Healthy: Greek Grean Beans

Here's an easy recipe for green beans that pair well as a side for Greek dishes as well as other Mediterranean cuisines. It's not so obviously Greek that it won't pair with other dishes. There's no real magic behind these green beans. It's an easy recipe but packs a nice flavor.

Healthy Greek Green Beans

Serving size: 6
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour

Equipment:

• Knife and cutting board
• Kitchen utensils
• Large skillet with lid

Ingredients:

• 3 lb. fresh green beans
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 red onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 1/2 lb. ripe tomatoes
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley
• Salt and pepper
• Kalamata olives and feta cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Chop onions, garlic, parsley and tomatoes. Wash green beans and remove ends. 
2. Heat half the olive oil in skillet over medium heat. 
3. Add onions and saute until translucent and tender (about six minutes).
4. Add garlic, tomatoes and the rest of the olive oil. Bring to a boil.
5. Add green beans and mix so the green beans are covered in the boiling mixture. 
6. Turn heat down to low, cover skillet with lid.
7. Simmer for 40 minutes.
8. Add parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix and continue cooking for five minutes. 
9. Serve. Add kalamata olives and feta cheese, if desired.

Healthy: Spring Rolls with Thai Basil

I'm always surprised by the prices listed for spring rolls in restaurants. It's basically herbs and cabbage rolled together. Spring rolls are labor intensive and require a certain technique but once you make five or six bad rolls you'll be able to turn them out in no time. The real trick is understanding how to work with the rice paper so it is appropriately pliable and doesn't explode when rolled. Today I'll give up a really easy recipe and plenty of tricks to make it as easy as possible.

What makes spring rolls time consuming is dealing with the vegetable and specifically I mean the cabbage. To get the right consistency in a spring roll you need to grate the cabbage rather than try to chop it. Grating a whole head of cabbage is really, really time consuming and a PITA. If you have a food processor with a grating attachment then you can take a PITA process and make it really easy. Just chop the cabbage head in quarters, cut out the core and then break down the head into pieces that will fit in the food processor's feeding tube. If you're bold enough to hand grate cabbage then you want to go the other way. You need the core to hold the whole thing together while you rip it up with the grater. You may need to quarter the head and work one quarter at a time. The core makes a good handle and once you've grated off all the good parts from the core then just toss the core in your trash or compost. However, it's a messy PITA and I would suggest as an alternative to buy pre-shredded cabbage and carrots made for cole slaw. You have to grate carrot anyway so it's just saving you an extra step.

While we're dealing with chopping and grating, let's also talk about the chiles and herbs. In a good spring roll each bite should have the flavor of all the components. You don't want one bite to be full of mint and taste like an after dinner mint and the next to have a big chunk of chile and obliterate anything else you might want to taste. To do that you need to get a good mix of ingredients and the only way you will get that is to make sure everything is chopped down to a small size. Slice the chiles thin and chop the basil, green onion and mint down to roughly the same size as the cabbage.

Rice paper. If cabbage soaks up the labor making spring rolls then rice paper soaks up all the technique. Dry it has the texture of vinyl if vinyl was brittle and shattered. Wet it's like a giant sheet of wet toilet paper. As it dries from being wet it gets gummy and then firm but tacky. The problem is that you have to deal with it wet when they are at their worst. They only take a minute or two to get the right softness so at least they have that going for them. You want to soak them one at a time and use them right away. If you soak a stack of them then they will stick together and tear when you try to peel them apart. If you soak and then dry them then you won't be able to get them to roll correctly.

Here's what you do: Fill a pan or plate partially with water. It needs to be big enough to soak the whole sheet of paper at once. Then lay the paper in the water and push it down so it gets fully submerged. Leave it for five or so seconds. It will come out somewhat stiff and slippery. Lay it down on a surface large enough for it to lay flat. A slightly damp towel over the surface is helpful because it will let you lift up the edges of the paper. After 1-2 minutes the paper will go limp and transparent. You can leave the paper in the water until it gets to this consistency but then it is much harder to get it to lay flat and not wrinkle or stick to itself. Once transparent you will stuff and roll.

Making a roll is pretty much the same as rolling a burrito. You don't want to overstuff it because it will cause the paper to burst. You don't want to understuff it and only taste rice paper on the ends. Half a cup of your cabbage mixture is usually sufficient but if you like a plumper roll try getting closer to 3/4 cup. You want to place the filling in the middle towards the bottom. Think about the rice paper like a big yellow smiley face. You want to place the filling on the rice paper like you're trying to rest it on top of the crescent of the smile.

The filling should span the width of the roll but not the width of the rice paper. Have about 1.5 inches on each side. Then roll the bottom of the rice paper (where the smile is) over your filling and gently squeeze in the filling so it forms a uniform shape. Then fold in the sides up to the sides of the filling so the paper has a rectangle-like shape. (Don't tuck in the top.) Then roll forward until the entire rice paper has been rolled. Set it aside on a clean, slightly damp surface (like another towel) and do not let it touch another roll. As the rice paper dries it will get sticky and seal the roll closed. If it's touching another roll they will glue together and you'll likely tear one or both getting them apart.


You will probably have a few screw ups. Everybody does. It's okay. It will still taste good. Just keep making rolls and adjusting your technique. Eventually you will make them perfectly each time.

This recipe omits any meat. You can easily add meat to the filling such as shrimp or various ground or shredded meat. Play around with the herbs if you add meat. Mint doesn't always work with all proteins.

Spring rolls are typically served with one or more sauces. Peanut sauces are great as are garlic-chile paste-based sauces. These sauces can make the spring rolls less healthy so choice accordingly.

Spring Rolls with Thai Basil

Servings: 12 rolls
Prep time: Up to 1 hour
Cook time: None

Equipment:

• Knife and cutting board
• Mixing spoons and bowls
• Grater (or grater attachment for a food processor)
• Large pan
• Two clean towels
• Small saucepan with lid 
• Strainer (optional)
• Mortar and pestle (optional)

Ingredients:

• 12 rice paper wrappers
• 4 oz. vermacelli noodles
• Juice from 4 limes
• Ground pepper
• 2 carrots
• 4 cups napa cabbage (approximately 1 head)
• 4 green onions
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1/3 cup spearmint
• 1/2 cup thai basil 
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 4 serrano peppers

Directions:

1. Grate cabbage as explained above. Grate carrots.
2. Finely chop cilantro, mint, basil, serrano and green onions. 
3. Mince garlic.
4. Heat 2 cups water to reach boil.
5. Break or chop vermacelli noodles into 2-4 inch pieces. It does not need to be exact.
6. Once the water is boiling, take off heat and add vermacelli noodles. Let rest for two minutes and then use the lid (or a strainer) to strain out the water.
7. In a large bowl combine carrot, cabbage, cilantro, mint, basil, noodles.
8. In small bowl (or mortar) combine lime juice, serranos, garlic, 1/2 tsp ground pepper and sugar. Use blunt end of a kitchen utensil (or pestle) to mash the ingredients into a paste. 
9. Add paste to large bowl of other ingredients and mix well.
10. Add water to pan for rice paper.
11. Submerge rice paper individually into water and remove as explained above.
12. Add filling and roll as explained above.

Not Healthy: Simple Greek-style Baked Fries Recipe

Today's post is an easy baked french fry recipe with a Greek spin. It's simple recipe and works well with all sorts of dishes. They are flavorful enough to hold up to a unique burger but no so overwhelming that they will clash against bold flavors.

Simple Greek-style Baked Fries Recipe

Servings: 2
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes

Equipment:

• Kitchen utensils
• Knife and cutting board
• Oven
• Baking sheet
• Foil (optional)

Ingredients:

• 1 russet potato
• 3 tsp lemon juice
• 2/3 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano 
• Dash of pepper and salt
• 2/3 tsp diced garlic
• Cooking spray 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Cut potato into wedges.
3. Combine potato with all other ingredients except cooking spray.
4. (Optional) Line baking sheet with foil.
5. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray. Spread out potatoes on baking sheet.
6. Bake for 45 minutes. 

Thai food for people allergic to coconut

NOTE: I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. This information should not be treated as medical advice. I don't know your particular allergic conditions or the severity of your allergy. You should use this information as an opportunity to explore the issue with your allergist or other qualified medical professional.

I really enjoy Thai food. It's a blend of so many things I love to eat. Unfortunately, it's also full of coconut. I love the taste of coconut but my body hates it. I have a severe allergy to it. It's not quite peanut allergy bad but if I eat a chunk of raw coconut my throat gets incredibly itchy and starts to close. For me any kind of raw coconut is asking for trouble but the flesh is the worst. That means a lot of Thai food, German chocolate cake and all sorts of other coconut desserts are not an option for me. For a long time I feared any coconut would risk death so when I made Thai dishes I had to substitute out the coconut cream and coconut milk for other products. One time I tried making a curry with coconut milk and as it turns out I can eat food with cooked coconut milk or cream. I've tried cooked coconut flesh (like coconut flakes or grated coconut) and can handle it in very small amounts without a problem. However, some people may have an allergy that isn't abated by cooking the coconut so these are some options to consider.

Coconut adds body, sweetness, fat and aromatics to Thai food in a way that is hard to truly replicate but it's not an ingredient that can be completely omitted from most recipes. In my opinion unsweetened soy milk is as close as you can get to coconut milk in terms of adding body and fat to the recipe. It lacks the subtle sweetness and aromatics of coconut milk but it will at least get you to the right texture which I think is truly important for a curry. If you also have a soy allergy then you might try an unsweetened almond milk or cashew milk but I think the nutty flavor is too assertive. Cow milk could be an option but you would probably have to boil it down to get it to a thicker consistency. It's absolutely the wrong flavor so I would not use cow milk unless I absolutely had to.

Coconut cream is also used in Thai food in a way that magnifies the coconut character in the dish. It is sweeter, fattier and more intensely aromatic than coconut milk. That makes it tough to replicate with a substitute. The closest option is probably slowly simmered down sweetened soy milk. You might even need to add some sugar to match the sweetness of coconut cream. Some people suggest using condensed cow milk, which is sweetened, which gets the right consistency and sweetness but is even more distant from the coconut cream in terms of flavor.

Personally I do not think there is a great substitute for coconut cream and if the recipe calls for a small amount I might just omit it rather than introduce an unwelcome flavor. Otherwise I would opt for cooking down sweetened soy milk. Fortunately there are a lot of Americanized recipes that do not contain coconut cream so if you can't find a good substitute for a recipe calling for coconut cream then maybe look at a different recipe that only uses coconut milk (far easier to find in American grocery stores) might be a better option. If you need to use coconut cream then how it works in the recipe would guide my preference for a substitute. For coconut cream in a curry paste I would opt for either condensed cow milk or simmered down sweetened soy milk. If it is used as a singular component in a curry or other dish then I would definitely opt for simmered down sweetened soy milk because it's as close to the right flavor as it gets. Condensed milk is fine where it is used mostly as a thickener and sweetener in a small amount, such as a curry paste, but cow milk flavor just doesn't belong in Thai food.

Coconut flesh is the toughest substitute because it is a solid food with a particular texture and flavor. It's sweet but not as sweet or fatty as coconut cream. Flavor-wise the closest is coconut milk but it's going to miss the texture and may need to be reduced to avoid adding additional liquid. Coconut milk is roughly five times as much volume (due to the liquid) as grated coconut and I would adjust the recipe to account for the flavor added by the coconut flesh to an equivalent amount of coconut milk and reduce the coconut milk to avoid the excess liquid. If you feel like you need the texture of coconut some options for you are to soak a solid ingredient in coconut milk (or maybe reduced coconut milk) to convert the flavor. Puffed rice or shaved almonds would be good options. I've seen various other suggestions, including well-rinsed sauerkraut, but I'd opt for the rice or almonds myself. If the coconut flesh is going uncooked then I would have to omit it myself but you could make some substitutions based on your own allergy.

The big problem with all of these substitutes is that they lack the aromatics of coconut. Some people have suggested using coconut extracts or artificial flavors to add the coconut flavor. Coconut extracts made from actual coconut provides no help for a coconut allergy because it's likely to produce the same allergic response. It is, after all, still coconut. Artificial coconut flavors might work for uncooked options but often artificial flavorings for fruits and nuts break down into less than ideal flavors when cooked, especially at high heat like a stir fry or curry. It is worth a try if you just can't settle for a substitute that lacks the flavor of coconut and cannot consume coconut even when cooked.

If you have some other ideas on great coconut substitutes that worked for you then feel free to add a comment and let me know what worked for you. I'm still searching for the perfect substitute to enjoy German chocolate cake.