curried squash and bean broth soup?

Am pondering this one. Should I do it? I have nothing to loose. This might possibly be tomorrow's lunch, part of it, anyway.

So I made curried squash, carrots and spinach the other day. The curry sauce turned out fabulous, but the mix with squash wasn't good. The squash is too sweet to be in a curry. Unless it takes a minor roll in the dish. This time the squash makes up half my curry. I've eaten several portions but have gotten sick of it, and I still have like two more large servings of it. So am thinking of blending it with a bit of bean broth I have on hand....probably tomorrow though. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Wednesday July 2: The soup turned out quite well. It's much tastier than the curried squash stirfry. The big chunks of squash were too sweet. Blended with everything else they turned out yummy.

baked falafel

So I made baked falafel for lunch today, following a mixture of recipes, as always.

Ingredientes:
15 1/2 oz canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup parsley, or cilantro, fresh, chopped
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

I mashed this all together by hand because my blender is no substitution for a food processor, no matter how stubborn I am, it just doesn't blend some things -- like garbanzo beans. Anyway than I formed the doughish substance in little patties and fried them in about 2-3 tablespoons of oil. Then I cooked them in the oven at 350°F for perhaps 25 minutes.

Than I chopped tomatoes, cucumber, cilantro and mixed this together with a bit of lemon juice.

And I blended an entire garlic head (peeled and whatnot) with 1/2 cup of olive oil and a bit of cilantro and then added a tablespoon of lemon juice. Then I mixed half of this with like 150 grams of natural yogurt.

Then you cut the top off the pita, and stuff it full of these ingredients.

The recipe turned out pretty well. This is only the second time I made falafel. The first time was like 5 years ago and I was so traumatized by the experience that I didn't try again until today. Hahahaha.

Next time I'll probably cook the garlic bulb in the oven maybe 10-15 minutes before blending it with the oil, because the sauce turned out sooooo strong, burn your mouth strong. And next time I won't forget the salt!!! That sure complicates things. Overall I was satisfied with the results for the first time in forever that I made falafel, but the one thing that bothered me is that the inside of the falafel patties weren't at all "bready", like I've eaten before. Cuak. Anyone have any tips?

back to medieval times...mmm almond milk

I made some tasty almond milk yesterday. It's just a bit pricier than real milk at about 1.000 pesos the liter (It takes one cup of almonds to make a liter).

Almond milk:

• 1 cup of almonds (soaked overnight in a couple cups of water)
  
• a few dates
• vanilla extract or artificial rum or some other flavoring
  
• 3 cups of water

Throw the strained soaked almonds in the blender with dates and a cup of water. Blend until well blended, add 2 more cups of water and vanilla and blend some more. Then strain in fine strainer holding on to the almond pulp to put in cookies, granola, to eat straight, whatever. Drink milk. It's supposed to keep 3 days in the fridge, but Vuko and I drank it all right away. Yummy

Next time I may add 4 cups of water to see if I can make the almonds go a little further.

Back in the medieval day, apparently people drank almond milk rather than cow's milk because it kept longer in those pre-refrigerator times. That's what I read on the internet anyway.

Shop at Suitt

Woah. My bud Fer and I came across a sweet place to buy dried fruit, nuts, and Belgian chocolate. I soo recommend shopping here. It's cheaper and tastier than the supermarket. To date I've bought dates, almonds, coconut flakes, coconut cubes--extremely sweet-to die for, Belgian chocolate - pretty good, huesillos-the best huesillos I've ever eaten. I repeat, everything I've tried is tasty and cheaper than the supermarket. Suitt is on Miraflores between huérfanos and Merced.

Food, food, food

So today I made merluza and mashed potatoes for lunch. The cooking time was soooo much longer than what the recipes said. It turned out pretty good for a first try. I'll post the recipe after I've made it a couple times.

Lately, I've been thinking about how to be a locavore in Northern Minnesota, and have thought of some ways of going about it:
pumpkin pancakes -- I found a recipe that looks just fabulous
hunting deer - there are tons of them..possible recipes:

• venison stir-fry
• venison curry
• grilled venison steak?
• venison paella (made with wild rice if possible, hehe)
• venison cazuela
• whatever the Ojibwes ate
  

Another recipe that occurred to me:
The Up North sushi roll, consisting of wild rice and fresh walleye in a maple syrup sauce. Yummy. Someday, when I make it, I will post a picture. Hahaha.

I found a super interesting website that talks about food and diet. For people interested in healthy diet, I recommend checking it out. It's actually a pdf file that describes the "Intergrative Nutrition" program in NYC, like for people who want to study nutrition. But the actual pamplet they have prepared is intriguing. They even have posted a new food pyramid, the best one I've ever seen, might I add.

dish/food repertoire

When I took piano lessons back in the day, my teacher enfasized the importance of having a repertoire of songs that you play well (and hopefully by memory), so that, should the opportunity arrise, you can play a few songs for friends, family or whoever.

I've found that this strategy is good for food as well. It's nice to have a bunch of tasty dishes that I can just whip up when need be. So here is a my repertoire list:

• chopsui de curry
• sour chickpeas
• enchiladas
• cazuela
• pesto
• vegetables and/or meat in almond sauce
• hashbrowns - I make this as a meal with lots of vegetables like grated carrot, onions, green peppers, and sometimes other veggies I have laying around. I use a ton of oil and salt. That's the key to achieving tastiness
  

can also do:

• pork chops and mashed potatoes
• hamburgers
• french fries
• sushi
• fajitas
• burritos
  

and I hope to incorporate these dishes into my repertoire soon:

• merluza - my suegra's got a great recipe for merluza made in the oven
• paella
• falafel (I hope to find a recipe for baked falafel)
  

One of my favorite desserts lately is grated apple and coconut milk topped with cinnamin, nutmeg, ground cloves, and sweet garam masala. I think I'm addicted to coconut milk, but I personally think it's pretty healthy, after all it is 100% natural.

I made vegan paella the other day because I didn't have any chicken or anything and it turned out surprisingly well.

towards sustainable living [in Chile]: shark fin melon soup

So our generation seems to have inherited an unsustainable way of living, an unsustainable culture(s), really. A few years ago I never heard the word of "sustainable" applied to plans for the future of "first" world countries, it was only ever referred to when talking about the sustainable development of "third" world countries. Seems like the world's really messed up because probably every piece of clothing I'm wearing was made in a sweat shop, the food I eat is full of chemicals as is the clothing I wear, the weather is all screwed up, the air I breathe is toxic and those are just some of the problems of modern life. But in the wise words of G.I. Joe, "Now we know, and knowing is half of the battle."

So here's an article that describes the locavore movement in the States as bigger than just another fad. It's actually catching on.

And I'm doing my part, experimentally cooking. So I bought an alcayota the other day. This food grows here in Chile and the only thing that Chileans make with alcayota is "dulce de alcayota", which I believe is similar to a jam. Since I'm trying to cook with unprocessed foods, and I suppose with an enfasis in local foods, I didn't want to use sugar. On the internet I found a recipe for "shark fin melon soup" which I guess is a Chinese soup. (This is not to be confused with shark fin soup.) They have alcayota in China too. It's a sort of melon, though it's a bit tasteless. The soup actually turned out pretty decently. The big problem I had, however is that this soup calls for pork ribs, and the carnicería didn't have pork ribs, but it did have costillar, so I bought that, but it has a ton of fat. Yucky. After the soup cooled, a layer of lard formed on the top. It just floated there. So I scooped it out. (Lard is fabulous hand lotion.) And the chunks of pork were super fatty as well, and really not that tasty. Ribs aren't big here in Chile, at least how we eat them in the States. But I will find some pork ribs and try it again, because this could be some mighty tasty soup. Besides the lard and pork, I really enjoyed it.