Guacamole

Guacamole is an avocado based dip that was started by 

the Aztecs back in the 16th century. The word guacamole

came from Aztec dialect which translates literally

to avocado sauce.  Makes sense and sounds pretty simple...

just like this home-made guacamole recipe.

If you are making a small bowl of guacamole  for up to 3 people

you can use 2-3 ripe avocados, 

1 small tomato (diced)

a quarter of a small red onion, (diced small)

handful of cilantro stems (chopped- including the stems)

the juice of 2 limes

a pinch of cumin (about 1/2 a teaspoon)

and a pinch of salt  (to your tasting)

and a pinch of sugar (optional; to your liking)

Avocados are meant to be picked in their unripened stage off of their

trees and are to be left on the counter or table to ripen.  Do not put your 

avocados in the frig unless it is ripe and you want it to stop ripening.

Avocados are typically a dark, forest green color and when they start

to ripen they turn a blackish hue AND they are soft to the touch.

To make a basic, easy but super flavorful guacamole all you need to do

is cut your ripened avocado and place it in a bowl.

Dice up the tomatoes into small pieces and throw them on top of the

halved avocado. Dice the red onion into very small pieces--

the smaller the better. Chop the cilantro and add that to the bowl

as well. Lastly, squeeze the juice of the limes and add a pinch of salt.

It's nice to take a fork and stir and fold all the ingredients together.

The sweetness and liquid of the tomato gives a natural sweet flavor

along with the lime juice bringing out some acidity. Onions always

give food more flavor and red  onions being the mildest makes 

for the best onion to choose for guacamole since everything is raw

and the beautiful hue of the purple makes it look attractive as well!

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food

Stuffed Meatballs Drunken in Tomato Sauce

Stuffed meatballs. Drunken in Tomato Sauce. Yum!

You can stuff meatballs with whatever your stomach desires.
I love the play on a caprese stuffed meatball.

You take your choice cut of ground beef. I often use 85% 15% fat
for a little fattier juiciness.

Make your caprese filling. Little cubes of block mozzarella cheese, dried basil
and tomatoes diced up small. Drizzle a little olive oil on the mozzarella
while adding the dried basil (1 TBSP)(the dried basil works well in that it adheres
to the cheese well).  You call always add a little fresh basil as a garnish!

Stuff the meatballs (ideally 1.5 - 2 inches in diameter)
and cook them right in your tomato sauce. You only need to cook them
for about 15-20 minutes. (the total time will be based on the size of your meatballs)

Zestfully,  private party chef Yoon

LCF Beef Skewers

Beef Skewers. Yum! You can grill them outdoors, you can use an electric griddle, a stove top griddle or you can broil them in the oven.
Once you add the marinade to the beef -
ideally you want to marinade for a minimum of 30 minutes. (overnight is best)
(Make sure your skewers are soaking in water as well to help prevent them from burning)

RECIPE:
1-1.5 pounds of sirloin tips OR choice of beef
3-4 TBSP of hoisin sauce
2 TBSP of soy sauce
2 TBSP of sesame oil
1 TBSP of apple cider vinegar OR rice vinegar
1 teas of garlic powder OR grate 2 cloves of garlic
1 teas of sugar OR grate a little apple or a pear for natural sweetness
sprinkle sesame seeds (optional)

Take your strips or bite size pieces of beef and skewer them through.
ideally 3-5 pieces are a nice amount.

The temperature you are looking for is about 350-375 degrees.
Grill for about 5-7 minutes on each side OR to your liking of beef!



Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food

Firecracker Shrimp!

Take your Shrimp (de-veined) and let it sit in your marinade for
ideally 20-30 minutes. I usually leave the shell on the end of the tail
(the last segment of the shell) for the purpose of holding it while eating;
almost like a handle or skewer-like)

Marinade:
1/2 sriracha & 1/2 hoisin sauce with the juice of an orange.
Start with 2 TBSP of the sriracha and hoisin sauce.
This appetizer is called firecracker because it is meant to be spicy,
if you wish to tone down the spiciness - simply add less sriracha sauce.


Wrap in in an egg roll wrapped that is cut in half diagonally
(to make 2 large triangles)  Have the tail end stick out of the wrapper
and roll while adding a little egg around the places where you want the
egg roll wrapper to adhere.  (The egg is your gluing agent)

Zestfully,  private party chef Yoon

Miso Soup

Miso soup is made from fermented soy bean paste which is a great source of beneficial bacteria. It is light, flavorful and a great base to use to cultivate by adding a range of ingredients to your liking.

A great base and easy way to make Miso soup is the following recipe:

for 2 people:

~ 2 cups of water

~ 2 TBSP of miso paste

~ 2 teaspoons of sesame oil

~ scallions cut to your liking (ringlets or shredded)

~ tofu cut to cubes

~ seaweed, soaked, chopped and to your liking (when soaked in water - will double in size)

Let it simmer and add tofu at the end.

Zestfully,  private party chef Yoon

Dan Dan Noodles

Dan Dan noodles is a Chinese noodle dish that traditionally consists
of a spicy chili oil, Sichuan peppers, minced pork and scallions served
over flour based noodles often made of egg.

As I refer to students during classes, once you learn a base or foundation
of a dish, you then can and should cultivate it to make it your own
by adding what you like to it. 
(mainly because you are the one who is going to eat it)

As many dishes migrate to the western hemisphere they adapt more often
than not to Americanized taste-buds and get modified with spice level,
more Americanized veggies or other ingredients.

Did you know the word 'Dan Dan' refers to a carrying pole that was used
by street vendors who would carry baskets over their shoulder hanging from
Dan Dans (poles) and sell them to local people as they passed by?
Now you do!  The literal translation is: "noodles carried on a pole"

We have a themed class titled "Let's Eat Philly"
where we make Philly style soft pretzels, Philly Cheese steak bites
& Chinatown Dan Dan Noodles. Below is a picture of Dan Dan noodles
made with rice noodles and spaghetti style noodles.

Recipe & Ingredients:

noodles:
your choice of rice, linguine, spaghetti, egg noodle, green noodle

protein:
~ traditionally ground pork (1/4 lb per person)
~but ground chicken is ok if you don't eat pork
* optional - also adding some pork belly or bacon is an added extra.
.....did someone say bacon!?!

veggies:
~ scallions chopped small or shredded with the 'herb shredder'
~ some type of green is always good whether it be the
    traditional mustard greens,   or other options: bok choy, yu choy,
    broccoli rabe stems, kale, spinach etc..

sauce:
1 TBSP of red pepper paste
1 TBSP of sesame paste (can be miso, or tahini, or soy bean paste)
2 garlic gloves minced or grated fine
1/4 cup of stock (your choice, chicken, veggie, beef)
2 TBSP of soy sauce
1 TBSP of sugar (or grate some apple or pear for natural sugar)
1 TBSP of sesame oil (any oil if you don't have sesame)

Directions: 
1. have your noodles already boiled
2. brown the protein (saute the meat)
3. add all the sauce ingredients except for the stock
4. toss in the veggies (if you are using)
5. toss in the noodles
6. add the stock little by little to help liquefy the sauce to your preference
7. add into your favorite noodle bowl and garnish with scallions
   (sesame seeds and or peanuts are sometimes a nice added bonus)



Zestfully,  private party chef Yoon

Low Country Boil

Fill a large pot of water so that about 2 inches of the bottom of the pot
is filled with warm-hot water. Add a cap full or about 5 TBSP of old bay right
into the pot.  Here is a suggestion of what items to out into your pot. I say
suggestions because it's really what your group likes. Typically it's going to
be seafood, sausage and root veggie friendly.  Once your pot starts to boil,
add your ingredients from heartiest to least heartiest.
eg: add the potatoes and carrots first, then mussels, crabs along with
other items with shrimp being last, when the shrimp changes color -
you know it's time to roll out that brown paper or even newspaper.
It's going to be about 30 minutes but it depends on how much you are low boiling.

Here's a list of starters: (again, it's your group's preference)
1 lb of beef sausage
2 onions cut in half for flavor
1-2 lbs of shrimp, with shell on for best flavor (yes, you peel them at the table)
1-2 pounds of baby potatoes cut in half or in quarters
1 lb (1 bag) of baby carrots
1-2 bell peppers for flavor
1 corn on the cob per person
    (cut in half or thirds for easier eating and quicker cooking)
1-2 lbs of mussels
1-2 lbs of clams
desired amount of crabs
3-4 lemons cut in half for the acidity and flavor
mini hot dogs to make it a little more kid friendly

Here are some pictures of different low country boils I've done.

Zestfully,  private party chef Yoon

Wonton Egg Drop Soup

Wontons are often described as irregular dumplings.
Here is a recipe to make wonton soup Or egg drop soup OR
you can go all out and make wonton egg drop soup together in one!



Stock/broth:

2 carrots cut in half or whole

3-4 celery stock cut in half

1 medium onion cut in half

1-2 cinnamon sticks

3 TBSP of soy sauce OR 1-2 teaspoon of salt (your desired amount of salt)

2 garlic cloves cut in half OR (1 teaspoon) of garlic powder
1 TBSP of sesame oil
let it come to a low boil and then turn the heat down on a medium simmer 
to add the wontons, eggs or both!

(be sure to take out all of the items that help create the light flavorful broth
before gently dropping the wontons and adding the egg towards the end.
The carrots, celery and all above ingredients are to just create the broth
and are meant to be taken out by a strainer, or ladle, large spoon or tongs etc...)

Wontons:

half pound of ground pork OR chicken

1/2 bunch of cilantro cut into 1/2 inch pieces OR chopped fine (to your liking)

pinch of salt OR drizzle of soy sauce to coat the ground protein

2 garlic gloves minced or chopped fine
1 TBSP of hoisin sauce

1 TBSP sesame oil

1 TBSP of rice vinegar 

Egg drop portion:

take 2 eggs, crack them, whisk and add 3-4 TBSP of water

drizzle over a fork right into the stock to get long ribbons of egg
(it will cook instantly)

Scallions are a nice way to garnish at the end, right into your bowl

Zestfully,  private party chef Yoon

Papaya Salad

Papaya Salad is a crunchy, crisp, briny, delicious slaw salad
made from shredded green papaya, tomatoes, carrot and acidic seasonings.

Traditionally, you will see many recipes that have green beans
and dried shrimp. Over the years of teaching cooking classes,
people have commented that they don't care for the dried shrimp powder
or whole dried shrimp along with raw green or string beans
so I simply took those out, left the fish sauce (made from anchovies)
in there for the earthy brininess and have never turned back. 
Here is LCF's simplified Papaya Salad recipe:

1 whole GREEN papaya shredded
   (it will be green on the outside and not soft, you want it to be unripe,
   the mature ones will be soft & have the coral color inside)
2 limes (the juice of) - squeeze it by hand or your desired gadget
3 TBSP of sugar (or grate some apple or pear for natural sweetness)
   (sugar is optional)
1 TBSP of fish sauce (any fish sauce brand is ok, don't substitute oyster sauce)
2 cloves of garlic minced or chopped fine OR garlic powder (sprinkle desired amount)
1 TBSP of vinegar
1 medium ripe tomato or heirloom tomatoes for color
   (cut into strips or diced)
1 handful or desired amount of peanuts whole OR crushed (it's to your liking)
1 carrot shredded

Mix all together by bare hand OR with an easy throw away glove
for easy clean up. Ideally you want to let it infuse/marinade for at least
40 minutes for the flavors to have the utmost best mixed in flavor but
right away is going to be ok....  if you must.  :)

Zestfully,  private party chef Yoon

Vietnamese Sticky Wings

Chicken wings (fresh if possible) your desired amount, start with 1.5 pounds
1-2 TBSP of fish sauce (to your liking; remember it is potent, briny & strong)
4-5 cloves garlic minced or chopped
2 TBSP of sesame oil  (veggie, grape seed, avocado, peanut, canola or corn is ok too)
1 TBSP chopped cilantro OR scallions (for those that don't like cilantro)
2 TBSP chopped peanuts  (or to your liking)
1 TBSP of sugar  (optional)
heavy drizzle of hoisin sauce (enough to coat like a bbq glaze)

marinade the wings, (ideally you want to let it marinade & sit
for at least 30 minutes), place them in an oven safe pan or cookie sheet
with aluminum foil or a cast iron skillet
bake for 30 minutes on 350 degrees,
move from the center of the oven to the top shelf right under the broil setting
to get a little crispy char for an additional 5-7 min.


Zestfully,  private party chef Yoon

Manhattan style Clam Chowder

1 medium onion diced
3 stalks of celery chopped
2 carrots diced small
1-2 garlic cloves minced or pressed or 1 teaspoon of garlic powder (to your liking)
3-4 strips of bacon cut into small pieces
1 cups of water
2 cups of tomato sauce (to you liking; crushed, stewed, diced or sauce)
2 lbs of fresh clams or 1 can of clams  (to your liking and convenience)
~ clam juice (you can make your own clam juice by steaming fresh clams
and using the liquid from the steamed clams  *note- don't stir the liquid around after steaming to prevent getting sand in your ladle. 

1. Start with sauteing the bacon right in a medium size sauce pot (ultimately the pot you will use to cook the chowder
2. Once bacon has started to brown add, all the veggies and saute until half cooked
3. Add the garlic, then the water, then the clam juice, then the clams
and after everything is sauteing nicely in the pot for about 7-10 minutes, add the tomato sauce and put a lid on the pot so it doesn't bubble all over.
4. Let everything simmer and once all the veggies are soft (check a carrot because it is the hardiest)  the Manhattan style clam chowder is done!
optional garnish - chopped fresh parsley or dried Italian seasonings



Zestfully,  private party chef Yoon

Let's Cultivate Food's new SALSA RECIPE!

                
RECIPE:
3 cups diced tomatoes (4-6 ripe tomatoes)  
1/2 cup green bell peppers  (1 green bell pepper) 
1/4 - 1/2 a red onion finely diced (to your liking of onion) 
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro chopped (1/2 of bundle) 
6 TBSP of light Italian salad dressing 
2 TBSP of fresh lime juice (1 large or 2 small limes) 
(optional) get a #9 & zest some rind in there.. remember #9 on the sticker is organic!    

Flour-less chocolate espresso cake

Not much to say other than
it's SO hard not to eat the whole cake!

Ingredients:
1 lb. semisweet chocolate (coarsely chopped)
1 lb. unsalted butter (diced)
1 cup freshly brewed espresso
1 cup brown sugar
8 eggs (beaten to blend)

Procedure:
1. Line bottom of a 9 inch diameter cake pan with 2 inch high sides 
    with parchment. Place all chocolate in large bowl.

2. Bring butter, espresso and sugar to boil in medium saucepan, 
    stirring to dissolve sugar.

3. Add chocolate; whisk until smooth and cool slightly.


4. Whip eggs till blended. Stir eggs into chocolate mixture until blended.
     (Do not whip)

5. Pour batter into prepared pans. Place cake pan in roasting pan.
    Pour enough hot water into roasting pan to come halfway
    up sides of cake pan.

6. Bake until center of cake is set and tester inserted into center 
    comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 45 minutes

7. Remove pans from water and chill cake overnight.


8. Cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Using oven mitts as aid, 
     hold pan bottom over low heat for 15 seconds, warming slightly 
     to release cake. Place platter over pan. Hold pan and platter 
     together tightly and invert. Lift off cake pan; peel off parchment 
     and dust top of each cake with cocoa powder. 

9. Cut cake into ten slices and garnish with fresh raspberries 
    and raspberry sauce.(raspberry sauce can be made by 
    simmering raspberries in a little butter or more easily 
    by microwaving raspberry jam/jelly)

Zestfully,  Let's Cultivate Food

Corporate Catering MENUS

Company catering menus  & prices can be viewed on the main website
www.LetsCultivateFood.com  under the  "Lettuce cater your company lunch" tab.

All company catering orders include:
Disposable plates, silverware wrapped in napkins,
any needed warming chaffing ware & little signage of the food items.
(Table clothes can be provided upon request.)


local DELIVERY is FREE

(gratuity is not included)

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who's the tastiest of them all..!?!

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who's the tastiest of them all..

Have you ever wanted to try a taste test to truly see either
which brand or type is better OR to see what your palate
is telling you?  Believe it or not- a large portion of our eating
is done with our other senses.  Our scent as we tend to smell
the food and of course visually with our eyes.
Not always, but more often than not- our palate tells
us something that we might of thought differently.

In our household- we make it a fun mini event by choosing an item
and then getting several of them made by popular brands.

This time around it happened to be dark chocolate.
The brands chosen were:
Hershey, Ghiradelli, Lindt, Godiva, Dove and a random gourmet brand.

2 were waaaay too sweet, 1 was hard to finish... chocolate=hard to finish?
What planet are we on right?   2 were just shy from winning 1st place.
There was a clear winner that was rich, creamy, intense but not
overwhelming intense and just... really good.

hmmm.  are you wondering who won!?
You should take my taste testing class coming up and you'll be able
to taste test over a dozen different things to see which brand is
better according to your taste buds!  cheeses, beverages, yogurts,
different brands of many different things.

​
which will your palate choose, Let's Cultivate Food

We're ROOTING for you!

cut 2 inches,  place in 1 inch of water,  1 week to soil

Let's Cultivate Food is 'ROOTING' for you!
Did you know that you can take any vegetable and chop 
the root end portion - 2-3 inches of it, 
soak the cut portion in a bowl or container of water 
and it will start to grow again..?  
Typically you will see some new growth as early as 4-5 days. 
(some veggies will take a tad bit longer)  
If you have outdoor space or a pot with soil indoors... 
you can move your new veggie plant within 7-10 days.   
'Lettuce Turnip the Beet!' ...........Oh KALE yeah!  

Bacon wrapped beef lemongrass lollipops!

What's that movie where they say that things are always better on a stick?
I certainly agree but let's use something that will give us a little flavor
rather than a wooden stick. Lemongrass in this case.
I tend to joke and say that lemongrass is organic fruit loops
during my cooking classes. If you've never had anything with lemongrass-
you don't know what you're missing!

For these bacon wrapped beef lemongrass lollipops- you will need:

lemongrass stalks (usually comes 3 to a bunch) you can cut each stalk  to about 

3 inches getting 3 to a stalk.  So approximately 9 lollipops for  3 stalks.  

For the beef, I used flank steak (about 1 pound) and sliced it into thin slices.

I then marinaded the flank beef slices in:

5 TBSP of soy sauce

1 heaping TBSP of hot pepper paste

1 teaspoon of a sugar (or your choice of sweetener) 

(a grated apple or pear is good too!)

2 TBSP of sesame oil

mix with the flank steak and let it sit for a minimum of 20 minutes.

Then you want to make a sweet chili glaze.

~ 3 heaping TBSP of apricot jelly

~ 1 teaspoon of hot pepper seeds ( to your liking of spiciness)

~ juice of an orange

~ 1 TBSP of rice vinegar

Turn your oven on now to 400 degrees.

Time to wrap or roll.  Whatever you want to call it is  okay!

Take your slices of beef and wrap around the top half of the lemongrass  'stick'

(about 2 -3 slices of flank steak slices per lollipop)

Then wrap a piece of bacon (thinly cut preferred) around the beef.

Let it bake in the center of your oven for about 15 minutes.

You will see the bacon turn more brown.

After 15 minutes, turn your oven to broil, 

take the sweet chili glaze and brush it on the bacon portion.

Move your pan or sheet (whatever you laid your lollipops on)

to the top shelf right under the broiler.

You want to prop the oven door open at this time...  

you know so the room temperature

air flows through for circulation and doesn't dry out the food. 

Once the bacon browns and almost gets a slight char- they are done.

about 7 minutes after you place it on broil.

​
Just ROLL with it!   Let's Cultivate Food

​

Gluten free pizza bites!

Whether you are on a special diet or you are trying to fit into that
special swim suit or you just feel like eating a little less carbs
and eating healthy veggies...

these gluten free all veggie pizza bites on a bed of
mashed cauliflower and sauteed kale smothered in cheese
will make meat lovers enjoy them too.

Start by chopping the kale into bite sizes...
During our Cooking Classes throughout greater Philadelphia-
people ask me tons and tons of questions and some recent questions
about kale have been if you need to massage the kale prior to cooking.

Hmm... should you 'massage' the kale or not...
why should you and if so- does it make a difference?

As far as this dish-  after you have your Kale ready-
saute with a little olive oil and coarse sea salt for about 4-5 minutes.

For the mashed cauliflower:
you want to cut the cauliflower florets into bite sizes-
simply so it's easier to mash once you boil them in about 1 inch
of salted (1 teaspoon)  of water. (Mash them with a masher
once they have softened in your pot.) (about 10-12 minutes)
(drain the water prior to mashing)
You don't need any extra seasonings due to the boiling in salt water
unless you want to add a little butter or olive oil.

Now for the pizza bites!
Take some Chinese eggplant (because they are long and skinny)
for bite sizes- these work best.
Slice them and saute them on both sides with olive oil.
(about 2 minutes each side)
You can transfer them to the oven right away but I like to take
a short cut and just add a little tomato sauce and shredded
cheese (of your liking) I mixed mozzarella, cheddar and
a little Parmesan cheese right on the eggplant in the saute pan--
I then put the lid on my saute pan so the cheese melts in the heat
from the pan that just sauteed the eggplant slices.

Once the cheese has melted- put your oven onto the broil setting
and place your saute pan on the top rack right under the broiler grates.

When you cheese has slightly browned- they are ready to plate
and eat!  

​
'Lettuce Turnip the Beet,  Let's Cultivate Food

​

Cucumber Kimchi

Oh-ee  "Oh-Eee" which is cucumber in Korean..... kimchi.
Basically it is cucumbers  stuffed with similar ingredients
that go into Kimchi- (the spicy fermented Korean cabbage.)

First, you want to start off with some Kirby cucumbers.
Kirbys are good b/c they are smaller than the regular
long cucumbers and there aren't as many seeds.

After washing them, you want to cut 2 slits almost all the way down 

the cucumber. You want 4 pieces and the cucumber still in tact 

because you will be stuffing the Kirbys. 

--cut all the way down leaving about an inch--- something like this.

You want to take the cucumbers, put them into a large bowl
and add some coarse salt, with a little water-
to soften and more or less infuse the cucumbers a little.

After roughly 20-30 minutes, rinse the salt off with water.

You'll need some cut chives,  hot pepper flakes
(not the seeded type of pepper flakes), shredded carrots,
a tablespoon of fish sauce
or soy sauce and some minced garlic. (2-3 cloves or to your liking)

What's great about certain Asian-style knives is that they are flat

on the bottom end of the knife. You might think.. 

who cares what the bottom looks like?  They are great because 

after you smash garlic cloves with the side of your knife...

you can just mince the garlic with the bottom of your knife.  

Yes, double-duty!

The stuffing of the cucumbers is a simple mixture of shredded carrots 

(pretty much for the color and to add a little natural sweetness), 

the cut chives into about 2 inch pieces,  

1 tablespoon of fish oil 

2-3 minced garlic cloves and 

hot pepper flakes to your liking of spiciness.

​
'Chop it like it's hot',  Let's Cultivate Food

​

Pre-packaged meals delivered...

Pre-packaged meals in bento-style boxes are becoming more
and more popular these days with everyone
having busy schedules with work AND just every day life.

Luckily... Let's Cultivate Food can assist in providing
healthy and nutritious meals for anyone.
Whether it's a family member, friend or co-worker
who is feeling under the weather,
who is recovering from surgery,
who just doesn't have the time to cook,
or just doesn't know how to or feel like cooking.

We use as much organic ingredients as possible
and when available.  The boxes are coated in wax
for easy re-heating and storing in the refrigerator.

The boxes are made from 100% recycled materials.
Prepared meals are large portioned meals
and are $13 per box.  They are filled with a protein
and hearty vegetables.  We cater to ALL special diets.


Below are just a few pictures of  today's
bento-style meals ready to go.

Click  'to BOOK'  to schedule your first food delivery of prepared meals!

​
'Lettuce Turnip the Beet,  Let's Cultivate Food

Crab Rangoons

Crab Rangoons kinda night!?

The recipe is below.
8 oz of cream cheese (softened)
4 oz of imitation crab meat
2 scallions
1 clove of garlic minced fine
1 teas of Worchestershire sauce
1 teas of soy sauce
1 teas of sugar

for the sauce:
1/2 cup of dijon mustard
1/4 of rice vinegar
1/4 of warm or hot water (not boiling)
1 TBSP of sweetener
1 teas of sesame oil

Once your cream cheese is softened
(you can just leave it on your kitchen counter for 15-20 min.)
fold in the rest of the ingredients
and fold into your favorite shape with wonton wrappers.
Deep fry on medium high heat until the wrapper is golden.


​
Whip it good,  Let's Cultivate Food

Chicken Coconut Curry

Curry is a favorited comfort food for many.
Curry is common in many south Asian countries.

A very easy go to curry dish I like to show people
how to make is coconut curry.
You can use Masaman curry which is a medium spice level.
You can also use green curry and if your palate is
craving a spicy kick- you can use red curry paste as well.

I would use 1 heaping teaspoon of either curry paste that
you prefer and add to your liking little by little.

below is a basic recipe you can start with and then add to your liking.

Coconut curry with chicken

3/4 - 1 can of coconut cream

1 heaping teaspoon of Masaman curry 

1 chicken breast cut into cubes or chicken thighs

2 large potatoes cut into 1 inch cubes

1 head of cauliflower florets (about 1 inch)

3 cloves of garlic minced up or sliced (to your liking)

1 inch of ginger grated

1-2 onions diced small

It's best to cook for 45 minutes to an hour. 

The longer the better as everything with

infuse together.  Curry is best eaten on a bed of

Basmati rice (with celery seed) or coconut rice.  

For a topping or garnish- you can place thin slices 

of red bell pepper and scallions sliced thin.

Chop It Like It's Hot,  Let's Cultivate Food

How to tell if your eggs are fresh.

When did you buy your eggs?  Last weekend or the weekend before?
All egg cartons have a sell by date on the side of the carton aka an
expiration date.  You definitely want to look at that sell by date
BUT more importantly-  you want to look at the number above.
Look at the egg carton I purchased this morning.
(Today's date is January 21st, 2016)

The number above the month (FEB) in this case is "005".  

This number indicates that these eggs were packaged on January 5th.  

The number goes all the way up to... 365.  Yup, you guessed correctly! 

The number of days that are in a single year.  The eggs NEXT to these eggs 

(not pictured)  were on sale for 2 dozen eggs for $3.00.

The number on the eggs on sale were 360 meaning they were packaged

on December 26th, 2015.  Yikes!  Those 360 numbered eggs are pretty old.

Keep in mind that prior to packaging more often than not eggs 

are also stored up to one week.  As long as eggs are stored in 

temperatures of 33-40 degrees when raw- they will be ok.

The consecutive dates of the year from 1-365 on egg cartons are called 

the Julian Date. Don't worry if your Julian Date is 20 days over or even 25 days. 

 As long as fresh shelled eggs that are raw are stored in appropriate 

temperatures-  most eggs are ok  4-5 weeks beyond the Julian date.

So then what's the point of the expiration date then... you ask!?

Again, as long as un-cooked eggs are stored in temperatures up to 

40-45 degrees they are good but as the expiration date gets closer-

the egg will lose some quality ie: if you are baking-

the cake might not rise as high as expected or the whipped consistency 

in  a meringue might not be as fluffy etc. You get the idea.

Always read labels in your food.  You can eat healthy and fresher

sometimes simply just by looking at parts of a label or stamping.

Whip it Good,  Let's Cultivate Food

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