I know what you’re thinking.  This chick went to Peru and came back plumb-quinoa-crazy since she just posted a quinoa recipe 2 weeks ago.  I feel you guys deserve an explanation, so I’m going to level with you.  I was actually working on an exciting recipe for some black sesame Arabic donuts with date molasses (sounds pretty delicious, no?), but I had a yeast malfunction issue. TWICE.  And after 2 trips to the store in the cold and a bit of heartache (I’m not a yeast novice.  I blame the yeast!), I decided to warm myself up with this soup and share it with you guys.  Donuts tbd…

I did, in fact, learn a version of quinoa soup in the Sacred Valley in Peru.  And I’ve made this soup a few times.  What I LOVE about it is that it gives you a chance to use up all of the random vegetables you might have sitting in your fridge.  I like to save onion scraps, carrot halves, any little bits of a vegetable – and all of that works well in the soup.  Not overcooking the veggies also adds a beautiful, textural crunch.

The soup I had in Peru was super rich, cooked with evaporated milk, egg, and luscious cubes of cheese.  I omit the egg, leave the cheese optional here and opt for a bit of heavy cream to thicken instead, but I have to admit the cheese is an amaaaazing part of the soup.  It’s so warm and comforting and really pops with flavor (while you get your protein punch from the quinoa).  If you keep cooked quinoa in your fridge like I do, this takes no time to make – 15 minutes (half an hour if you have to make the quinoa).  Either way, this is a perfect winter weeknight meal – enjoy!

Ingredients

Serves 4 to 6

2-3 tbsps olive oil

1 red onion, finely chopped

1 jalapeno, finely chopped

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1 ½ cups finely chopped mixed vegetables (carrot, celery, zucchini, etc.)

4 to 6 garlic cloves, minced

4 cups cooked quinoa*

2 quarts vegetable or chicken stock

1 cup cubed Monterey jack cheese (optional)

½ cup heavy cream

Handful of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Procedure

Heat a medium-sized pot over medium heat.  Add olive oil and throw in the red onion and jalapeno as well as a bit of salt to draw out the moisture.  Cook for a few minutes until the red onions start to turn translucent.  Add in the scallions and mixed vegetables.  You want to cook for another few minutes but you want the vegetables to retain some crunch (so don’t overcook).

Add the garlic and sauté another 30 seconds and then throw in the quinoa and stock.  Bring the mixture up to a boil and then lower to a simmer.  Add in the cheese, if using, and the heavy cream and simmer for another 2 minutes so the flavors come together.  Add the cilantro and season to taste.

*As a rule of thumb, I assume quinoa doubles in size.  So I made 2 cups of quinoa (in 3 cups water) for this recipe.

Quick Use-Your-Veggies Quinoa Soup is a post from: Aliya LeeKong

Jan / Feb 2012

Bella Magazine is a post from: Aliya LeeKong

We are smack dab in the middle of citrus season, and, yesterday, I came across a few different types that I had never eaten, cooked with, possibly seen before!  One, called the Buddha’s hand, is not in this picture because it was $30 per lb (basically for the single fruit), and I couldn’t bring myself to spend that slash I would rather spend that on something that will last longer – say, truffle oil and some beauty products….It’s worth checking out though just for its grotesquely interesting shape and the fact that it’s used to make citron vodka.  So the citrus I ended up actually buying are pictured above and are Rangpur limes and mandarinquats.

I went all in and just bit into the Rangpur lime, which is lime in name only and is the larger rounder fruit.  Not necessarily the wisest thing to do, BUT I got a full sense of the flavor – super sour in a bright lemony way with a honeyed sweetness and perfume.  The fruit is actually a cross between a mandarin and a lemon, so, at least, my taste suspicions were confirmed (that’s exactly what it tastes like though with the lemon predominating).

The mandarinquat flesh was also shockingly sour.  As the name implies, this one is a cross between a mandarin and a kumquat and has that signature bell shape.  I grew up with a kumquat tree in the backyard and have many happy memories of illicit tree-climbing (eschewing the “fall and break your head” adage) and kumquat-eating to my heart’s content.   Here, the peel is eaten with the flesh and sweetens it up quite a bit.  In fact, the peel has a sweet spice-like quality where the flesh resembles a sour orange.

When I think of cooking with either of these, my mind straight away goes to cocktails! The thought of a Pisco sour using a Rangpur lime sounds just about right, or candying the peel of the mandarinquat and using the peel and syrup in a simple vodka-based drink.  Of course, both of these would be beautiful in desserts, as a riff on lemon meringue pie or a fruit mousse.  I think I would just pour that syrup and candied mandarinquat peel on vanilla ice cream for my very own creamsicle and call it a day.  Thoughts?

Unique Citrus in NYC is a post from: Aliya LeeKong

I love when I discover a food or dish that is completely a blank slate – a truly adaptable item that you can tailor to your own taste preferences with a few key ingredients.  Brigadeiros, another one of my Brazilian discoveries, are precisely that, a docinho or sweet that is enjoyed all over the country.  These are effectively little balls of luscious, milk fudge that are ridiculously easy to make and that can be layered with any flavor combo you like.

Now, when I say easy, even that might be an overstatement.  It can be as simple as 3 ingredients – sweetened condensed milk, unsalted butter, and whatever you are flavoring are garnishing these little guys with.  I found my favorite sweet shop in Rio and kept sneaking a new flavor (or two, who are we kidding) back to my hotel room each day, but my heart really settled on chocolate, which is one of the most popular versions.

So, I will admit, I made the recipe more complicated than the original BUT only in number of ingredients.  And, of course, I think using real chocolate in lieu of just cocoa (the tradition) gives it a much richer taste.  It’s seldom I go all in on just chocolate in a dessert, so the espresso powder, I think, brings out what’s best about the semisweet chocolate.  I would say that the addition of heavy cream,  vanilla, salt and corn syrup make this somewhere between a truffle and a brigadeiro – but the result is simply heavenly: rich, thick fudgy bites with that signature mocha flavor.  Next time, I plan to use Mexican chocolate, one of my favorite ingredients out there, and see what happens.  Enjoy!

Ingredient

Makes approximately 2 dozen brigadeiros

3 tbsps unsalted butter

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

¼ tsp kosher salt

3 tbsps heavy cream

1 tsp light corn syrup

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 ¼ tsp instant espresso powder

1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

3.5 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (approx ¾ cup)

Garnish: cocoa powder, chocolate sprinkles or vermicelli, and/or chocolate-covered espresso bean

Procedure

In a small, preferably nonstick, pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat.  Add the sweetened condensed milk, salt, heavy cream, corn syrup and vanilla extract and whisk to combine.  When the mixture starts to bubble, add the espresso powder, cocoa powder and chopped chocolate and whisk to melt chocolate.  Cook on medium-low for 10-15 minutes whisking constantly.  The mixture should just lightly bubble around the edges so reduce the heat if it’s cooking too quickly.

When it’s ready, you should see that the mixture will pull away from the sides and slide around the bottom.  Transfer to a metal bowl and don’t scrape the bottom of the pot.  Let cool for 30 to 45 minutes at room temperature.  Cover with plastic wrap and transfer to the fridge.

You want to cool the mixture completely before rolling the brigadeiros.  This will take likely between 3 and 4 hours.  I actually took the bowl out after 2 hours and used a small, greased ice cream scoop to scoop out 24 equal mounds of the mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Then, I put it back into the fridge to firm up for another 20 minutes.  The increased surface area makes it cool faster.

Make sure your hands are greased and roll the mixture into even-sized balls.  Then, it is up to your imagination how to garnish.  You can simply roll in cocoa powder or sprinkles.  I garnished mine with chocolate vermicelli and a chocolate-covered espresso bean.  I think the little paper baking cups make it look adorable.  These are best enjoyed at room temperature.

These will keep for 2 days at room temperature if you keep them in an airtight container.  In the fridge, they’ll keep for closer to a month.  If refrigerating, bring to room temperature before serving.

Espresso-Chocolate Brigadeiros is a post from: Aliya LeeKong

When someone mentions pink salt, I tend to always think about the curing sort, with sodium nitrite.  But finishing salts do come in all colors – black, pink, red, grey – and this pink salt I happened to pick up while I was exploring Peru.  A lot of times during my spice stories I talk about unique ingredients and their extraordinary flavor.  This salt I wanted to share with you more for the story and the experience it represented for me, less for its individual influence on cooking.

To me pink salt is pink salt and perhaps my palate is just not developed enough.  My understanding is that the reason for (any) color in salt is due to the lack of a refining process, and so salts mainly differ in mineral content, size and shape of crystals, intensity and the way they disperse in foods.   One exception I know to that is kala namak or black salt from India – this type has a distinct, sulphurous taste that makes it easily identifiable.

In the Sacred Valley, near a town called Maras, I visited these salt-evaporation ponds that the locals all referred to as salt mines. Here’s a photo – and it can’t quite do it justice. I was blown away by the site (it’s massive and intense) and particularly the fact that these have been in use from the Inca times, a way of capturing salt from a nearby, super-salty spring.  I literally put my hand in the stream and minutes later my hand had dried with a thorough dusting of salt on it.  The pans need only natural evaporation for the gorgeous salt crystals to form.

What I loved was how the ponds help support the locals according to people I spoke with from the area.  Some of the pools have been passed on for generations; each family owns and harvests its own salt though it’s usually sold through the coop that manages the ponds.  One thing is for sure – labor cost isn’t figured in…Carrying those heavy bags of salt at that altitude and that distance would be no joke!

Sal Rosada from Maras is a post from: Aliya LeeKong

It feels like over the last few years, Americans have gotten really smart about the health benefits and cooking of quinoa (and, in reality, about a lot of the ancient grains / foods that are showing up in supermarkets).  Quinoa, in particular, has gotten a lot of attention because it’s a complete protein source, high in fiber and minerals and is gluten-free.  The “pseudograin” is actually native to the Andes and a big part of the diet out there, so while I was in Peru a few weeks back, I was a bit obsessed with learning traditional quinoa recipes.

I had the opportunity to cook with a few chefs in the Sacred Valley, and they gave me their creative interpretations of the grain – using it in surprisingly delicious, brothy soups, cooking it like a risotto in a dish called “quinotto”, and even sweet, in a dessert that’s not unlike a frozen rice pudding.  I too wanted to put my spin on it, so I thought replacing traditional breading for fried shrimp with quinoa would create a healthier (but still super flavorful) option.

And this recipe is almost gluten-free.  You can easily replace the all-purpose flour in this recipe with rice flour, and you are good to go.  One of the chilies used in Peruvian cooking (the “ajis” as they call it) is aji panca, a dried, smoky chili which I think has a similar flavor profile to the chipotle.  I thought a creamy, homemade mayo spiked with chipotle pepper would be the perfect accompaniment to this shrimp.  The quinoa crust is nutty, crunchy and satisfying and tastes heavenly with a bit of smoky, spicy mayo….Enjoy!

Ingredients

Serves 4 to 6

For the shrimp:

½ cup flour

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp paprika

¾ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp onion powder

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup raw quinoa*

1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

Olive or vegetable oil, for frying

For the chipotle mayo:

Yields ¾ cup

1 egg yolk

1 garlic clove

½ tsp mustard

1 tbsp lemon juice

150 mL olive oil

generous pinch of salt

1 chipotle in adobo sauce

Procedure

Let’s start by quinoa-crusting the shrimp.  Set up 3 bowls and a baking sheet with a rack on top.  In the first bowl, thoroughly mix together the flour with the salt and all of the ground spices.  The second bowl will have the beaten eggs, and the third bowl, the quinoa.  For each shrimp, holding by the tail dip them in the flour mixture, eggs, and then quinoa – shaking off excess at each stage.  Place on the rack on the baking sheet and set in the fridge while heating the oil.

In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat 2 to 3 inches of oil to 375° – 380° F.  The key here is that the oil has to be hot enough or the quinoa won’t cook through.  It should be crisp but not taste raw.  You want to work in batches so the oil temperature doesn’t drop too much – the overall goal is to keep the temperature above 360° F for the duration of cooking.  Fry shrimp for 3 minutes and transfer to another rack on a baking sheet.  Immediately, season with a bit of salt while it’s hot out of the oil.

For the mayo, in a food processor or a blender, blend together the egg yolk with the garlic clove, mustard, and lemon juice.  With the machine on, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until fully incorporated.  Add the chipotle and blend until uniform.

Serve shrimp hot with a side of the chipotle mayo.

*I used a combination of red and white quinoa here (and would have used black as well had I found it).  You can use whatever variety you have on hand.

Quinoa Crusted Shrimp with Chipotle Mayo is a post from: Aliya LeeKong

This week, I came across an ingredient that has quickly become one of my favorite new foods – a smoky, heady dried fruit that had my mind racing for different ways to use it!  Although I tend to work on more of the modern dishes for Junoon, I decided to take a step back and focus on researching and developing a recipe for a traditional curry from the south of India, a Kerala shrimp curry.  From my experience in Goa and in cooking Indian cuisine, I knew about kokum and tamarind as souring agents but had never heard about kodampuli, a smoked, dried fruit that’s used almost exclusively in the Kerala region.

Kodampuli is also called kudampuli, Malabar tamarind, gambooge or fish tamarind and is not actually tamarind at all as I first thought.  The fruit is small, pumpkin-shaped and ripens from green to yellow.  It’s grown in the south of India, other areas of southeast Asia and in part of Africa.  Once the fruit ripens, it’s deseeded and dried in the sun after which it’s smoked.  They have a really long shelf life, so if you happen to get your hands on this hard-to-find ingredient, you can keep it for literally years.

I was super excited to use this in the curry because I’m a bit obsessed with smokiness in foods (and cocktails), and I certainly had never tasted a smoky curry.  To get the best out of the fruit, you have to rinse it and soak it in boiling water for about 10 to 15 minutes.  Both the fruit and the liquid are used in cooking and impart a sour but not acidic (I finished it with grilled lime juice) quality to a dish.  The flavor is not wholly unlike kokum or tamarind but there is a subtle, smoky finish; I think it added a delicious complexity.

You can be sure that I will be throwing these little guys in winter soups this season.  Their flavor is best when simmered in a liquid for 10 to 15 minutes, so any braises I make (braising is one of my favorite cooking activities) may get a sour kick.  I’d love to explore using these in sauces and meat marinades for searing or grilling – perhaps simmer it in wine or water with garlic and spices to do an overnight marinade or brine.  Quite frankly, I’m just not sure how I’ll go back to regular tamarind again…

Kodampuli or Malabar Tamarind is a post from: Aliya LeeKong

A classic dish in Spanish and Latin culture is Arroz con Pollo or chicken with rice.  It’s a family-style, one-pot dish, chicken cooked with onions, peppers, garlic, tomatoes (sofrito) and rice – some families add achiote, others saffron, cilantro, or culantro…whatever is that family’s tradition.  One of the best dishes I tried in Peru was Arroz con Pato, where succulent duck replaces the chicken in the traditional dish.  It was such a rich and elegant dish that I had to try my hand at it now that I’m back home in NYC.  I’m so happy I did….

Two of the differences between arroz con pollo and arroz con pato (aside from the whole chicken v. duck thing) is that chicha, Peruvian corn beer, is used to cook the rice and duck in arroz con pato.  Also, cilantro is blended with water and added to the braising liquid, so the color of the dish takes on a gorgeous, green hue.  Beer, cilantro, and duck?  A winning combination in my book!

I learned a number of dishes from a fantastic friend in Lima, Naguib Ciurlizza, a colorful and multi-talented gentleman who boasts poetry and painting as skills alongside his vast knowledge of Peruvian cuisine.  He detailed to me how the original dish was made.  I had to make a few twists and turns to accommodate what’s locally available here in the States (aji amarillo can be so difficult to find!) and to accommodate my own taste.  So I use jalapenos in lieu of Peruvian peppers.  I also substitute a good stout beer instead of corn beer and chicken stock instead of water.  Traditionally, a long grain rice is used, but I went with a shorter grain rice that’s more of a paella tradition because I just love the texture.  I also throw in some olives at the end for a salty bite.

I will be blunt – this is not something to be whipped up in 30 minutes.  It’s a long, slow, loving cooking process, but I promise you the results are incredible and rewarding.   Fall-off-the-bone duck meat in a flavorful rice infused with beer and cilantro, studded with peas, bell pepper, and olives.  It’s a meal your family will love you for or that works for a great, casual dinner party (when you want to flex your Peruvian-inspired skills).  I’m a cook, so I shouldn’t say this but…I was literally shocked by how delicious this version of the dish is!  Enjoy!

Ingredients

Serves 4 to 6

Vegetable oil to coat pot

Duck, preferably 2 legs, bone-in with thigh meat and 1 breast, boneless split (approximately 3 lbs)

3 shallots, finely chopped

1 jalapeno, minced

2 tsps ground cumin

5 cloves garlic, minced

¾ cup stout beer

¼ cup Pisco liqueur (optional)

4 cups chicken stock

1 very large handful cilantro (no tough stems but soft stems are fine)

Bay leaf, dried or fresh

2 ½ cups Valencia, bomba or calasparra rice (paella rice)

¾ cup fresh or frozen peas

1 cup bell pepper, small dice (mixed yellow, red and orange)

Black olives (garnish)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Start by prepping the duck.  Dry the legs and breast and trim of excess fat.  I like to reserve this fat to melt down and keep for cooking in the future.  Prick the legs all over with a fork (this will help the legs render the fat easier) and season all over with salt and freshly ground pepper.  Score the skin on the breast in a criss-cross pattern (again for fat-rendering purposes) and set aside.

Heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium-low heat.  Add vegetable oil to coat the bottom of the pot and prevent the duck from sticking.  Add the legs skin-side down.  You want the fat to render out and the skin to crisp and brown.  This should take 3 to 4 minutes.  Turn pieces over and cook for another 3 minutes.  Remove legs to a plate and set aside.  Pour off (and keep!) any excess fat, reserving a few tablespoons in the pot for cooking the vegetables.

Add shallots, minced jalapeno and cumin and cook for 3 to 5 minutes until the shallots are softened and translucent.  Add the minced garlic and cook for another minute.  Pour in the beer and pisco, if using, and increase the heat.  Scrape the bottom of the pan with your spoon to dislodge any brown bits and bring up to boil.

While the duck or vegetables are cooking, blend 2 cups of the chicken stock in a blender with a large handful of the cilantro, reserving a small handful to chop for garnish later.  You want to blend on high for several minutes until the cilantro is totally pulverized.

Nestle the duck legs back into the pot, skin-side up.  Add the chicken stock blended with the cilantro and a bay leaf, cover and bring up to a boil.  As soon as it boils, place covered pot into the oven and cook for 1½ hours.

Take pot out of the oven, place on the stovetop and temporarily (and carefully) remove the duck legs.  Add the rice, peas, and chopped peppers and season very well with salt now to avoid stirring once it’s cooked.  Add the remaining 2 cups of chicken stock, stir and nestle the duck thighs back in.  Cover and bring back up to a boil.  Place in the oven for another 30 to 40 minutes until the rice is cooked through.

In the last 10 minutes of cooking, heat a skillet over medium-low heat.  Season scored duck breast all over with salt and freshly ground pepper.  Add a touch of oil to prevent the duck breast from sticking and place breast pieces skin-side down.  You want to render all of the fat out, so as the fat accumulates in the pan, carefully pour it off (and keep!).  Cook for 8 to 10 minutes until the skin has become crisp and there is no layer of fat underneath it.  Turn breast pieces over, increase heat to medium-high and cook for another 2 minutes.  This will yield a medium-rare breast – cook for longer if you like your meat more well done.

Remove the duck breast to a cutting board, cover loosely with foil and let rest for 5 minutes.  Thinly slice the duck breast.

Serve the rice garnished with black olives, some fresh cilantro and sliced duck breast.

Arroz Con Pato is a post from: Aliya LeeKong

January 14, 2012

The Daily featured Aliya’s Smoked Earl Grey Tea cocktail as part of a story on the 3-D release of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

The Daily is a post from: Aliya LeeKong

Because I live in NYC, when I travel, I tend to shy away from big cities and focus on countrysides and off-the-beaten-path destinations.  I like to experience the physical beauty of a place while taking in the culture, and the rush of a city is the last thing I crave.  But, literally, as soon as the plane landed in Rio de Janeiro, I felt an indescribable energy – a laid back beach culture combined with effortless sexiness and an urban edge.  This is one big city I looove.  Of course, cooking and food exploration was high on my list here, and I wanted to share with you one of the most delicious finds, a rich, creamy, spreadable cheese called Catupiry.

Catupiry is completely Brazilian, and the way it’s made is apparently a well-guarded secret of one family who created it in the state of Minas Gerais early in the 20^th century.  It’s a popular brand of requeijão cheese, a type of cream cheese that dates back to times of slavery in the country.  The flavor is really mild, luscious, with a bit of tang, and I think it resembles a cross between mascarpone and fromager d’affinois.  Because it’s local to Brazil, it is certainly not the easiest thing to find in the States.  If you are in the NYC area, I know Rio Bonito in Queens carries it as does Seabra Supermarkets in Jersey.

Requeijão cheese is part of Brazilian food culture and is incorporated in family’s dishes on the day to day.  It may be used in the country’s famous cheese bread, pão de queijo, as a breakfast spread, baked with shredded chicken in a pastry crust (that just made me hungry! might try that soon), simply enjoyed with guava paste (would be delicious in these guava cheese crepes), or, and this might be my favorite, as a pizza topping.  I will certainly be making recipes with Catupiry soon and will make sure mascarpone works for them too for those who can’t find it!

Catupiry is a post from: Aliya LeeKong