Spicy Kale

This entry was originally titled Kale Braised in Coconut Milk and was published back on January 26, 2012. Since then I have tweaked the recipe and arrived at a point where I could say, “This is even better!” So here it is, dear readers. Let’s turn the hardy green leaves into a tender and flavorful dish. 

Almost a decade ago, a good friend introduced me to kale. Originally, we wanted to cook braised cassava leaves in spices and coconut milk (gulai daun singkong), a native dish to the West Sumatrans, but could not find the vegetable in Michigan. My friend believed Kale’s texture and taste would work for the dish we wanted to make. And OH WOW, did it work great!  Since then on this super vegetable has been one of my regular side dish menus. 

Both Jeff and I love this dish. It is spicy but yet there’s also a little sweetness that comes from the mixture of red bell pepper, shallots, and coconut milk. 

Here’s a list of things we will need:

  • 2 bundle of kale (remove the stem, wash, and chop the leaves)
  • 4 shallots (finely chopped)
  • 4 garlic (chopped)
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 10 hot finger peppers (finely chopped)
  • Light coconut milk (one can)
  • One cup of water Chicken stock (use half a cup) 
  • One inch cut of galangal root (for aroma)
  • A pinch of turmeric powder
  • 1 tablespoon of canola oil
  • Salt

Steps:

  • Heat up the canola oil in a medium pot
  • In a food processor, chop and mix garlic, shallots, and all peppers. Add shallots and garlic into the pot and let them turn to light brown
  • Sweat the garlic, shallots, and peppers mix in the medium pot for 2 minutes
  • Add salt and turmeric powder
  • Add water and bring to boil Mix the leaves with shallots and garlic
  • Add coconut milk, stir, and bring to boil one more time chicken stock and peppers. Cover the pot with its lid and let the dish boil
  • Add kale, bring to boil, and then remove pot from the heat immediately (to avoid overcooking the vegetable) Add coconut milk, stir and mix well, and let it cook for another 20 minutes until the vegetable becomes tender
  • Uncover the pot to reduce the liquid for no more than 2 minutes
  • Add salt to taste

Great with rice and a grilled chicken or a beef dish.

Hope you like it!

(Serves 4)


Harini Riana2 Comments

Olive Oil Herb Dip for the Bread

Love dipping bread into olive oil? Here’s my latest obsession with dipping sauce. Inspired by my friends Leena and Spas’ chili pepper marinade and motivated by the urge to use up all of my planted herbs and peppers, I have made this condiment a must-have at home.

Back in August, at the dune house we rented for a weekend, the couple made this wonderful chili peppers marinade. They grilled a few Serrano peppers, wrapped them in an aluminum foil (so that the charred skin can be easily removed), and then mixed the peppers with chopped garlic, lots of fresh dill, extra virgin olive oil, and white wine vinegar. An overnight marinating process brought out and blended all flavors very well.

Since I wanted to use up the herbs that I had, I came up with a slightly different version of the dip. My mix contained: fresh thyme, fresh mint, chopped garlic, grilled (or roasted) cayenne peppers, extra virgin olive oil, apple vinegar, salt, and black pepper. So fragrant and inviting. The cayenne peppers really gave a nice punch! Great with warm baguette or pita bread.

(Note: Fresh chives, mint, and garlic combination make a fantastic olive oil herb too.)

Hope you like it!

Harini RianaLeave a comment

Parsley and Feta Cheese Pastry

My Turkish neighbor had made this pastry a while back. Both Jeff and I thought they tasted fantastic. But it wasn’t until I read a novel (that was also) filled with dreamy descriptions of Turkish cuisine did I get the strong urge to try making this amazing baked goods. One sentence from the book did it for me: “The delectable smell of newly baked börek  wafted from the kitchen: white cheese, spinach, butter, and parsley melting into one another amid thin layers of phyllo pastry.” (Shafak, Elif. The Bastard of Istanbul. Viking/Penguin, 2007. Pg. 126.)

I asked my good friend Farah, who’s also Turkish, about the pastry. She explained that in Turkey, börek could also be stuffed with other delicious things such as meat, potato, vegetables, etc. Yum! So I found an excellent recipe for the pastry. The successful first trial encouraged me to do a repeat. So far I have made this fantastic crispy, salty, and fragrant snack twice this month! Another addition to my favorite-food list and…one excellent way to use up my parsley plant.

Here’s what I came up with:

Parsley and Feta Pastry

A few things that I did differently from the original recipe:

  • I chopped and mixed my parsley leaves and egg in a food processor.
  • I folded the phyllo dough (with the cheese and parsley mixture in it) into a rectangle instead of rolling it.
  • For an extra kick, I brushed the wrapped cheese and parsley with a little bit of herb olive oil (marinade: olive oil, vinegar, thyme, garlic, chili peppers, and chives) before they go to the oven (350 degrees F for 15 minutes).

Thanks for reading!

Original Recipe: Filo Pastry Stuffed with Feta Cheese and Parsley by Kathryn at London Bakes

My flat parsley plant. Hopefully it overwinters and returns to life in the springtime.

Harini Riana3 Comments

Backpackers Getaway: North Manitou Island – Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Late September breeze carried a little chill, a preview of what’s to come in the coming months. The blazing sun balanced the cool air and offered a perfect hiking weather for us that weekend. Trees on the outer part of North Manitou Island have begun to change colors. Inland, the leaves stayed green like refusing to accept that summer was over. After the hour-long ferry ride to the island and checking in with the ranger, the three of us sat on the grass and enjoyed turkey pita sandwiches for lunch. We had packed enough food and snack for the weekend. We were in the wilderness, which means no restrooms, showers, let alone restaurants. The ferry would be back to pick us up on Sunday, two days away. From where we sat, we could see other backpackers, all came in on the same ferry, eagerly dispersed into the wilderness, racing to get to their solitary and exploratory mode. Seemed like we all wanted to feel that the non-populated island was our own playground for the weekend.  

After lunch, we headed south on the trail. About three miles later, we took a break on a beach. I wanted to stay there and just sleep under the sun. 

My guy wanted to have one more backpacking trip before winter returned with its cold air and long nights. The dreadful thought of winter made me jump at the offer to spend two nights out in the wilderness, sleep under starry sky, walk in the woods, and take naps on a beach.

A novice in this whole backpacking-universe I find myself learning about new places, the art of exploration, and the technology that supports this hobby (the latter: my guy’s biggest attraction to this backcountry activity). I never realized that there were many little islands in Lake Michigan. Maybe this is why people keep saying that  hobbies would do us good: they open our eyes to things we hardly notice before. 

North Manitou Island of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore offers a friendly terrain for hiking enthusiasts. The scenic panorama of Lake Michigan, endless white sandy beach wrapped around the island, and a manageable trail for outdoors lovers make this tiny island an ideal place for a backpacking getaway. 

After hiking for nine miles, we found a perfect spot on the southwest part of the island to camp that night. With the three of us, setting up the tent took less than five minutes. I prepared the sleeping pads/bags inside of the tent while the men got some water from the lake to filter and then drink. Not long after that we sat around a tiny but powerful gas stove heating up our dinner: beef rendang and rice. I had cooked them the night before, put them separately in zip lock bags, and froze them. By dinner time, all we had to do was boil hot water in a pot, drop the food bags in it, and let them warm up—a trick my guy taught me a while ago. We had a fantastic dinner overlooking sunset by the lake.

the boys

In the morning, we walked six miles northeast toward the village where the ferry would come to pick us up the next day. By this time, every muscle of my feet sent painful signals to my brain. Other than that the hike was far from arduous. Thankfully, our friend Dod’s hilarious stories about his college friends distracted me from the pain. At lunch time, we all shared sliced corned beef deli meat with pepper jack cheese, sliced honey roasted turkey deli meat, pita bread, hummus-to-go, and herbed olive oil that we put in a tiny little bottle. Pretty gourmet wouldn’t you say? 🙂

We arrived at the village campground in mid afternoon. Once we set up our tent, we had a second lunch! It was amazing how ravenous we got from being outdoors all the time, well that…and walking for miles with heavy backpacks. We prepared chicken and vegetable soup. My guy mixed the dehydrated vegetables soup mix with boiling water, added dried beef stock, and sliced chicken (chicken in a pouch). After our second lunch, we decided to do more hiking toward the northeast side of the island. We moved a lot faster without our backpacks. By sunset, we finished another five miles of the trail and went back to our site. A total of 20 miles in two days.

The menu for dinner that night: pasta and meatballs with marinara sauce. Dod boiled the pasta and heated up the frozen meatballs and marinara sauce. Having hot meals during a backpacking trip always felt luxurious. I also think that the wilderness never failed to intensify the taste of food. Everything became incredibly delicious, even the add-boiling-water-to-the-pouch freeze-dried meals we had. Maybe it was my brain’s way of being grateful to find something comforting in such a rugged and undomesticated environment.  

The air got a lot cooler that night. We met a few backpackers at the community fire pit and shared our hiking experience with each other before turning in for the night. The bright full moon illuminated the area. Even inside of the tent.

On Sunday morning, the ferry came back to pick up all of us backpackers. At exactly 11AM, as scheduled, we all boarded the ferry to return to Fishtown Dock in Leland, MI and then drove home. Despite of my aching feet, shoulders, and back, I was happy we did this trip. It was a perfect way to close our hiking season for the year. 

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Photos property of The Traveling Chili Pepper

Thanks for reading. Until the next adventure!

Harini Riana2 Comments