Collard greens wraps

Ingredients

5-6 collard green leaves

1 lemon, cut into wedges and divided

1 teaspoon ground sumac

1 cup of homemade or store-bought hummus

1 cup alfafa sprouts

2 carrots, peeled and julienned

2-4 stems of mint

2-4 stems of Italian parsley

1 avocado, halved and sliced

Directions

Since the leaves are pretty large, a very wide saucepan is ideal. If you don’t have it, feel free to use a large pot. Fill the saucepan or pot, set over high heat, with about three-inches of water. Add a few pinches of salt and a squeeze of lemon (from 1 wedge) to the water. When the water reaches a simmer, turn the heat down to medium. Add the collard green leaves, one at a time, for about 30 to 40 seconds each. They’ll change color starting at dark green to a brightly-hued kelly green. Remove the leaves from the water and set aside on paper towels to cool. Continue with the collard green leaves until you’ve worked your way through all of them.

While the leaves cool, get all your ingredients set up. I mixed in about a teaspoon of ground sumac into the hummus because I love the added flavor. This is optional! Place a heaping tablespoon of hummus toward of the top of the collard green leaf. Top with a small handful of sprouts, a few carrots, a mint leaf, a few leaves of parsley and a couple slices of avocado. There’s no wrong way to do this! Roll the wrap like you would a burrito: tucking in the sides as you roll. Slice it half and set aside. Continue the stuffing and rolling until you’ve worked your way through all of the collard green leaves.

Yield: 2-3 servings

Source: http://www.pbs.org/food/fresh-tastes/collard-green-wraps/

Algeria - Stuffed Dates and Walnuts

We ran out of Leonidas, so I decided to make these :)
As usual I ended up doing a few adaptations... I didn't have orange flower water, which is a bummer, but it was still very good. I also didn't put the powdered sugar because I thought it would be too sweet. I am sure I'd love that, but Aleks not so much...
It was very easy to make and I was happy I got to use my new toy, aka a handheld blender :)

Ingredients

12 fresh dates

½ cup ground almonds

2 Tablespoons pistachio nuts, very finely chopped

2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

Orange flower water (found at specialty stores)

24 walnut halves

Powdered sugar, to decorate

Procedure 

With a sharp knife, make a slit down the length of each date and carefully remove the seed.

In a bowl, mix together the ground almonds, chopped pistachio nuts, and granulated sugar.

Add enough orange flower water to make a smooth paste.

Shape half of the paste into 12 nuggets the size of date seeds and use to stuff the dates.

Use the remaining paste to sandwich the walnut halves together in pairs.

Sift a little powdered sugar over the stuffed dates and walnuts. Serves best with rich coffee.

Source: http://www.foodbycountry.com/Algeria-to-France/Algeria.html#ixzz3P6BvnsTj

Japan - Udon soup

I love Asian soups, the flavors are amazing!

Last year we had udon soup in a restaurant in Corning, NY and I have been dreaming about cooking it ever since.

I based my soup in the recipe below, but instead of using chicken I made with shrimp and I also added shitake.

Also, I didn't have frozen udon, but the dry one worked just fine. Aleks loved it!

Chicken Udon Recipe

Ingredients

2 packages frozen Udon (use frozen or thawed)

4 cups Dashi (960ml)

1/4-1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp soy sauce

3 Tbsp Mirin

2 Tbsp Sake

2 chicken thighs or 1 chicken breast (cut into bite size pieces)

4 green onions (thinly and diagonally cut)

shichimi (hot pepper powder)

Instructions

Cut green onions thinly and diagonally. Set aside some greener parts for garnish.

Heat Dashi to a boil. Add salt, soy sauce, Mirin, Sake to Dashi, then chicken.

Skim fat and other particles from the surface of the soup if there are any. Add Udon to the soup and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes.

Put in most of green onions including white parts, then turn off heat right away.

Divide noodles and soup into bowls and sprinkle on the rest of the green onions and shichimi if you like.

Source: http://www.japanesecooking101.com/chicken-udon-noodles-recipe/