cilantro – Goboroot.com

Coriander and Chipotle Drumettes plus Some Nibbles

Hi all. Before I post Japan trip Vol. 2 Tokyo, I wanted to introduce you to these yummy recipes I cooked up in my kitchen. I got inspiration when I enjoyed the generously salty and crispy chicken wings at a nice little place called Pivo near Chinatown in Vancouver. I used drumettes instead of wings and home grown coriander seeds for the rub to give it personality. This is a recipe where I can showcase the whole circle of life of my cilantro plants! If you grow cilantro, make sure to harvest seeds in autumn and leave some on the plant, as later they fall, sprout and grow again, providing you with a key ingredient for winter finger foods. What is your favourite finger food?

On that note, I’m not so much of a hockey, soccer, football or curling fan, but enjoy serving ultimate nibbles for those who get so excited watching the games that they hop up and down on the couch! I got carried away with these drumettes, and wanted to find out what might go with them in our household. It turns out that aged cheddar crackers and bean dip fit the bill perfectly, so here they are. Try these for your next gathering, whatever sport you fancy!

Coriander and Chipotle Drumettes –The Ultimate Finger Food-

For this recipe, you need whole coriander seeds that are ground with a coffee grinder or blender for the best texture.

Serves 4

20 drumettes

1 teaspoon freshly ground ginger

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Dash of roasted sesame oil

For the rub

4 tablespoons garlic powder

2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground chipotle

2 ½ tablespoons coriander seeds

1 lime, wedged

Fresh cilantro leaves

Rinse the drumettes under cold water and pat dry. Combine the ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil in a small bowl. In a rimmed large tray, lay the drumettes and pour over the soy mixture. Coat well all around, cover and marinate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 425C. Lay the drumettes on a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the rub. Grind the coriander seeds in a coffee grinder or blender, leaving some coarse texture, and combine with the rest of the rub ingredients in a large bowl.

Take the baking sheet with the drumettes out of the oven. Using a pair of tongs, dunk each drumette in the bowl of rub and coat all around. Remove excess rub and place it back on the rack. Repeat for the rest of drumettes.

Bake another 20 minutes or until done. If drumettes become too dark, cover them with a piece of foil.

Serve hot with wedges of lime and sprinkle cilantro leaves on top.

Aged Cheddar Crackers with Two Flavours

Makes 2 x 500ml jars

½ cup unbleached all purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour

½ teaspoon salt, plus extra for sprinkling

2 tablespoons butter

1 heaped cup aged cheddar cheese, grated

2 eggs

1 tablespoon Aonori (type of Japanese seaweed), plus extra for sprinkling

1 tablespoon poppy seeds, plus extra for sprinkling

Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and, using your fingers, incorporate the mixture until flaky. Add the cheese and eggs, and incorporate with the flour mixture. Divide in two. Add Aonori to one half and poppy seeds to the other. Form each piece of dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Refrigerate for half an hour or until the dough is firm.

Preheat the oven to 375C. Flour the work surface and roll the dough into 1/16 inch thickness or as thin as you can. The thinner the crispier. Scatter the extra salt and Aonori (or poppy seeds) over the top and lightly press them into the dough with the rolling pin. Cut into diamond shapes or use your choice of cookie cutters. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely. Serve as is or with dip.

Adapted from Deborah Madison’s seed cracker recipe

Great Northern Bean and Rosemary Dip

Makes 1 x 350ml jar

1 cup Great Northern beans

1 onion, peeled

3 garlic cloves

Juice of ½ lemon

3 tablespoons tahini

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

Soak the beans in cold water and leave overnight at room temperature. Rinse the beans next day and cover with cold water in a large pot. Do not add salt at this point.

Bring to a boil rapidly for 10 minutes. Skim occasionally. Add the whole onion and 2 garlic cloves. Continue simmering until the beans are tender, for about 1 hour. Add hot water as necessary to keep the beans well covered during cooking.

Drain the beans, RESERVING some liquid, and discard the onion and garlic. Combine the beans, 1 garlic clove, lemon juice, tahini, 3 tablespoons reserved liquid and rosemary in a food processor. Add the olive oil in a slow and steady drip while pulsing the bean mixture until smooth. Adjust the flavour with salt and pepper and add more liquid if you prefer a looser texture. Transfer to a serving container and cover the surface with some olive oil to prevent it from drying.

Serve with crackers, slices of baguette or toasted pita bread. Refrigerate any leftover for up to a few days.

Chive Crêpes with Miso Flavoured Ground Beef

Having lived with a man of French descent for many years, crêpes are what we used to eat every Saturday morning. Ham and cheese with Béchamel sauce as a savoury breakfast, and ham and cheese generously drizzled with the best quality maple syrup as a sweet breakfast. I prefer the latter very much for each ingredient brings out the other’s flavour. But today, I’d like to introduce you to a Japanese twist to savoury crêpes. Or should I say, it’s a type of Japanese spring roll with a French flair… Either way, it’s delicious and fun to serve to your guests because they have to work in order to eat them!

A part of my job in this household is to be a creative cook, which entails using up what’s abundant in my garden. You might see a chive dish, a rhubarb dessert, and then another chive dish with a rhubarb dessert… until other produce finally matures in the garden. I transplanted lettuce, peas and onion seedlings a couple weeks ago but some lettuce plants have already disappeared due to attacks from pesky slugs! I ask myself the same question every day, “What can I cook with what I have in the garden for supper this evening?” The gobo leaves are lush. The tomato seedlings are only two inches high, and the spinach is only one inch tall with true leaves just emerging. My potatoes went in the ground last week but it’s been pouring outside so hard that I’m worried that they might get diseased. Luckily, I have a total of nine vigorously growing chive plants in the front and backyards…

Side note: chive flowers are edible. You can make pesto with flowers and leaves, the same way you do with basil, or simply toss with a salad to brighten up the colour and the flavour. It is also time for harvesting excess chives, which you can rinse, pat dry, and chop then use to fill ice cube trays. Once the cubes are frozen, transfer to an airtight container or Ziplock bags and use when you don’t have any onion family plants growing in your garden. Add them to your soups, stir fries or crêpes. They are very convenient in winter months!

Chive Crêpes with Miso Flavoured Ground Beef

Makes about 12 pieces of 6 inch circles

Chive Crêpes

2 egg yolks

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 cups water

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups chives, finely chopped

Vegetable oil

A bunch of strings of chives for tying

For fillings

2 carrots, julienned

½ red onion, thinly sliced

A bunch of cilantro, rinsed, drained and torn in pieces

20 mushrooms or more, rinsed and sliced into ¼ inch pieces

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Pinch of salt

5 tablespoons Haccho miso (it is different from the typical red miso, with a much darker, richer and sweeter flavour)

5 tablespoons white wine, water or mixture of both

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

A small knob of ginger, finely chopped

1 lb lean ground beef, room temperature

Mix the egg yolks, flour, water, salt and chives in a large bowl and stir well until the mixture is smooth without lumps. Let sit in the refrigerator for about half an hour.

Prepare the carrots, red onion, and cilantro (if the temperature is really warm in the room, store in a container or if you are using a plate, use a piece of saran wrap to cover and keep cool in the refrigerator). Prepare the mushrooms and set aside.

Make the miso sauce. Set a small pan over medium heat and combine the miso, the white wine or water, the sugar and the soy sauce. When the mixture starts bubbling, turn the heat down. Stir steadily so as not to boil the miso sauce, for about 8 minutes.

Set a large pan over medium high heat. Add the sesame oil and sauté the mushrooms for about 5 minutes. When the mushrooms become soft and moist, add the sesame seeds, adjust with the salt and transfer to a serving bowl. Use the same pan over medium high heat and add the vegetable oil. When the oil is hot, stir-fry the garlic and the ginger until nicely coloured. Add the ground beef and stir-fry until there is no bloody juice left. Add the miso mixture to the beef, stir well and let the beef absorb the sauce for a few minutes. Transfer to a serving bowl.

Set a medium sized well-seasoned pan (preferably non-stick) on medium heat. Oil the pan if necessary and, when the pan is really warm, pour the crêpes mixture inside using a ladle. Quickly swirl the mixture to create a 6 inch circle. Bake for a few minutes or until the bottom looks nicely coloured. Flip to bake the other side. As you make crêpes, keep them warm in a tea towel. Repeat the process.

Serve the carrot, red onion, cilantro, mushrooms and beef in separate bowls along with the crêpes. Roll the crêpes as you eat or let a guest(s) experience the rolling. Place a crêpe on a plate and put the fillings on the end that’s the closest edge to you. Start rolling from where you placed the filling. Tuck both ends then roll to the other edge of the crêpe. Tie with a few strings of chives (see photographs). Enjoy!

Vietnamese Sandwich (Banh Mi)

When fresh cilantro leaves, green onions, vinegary pickled homegrown carrots, a luscious piece of meat and a generous amount of mayonnaise meet with a crusty baguette, the result is heaven! We used to live just around the corner from a place called Au Petit Cafe on Main Street, Vancouver. They make the most delicious, freshly made Banh Mi (Vietnamese sandwiches). We would purchase a few for picnics at Queen Elizabeth Park, one of Vancouver’s best viewing spots, and would feed to leftovers to the ducks at the nearby pond. It was a perfect way to spend a sunny weekend!

Now that we live a little farther away from the cafe, I was determined to experiment in order to create a sandwich at home that resembled Au Petit Café’s Banh Mi. It will never be as good as their sandwiches, but in its own right, it is the freshest and tastiest sandwich, made with seasonal organic ingredients that I grow myself. And that matters to me. I’m proud to say that I have dedicated a section of my garden exclusively to grow cilantro all year round just for making this sandwich! There are so many ways to use the cilantro in various dishes but how else can you really eat a lot of this plant in its raw stage? Tacos, guacamole and pozole! My friend would be screaming in Mexico where cilantro is king. I like the simplicity of this sandwich, which allows me to savour its distinctive flavour of cilantro. So you must grow your OWN cilantro! And it is easy.

Once you sow seeds, they faithfully self seed every year and look cozy in the same location for as long as I remember (a few seasons or longer!). You can let the plants go to seed, and then either you harvest the seeds after they dry out as coriander for cooking or let them fall on the ground. Then, harvest the leaves in the following spring as they mature to plants.

I have tried many different recipes for carrot and daikon pickles in order to create the perfect Banh Mi, but so far I like this recipe by Viet World Kitchen best. I used only carrot this time because my daikon hasn’t emerged from its seed packet yet this year! This is my way of gardening. I do things when I remember and repeat this every season and every year!

To warm up a baguette, just mist the bread all around and place in a 350F preheated oven for 5 to 7 minutes. It will give you a freshly baked texture! I learned this technique years ago from my twin sister who was at the time working as a baker in one of Tokyo’s most famous Italian restaurants. She even started having her own clients who came begging for her creative and sweet delectable treats. She used to treat me with a big plate of assorted desserts that she made including baked cheese cake with framboise sauce, cassata, panna cotta with caramel sauce, tiramisu, torta di ricotta, and a special caramel gelato with something to do with caramelized purple potato and mascarpone cheese… It is a distant memory but I just remember how fantastic every single dessert tasted!

Vietnamese Sandwich (Banh Mi)

For each sandwich

1 small baguette or a section of a regular baguette

Generous amount of mayonnaise

Meat of your choice (I use cooked turkey ham or regular ham for its convenience)

2 pieces green onions or few slices of red onion

Carrot pickles (see the link above)

A bunch of cilantro

Cucumber, sliced (option; I add cucumber when they are in season in my garden)

Hot pepper, sliced (option)

Warm up the baguette in the oven (instructions above) and slit the bread lengthwise. Spread the mayonnaise on both sides of the bread. Layer all the ingredients starting from the bottom part of the bread; the meat, the onion, the carrot pickles and the cilantro. Put the other half of the bread on top. Bite immediately!