If you haven’t tried quinoa yet, this toothsome African peanut soup will surely lure you in. It has a slew of nutritious vegetables in a creamy, peppery broth with lovely bits of crunchy quinoa. The soup makes the rotation in my comfort food repertoire several times during the cold-weather season because it is both healthy and decadent.

Although quinoa is native to the South American Andes region (read about its origins), it is now cultivated around the world – from Colorado to the Himalayas to Ethiopia and other areas of East Africa. This dish has a definite African influence – the use of nuts to thicken the stew, and staple ingredients such as sweet potatoes and okra. Frankly, it’s the peanut-based sauce that makes this dish a stand-out. If you don’t like peanuts, you won’t appreciate this dish. But, for nut fiends, you’re in for a treat.

Yes, I’m one of those people who eats spoonfuls of nut butter just because I can. So, when I came across the original recipe for this soup online at FoodDownUnder.com several years ago (the original recipe is no longer on the site), I knew I had to try it. Over the years, I’ve fine-tuned it:  the recipe below is more aggressive with spices and chiles; it also has more veggies, peanut butter and quinoa; and, the consistency is that of a soup rather than a thick stew.

This recipe doubles easily and has been a hit at parties with vegetarians and meat-eaters. It’s a great way to introduce quinoa into your diet. And, if you’re already eating the “Mother Grain,” its a must-have recipe.

Tidbits on Quinoa:

1. As quinoa cooks, the pearls of germ separate and form tiny spirals. The cooked grain is tender, with a slight crunchiness from the germ (see spirals in image below).
2. Colorado, with its high altitude and cold climates, was crucial testing ground for introducing quinoa to the United States in the mid-70s. Don McKinley and Steve Gorad, founded the Quinoa Corporation in Boulder, Colo., and first planted quinoa seeds in their backyards and eventually in plots in the San Luis Valley. However, most quinoa sold in the United States is imported from South America.
3. A quinoa plant can grow to anywhere from three feet to over ten feet tall. Plant stems can be straight or branched, and seeds can vary in color from white, yellow, gray, light brown, pink, black to red.

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Since I started this blog I’ve become a food history nerd. I get excited about sexy stuff like botanical names and species, nutritional makeup, and how an ingredient was cultivated and used in a particular culture. As I learn, I’ve gained a deeper appreciation of food and its long, long journey over time and distance to my plate.

If you’re unfamiliar with quinoa, chew on this . . . Today, quinoa is considered a “superfood” and I’d venture to say it’s on the brink of becoming very mainstream.

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) dates back more than 5,000 years and was a staple to millions of South American natives. The grain has a texture between millet and couscous, and can easily be substituted for rice or ground into flour. It was an ideal food in the Andes mountain region, where it sustained the altiplano Incas in Peru and Bolivia. It is high in protein and grows well in cold and high altitude areas; locations where maize could not grow.

The Incas considered quinoa to be sacred and referred to it as the “Mother Grain.” It was used in ceremonial practices, as well as consumed daily in porridges and soups. After the Spanish conquest of the Incan Empire in the 1500s, production declined for centuries. The Spaniards destroyed quinoa crops and forbid its cultivation because of its use in non-Christian rituals. Fortunately for us, the grain grew wild and people in remote villages still cultivated it.

Over the last several hundred years it has slowly re-emerged. The demand for quinoa has spread worldwide, particularly in the United States the last 40 years. If you haven’t tried it yet, now is your chance.

Take a lesson from the Incas, quinoa makes for a hearty and comforting breakfast. Like a porridge of oats or other grains, it’s easy to make and even better with cardamom, cinnamon, nuts, and dried or fresh fruit.

Tidbits on Quinoa:

1. Before cooking quinoa, always rinse the grain well to remove its slightly bitter coating. Rinse as you would rice, until water runs clear.
2. Quinoa is used and referred to as a grain but technically is a seed. Quinoa seeds expand about four times their size when cooked.
3. Quinoa is a complete protein because it contains all the essential amino acids, including lysine, which is usually deficient in most grains. It is high in protein (8 grams/1 cup cooked), fiber (5 grams/1 cup) and a good source of iron, zinc, vitamin E, and selenium. It is also good for those eating gluten-free.

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This post is my introduction to quinoa. It’s a little out of the ordinary because SAME Café is out of the ordinary . . .

It’s a sunny winter day in Denver, still several minutes before the doors open at SAME Café and there’s a line of people forming outside on this East Colfax sidewalk. The group is a mix of sorts – several in tattered clothes, others in suits, and a few hip folks with piercings and tattoos. They are here for lunch. This, however, is no regular café.

SAME is short for “So All May Eat” and the unusual mode of business here is that people pay what they want. Yeah, that’s right, there’s no set menu price. And, for folks who can’t pay, they can work in exchange. There’s no cash register, just a donation box where people pay what they feel their meal was worth. And, if a person can, leave a little more to help out someone less fortunate.

The nonprofit has been open for three years. In 2009, SAME served over 18,500 meals; since it opened – almost 35,000 meals. It is not a soup kitchen. It’s a communal concept based on dignity with good food at its core. A typical menu looks something like this:  Zuppa Tuscana Soup, Beer Cheese Soup, Chicken Salad, Golden Sunshine Quinoa Salad, Sausage & Mushroom Pizza, Apple Walnut & Bleu Cheese Pizza, and cookies. The menu changes daily and focuses on seasonal ingredients with vegetarian options always offered in the daily menu of soups, salads and pizzas.

This month SAME Café was recognized with the Channel 7 Everyday Hero Award and also an impressive MSN Hometown Heroes Award, an online viewer voting contest connected to their NBC Nightly News segment with Brian Williams (watch the video).

SAME is the brainchild of Brad and Libby Birky who were concerned about the hunger issue here in Denver. The two work full-time at the café, along with one part-time employee and the many volunteers who help with meal preparation, cleaning and numerous miscellaneous tasks.

Notably, Libby is also the “Salad Queen” and she generously allowed me to come observe her in action as she prepared the quinoa salad. Her recipe is below with my measurements/ratios (she made a gargantuan bowlful; the recipe is adjusted for a smaller quantity). The salad is refreshing with the citrus-based dressing, fresh parsley and sweet raisins. For those unfamiliar with quinoa salads, this version is tabouleh-esque.

How to Support SAME:

2010 is off to a busy start at SAME. The economic downturn is one reason, as is the season – when the temperatures drop the café sees more people in need of a warm meal. Here’s how you can support their mission:

• Go in to eat. The food is lovely, particularly the salads and soups!
• Email them about volunteering
• Make a donation, financial or in-kind (see their wish list in their weekly blog)
• Spread the word (share this post with friends and colleagues – see the green icon below). Their meal count helps their funding prospects.

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A lot of folks still make resolutions for the New Year. I’m one of them. This year I’ve vowed to be a better me in 2010. I’m calling it 3B: better, bolder and badder. To do it I’ve got to break away from what’s comfortable and lean toward that which makes me apprehensive. You know the things big and small where you silently say to yourself – maybe I shouldn’t, maybe I can’t or I won’t like it. In 2010, I aim to be open to the possibilities.

This recipe for sweet rice and beans is a step in that direction . . . it’s out of the ordinary for my palate but I was pleasantly surprised. When I was researching black eyed peas and the different cultural preparations for these legumes last month, my brows rose with curiosity when I first learned about che dau trang, a Vietnamese sweet rice and bean dish. See, when I eat Vietnamese, my lips smack for spicy lemongrass sauce, salty fish sauce, pho or bun. But since I’m working on my 3B, I resolved to at least try this sweet bean pudding. And, I’m glad I did.

Che (sweet dessert soups or puddings) is believed to have originated in the central region of Vietnam. Che dau (sweet bean dessert) is made in numerous variations, the name changing with the beans that are used – for example, mung (xanh), azuki (do), black (den) and white/black eyed peas (trang).

Sweet bean desserts are a popular snack food because of their hearty contents – beans and sticky rice. Typically, the black eyed pea version is a bit thicker and sets up like a rice pudding. Since they are also sweet and rich, they are definitely decadent enough to be considered a dessert.  It’s usually enjoyed hot or chilled. Although it is also enjoyed in a tall glass over ice, eaten with a long spoon. An interesting cultural note from Anh, my Vietnamese friend’s momma, is that it is tradition to serve che dau trang when celebrating a baby’s one month birthday.

This is not just novelty fare. I was delighted with my first bite. The beans are cooked just right, not too firm or mushy, and are a nice contrast to the creamy coconut rice. I doubt I could eat but a spoonful after a meal, but I would enjoy this again as a tasty breakfast porridge or as the Vietnamese do – as a snack.

Tidbits on Black Eyed Peas

1. Black eyed peas are believed to originally hail from Africa or India, and subsequently were grown in Asian countries. From there, they were introduced into the West Indies and to the American South around the 1600s.
2. Black eyed peas provide a good source of calcium, folate, iron, potassium and fiber.

Source: AsiaRecipe.com (see Vietnam Food History), FoodReference.com, Encyclopedia of Food and History

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Get ready for the hoopla – banging pots and pans, fireworks, and even firearms shooting off. Yikes! These are just a few of the ways people around the world welcome in the New Year. Originally, these loud rituals were believed to frighten away bad spirits and ensure a good year to come. Me, I’ll be doing something a bit more tame – cooking up a pot of black eyed peas.

Eating black eyed peas on New Year’s Day is a longtime custom among African Americans and Southerners who believe the legumes will bring prosperity and good luck, especially when paired with greens, which symbolize money. Some folks say you just need to eat a spoonful and others say at least 365 (one for each day of the year). Regardless, this year, in this economy, the superstitious dare not skip this tradition.

Some prefer to get their good fortune via a rice and black eyed pea dish called Hoppin’ John. I, however, prefer my peas simmered for several hours until they become creamy. That’s how my in-laws cook them up and how I’ve been eating them for almost two decades. They make a delicious meal served with a dash of Louisiana style hot sauce and maybe some vinegar, along with a generous portion of greens and big ‘ole slice of corn bread.

Black eyed peas can be found in most markets, either dried (found with other legumes), frozen or canned. If you have the time, make them from scratch with this recipe. There really is no substitute. But, if you cannot, opt for the frozen over the canned.

Happy New Year! Below are a few more New Year’s traditions that might pique your interest. Let me know if you have any to share.

Other New Year’s Rituals:

• Good luck will follow to couples who feed each other grapes during the last 12 seconds of the year. Feed your love interest 12 grapes, representing 12 months in the year; one with each stroke of the countdown and make a wish (Spain and Latin American countries).

• In you want to travel in the New Year, take your luggage outside and walk around at midnight (Mexico).

• Eat round-shaped foods such as grapes and prepared desserts for luck; eat noodles for a long life (Philippines).

• Wear red underwear at midnight for luck with love in the upcoming year or yellow underwear for luck with money (Mexico).

• For those who are thrill seekers, plunge into icy waters for a polar bear swim on New Year’s Day (Canada).

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According to several sources, swizzle is the National drink of Bermuda. If you’ve had it, you know why – it’s divine. The rum, citrus and ginger make for a refreshing libation.

My friend Ernest, whose family hails from Bermuda, says swizzle is a favorite at Christmas and New Year’s festivities (as well as the Cricket World Cup in the summer months). Frankly, after making this drink, it has already become a staple for me and for entertaining.

This recipe honors the three traditional ingredients of swizzle: dark rum, citrus and sweetener. For rum: use a dark one such as the Bermuda produced Gosling’s Black Seal Rum. The heavier body of darker rums stands firm with the bold flavors of the other ingredients. For citrus:  lime, pineapple and orange juice make a slightly tart, yet sweet combo.

And, finally, the sweetener that makes this an A+ cocktail . . . my ginger simple syrup. Although most recipes (including one from the legendary Swizzle Inn in Bermuda) use falernum, a simple syrup infused with almond, ginger and cloves, I could not locate it and knew most of you would have the same problem. So, I improvised and made my own simple syrup that highlighted the ginger and also imparts a nice molasses flavor. It’s good! Next time, I might add a few cloves.

This holiday season I’m glee with my Bermudian Swizzle. Now, if I could just score some cassava pie.

Tidbits on Rum

1. The climate of the Caribbean is ideal for growing sugar cane and the region has become the epicenter of the world’s rum production with every major island producing signature rums.
2. When spirits such as rum are removed from breathable barrels, where they mature, and are put into bottles, the rum no longer ages. A bottle of seven-year-old rum purchased five years ago is still considered seven years old.

Sources:  Tastings.com; Encyclopedia of Food and Culture

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For the holidays we’re mixing things up around here. Literally! We’re not “cooking” so much as we’re getting our holiday groove on, imbibing on one of the top selling spirits in the world . . . rum. First up is coquito. A deliciously creamy coconut elixir steeped in spices:  cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and vanilla. Coquito is standard during the Christmas season in Puerto Rican households, along with pasteles (savory pastries stuffed with meat), pernil (roasted pork shoulder), arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas), and tostones (fried plantains).

Much like eggnog, coquito is a rich holiday drink meant for sipping and savoring. A little goes a long way, especially because it’s loaded with several tasty ingredients like coconut milk and sweetened condensed milk. And, it contains a good dose of rum.

As customary with all things scrumptious, there are a plethora of ways to make coquito. Recipes are tweaked from generation to generation and person to person for a signature twist. More traditional versions require cracking coconuts and fresh eggs. My recipe, however, is much simpler using canned coconut milk and nixing the eggs (no need to drink raw eggs or deal with a double boiler). I’ve also added almond extract for another bold dimension.

Although there is talk of a coquito throwdown in these parts next year, my hermanas Puerto Rican and Boriqueñas were kind enough to let me in on a few tips:  1) cutting the eggs out is not sacrilege and 2) using Coco Lopez® cream of coconut makes for a much sweeter drink. Note, I’ve had plenty of versions of coquito that I found both too rich and sweet, so I use regular coconut milk instead of Coco Lopez®.

This coquito tastes like a tropical Christmas. If you can’t be on the island, taste it. For optimum flavor, make note to make this at least a day ahead.

Salud!

Tidbits on Rum:

1. Rum is derived from sugarcane. Essentially, when sugarcane is crushed, the juice that is extracted is boiled and separates into crystallized sugar and a remnant sugary liquid known as molasses. The molasses is further distilled and aged to make rum.
2. Fermenting and distilling sugarcane to make beverages dates back thousands of years to China, Egypt, India, Syria, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.
3. About 80 percent of the rum consumed in the United States is from Puerto Rico.
4. Rums come in light (silver) and dark (gold). Most light rums are produced in Puerto Rico, while the darker versions come from Jamaica.

Sources:  The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America; The Encyclopedia of Food and Culture.

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What kind of sweet potato person are you? A. Eat sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving meal and don’t eat them otherwise; B. Eat sweet potatoes year round; C. Don’t eat sweet potatoes. I predict most folks fall into the holiday eater group and these lovely tubers get ignored the rest of the year. What a shame because they are nutritionally loaded with Vitamins A and C. And, the better part (for some), they taste great even under the simplest of cooking methods (boiled or baked) and without added fats and spices.

Here, however, we’re using the spice rack . . . Jamaican style! Sweet potatoes are simmered in a warm spice mixture common to Carribbean cuisine:  ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, cloves and allspice. Then, it’s made luscious with coconut milk. For an added touch of Caribbean influence, I’ve added okra and I served it all on a bed of sautéed kale, since it was easier to locate in my neighborhood than the Jamaican spinach callaloo.

This is a vegetarian curry that can be enjoyed as a main or a side. It’s nutritious comfort food when the weather outside is frightful. It is hearty akin to the consistency of a thick butternut squash soup. And, the taste  is deep – the Indian influence is certain. Each spoonful makes me close my eyes and long to transported to an island far away.

The recipe is adapted from the Jamaican Fish Curry recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks, The Caribbean: Central & South American Cookbook by Jenni Fleetwood and Marina Filippelli (2007). It’s definitely a go to book for Caribbean cooking with make-you-want-to-cook recipes, beautiful photography and easy instructions.

Enjoy! With this dish I bet some C. types would convert.

Tidbits on Sweet Potatoes

1. The origin of sweet potatoes is believed to be located in Central America with its ancestral roots in the Mexican wild yam. They have been cultivated for more than 5,000 years, although fossilized remains in the Andes date back 8,000 years.
2. Sweet potatoes were the second most important root crop in the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1920, per capita consumption was 31 pounds. In 1999, consumption dropped to a mere 4 pounds per person.
3. China grows about 87 percent of sweet potatoes grown worldwide; with nearly half used as feed for animals. Asia produces 6 percent, Africa 5 percent, Latin America 1.5 percent, and the United States 0.45 percent.
4. Sweet potato flesh comes in a spectrum of colors: white, yellow, purple, red, pink, violet and orange. Nutritionally, all varieties are good sources of Vitamins C and E as well as dietary fiber, potassium, and iron, and they are low in fat and cholesterol. The orange and red fleshed sweet potatoes are an excellent source of beta-carotene (Vitamin A).

Source: Encyclopedia of Food and Culture.

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Sweet potato pie is relatively new to my Thanksgiving repertoire. I grew up with pumpkin pie for the holiday and, to be frank, I never really dug it. It was pretty much bland and boring in my book. However, years ago when I began dating my, now, husband and had Thanksgiving with his family, I delighted on an entirely different Thanksgiving feast:  greens, black eyed peas, corn bread dressing, macaroni and cheese, and yes, the consummate of Soul Food desserts – sweet potato pie.

The bold nutmeg, cinnamon and sweet potatoes won me and my momma over instantly. Since then, I’ve been making sweet potato pies for Thanksgiving. I’ve tweaked my recipe over the last several years. It’s almost home-made (I buy a lovely frozen crust). Actually, it’s more like six because I bake enough pies to share with my large, extended family across two states. I can make pie crust from scratch, but why? Sometimes in life, shortcuts are worth it. I’d rather go for a walk than sweat the small stuff, especially with the stress and extra calories that come with the holidays.

This is an easy recipe, it just takes a couple of hours to do the boiling and baking. Don’t worry, you don’t have to hover over the stove, you can multi-task with this one. Don’t be tempted to buy the canned puree; that short cut is not worth it.

And, one more thing, this pie is damn good! There’s never a leftover, except for a few crumbs, if even that.  This year, I’m topping it with home-made vanilla whipped cream and an extra dash of nutmeg. Note at our house, we enjoy sweet potato pie beyond Thanksgiving and the holidays, it’s delicious with a hot cup of tea, chai or coffee. I like mine room temperature and the husband likes his cold.

Tidbits on Sweet Potatoes

1. There is some confusion between sweet potatoes and yams, particularly in the U.S. In American grocery stores, what are marked and we understand to be “yams,” including the garnet and jewel varieties, are actually sweet potatoes.
2. Sweet potatoes spoil quite easily, especially when bruised and wet. Keep them fresh for weeks by storing them in a cool dry place like a pantry or cellar. Do not wash before storing since moisture speeds up spoiling. Do not refrigerate as well.

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