Feral Cooks

Good food shouldn't be tame

Quinoa Salad with Mangoes and Curry Vinaigrette

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I really never make quinoa, but I’ll eat it if it’s in an edible dish. That’s how you know this is another Yumi recipe.

From my point of view, quinoa is tasteless, boring, and doesn’t really do much. Kind of like that one coworker you’d like to punch in the face. But Yumi found a winner here. The mango and dressing make the dish, rendering an unpalatable food delicious.

The recipe is from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone [but Karl] by Deborah Madison.

Note that quinoa, in itself, is gluten-free, but it is often processed with other grains that have gluten. So, depending on the manufacturing process, your quinoa may have trace amounts of gluten.

 What you’ll need for the salad:

  • Salt
  • 1.33 cups quinoa, rinsed
  • 2 large mangoes, skinned and cut into 0.5-0.75-inch pieces
  • 1 hot chili of your choice (about jalapeño-hot is best), seeded and diced
  • 3 scallions or green onions, thinly sliced (use about an inch of the green, too)
  • 0.33 cups roasted almonds, or a nut that won’t send you into anaphylactic shock

For the dressing:

  • 1 clove garlic
  • Big pinch of salt
  • 2T unflavored yogurt, mayo or sour cream (do NOT use the culinary abomination known as Miracle Whip!)
  • 2t curry powder
  • 1.5T lemon juice
  • 5T light olive oil or sunflower oil
  • 2T fine-chopped cilantro

What to do for the dressing:

Mince the garlic or run it through a garlic press.

Combine the garlic, salt, yogurt and curry in a small bowl. Stir in the lemon juice, and then whisk in the oil.

Let the mixture stand for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes have passed, stir in the cilantro. Set aside.

Meanwhile begin heating 3 cups of water in a saucepan for cooking the quinoa. When the water starts boiling, add 0.5t salt, along with the quinoa. Lower the heat and simmer for about 12-15 minutes, or until the quinoa is tender. Drain the excess water.

 Return the quinoa to the saucepan, but keep it off the heat. Add the mangos, scallions, chili and dressing. Mix thoroughly. Add the nuts and mix in just before serving.

Café Au Lait Pudding

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Yup, that’s a wine glass: the only thing we had that worked for this application.

If you like coffee, you’ll love these.

This recipe is from the November 2009 Gourmet magazine—yes, it took ten years to get around to making it.

This pudding is pretty easy to make, and it tastes good, but it seems more like a weekday dessert for the family. I wouldn’t necessarily serve it to dinner guests, unless it was in a pinch. I’m not knocking coffee pudding, but after waiting for 10 years to make the recipe, I guess I was a little let down.

By the way, the cream and vanilla in the recipe list are actually for the whipped-cream topping, so if you wanted to just use the pressure-can stuff, have at it.

Anyway, give them a try. It’s hard to pass on pudding.

What you’ll need:

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 3T instant coffee granules
  • 2T + 2t cornstarch
  • 0.25 cup + 2T granulated sugar, divided (the 2T is for the whipped cream)
  • 0.5 cups heavy cream
  • 0.25t vanilla extract
  • Cinnamon or powdered coffee granules for sprinkling

What to do:

In a heavy saucepan, whisk the milk, coffee, cornstarch 0.25 cups sugar and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, letting it boil for one minute, stirring constantly.

Transfer the boiled milk to a metal bowl sitting in an ice bath, stirring often for about ten minutes as it cools. Once cooled to a reasonable temperature, pour equal amounts into whatever you’re serving them in, and then let them chill in the refrigerator until cold and set. The recipe says for 20 minutes, but I’d give it at least an hour.

For the whipped-cream topping, beat the cream, vanilla and remaining 2T sugar until soft peaks form. Spoon the whipped cream over the pudding just before serving, and sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon or powdered coffee.

I had some leftover cream, so I tried something: flavored whipped cream. It was easy, just add the necessary amount of sugar and a long squirt of whatever water-flavor you may have, and then whip it up. The bonus is that it’s colored, too.

I think I used strawberry flavor for this.
Using this would make for a great batch of whipped cream! It also works for shakes, and squirting over ice cream and into the water for ice cubes, if you don’t use an ice-maker.

Sea Salted Peanut Brittle

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Here’s a great recipe for peanut brittle. I found this in a book some years ago, but have no recollection of its name. I finally got around to making this, and it’s well worth the minimal effort that it takes.

Now, peanut brittle isn’t particularly novel or sophisticated, but if you’re going to make a pedestrian dish, might as well go all-out and make it as good as possible. This recipe will let you do just that.

As you can see in the photos, I went a little light on the sea salt, without detriment to the taste. But I’m sure the full amount called for will not be too salty.

What you’ll need:

  • 1T canola oil
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 0.25 cups water
  • 0.25t cream of tartar
  • 1 cup roasted, salted peanuts (other nuts would work, too)
  • 1.25t good quality fine-grained sea salt

What to do:

Oil the BACK of a baking sheet with a paper towel.

Combine the sugar, water and cream of tartar in a heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat without stirring.

Sweep a wet pastry brush around the point where the sugar syrup meets the sides of the pan. As the mixture cooks, do this one more time to keep the sugar from crystalizing against the pan. Let the mixture cure about 8-10 minutes, until it begins to turn amber in color.

For this next step, be prepared to move quickly. Turn off the heat, and with a heat-resistant spatula, stir in the peanuts, getting them completely coated with the caramel. Then, quickly pour them onto the oiled back of the baking sheet and spread it to more or less a single layer. Now sprinkle the sea salt over the brittle while it’s still hot.

Let it cool to room temperature, or at least 30 minutes. Now gently pry it from the baking sheet and break it into whatever size pieces works for you.