August 9th, 2015
Paloma and I made it back home after our nearly two month stay Russia. We spent some quality time with family and friends in my home town, where Paloma took a few classes and got a chance to polish up her swimming, gymnastics and piano skills. The teaching style in Russia is quite different than back home – a lot is asked from the children, and the teachers are quite serious. Paloma didn’t seem to mind and actually had a few important breakthroughs. After all that hard work we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Sochi, swimming in the beautiful waters of the Black Sea (more on Sochi in the next post), hiking in the Caucasus Mountains and wandering around the Moscow center.
Back home in Florida, we still have a bit of time before school begins, to look at the hundreds of pictures we took and share the adventures with our friends over here. I keep a little dish of multicolored glass, polished by the sea, speckled pebbles and shells close by on the counter, to keep reminding myself of the most magical moments of this summer.
Below are a few favorite photos from our travels, starting with the said pebbles.
Caucasus Mountains in the summer.
One of the dozens of the ornate subway stations in Moscow.
Perlov Tea House, a beautiful tea shop and a historic building in Moscow.
One of Stalin’s high rises captured from the Moscow River.
It always takes me some time to adjust to the food here when coming back from the other side of the Atlantic. After eating all the juicy berries, wild mushrooms and my mother’s delicious Russian cooking, it’s hard to find things to be flavorful here, at least for the first couple of weeks. I do crave lots of vegetables and big salads.
This simple daikon pasta was the first dish I cooked back home, satisfying my veggie cravings. In two months without many eastern flavors, I forgot how delicious ginger and coconut milk are. The corn is also sweeter here in my opinion. This was my first attempt at cooking vegetable noodles like pasta – boiled in a pot of salted water – a method I’ve been curious about for a while. I loved the resulting neutral flavor and the noodle texture did resemble very delicate angel hair.
Daikon Radish Pasta with Corn and Tomatoes in Creamy Coconut Sauce
1 medium to large daikon radish
2 ears of corn
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2 teaspoons sriracha
1 tablespoon lime juice
sea salt
1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons tamari
1 tablespoon smooth almond butter
1-2 handfulls heirloom cherry tomatoes – quartered
handful of basil leaves – torn
microgreens to garnish – optional
1. Cut kernels off the corn ears and set aside.
1. Set a medium pot with salted water over high heat. Peel and cut daikon into noodles, using a juliene peeler, veggie peeler or mandoline. When the water begins to boil, add daikon noodles and cook for 3 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Warm coconut and sesame oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add ginger, sriracha, lime juice, pinch of salt and corn, saute for 3-5 minutes.
3. Add coconut milk, tamari and almond butter, stirring to incorporate until creamy and hot. Add daikon pasta, cook for another 3 minutes, letting all the flavors combine.
4. Turn the heat off, add tomatoes and basil. Serve immediately.
Tags: basil, coconut milk, corn, daikon radish, pasta, tomato
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September 21st, 2014
I’m so excited to talk about the new creation of our long-time (virtual) friends, David and Luise, the team behind Green Kitchen Stories. I’ve been anticipating their second cookbook, Green Kitchen Travels, with much enthusiasm after admiring their work for many years. Once it arrived at my doorstep, I didn’t put it down until I saw the whole thing, studying every stunning image many times over. The book is filled with vibrant vegetarian and vegan dishes, many of which I was tempted to make right away. What makes it special is that every recipe is inspired by the authors’ travels around the world, often based on authentic dishes with a fresh, veggie-based twist. The creative and easy-going GKS style is evident on every page.
It was very tough for me to decide on a dish for this post. I was quite torn between the Crispy Aubergine Bites, Lentil and Strawberry Tacos, Sicilian Caponata, Vietnamese Pho, Vegan Moussaka, Indian Cardamom Laddu, Portuguese Sopa de Legumes and Lemongrass Brussels Sprout Curry. Finally, my never-ending love for Pad Thai took over, and this No Noodle Pad Thai recipe did not disappoint. The flavors here are warming, yet very fresh and crisp, with julienned daikon and carrots replacing noodles.
Now I’m off to shop for ingredients for the Caponata, before it’s too late in the season for tomatoes and eggplants.
The good news is that Green Kitchen Travels is available to order right here! Thank you David and Luise for another beautiful cookbook.
No Noodle Pad Thai
1 daikon radish or zucchini
4 medium carrots – peeled
4 cups mung bean sprouts
4 spring onions (scallions) – finely chopped (I used chives here)
1 package firm tofu – cut in cubes
1 handfull cilantro leaves (I used basil because I had beautiful basil on hand)
2 tablespoons black or tan sesame seeds – toasted, plus extra for garnish
4 slices of lime – to serve
Sauce
1/2 cup (4 oz/125 g) peanut butter (I used almond butter)
4 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
1. Create the noodles from the daikon and carrots using a julienne peeler, mandoline, spiralizer or potato peeler. Place the ‘noodles’ into a bowl, then add in the mung bean sprouts, onions, tofu, herbs and sesame seeds. Mix well.
2. Stir together all the sauce ingredients in a separate bowl, add more water if needed. Adjust the seasoning.
3. Pour the sauce over the vegetables and toss to combine thoroughly, using your hands. Garnish with more herbs, sesame seeds and a slice of lime.
Note: If making ahead, store the salad and sauce refrigerated in two separate containers.
Tags: basil, carrots, daikon radish, pad thai, raw
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September 9th, 2013
This post is also available in: French
This week, I’ve really been craving vegetables – I always do – but it comes in waves, some are bigger than others. This was a particularly big wave, and I wanted something pure, nourishing and full of flavor.
As much as I love Indian food, the thought of curry rarely crosses my mind during the hot summer months. But as soon as the first, brief chill arrives in the air, I quickly start thinking about warming spices. This recipe is far from traditional curry, but a perfect combination of the still summery, raw and crunchy vegetables with the creaminess of fragrant curry sauce. The dish is not entirely raw, as I use roasted pumpkin seeds, which are important for the texture and amazing flavour. You can omit the lemongrass to simplify, if you wish.
I have been using this julienne peeler a whole lot lately to make all kinds of vegetable noodles, which is a fun way to present vegetables in salads and main dishes. It has its advantages over the spiralizer, which I like a lot as well. The peeler makes thicker noodles and works better for softer vegetables such as cucumber and zucchini. It is cheap and doesn’t take up much space in the kitchen. The spiralizer works better with hard vegetables like carrots, or round shapes like beets and turnips.
In other news, our wonderful translator, Géraldine Olivo, who has been supplying Golubka readers with French translations of our recipes, is coming out with a new cookbook. The book is titled Fleurs en cuisine and features recipes that include edible flowers – fresh, dried or in the form of waters and essential oils. It is out on the 12th of September, learn more about it here.
Lemongrass Mango Curry
1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 bunch cilantro – hard stems removed
about 1 cup basil leaves, plus handful for garnish
handful mint leaves, plus more for garnish
1/2 garlic clove – minced
1 ripe sweet mango – peeled and pitted
3 lemongrass stalks – chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1-inch piece ginger – peeled and minced
1/4 small jalapeno – seeded and chopped
1 teaspoon curry powder or to taste (I used muchi curry)
squeeze of honey
generous squeeze of lime juice
sea salt to taste
1 large daikon radish – thinly julienned
1 medium zucchini – thinly julienned
1-2 red, yellow or orange bell peppers – seeded and thinly julienned
1/2 cauliflower head – chopped into small, bite-size florets
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Toss the pumpkin seeds with olive oil and salt and spread on a parchment paper covered baking sheet. Toast for 10 minutes until puffed up and golden.
2. Add half of the toasted pumpkin seeds into a food processor along with the cilantro, basil, mint and garlic. Process until well combined and leave in the food processor.
3. Meanwhile, combine the mango flesh and lemongrass in a high-speed blender, blending until smooth. Strain and discard the solids.
4. Add the lemongrass-mango puree to the food processor, along with the ginger, jalapeno, curry powder, honey, lime juice and salt to taste. Process until well combined.
5. In a large mixing bowl combine the daikon radish, zucchini, bell pepper and cauliflower pieces. Add in the mango-curry sauce and reserved 1/2 portion of toasted pumpkin seeds. Toss well to combine. Garnish with basil and mint leaves and serve.
Tags: cauliflower, curry, daikon radish, herbs, lemongrass, mango, pumpkin seeds, recipe, salad, zucchini
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