temperature outside, but also because my little niece was over for the weekend. Two of her favorite foods are noodles and soup. I remember that when she was maybe 8 months old how she loved eating the Veggie Curry that I had made. She didn't start getting to be a pickier eater until the last year, but you just have to keep on presenting different types of foods to children and just ask them to try it. They may not like it at first, but a few tries down the line they may enjoy it.  

This is a very easy and quick recipe as long as you do the prep work ahead of time. To speed up the cooking time as well as a means to retain almost all of the nutrients of the organic carrots; I steam them. I also do not peel the carrots (as long as they're organic) I just wash them very well. If you do this one day ahead it gives you one less thing to worry about. I haven't had a chance to substitute the carrots for other root vegetables, but I'm sure that parsnips, rutabagas, yams, sweet potatoes, squash would work just fine.

This could also potentially be a nice soup to bring to a potluck or for the holidays, but you don't need any special occasion to ever enjoy a great dish or meal =)

The swirl of paprika on top makes this bowl of soup look like one of our planets in the solar system. Can you guess which one? =)

                            

Organic Carrot and Ginger Soup- V,DF,GF

Ingredients:

3-5 Organic Carrots chopped into 2 inch lengths (pre-steamed)

2-3 Tb Canola or Safflower Oil

1-2 Tb of Organic Ginger minced

1 1/2 - 2 Stalks of Organic Celery diced

1/2 of an Organic Red Onion diced

4-6 Cloves of Organic Garlic minced

1 Organic Bay Leaf

A pinch of Cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Organic Turmeric

1/2 tsp Organic Paprika

1 tsp of either Shawarma spice or Poultry spice

A Tiny pinch of Nutmeg (Optional)

1 Cube of Organic Vegetable Bouillion or 1C of homemade vegetable stock

3 C of Filtered Water

1/4 C of Organic Almond or Rice Milk

Freshly Ground Black Pepper and Himalayan Sea Salt to taste

 Equipment needed:

A medium sized pot

Wooden spoon

Blender

Serves 4-6 people (depending on how big of a serving you give them ;p

Do you notice what's missing from this plate?

I had some fresh turmeric; so I thought I would give it a photo shoot =)

Method:

Add oil to the pot and saute the onions,ginger,celery,garlic with the bay leaf until you smell the onions,see the celery becoming transparent and the garlic becoming a bit golden. Add in the bay leaf, cumin seeds,turmeric,paprika,shawarma or poultry spice, vegetable bouillon cube and stir until you hear and smell the cumin popping and spices blooming (about 4-5 minutes depending on your stove-top, mine is electric so it may take longer than somebody's gas stove-top). You can now add in your filtered water and stir and bring it to a boil. You should make sure to give it a taste and add in a bit of salt if needed. Let it simmer for 5 minutes and then add in your steamed carrots and simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Take it off the burner and let it cool a minute or two and then add your soup to a blender, adding in the carrot pieces and other solids before the liquid being very careful not to burn yourself. Remember to pour away from yourself, not toward =) I recommend holding the top of the blender with a dish towel before blending it until smooth. Carefully empty the soup back into the pot and use the almond or rice milk to rinse the blender and add it into the rest of the soup. You can add more or less depending on if you want the consistency to be thicker or thinner. Taste the soup again and adjust your seasonings. I would add in your tiny dash of nutmeg in at this point and stir it in and let it sit a minute. 

If you wanted a smoother soup you could always run it through a sieve, but I think that the soup is fine unfiltered. I would describe this soup as having a velvety body and is quite substantial. This type of soup is really good on a cold day. The ginger and spices make it a  bone and soul warming soup =)  Inversely, this is also a good soup to eat chilled and in the summer time it is very refreshing.

This soup will also hold up well in the freezer. If you intend to freeze it; I would first freeze it into single portions and then tightly seal them in zip-top bags or vacuum seal them. To thaw, simply refrigerate until you're ready to use and then reheat.

Soup's on!

I hope you enjoy this recipe and that you all have nice holidays with your loved ones.


Wishing you good health and happiness!


Love,
Jessica