Roasted Poblano Pepper and Pineapple Salsa

Cinco de Mayo is around the corner, but, it is never too early to enjoy Mexican-inspired foods.

Poblano peppers seem a bit pricey, so, I indulge every once in a while and bring a few home to fire roast and incorporate in some home-made dishes.

In addition to roasted poblano peppers and pineapples, I added some diced green apples, Walla-walla sweet onions, corn, black beans, and red bell peppers to bring a mix of textures and flavors to this salsa.

Some of the pineapple juice from the canned pineapples, plus lemon juice, and a generous dash of seasoning that includes salt, oregano, thyme, paprika, red pepper flakes, garlic, and some ground bay leaves is what I went with for this recipe, and, as usual, I didn't measure accurately. But, since seasoning can be adjusted to taste, it should be fine.

Fava Bean and Chard Herb Hummus

I am hoping to plant chard for fall harvest, along with more kale, lettuce, and snap peas. By late fall, I end up circling back to comfort foods like soups, stews, and casseroles with nothing new to add to the recipe collection here.

Anyway, a while back, I had a nice big bunch of rainbow chard and a bag of fava beans fresh from CSA that I didn't want to ignore. Not that fava beans will be ignored in our house, especially when the older child gobbles them by the handful when they are blanched tenderly and set out in a bowl.

While tossing some blanched fava beans in salads and pasta is easy, I wanted to make a dish with intense fava bean flavor that will be the center of attention for a simple evening meal. What's more intensely fava bean-flavored than Fava Bean Hummus? Well, maybe fava bean stew, fava bean falafel, fava bean koftas. Or, any of the three recipes in Broad Bean Bash...

It's a Zen-like activity to shell the fava beans. Well, at least, when there is just a small basketful, and not a giant sackful. So, one fine evening a few weeks ago, I sat and shelled the fresh fava beans out in the backyard, watching the hummingbirds flit to and from their feeder. The house finches and chickadees were making several trips as well, completely ignoring me sitting right in their path to the feeder.

The chard wouldn't like sitting in the sidelines, I figured. So, chard got chopped, stem and all, with the fresh garlic from the farm; sautéed with a pinch of salt and a splash of lemon juice, the greens were raring to go.

Later that evening, the beans danced in boiling water for a couple of minutes and dove into the bowl of ice water. Finally, they were glad to shed their thick outer layer without much coaxing, and emerged in their resplendent beany greenness. It was quite a sight to behold in a bowlful.

Now, strong herbal notes bring that added oomph to the palate, so, armed with my trusty shears, I snipped a bit of mint, fennel, oregano, and scallions from the garden.

Blanched fava beans, sauteed chard and garlic, fresh herbs, plus a couple of bold Serrano chilies came together with some tahini, olive oil, and a splash of apple cider vinegar to make this incredibly delicious Chard and Fava Bean Herb Hummus.

Served with homemade Chipotle Coconut Flour Flax Meal Rotis, and a small side salad, the Fava Bean Hummus took center stage that night for sure.

Ingredients
1½ cup blanched fresh fava beans
1 cup chopped chard with stems
½ cup packed herbs
2 Tablespoon tahini
2 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
salt to taste

Tempering:
1 teaspoon olive oil
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon small dry Pequin peppers

Preparation

1. Combine the hummus ingredients in a food processor and blend to desired coarse/smooth consistency, adjusting salt to taste
2. Tempering: Heat the oil in a small pan, add the cumin and caraway seeds, allow to crisp and brown gently, then add the Pequin peppers and turn off heat
3. To serve, garnish the hummus with the tempering, stir if preferred.
4. Serve with Chipotle Coconut Flour Flax meal Roti, or Chipotle and Sun-dried Tomato Tortillas, or, Ube Purple Yam and Chipotle Naan, or, Mint Olive Greek Pita,  or Kohlrabi-stuffed Kale Fennel Naan...

Peach Chili Salsa

At the Farmers market, I've grown addicted to eating the fried Kenyan bread, Mandazi, which comes with a sharply piquant chili chutney. Of course, there is barely half a tablespoon of chutney that comes with each bread, and I wasn't going to eat several fried breads to satisfy my chili chutney craving.

After one such excursion, while the fire from the chutney was still blazing in my tongue, I decided that some equally fiery salsa was called for to enjoy the small bag of tortilla chips we had stashed away for the weekend treat. The other adult enjoys piquant foods way more than I do, and has better tolerance for chilies than me. So it was going to be a special treat to be enjoyed with a good pint of dark beer.

Now, peaches are in season. Peaches and nectarines and plums make wonderful sauces and chutneys, bringing a fruity aroma and mildly sweet flavor that complements many dishes. So, to balance the fiery chilies, I went with mildly sweet peach and nectarine to make this simple uncooked salsa.

Simply grind the ingredients, adjust flavors to taste and enjoy.

Ingredients
1 peach, chopped
1 nectarine, chopped
½ teaspoon brown sugar
3 Thai green super chilies
3 dry red Japanese chilies
1 Tbsp lime juice (more to taste)
salt to taste

Preserved Lemons

Preserved vegetables, either pickled in brine/vinegar, or in spices and oil the Indian way, make a unique accompaniment to meals.

Spicy lemon pickle with chili and garlic is one of my favorites, next only to tender baby mango pickles.

Brined baby mangoes, brined citrons (narthangai) and lemons and limes, sometimes preserved in spices and oil, sometimes dried and packed in earthenware are intimately tied to some wonderful memories of my childhood. Narthangai Oorugai with plain buttermilk rice was a summer time favorite.

Anyway, those memories surfaced when I had preserved some lemons and forgot about them a couple of months ago. Now they are ripe and ready to be enjoyed.



Thin skinned lemons work well, but, I had these glossy yellow thick-skinned lemons, (and I prefer the softened preserved thick skin to the tangy mushy flesh), so, these worked out great. Spices can be varied to taste. Once opened, keep refrigerated.

Chop up and mix with rice or risotto; dice the preserved skin finely and use it to make flavored ghee or butter; or jab a fork on a chunk and enjoy it fresh as-is. The tangy saltiness, the mild sweetness balanced by the heat of the peppers, and the unique flavors of coriander, cinnamon, star anise makes this feel like quite an exotic dish.



Ingredients
6 medium to large lemons
3 or 4 Tbsp honey
2 cups salt
1 cup lemon juice
2 cups warm water (plus more for boiling water bath)
4 cinnamon sticks
1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 Tbsp whole black peppers
6-8 dry red chilies (optional)
6-8 cloves of garlic (optional)
2 star anise (optional)

Preparation

1. Cut the lemon into chunks, pack in a jar sprinkling with salt generously between layers; add crushed coriander seeds and peppers and cinnamon sticks in between layers as well
2. Dissolve the honey in warm water, add it into the jar, along with lemon juice, cover tightly with a canning ring lid
3. Set up a boiling water bath such that the jar is at least half submerged in water, bring water to a boil, leaveit in the boiling water bath for 10 minutes, remove from heat
4. Set the jar aside in a cool dark place for about 4 to 6 weeks
5. Enjoy!

Home-made Baechu Kimchi

Ordinarily, I can't quite handle the kimchi bought from stores. It is too pungent and unappetizing for me. However, now that we've hit upon a simple recipe to make kimchi at home, I am beginning to relish it quite a bit.

Mom gave us this wonderful book for Christmas and we've been trying out recipes from it: Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz.

There are some simple suggestions in this book to make food nutritious and earthy, as well as tasty, via wild fermentation. I was quite thrilled to see idlee and dosai batter fermentation recipes mentioned in this book.

And, this recipe for baechu kimchi (made with Napa cabbage) comes from this book, Wild Fermentation, with some tweaks.

I use medium-sized tall crock to make this, and I can insert a container filled with water to weigh down the vegetables while still letting air in and keeping the dust out.

Ingredients:
1 head Napa cabbage
1 large carrot
1 bunch Spring Onions
3-4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1-2 Tbsp fresh grated ginger
3-4 dry red chilies
¼ cup salt
1 quart water

Preparation:

1. Remove the outer leaves of the Napa cabbage(save for stir-fry perhaps), and roughly chop it; julienne the carrot or cut it into sticks of desired proportions; cut the spring onions as well
2. Dissolve the salt in water to make the brine and soak the vegetables in it overnight
3. Drain and reserve the brine the next day; rinse out the veggies; add crushed garlic, ginger and red chilies, refill the reserved brine making sure there is enough to cover the vegetables
4. Weight down the veggies a bit with some suitable apparatus that covers it sufficiently to keep out dust, but leaves it open enough for fermentation
5. Allow to ferment for a week at least - the liquid gets a bit cloudy after a week and the flavor seeps into the veggies well enough to start enjoying the wonderful, home-made baechu kimchi

flavored ghee

Ghee is just butter, with milk solids and water removed by gentle heating and simmering.

A dab of ghee is all it takes to make fresh home-made rotis, corn bread or dinner rolls that much more irresistible:-)

Ghee, aka clarified butter, is a staple in my mom's kitchen. She usually had home-made ghee handy. She didn't use it a lot, and certainly didn't fry foods in ghee at home, but, once a fortnight or so, usually on Sundays, my mom used to just serve up ghee and rice for lunch, that's it. It felt like a cleansing meal. And we would get diluted buttermilk as a snack/drink.

These days I like to make ghee at home, with some infused flavors.

Pictured above are annatto-garlic ghee (orange-red, on the left back), mint-jalapeño ghee (greenish, in the front), and cardamom ghee (yellowish, right back).

The procedure is very simple: Gradually melt unsweetened, unsalted butter in a pan. Add any flavoring ingredients at this point, if using, and let it simmer gently. The seething bubbles will get vigorous as water is evaporating away, and then, the bubbling will die down a little. Skim off any foam that rises to the top. Try not to stir once milk solids start separating. It takes a little trial and error to gauge the smell and color when ghee is ready. Off heat, without shaking the pan, strain through a cheese cloth into a container. The clear liquid is ghee.

A box (16 oz) of butter yields about 8 or 9 oz of ghee.

Ghee remains spreadable at room temperature and doesn't need refrigeration if stored air-tight and kept moisture-proof.

Any favorite herbs/spices can be used to infuse wonderful flavor and aroma to the ghee - like rosemary, marjoram, sage, thyme, ginger, garlic, mint, chilies, cardamom and so on.

Add the flavoring to the butter at the start or at any point in the process that results in the infusion strength to your liking. I have experimented with adding it at different stages and found that I like the infusion strength when added right after the butter has melted and is just beginning to bubble. The quantities below are just a guideline, for use with 16 oz of butter.

Here are three of my favorite flavored ghee infusions.

Annatto-Garlic Ghee: 4 Tbsp annatto paste, 6-8 cloves of garlic crushed or minced finely.

Mint-Jalapeño Ghee: ½ cup mint leaves and 1 large jalapeño, broken down into a coarse paste using blender or food processor.

Cardamom Ghee: 6-8 pods of small green cardamom, crushed.