June 28th, 2015
Paloma and I made it to my hometown in the Southwest of Russia, where we are thoroughly enjoying our stay at grandma’s house. Because I don’t get to visit here very often, my days are completely packed with family, friends, daily trips to the market, nature walks, and all sorts of leftover business. This time, we added a kitchen renovation to the mix, along with piano and swimming lessons for Paloma. The days fly by, and I’m always caught by surprise when the night falls and it’s time for bed.
As usual, we’re indulging in my mom’s home cooked delicacies and consume the local berry harvest by the kilo. The most abundant crops right now, which we have no access to in Florida, are sour cherries, black, red and white currants, wild strawberries and mulberries. We walk around with berry-stained hands and wouldn’t have it any other way.
I prepared this recipe in Florida, right before we left, where a very hot summer was in full swing, making me want to stay away from the oven as much as possible. I craved crunchy raw vegetables like kohlrabi and jicama, along with chilled watermelon and ripe mango, which often replaced my lunch. I came up with this easy salad – a combination of jicama, mango, avocado and grilled corn with loads of cilantro and lime juice. It’s a quick and refreshing dish on its own and even more filling and delicious when served in a taco shell.
Lastly, I have a bit of housekeeping to discuss. If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter, you can do so here. We recently changed the format to a better looking one, and along with recipe updates, the newsletters will include seasonal ingredient highlights and any other Golubka Kitchen related news.
And for the French readers, the translation for the Rhubarb Raspberry Fizz from Sarah Kieffer’s guest post is up here.
Mango, Jicama and Grilled Corn Tacos
serves 4-6
2 ears of corn – grilled
1 medium jicama – sliced into cubes or small matchsticks
2 ripe, sweet mangos – cut into small cubes
ground chipotle – to taste (optional)
1-2 limes
1 bunch cilantro
1-2 ripe but firm avocados – cubed
your favorite taco shells
hot sauce of choice
Cut kernels off grilled corn ears. Combine corn kernels, jicama and mango in a large bowl, add chipotle, if using. Squeeze lime juice over. Add cilantro leaves and mix gently. Distrribute the salad between taco shells, top with abocado slices, sprinkle with more lime juice, cilantro leaves and your favorite hot sauce. Serve right away.
Tags: avocado, cilantro, corn, jicama, lime, mango, taco
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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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August 28th, 2013
When it comes to ice-cream, for me, the stranger and less common the flavour, the better. My track record includes lavender, cardamom, black sesame, avocado, spiced apple and rose petal ice-cream, to name a few. This summer, the ice cream recipe I’m most proud of is this Kaffir Lime and Mango one.
I’ve been dreaming about flavouring ice cream with kaffir lime leaves for a while now. Although they are most commonly used in savory dishes, the leaves have that aromatic and zesty taste that I imagined would work beautifully in many desserts. And my imagination did not fail me this time – the ice cream came out absolutely out-of-this-world delicious.
Ripe mangoes have been falling off the trees all over the neighborhoods around us lately, which means very happy times for me. I have a few friends who are just as enthusiastic about getting their hands on the freshest local mangoes, and we set out on mango hunts around the neighborhoods whenever possible. But if a sweet ripe mango is out of reach where you live, you can omit it – the bright flavours of the kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass and coconut milk will do a wonderful job on their own.
I made a lime reduction to accompany the ice-cream with an extra-zesty kick, but it is entirely optional.
The Vietnamese owner of the market, where I usually buy frozen kaffir leaves, recently asked me what I do with all these lemongrass stalks and lime leaves, and was amazed to hear that I use them to make delicious ice cream. I have to admit that I felt a bit accomplished in surprising him, as I always feel that he knows much more about cooking than I ever will.
Kaffir Lime Mango Ice-Cream
2 cans full fat unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum or 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
3 lemongrass stalks – cut into 2-inch pieces and bruised with the back of a chef’s knife
2 large handfulls kaffir lime leaves – bruised
1 large or 2 small ripe, sweet mangoes – peeled and pitted
zest and juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup light agave syrup or other sweetener of choice
1. In a bowl, mix together 1/4 cup of coconut milk with xanthan gum or arrowroot powder to form a thick slurry. Set aside.
2. Heat the rest of the milk, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves in a medium sized pan. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover, and leave to infuse for 1 hour.
3. Transfer into a blender (preferably high-speed) and blend until smooth. Strain the solids through a fine-mesh strainer. Rinse the blender.
4. Pour the strained mixture back into the blender, add in the slurry, mango flesh, lime zest and juice and agave, and blend until smooth. Refrigerate until well chilled, preferably overnight.
5. Put into an ice cream maker for 25 minutes or however long your brand of ice cream machine suggests.
Notes:
1. If you have a high-speed blender, such as Blendtec or Vitamix, you can eliminate the first step. Just heat the whole amount of milk in step 2 and add the xanthan gum in step 4 along with the rest of the ingredients.
2. You can also eliminate step 3 if your blender is not very strong, just strain out the lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves after infusing the milk, without blending them. The flavor may be not as pronounced in this case.
Lime Reduction
1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice – from about 5 limes
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon lime zest
1-inch piece fresh ginger – minced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1. Combine the lime juice, sugar and salt in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and keep it gently boiling for about 15 minutes, stirring often, until reduced by 3/4 and syrupy.
2. Add the zest, ginger and lemon juice and let steep for about 5 minutes. Strain and cool. Add honey or agave if the reduction is too strong and zesty to your taste.
Tags: ice cream, kaffir lime, mango, recipe, vegan
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