Fried Wild Rice with Chicken

Ingredients:

½ Pound Hand Harvested Wild Rice
2 Cups Water
1 Tablespoon Chicken Soup Base (I use Penzey’s)
2 Chicken Breasts
½ Small Onion, diced
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced
3 Eggs, lightly beaten
3 Stalks of Green Onion, diced
1 Cup Bean sprouts (optional)
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
3 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil

The Night Before:

1. Rinse the wild rice and place in a saucepan with the water and chicken soup base
2. Bring to a boil
3. Turn the heat down to low and cover
4. Cook for a half an hour or until the water is absorbed
5. After removing from the heat fluff with a fork
6. While the rice is cooking add 1 tablespoon of the vegetable oil to a sauté pan and heat
   over med/high heat
7. Add the chicken breasts and sear until nicely browned, 3-4 min., flip and repeat on the
   other side
8. Cool the rice and chicken over night

To Make The Fried Rice:

1. Chop the chicken into small cubes
2. Using your hands or a fork break up any clumps that may have formed in the rice
3. In a small sauté pan scramble the eggs and set aside
4. Have all of the ingredients prepared and close at hand
5. Heat the remaining vegetable oil in a wok or large sauté pan over high heat
6. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until the onions become
   translucent, 1-2 min
7. Add the chicken and rice, continue to cook, stirring constantly for 5-7 more minutes
8. Add the egg, green onion, bean sprouts (if using), sesame oil, and soy sauce
9. Cook, stirring, until everything is well incorporated

Serve and enjoy!

Ingredients:

About 4 Dozen Chestnut Apples (other small apples would work as well)
8” Bamboo Skewers
3 Cups Granulated Sugar
¼ Cup Corn Syrup
1 Cup Water
¼ Pound Fresh Ginger
Juice from half a lemon

Preparation:

1. Place apples on a hard surface and insert one skewer vertically into each apple
2. Lightly oil a large baking sheet and set aside
3. Peel and thinly slice the ginger
4. Place the ginger and water in a blender and puree
5. Using cheesecloth strain the ginger water into a bowl
6. Pour 1 cup of the ginger water into a 4-6 quart, heavy bottom sauce pan and heat over medium
   heat
7. Add the sugar, corn syrup, and lemon juice and cook until all of the sugar is dissolved
8. Once the sugar is dissolved turn the heat up to high and continue cooking, stirring constantly,
   until the liquid is amber colored and boiling, about 10 minutes (it should be about 300
   degrees)
9. Gently dip the apples one at a time into the candy liquid, and then set on the oiled pan to dry

Ginger Candied Chestnut Apples

Ingredients:

4 Quarts Water
1 Medium Onion, chopped
2-4 Carrots, chopped into ¼ inch slices
3 Stalks of Celery, chopped into ¼ inch slices
1 Pound of Okra, roughly chopped
1½ Pound Tomatoes, chopped into medium sized chunks
3 Cobs of Corn, chopped into 1-2 inch pieces
1-2 Thai Chili Peppers, finely chopped
½ Cup Fish Sauce
½ Cup Mint Leaves
1 Tablespoon Sugar

To Make The Soup

1. In a large sauce pan over high heat bring the water to a boil
2. Add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic
3. Cook for 10-15 min., or until the carrots start to soften
4. Add all of the remaining ingredients
5. Bring to a boil
6. Turn down the heat and simmer for 15 more minutes

Serve and enjoy!

Ingredients:

1½ lbs turnip (approx 1 large turnip), peeled (with a carrot peeler or similar utensil) and sliced
2 quarts chicken or fish stock
1½ lbs seafood mixture: shrimp (sliced in half), scallops (thin-sliced) and squid (optional)
½ small bunch of cilantro (approx 6 stalks), chopped
3 stalks green onions (chopped)
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp sesame oil
1 pinch ground white pepper

Preparation:

1. Heat stock until boiling then add sliced turnip
2. Cook turnip until it begins to turn transparent or soft (approx 10 minutes)
3. Add salt and seafood and cook until boiling again
4. Add cilantro, onions, sesame oil and pepper

Remove from heat and serve.

Slicing turnip

Seafood; cilantro and chopped green onions

Ingredients:

½ lb immature squash or regular squash (cut into 1/4˝ slices)
note: if using immature squash, leave the skin on, it’s very tender; if using regular squash, remove outer skin before slicing
½ lb mixed or green beans (cut off ends)
1 lb cauliflower (1 medium-sized head – cut florets from stalks)
½ lb round Thai eggplant (cut off tops and slice in half)
1 large white onion (chopped)
1 small piece of fresh ginger (sliced); or ½ tsp. of ground ginger
5 shallots (thin-sliced) – optional
2 stalks of fresh lemongrass (crush and cut into 2˝-3˝ lengths)
5 large cloves of garlic (crushed and chopped)
1 cup of fresh Thai basil leaves
½ cup oil
1½ tsp of salt
1 14 oz can coconut cream
1 Tbsp Penzey’s Hot Curry Powder spice mix

Preparation:

1. Put 1½ quarts of water on to boil and start preparing the vegetables (begin with squash and lemongrass)
2. When water is boiling, add squash and lemongrass and boil until squash is tender but firm (approx 10-15 minutes)
3. When squash is ready, remove from heat but don’t discard the water; instead, remove lemongrass and squash from water, discard lemongrass, set squash aside
4. Now, put the cut cauliflower in the pot and heat again until boiling; boil briefly (approx 2-3 minutes) until cauliflower is blanched – this will soften it slightly so it cooks quicker in the wok or pan; remove cauliflower from heat and strain
5. In a large frying pan or wok, heat oil
6. When oil is hot, sauté ginger, onions, garlic and shallots together for 1 minute (until fragrant)
7. Add Thai eggplant and beans, stirring together until green beans are bright green (approx 2-3 minutes)
8. Add squash, stir briefly
9. Add salt
10. Add blanched cauliflower and mix together
11. Add spices and blend
12. Add coconut cream (this will thicken the sauce) and stir until thoroughly mixed in
13. Mix in Thai basil and stir until blended

Remove from heat – serve with rice!

Chopped onions and garlic

Chopped squash

Tammy made this curry August 7 in preparation for her Mpls. Farmer Market demonstration on August 29. Most of the vegetable ingredients were purchased at the Farmers Market that morning: immature squash, mixed beans, thai basil, shallots, round thai eggplant, cauliflower, carrots – fresh and local stuff! However, if you’re not able to find all of these vegetable ingredients when you’re ready to prepare this dish, don’t be afraid to use other seasonal vegetables that are available.

Summer Vegetables from August 7, 2009

For this recipe I chose a long, purple eggplant called Violetta Lungo, sometimes called a Japanese eggplant. Tamarind sauce is sometimes called ‘fresh concentrated tamarind.’ You can find it in most Asian grocery stores.

Ingredients:

½ cup tamarind sauce
1 tsp. ground coriander
½ tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. sugar
1 to 3 finely diced hot chili peppers (or ½ tsp. dried crushed hot pepper)
6 (about 1 ½ lbs.) Violetta Lungo eggplant
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cored
½ sweet white onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup vegetable oil

Instructions:

1. In a medium bowl, mix tamarind sauce, coriander, cumin, salt, sugar and hot chili peppers.
2. Roughly peel the eggplant, leaving about half the skin on for color.
3. Cut eggplant in half the long way and then slice into ½-inch pieces.
4. Thinly slice bell pepper and onion.
5. Heat oil in wok over high heat.
6. Stir fry eggplant until tender, about 5 minutes, then drain, gently squeezing out and saving any excess oil.
7. Return oil to wok and reheat.
8. Add garlic and lightly brown.
9. Add onion and bell pepper and cook 2 to 3 minutes.
10. Add eggplant and stir fry for an additional 2 to 3 minutes.
11. Add sauce and cook another couple of minutes, until vegetables are cooked through and evenly coated with sauce.
12. Serve alone or over rice.

Ingredients:

6 cobs of corn
1 bunch of green onions
½ cup grapeseed oil or vegetable oil
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt

Preparing the corn:

You can prepare your corn a couple of different ways. The first would be to husk and boil the corn; alternately, you could grill the corn in the husk. Either way, the green onion sauce can be used as a dressing for the boiled corn (as shown above) or can be rubbed onto grilled corn.

Green onion sauce preparation:

Take your bunch of green onions and chop into fairly small pieces until you have about 2 cups worth. Heat the oil in a frying pan or wok until hot. When the oil is ready, sautee the chopped onions, sugar and salt for a minute, then remove from heat. Dress your corn with the sauce and enjoy!

Ingredients:

6 cobs of sweet corn
1 cup sweet rice
1½ cups of sugar

Coconut Sauce:
1 14 oz. can Savoy coconut cream
1 can water
1 tbsp. corn starch
1 tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt

Rice and Corn Pudding Preparation:

1. Soak rice in water overnight.
2. After rice has soaked, shuck the sweet corn and scrape the kernels off, making sure to scrape down to the cob so you collect a fair amount of juice from the corn.
3. Put rice and corn together in a pot with 1 quart of water and cook on medium to medium-high heat until mixture comes to a boil.
4. Cook until rice becomes translucent (approx. 10-15 minutes) then add 1½ cups of sugar and cook for a couple more minutes.
5. Remove from heat and cover for half an hour or so.
6. Don’t worry if the mixture is a little watery at this point, covering it and letting it sit will give the rice a chance to expand and thicken.

Coconut Sauce Preparation:

1. Pour the contents of the can of coconut cream into a small saucepan and heat on medium-high heat.
2. While this is warming up, mix the cornstarch, sugar and salt with 1 can (the 14 oz. coconut cream can) of water until dissolved.
3. Add this mixture to the saucepan and stir continuously with a wooden spoon until it comes to a boil and starts to thicken.
4. Remove from heat.

Your sweet corn rice pudding is ready to serve! Scoop pudding into a bowl, cover with coconut cream and enjoy; or refrigerate and serve cold later.

Ingredients:

1½ lb Chicken Breast, sliced
1 lb Asparagus, 1 inch slices, cut on a bias
1 large Carrot, sliced thin on a bias
½ med. Onion, cut into wedges
1 Tablespoon Chinese style Barbecue Sauce (I use Bull Head Brand. They make a vegetarian and a no vegetarian variety-both are great)
1 clove of Garlic, smashed and finely chopped
6 thin slices of ginger
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch, dissolved in 2 Tablespoons of water
2 Tablespoons Oyster Sauce
1 Teaspoon Mushroom Soy Sauce
3 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 Teaspoon Sesame Oil

Instructions:

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok over high heat.
2. Add asparagus, carrots, and onions. Cook, stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes or until asparagus is bright green.
3. Remove and set aside.
4. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and return wok to high heat. Add garlic and ginger and stir until the garlic starts to brown.
5. Add chicken. Cook, stirring constantly, until the chicken is cooked through.
6. Add barbecue sauce, oyster sauce, and soy sauce.
7. Stir in vegetables and cornstarch mixture. Serve over rice.