Chiffonade, from the French word Chiffon meaning "made of rags", is a cutting technique in which herbs or leafy green vegetables are cut into long, thin strips.
1. Stack the leaves, rolling them tightly, like a cigar.
2. Cut across the rolled leaves with a sharp knife, producing fine ribbons
Jar #1 — 1 cup Kamut, 2 cups waterJar #2 — 1/2 cup Kamut, 1 cup waterJar #2 — 1/2 cup hard Winter Wheat Berries, 1 cup water
I love learning! If I could afford it, I would be a career student. I'm not sure if I'm curious by nature or by design. As I grow older I find myself doing things that I would have, in the past, shunned away from.
Kitchen Notes
Sprouting, for instance, was one of those things. It intimidated me, I think I tried it once, it didn't work out, so I moved on my merry way.
Well, I'm a bit wiser and I thought I would give it a go. So, guess what I did this weekend?
Jar #4 — 1/2 cup Soft Pastry Wheat Berries, 1 cup waterJar #5 — 1 1/2 cup oat groats, 3 cups waterJar #6 — 1 cup split peas, 2 cups water
The things I wanted to learn:1 How was it to sprout in a glass Mason Jar with 6 x 8 piece of cheesecloth? It worked fine.2 How long does it take for watched sprouts to sprout? Not long, they sprout really quick.3 How much many cups dry do you get sprouted. Approximately, double in size.
Sprouting Grains
1 Place grains in a mason jar. Add 2-3 times as much water. Soak overnight or at least 8-12 hours.
2 Drain the soaking water. Rinse thoroughly with water and drain.3 Set at a 45-degree angle out of direct sunlight and at room temperature.4 Rinse and drain 3-4 times a day.
5 Continue to rinse and drain until the tails are the length of the grain. Approximately 12-24 hours after first soaking. COMING on Monday — Essene Breads
Garbanzo beans contain enzyme inhibitors, which are kept dormant until they are soaked and start to sprout.
1 Place 1-1 1/2 cup garbanzo beans in a sprouting jar. Add 2-3 times as much cool (60-70°) water. Soak seeds overnight or at least 8-12 hours.
2 Drain the soaking water. Rinse thoroughly with water and drain.
3 Set at a 45-degree angle out of direct sunlight and at room temperature.
4 Rinse and drain 3-4 times a day.
5 Continue to rinse and drain until tiny white tails (1/4 inch) sprout from the garbanzo beans. Approximately 24-48 hours after first soaking. Yield: 2 cups
Remove the collard stems and central vein.
Wash collard greens in several changes of cool water until you no longer see dirt at the bottom of the bowl.
How easy is that?
zucchini noodles
Daikon Dumplings
Mandoline
A compact, hand-operated machine with various adjustable blades that creates slice, julienne, shred, crinkle or waffle-cuts. It's used primarily to cut firm vegetables (such as the daikon radishes and zucchini pictured above) with uniformity.
We bought our mandoline three years ago and it took me until just recently to garner the courage to use it. For me , it was an intimating machine, but once I got the hang of it, of course, I wanted to slice everything.
Having said that, it's a sharp piece of equipment and you have to be careful. I can provide some basics tips on using the mandoline and these in no way supersedes that of the manufacturer's instructions. I would suggest reading their instructions a few times until you feel comfortable.Mandoline Tips1. Place a damp towel under the mandoline to provide extra support.2. Always, always, always use the safety handle. 3. To avoid injury, note where the straight cut blade and fluted blade are located.4. Do not attempt to slice the last bit of vegetable. 5. To operate, position the vegetable against the safety guard's spikes to hold it in place. Slice the vegetable by moving the guard up and down the mandoline.6. The position of the stand will be determined by the cuts you wish to make. To control the thickness of the slices, you raise or lower the bearing plate by adjusting the thickness lever. The lower the plate, the thicker the slice. 7. When in doubt, consult the instruction manual.
Almond Milk
1 c soaked almonds
4 c water
1/4 c agave nectar (optional)
Pinch of sea salt
Blend soaked almonds and water until thoroughly blended. Strain the milk through a nut bag into a large bowl.
Rinse the blender cup and put strained milk back in with agave nectar and sea salt. Blend.
Author's notes: I am not a fan of cow's milk. I have never like it, and probably never will. I can't wrap my brain around drinking milk from a cow. Strange to me. I think cow's milk is suppose to be for a cow's baby not humans. But hay, that's just me.
I do love almond milk and as you can see so does Sous Chef D.
Here's a great article on raw nut milks.
"What's best? Soy milk, cow's milk, raw milk and fermented milk (kefir)"
by Mike Adams at News Target.com
http://www.newstarget.com/021986.html
Mango Selection: If you are eating a mango straight, go for one that is not overly ripe. Choose a mango that is plump and heavy for its size and has a nice sweet fragrance.
How to cut a mango
A mango has a flat, oblong pit in the center of it. Hold the mango with one hand, stand it on its end, stem side down.
With a sharp knife, cut from the top of the mango, down one side of the pit. Then repeat with the other side.
Take a mango half and make lengthwise and crosswise cuts in it, avoid cutting through the peel.
Cut away the mango pieces from the peel.
This milkshake is very delicious and satisfying. For this recipe, choose a mango that is very ripe. Mango Milkshake
Meat from 2 ripe mangos
1 cup cold almond milk
1/16 teaspoon NuNaturals NuStevia Pure White Stevia Extract
Blend ingredients. The mixture should be smooth and slightly thick.
More information on mangos visit mango.org
A couple of lovely ladies have had trouble sprouting chickpeas. Whether they had a foul smell or slimy chickpeas they haven't had much success.
So, I revisited my October posting about How to sprout Chickpeas to double check that the instructions were up to snuff.Over the weekend I sprouted 3 quarts of chickpeas in quart size Mason jars.
In each jar I put 1/2 cup of chickpeas, I filled the jar with water and then I secured cheesecloth with the lid at the mouth of the jar.
The Mason Jars were the only variation I did from the original post. All the chickpeas came out great.
I am eating a lot of chickpeas because of the Raw Fit Challenge. They are high in protein, a good source of calcium, dietary fiber and low in fat. It works perfect for what I'm doing. Don't be surprised to find alot of chickpea recipes in the future.
I enjoy sprouting chickpeas because they don't take long from soaking to sprouting to using.
Here was my timeline.
9 a.m. Friday: soak
8 p.m. Friday: drain soaking water and rinse and drain at a 45 degree angle
9 a.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m., 9 p.m. Saturday: rinse and drain at a 45 degree angle (This might be a bit excessive for me, it was one of those weekends and rinsing chickpeas seemed to be the only things I could do successfully without fail.)
Noon Sunday:
I noticed the tails sprouting and they were ready to use.
Tip: If you won't be using the chickpeas right away, make sure they are well drained and dry and place them in the frig.
photo by Meetak
I am not sure why the chickpeas spoiled. If I were to guess maybe they were soaked too long or didn't drain well enough. Or it could have been a bad batch.
If anyone else has any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment. What did I do with all those chickpeas? I made Garden Chickpea Fritters.
The recipe I will feature tomorrow.
If you have a raw food kitchen question, forward to "Question for the Daily Raw" at yahoo.com.
Coming soon: Is there a substitution for avocados? Tips for being raw and a new mom.
