Mr Cool Cucumber, Ms Sweet Carrots and the Cilantro Patch Potato Kids

I was tasked with coming up with several “veggie” dishes for Christmas Eve dinner. Ah-ha! I thought. What better time then this to start my new quest for health-ful cooking. No, no bland rabbit food, no green salads (how boring), no stir-fried vegetables (we eat that everyday)…

There has been a jar of St Dalfour fig jam sitting, forlorn and lonely, in my fridge for a good many months now. The family obviously doesn’t seem to like it on their toast. And I had a high suspicion that if left there, that jar of jam would just continue sitting in the fridge, untouched, unwanted and rejected until it was ready to leave this world… So, I decided that, this Christmas, I would try to fulfill its life purpose to be used and enjoyed.

How about glazed baby carrots with fig jam? Sure, why not? The Chinese have the famous ribs dish “Pai Kuat Wong” (literally translated as King of Ribs) which many restaurants cook with a combination of different jams (pineapple, marmalade and others I think) to create that signature sweet and sour taste.

These glazed carrots are almost completely fat-free, yet very flavorful, and so easy to make. The baby carrots were steamed for about 15 minutes or until tender. I combined about 6 slightly heaped tablespoons of fig jam (apricot jam, marmalade or even peach jam would work very well too, I would imagine), with just over a 1 teaspoon of grated orange zest, 2 teaspoons of honey mustard (Dijon would probably have been preferable, but I was out of that), and some roughly chopped cilantro (or parsley) leaves. These were cooked over medium heat until bubbly (approximately 2 minutes or less). The steamed baby carrots were added, and tossed to coat evenly with the jam glaze. Voila! Ready to go.

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Some time back, Josh posted about pommes persillade – potatoes with a simple paste of parsley and garlic. I finally got around to trying this recipe out. I used cilantro instead of parsley (my family strangely will eat cilantro but not parsley), and it worked well.

A huge bunch of cilantro was very finely minced, and combined with finely minced garlic, to form an almost paste-like salsa .

I made this dish with both USA Russet Burbank potatoes and the local yellow-fleshed potatoes. The former worked better – their fluffy texture was more conducive to this type of cooking than the firmer fleshed local variety which is more suited for use in cooking curries.

I soaked the cubes of potatoes in some iced water in the refrigerator for about half hour or so before cooking, hoping that this would help the potatoes crisp up with minimal oil being used. A lot of patience was required to get the potatoes to cook and brown when sautéed in so little oil. Having never sautéed potatoes in this manner before, I had begun to worry that the potatoes just were not going to brown nor cook. But brown they did… after maybe a good 15-20 minutes.

Once they were cooked, the cilantro mixture was added, and mixed well to coat the potatoes evenly. After a quick seasoning of salt and pepper to taste, it was ready to be served.

Come to think of it, this persillade would have worked well with the baby carrots too. Hmmm… that’s an idea for the next time around.

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I decided to add this dish at the last minute. This cool, creamy cucumber salad was inspired by the Indian raita, which is usually served with curries to cool the palate. It was creamy yet low in fat, with the creaminess coming from yogurt instead of cream. Instead of having finely diced cucumbers, I decided to have chunkier pieces of the vegetable in my version. The Indian versions (of which there are countless different versions) very often have raw onions and various spices in them. I wanted to keep the flavors of mine somewhat “cleaner”.

I used a combination of plain yogurt, a touch of lemon juice, salt, sugar, some chopped green onions and some chopped cilantro. I think fresh dill would work beautifully too, instead of the cilantro. The yogurt used was a low fat one. I would have preferred maybe a Greek-style or European-style natural set yogurt which has a richer, creamier texture without being significantly much higher in fat. It wasn’t available at the neighborhood grocery shop, and I didn’t have the time to run out to the supermarket. So, we had to make do. Also, I think the next time around, I would probably use a touch of vinegar instead of the lemon juice. The approximate ratio of quantities I used was: 200g carton yogurt, 1 scant tablespoon lemon juice, ½ teaspoon salt, 3-4 tablespoons sugar. After the dressing was made, it was refrigerated for at least ½ hour for it to chill and for the flavors to meld.

I used small Japanese cucumbers, as they are a lot crispier and crunchier in texture. These were cubed and refrigerated to dry and crisp up a little, before being tossed with the yogurt dressing. The salad was then returned to the refrigerator for at least another 1 hour or more before it was ready to be served.

The final touch: a dash of paprika powder (or cayenne pepper) for a splash of color. A nice, cool, creamy treat without the fat and calories.

Just a thought: this would be a great way to make a fruit salad too… mangoes, watermelon, honeydew, rock melon, bananas, apples, maybe even papaya... wow! limitless possibilities...

Happy Salad-ing!

Copyright © 2003 Renee Kho. All rights reserved.
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