Guacamole

Guacamole is one of my favourite appetisers, to enjoy at a typical Mexican restaurant.


It's not hard to make, as long as you get the avocado ripe!


Ingredients

• 1 large / 2 medium ripe avocado
• 1 lime / 1/4 C lime juice
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 jalapeno pepper
• 1/2 medium onion (red is preferred, i used white)
• 1 roma tomato
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• salt, to taste

Preparation

1. Cut the avocado(s) in half, remove pit(s), scrape contents into mixing bowl.
2. Dice avocado, using a nice sharp knife, in mixing bowl. No mess, knife goes right through.
3. Immediately add lime juice, to keep avocado green, and mix well.
4. Smash, then mince garlic, mix into diced avocado.
5. Dice jalapeno and onion, mix into avocado mix.
6. Dice tomato, mix into avocado mix.
7. Chop cilantro, mix into avocado mix.
8. Add salt, to taste.
9. Garnish with a couple cilantro stalks, and some tomato (or a splash of Mae Ploy), and serve.

Don't Eat Raw Taro Leaves

As you cook your favourite recipes, you may use many exciting and exotic ingredients. Some vegetables that you may cook, you may be curious about what they taste like by themselves, maybe raw. Sometimes, as you prepare your favourite recipe, you may nibble on raw vegetables. Why not? Raw veggies are a great snack.

Not so, for raw taro.

Don't eat raw taro, and especially don't let kids nibble on raw taro leaves. See WikiPedia: Taro, or Taro.co.nz: "Cooking", for more information. You may, alternatively, read my real life tale in Nitecruzr's Better Health And Living: Taro - Toxic When Raw.

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Black Bean / Taro Leaf Soup

Black Bean Soup, if you make it from dried beans, takes some planning (start the night before serving). But it's worth the time it takes. Add taro leaves, for even more flavour (with more garlic and vinegar), to my normal black bean soup. Garnished with a little salsa and sour cream. Yumm Yumm.

• 1 C dried black beans
  
• water, lots of it
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced
  
• 1 medium onion, diced
  
• 1 rib celery, diced
  
• 2 bouillon cubes
  
• 1/2 t black pepper
  
• 1/2 t cumin
  
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
  
• 1/4 t cilantro
  
• 1/4 t oregano
  
• 2 t vinegar
  
• 3 - 4 good size taro leaves (total of 3 or 4 square feet surface area of leaves) (** Observe caution with raw taro leaves)
  

1. Soak beans overnight in water - start mid evening - 12 hours is good. A clear 2 Quart Pyrex utility bowl is perfect for this task - you can look thru the sides for debris. And the sides are marked for measuring.
   
   
   
   • Pour beans into bowl.
     
   • Cover with water, 1 inch over top of beans.
     
   • Let it sit for a couple hours.
     
   • Pick floating debris out of water.
     
   • Drain, rinse, repeat this til bedtime.
     
   
   
2. Cover bowl, and put in refrigerator. I'm told undried beans sitting out overnight will ferment.
   
3. Cut the stems from the taro leaves. Wash leaves well, remove all grit and insects. Soak leaves overnight if possible.
   
4. The next day, drain and rinse beans one last time, cover with water, 3 inches over top of beans. Add bouillon cubes.
   
5. Bring to boil, and simmer 1 1/2 hours.
   
   In microwave:
   
   • Cook on High (100%) 10 minutes.
     
   • Cook on Low (30%) for 90 minutes.
     
   
   
6. Drain the taro leaves. Cut the main and larger side veins from the leaves, and discard. Just cook the green part of leaves. Chop leaves into 1/2" square chunks.
   
7. Add other ingredients, including leaves, to beans.
   
8. Add enough water to 7 cups in the bowl.
   
9. Bring to boil again, and simmer 2 hours.
   
   In microwave:
   
   • Cook on High (100%) 5 minutes.
     
   • Cook on Low (30%) for 2 hours. Get the beans and taro leaves nice and tender.
     
   
   
10. Add enough water, again, to 6 cups in the bowl.
    
11. Serve hot, over rice. Or let it sit in refrigerator until cool.
    

Use Chili Peppers, and Hot Spices, Carefully

I love spicy foods. Now, compared to what you can get in Thailand, my food is not terribly spicy, but one Habanero pepper can pack a wallop. Even a jalapeno or serrano pepper can cause pain. Your mileage may vary here.

When I cook spicy foods, like Chuck's Kick In The Seat Of Your Pants Chili, or maybe Chuck's Memory Of Thailand Mango Salad (with fresh jalapeno peppers), I take precautions. If you are going to use my recipes, I advise the same, based upon experience. The hot peppers (Habanero), and spices (Cayenne), can cause burning - seriously - if you're not careful. I like to joke around - a lot - but I am not joking here.

• When you clean and chop raw peppers, don't put your face in line with what you're chopping or cleaning. A squirt of juice or a seed from a jalapeno, in your face or your eye, will interrupt your cooking activities for more time than it takes to clean and chop it carefully.


• When you're cooking something with spicy vegetables, or hot spices in general, and you take the lid off the pan, use common sense. Don't stick your face into the fumes. Take the lid off with the opening pointing away from your face.


• If any discomfort is felt in eyes, stop immediately what you're doing, and flush eyes with water. Never rub eyes with hands until following morning.


• Wearing contact lenses may make your eyes especially sensitive to the fumes given off by the spices / hot peppers as they cook. Beware.


• Wash hands thoroughly, under running water, after preparing chili peppers. I use a kitchen brush with plenty of detergent, and scrub each finger on both hands, and under the fingernails. Plan on 5 minutes of scrubbing.

If you ignore my advice, you'll find out one day what I'm talking about. Or you can laugh at me for being a wimp. Your choice.

Mango Salad

Ingredients

• 3 - 4 large mangoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 lime
• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced (** Follow safety precautions)
• 1/2 bunch cliantro leaves, chopped
• 1/4 red onion, diced
• 1/2 sweet red pepper, chopped

Preparation

1. See Slicing a Mango, to learn how to prepare your mangoes.
2. Squeeze 1/4 lime over mango, mix well as chopping mango.
3. Squeeze 1/4 lime over mango and jalapeno, mix extremely well.
4. Squeeze 1/4 lime over mango, jalapeno, and cilantro, mix well.
5. Squeeze 1/4 lime over mango, jalapeno, cilantro, onion, and pepper, mix well.
6. Pour mix into serving bowl, put inside refrigerator container.
7. Refrigerate a few hours.
8. Sample once - let it chill. You can eat the skin, and suck the seeds while you clean up the remainder.
9. Enjoy over cuban style black beans, and sesame mint rice.

Chuck's Kick In The Seat of Your Pants Chili **

Kick In The Seat of Your Pants Chili is great during cold weather - to warm you up, and during warm weather - to cool you down. It's real tasty with San Francisco style sourdough bread.


(**) Follow Safety Precautions when you cook this, please.

• 1 T olive oil (Optional - see meat cooking variances)
  
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1 t ground black pepper
  
• 1/2 t ground brown pepper (aka cumin)
  
• 1/2 t ground cayenne pepper
  
• 1 fresh Habenero pepper, WELL minced (** Follow safety precautions)
  
• 1 Can (6 oz) chopped Jalapeno peppers, drained
  
• 6 fresh Serrano peppers, minced (** Follow safety precautions)
  
• 3 T chili powder
  
• pinch oregano flakes
  
• 2 - 3 T black caraway seeds
  
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
  
• 1 sweet pepper (green or red), chopped
  
• 1 Can black beans
  
• 1 Can brown (pinto) beans
  
• 2 Cans red (kidney) beans
  
• 1 Can white (garbanzo) beans
  
• 1 to 1 1/2 pounds meat or meat substitute - chopped stew beef, ground beef, ground turkey, or tofu - see meat notes)
  
• 28 oz Can chopped tomatoes
  

1. Cook the meat.
   • Cook in a microwave safe bowl or dutch oven. See Meat Cooking Variances.
   • If using ground beef, cook meat, drain well, and set meat aside (per note below), leaving 1/8 C grease in bottom of bowl.
   • If using stew beef or ground turkey, pour olive oil into bottom of bowl.
   
   
2. Chop, mince, and / or drain peppers and garlic.
   
3. Add garlic and 6 quantity of hot pepper, chili powder, oregano, black caraway to bowl.
   
4. Microwave spice mixture 3 - 5 minutes, covered, on 10.
   
5. Wash hands VERY carefully (** 5 minutes of scrubbing with a brush for safety).
   
6. Remove bowl from microwave, uncover (** point bowl away from face - fumes are intense).
   
7. Add chopped onion, sweet pepper on top of spices, cover, microwave 5 minutes on 10.
   
8. Remove bowl from microwave, uncover (** again, point bowl away from face).
   
9. Thoroughly mix onion, sweet pepper, and spices.
   
10. Place meat on top, cook if stew beef or turkey (per note below).
    
11. Add tomatoes, mix well, cover, microwave 5 minutes on 10, then 15 minutes on 3.
    
12. Remove bowl from microwave, uncover, stir mixture thoroughly.
    
13. Drain and rinse beans thoroughly, draining in colander, until water drains clean from colander.
    
14. Add beans to bowl, mix thoroughly, microwave 5 minutes on 10, 30 minutes on 3.
    
15. Remove bowl from microwave, uncover, stir, let cool until comfortable in mouth (** chemical burns from hot peppers is enough).
    
16. Serve with sourdough bread, sour cream, and cold beverages (** creamy or thick like Sobe Liz Blizz, Thai Tea, tomato juice, or unfiltered apple juice), or beer, and lots of that.
    

Meat Cooking Variances:

• Stew Beef (preferred) - cook after cooking spices and vegetables:
  Chop meat into 1/4 or so inch cubes, drain blood / juice off
  Place meat on top of cooked onion / pepper as above, microwave 3 - 6 minutes til brown with slight pink showing.
  
• Chopped beef (lean or normal) - cook before anything else:
  Place beef into plastic colander, place colander in clean glass bowl, cover and microwave for 4 - 8 minutes on 10, until brown and still soft, with grease draining into glass bowl.
  Remove bowl from microwave, uncover, chop cooked beef using wooden spatula or spoon into 1/4 inch chunks, let finish draining into bowl.
  Remove colander from bowl, finish draining colander on newspaper.
  Pour off and discard all but 1/8 Cup or so of grease from bowl.
  Substitute bowl with 1/8 C of grease, for bowl with olive oil (above), and cook hot peppers / spices in this.
  
• Chopped turkey (prefer normal - lean is too dry) - cook after cooking spices and vegetables:
  Place turkey on top of cooked onion / pepper as above, cover, cook until brown and dry (5 minutes or so).
  Remove bowl, uncover, chop turkey with wooden spatula / spoon into 1/4 inch chunks.
  
• Tofu - Wash and rinse tofu, drain, and chop into 1/4" cubes. Saute with 1T oil, 1 t oregano or marjoram, 1 t chili powder, and / or 1 T beef bouillion, until chunks are brown, dry, and leathery. Add with tomatoes.