Vegetarian

Carrot Kanji – Traditional Punjabi Fermented Drink

carrot-kanji-recipe

Source: www.vegrecipesofindia.com Visit that website to see beautiful step-by-step photos of how to make this recipe.

Gajar kanji or carrot kanji is a traditional Punjabi fermented drink made in winter. Black (purple) carrots appear in the winters in Northern India and give the kanji its characteristic purple color. If you don’t have black carrots, adding beetroot gives this rich dark purple color. You can also add some turnips to the kanji if you like.

Kanji is made with simple ingredients – carrots, mustard powder, red chilli powder and black salt along with water. The mustard added to the kanji helps keep the body warm in the chilly winters of the north.

Old-Fashioned Dark Chocolate Truffles

Old-Fashioned Truffles

These special truffles are made with egg yolks, cream, butter, real chocolate and honey. The egg yolks help to give it a specially creamy mouth-feel that makes it all the more rich and decadent.

  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/4 c honey
  • 1/2 c cream
  • 1/4 c butter
  • 3 oz unsweetened chocolate
  • dash salt

Pomegranate, Mint and Sauerkraut Salad

This delicious, festive salad is a great aid to digestion and perfect with kombucha marinated goose or turkey. The pomegranate ads a nice texture with a snappy pop of refreshing juice as well as a symbolic touch of new life and rebirth. A perfect solstice salad.

Coconut, Pistachio and Cherry Toffee

This delicious coconut syrup toffee is unique and addictive. It was quite by accident that this recipe came into being, one of those wonderful experiences when you put whatever you have around into a pot and the result just comes out divine. The minerals in the coconut water give it a gently salty flavor which goes well with the buttery toffee effect.

Honey and Coconut Glazed Sweet Potatoes

When you reduce coconut water to a syrup it results in a salty-sweet mineral rich syrup. This recipe is my version of candied yams and has the perfect balance of sweet and salty with an exotic coconut twist.

Freezing a Summer’s Day

Basil is funny to grow. It starts as a spindly plant, often with just a few leaves, so few in fact that to take any feels wrong. To snip a couple off for a tomato salad makes me worry that I might kill the plant. In the beginning I always straddle the line between wanting to taste and not wanting to kill. More times than not in early summer I skimp on the basil leaves or I (ahhh!) buy basil.

Then late summer rolls around and my basil plant has turned beast. There are so many leaves that I don’t know where to cut. And then I see them. The seed pods and flowers, inching their way out of the top, getting ready to turn my basil into a bitter compost addition. Not on my time.

Basil, you’re about to get whacked.

The scissors emerge from the kitchen. I grab the entire basil plant and cut it off at the ankles. Brutal to be sure, but necessary because it is at this moment, when the heat of the late summer is overbearing and I am praying for rain as if I live in a desert that I know it is time to make pesto for the winter.

Zucchini Chips with Sumac

Our latest favorite snack is zucchini chips with sumac and black pepper. Sumac is high in vitamin C, can be wild-harvested all across North America and gives a delicious tang to the zucchini chips.

These chips are remarkably easy to make and a wonderful way to have a tasty gut-pleasing snack.

  • 3 small zucchini
  • 2 T extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 t sumac
  • 1 t himalayan crystal salt (sea salt is ok too)
  • 1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

Fermented Hot Sauce: 2-1

My first batch of fermented hot sauce was so successful that I have two orders for more! Never one to rest on my laurels I’ve decided to experiment with the second batch.

I’m starting off with thai chili peppers again. I’ve been reading up on hot sauces and for fermentation you want to use super hot peppers. The high levels of capcaisin (the molecule that makes you burn) help keep bad bacteria at bay. I again added garlic and I’m trying the fermentation process with whole peppers this time instead of ground peppers.

Volunteering at the Market and Roasted Kohlrabi

So I volunteered again at the Farmer’s Market with Klipper’s Organics. Well I’ve volunteered several times but I don’t post enough to detail every single volunteer experience!

I am continuing to enjoy my time at the market, falling into the days rhythm of unpacking, stocking, re-stocking and packing. Taking breaks for chili or scones or just general wandering. I’ve watched cooking demonstrations, listened to wonderful music, and sampled, sampled, sampled!  Oh what fun!

Sate Chili Sauce

As I wandered my way through fermented hot sauce links and recipes online, I found a recipe for sate chili sauce. This is one of my favorite sauces in the world, but I’ve never known how to make it. Now that I know what is in it (garlic, lemongrass, chili, fish sauce, need I say more???  delicious!) and the general process, my head is spinning – the possibilities are endless. Here is my first attempt sticking fairly close to the original recipe: