Recipes I just like

These are just recipes of things that I like to make and that my family likes to eat.

• Sautéed Spiced Kale
• Non-alcoholic, caffeine-free Tiramisu
• Aku poki
• Fruit Juice Popsicles (with photo)
  

1 bunch of kale
1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 shallot, chopped fine
1 small onion, chopped fine
1/2 finger of ginger, grated or chopped fine
2 cloves of garlic, crushed or chopped fine
3 tsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbl powdered coconut milk
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 - 1/2 cup water

Chop and measure all ingredients before cooking. Combine salt, cumin seed, turmeric, and powdered coconut milk. You'll want a medium to large bowl to hold the chopped kale.

Heat large skillet and then add oil and heat. Add mustard seeds and stir to coat and cook a little. Add chopped shallot and sautée 2-3 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and combine with other ingredients.

Add water and stir. Add spice mixture and stir.

Add 1/3 (or more) of the kale and stir. As it becomes easier to stir it without tossing pieces out of the pan, add more kale till it's all in the pan. Stir until the kale is a bright, vivid green, such as when it's steamed. It should be firm, not soggy and fairly dry.

Serve hot or cold.

Variation:
This recipe works well with Brussels sprouts too. Just wash and cut the bottoms off the sprouts. Boil enough water to cover and blanche the sprouts for 5-6 minutes. Remove from boiling water and run under cold water immediately (to stop them from over-cooking). Cut in half and add to the cumin-coconut mixture in lieu of the kale. I usually make about 550 g of sprouts. Serve hot.

Non-alcoholic, decaf Tiramisu

1 cup sugar
5 large eggs, separated
500 g mascarpone, room temperature
approximately 40 Löffelbiscuits (ladyfinger cookies)
2 cups brewed decaf espresso
2 tsp rum extract or arrak aroma*
cocoa (unsweetened)
25 g dark chocolate shavings (optional)

Combine sugar and egg yolks with a whisk. Gradually add mascarpone until mixed thoroughly. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites till stiff peaks form. Slowly and gently, fold egg whites into mascarpone mixture. Stirring (think of the German cognate, stören, to disturb!) will cause the beaten egg whites to collapse, making your mascarpone mixture runny.

Add rum extract to espresso and stir. Dip cookies (long, flat side down) in the espresso and cover the bottom of a large glass dish or plastic container big enough to hold 3+ liters.

Coat the biscuits with half of the mascarpone mixture. Dust the mascarpone well with cocoa powder, then sprinkle with chocolate shavings. Place another layer of dunked biscuits, mascarpone, cocoa and chocolate shavings on top of the first.

Cover and chill overnight before serving.

*Note: Most German aroma contains oil and will not blend with the coffee, but will form little oil slicks on top of the coffee. I found a small bottle of water-based arrak aroma at an Edeka supermarket. It was in the baking section, but not with the other aromas. Arrak is far preferable to imitation rum flavoring.

When dipping the ladyfingers, less is more. They are extremely absorbent and if submerged completely, even briefly, will soak up too much coffee, which will create a thin, coffee syrup on the bottom of your tiramisu. About half or two-thirds is sufficient.

Aku Poki (Hawaiian marinated, raw fish)

450 g fresh tuna or swordfish or octopus*
/2 cup soy sauce (Japanese style)
1 finger ginger, grated
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
2 stalks scallions
1 dried chili (optional)
1/2 tsp sesame oil

Prepare all ingredients and mix together. Let marinate for 4 - 5 hours. Serve cold and raw. Try not to make a spectacle of yourself gobbling it up.

Fruit Juice Popsicles

3 oranges
500 g strawberries (ripe, in season)
5-6 kiwis (ripe!)
4-6 popsicle molds & sticks

This is a fun recipe you can make with your kids.

Mash the strawberries. You can purée them or mash them very well, depending on whether you prefer a more even texture or some strawberry lumps in your fruity ice.

Pour the juice into the molds, just till they're about 1/3 full. Then freeze for an hour.

Squeeze the oranges and pour the juice on top of the strawberry, leaving about 1/3 left for the next layer. Be sure to figure in some room for expansion. Freeze for 45 minutes to an hour (depending on how good your freezer is and how long your sticks are). You may need to be able to push the sticks into this middle layer a bit. You don't need to have it be very frozen to stand up against the next layer, but if it's not frozen enough, there will be some blending of the juices.

Most people peel kiwis, but I have a cheap spoon with a rather sharp edge and prefer to cut the kiwi in half and scoop the fruit out. It's much faster and easier and you waste much less of the fruit. Purée the fruit with a hand blender and then pour through a strainer or sieve to remove the seeds. Then pour the remaining layer, taking care to allow some room for expansion, insert the sticks and freeze for several hours.

Note: Make sure you use very ripe fruit because things lose their flavor quite a bit when they get frozen. You have to have very flavorful fruit to have tasty popsicles. We've made orange-kiwi popsicles and they were also very good, although not quite as pretty. I tried banana once, but it was a pain to get the mashed fruit into the mold.

If you have store-bought popsicle molds, there should be a little mark that indicates where you should pour to. Not respecting this can lead to a lovely frozen mess all over the bottom of your freezer. Sound like the voice of experience? It is!