Mango Chutney

4 pounds fresh mangos, ripe but not too soft, peeled and dice to 1/4" pieces
2 table spoons olive oil
1 teaspoon chile flakes
2 1/2 cups red onion, diced
1/4 fresh ginger, minced
1 cup red bell pepper, dice to 1/4" pieces

Seasonings: combine and set aside.
8 oz unsweetened pineapple juice
4 oz cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons mild curry powder, can use hot curry if prefer spicier chutney
Ssalt and ground white pepper to taste.

In a saute pan with medium heat, heat the oil and add the chile flakes for a few seconds to flavor the oil. Do not burn the chili flakes. Add the onions and cook until onions are soft. Add the ginger and bell pepper and saute for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the mango and cook for 1 more minute. Add the seasonings to the pan and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a simmer and reduce for about 30 minutes. Stir frequently. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

This recipe make about 3 - 4 cups of mango chutney. I store the extra chutney in my freezer. I use this chutney in my curry tofu salad. When I googled how to use Mango Chutney, here are some of the suggestions:
Serve as topping to vanilla ice cream
Serve over chicken or fish
Mix with mayo on chicken or turkey burgers
Serve on top of rotisserie shredded chicken in a pita
Serve on top of smoked pork lion
Serve with chicken or lamb curry
Serve with grill lamb
Mix with mayo, curry powder, salt and pepper for curry chicken salad and sweet and white potato salad.

Scallion Pancake - 葱油餅

Yesterday I had a craving for scallion pancake; I think the root cause of the sudden Chinese food craving was that I had a fun conversation with a friend about all the yummy food you can enjoy in China and Taiwan from street vendors. I decided to make this snack even though I know I would not have time time to finish it until the evening. I did the prep-work in the morning, chopped up the scallion (green onion) and made the salty scallion mixture and set it aside (since it's best to let the salt has time to soften the scallion). After we return from Roland's nephew's wedding last night, I started to mix the dough at 8:30pm. Roland was wondering if I was still hungry. Of course it had nothing to do with hunger. Anyway, I finished panfrying the last pancake at about 10:30pm and went to bed with way too much food in the tummy but very happy!

Traditional Chinese cooking always uses white flour and white rice (my understanding is that only poorer folks ate brown rice is the olden days so it's a social status thing).  I made this pancake with whole white wheat flour and coconut oil for healthier ingredients.

Dough:
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (from white wheat)
1 cup hot water
1/4 - 1/4 cold water
* For softer scallion pancake, use more hot water and less cold water.

Scallion mixture:
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup scallion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup safflower oil or coconut oil

Stir together the hot water and the flour until the dough is partly mixed. Add the cold water and mix until all flour are incorporated into the dough. When the dough is cool enough to handle, kneed the dough until smooth. The consistency of the dough should be firm but soft. That sound contradictory but let me explain; I mean you should be able to make a indention in the dough very easily by gently pressing the dough with you finger. Cover the dough and let rest for 1/2 hour.

Mix the scallion, salt, and oil and a small bowl and set aside.

Divide the dough into 4 portions.

Lightly dust the working surface and roll out one dough ball with rolling pin into a large flat circle.

Spread 1/4 of the green onion and oil mixture evenly over the dough.

Starting at one side of the circle, roll up the dough into a long cylinder shape, pinched the end closed.

Wind the long cylinder dough into a circle. Tuck the end under and press to make sure it is firmly attached.

Roll the dough with the rolling pin gently into a pancake; about 1/2 inch think. This step always make a mess; scallions and oil will seep out of the dough. Be sure to clean up the oily mess before you start the next pancake. The pancake is now ready to be pan fried.

Bring a frying pan to medium heat and add a little oil to a frying pan. Place the pancake in the frying pan and fry both side until light golden.




Cut into 4 to 8 slices and serve when warm. You can save the left over in a air tight container or ziplock bag in the fridge. Be sure to warm up the pancake before serving.

Curry Tofu Salad

When I was running errands one day stopping at Whole Foods to get a few things, I all of sudden became very hungry. I was so hungry that I thought I could not continue without putting some food into my stomach. Even at Whole Foods, there are limited things you can grab that are low in sugar and dairy free. I ended up getting a curry tofu salad and it was so delicious! I came home, study the label, wrote down the ingredients, googled curry tofu salad recipes, made a couple of batched of it, and came up with my version of curry tofu salad. The only issue I have with this dish is that I can't stop eating it! I think this recipe can also to turn into a wonderful curry chicken salad.



Tofu, 14oz, firm or extra firm, cut into 1/2" cubes

1 -2 tablespoon Olive oil, for pan frying or baking tofu

1/2 cup Green bell pepper, diced into 1/2" pieces

1/2 cup Red bell pepper, diced into 1/2" pieces

3/4 cup Carrots, shredded
2 Green onions, finely sliced

1 Tablespoon Cilantro, cut

1/3 cup Raisins

1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Curry Dressing:

2 heaping tablespoons Nayonaise (vegan) or Mayo; I like Follow Your Heart Vegenaise

2 heaping tablespoons Mango Chutney

2 teaspoons curry powder

If you don't have Mango Chutney, use the following ingredients, it tastes pretty close. The first two times I made the dish, I didn't have Mango Chutney, and the end result was very good also.
2 heaping tablespoons Mayonaise or Mayo
2 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 clove Roasted garlic, minced
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon sugar or agave

dash of salt & ground pepper

Cut Tofu into 1/2 inch cubes, pan fry until lightly golden. For firmer texture, use extra firm tofu and deep fry and cubes until lightly golden. You can also baked the tofu in a 375F oven on a lightly greased baking sheet for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through the cooking time. Don't over cook the tofu; it can get dry. Mix the ingredients of the curry dressing in a small bowl and set aside. Combine tofu, bell peppers, green onions, carrots, cilantro, raisins, and almonds  in a large bowl. Top with the curry dressing and toss thoroughly. Chill for at least an hour. The raisins will sweeten up the dish; add salt & pepper to taste before serving.

Corn Muffin & Corn Bread

Kimberly loves corn bread. She was working on a school project and needed a good corn bread recipe. (Her project was to design, typeset, and whatever one needed to do to publishing a family cookbook.)  I have a lot of recipes for lot of things but apparently not corn bread. I loved the Napa Valley Pantry's World Best Corn Bread mix. It made a moist and slightly sweet corn bread with bits of corn. Yummy! My mouth watered just thinking about it. However, the "worlds best corn bread mix" was no longer available. Come to think of it, I have not make cornbread much ever since I ran out of Napa Valley Pantry's corn bread mix. All other corn bread recipes I tried in the past was just ok. After all, how can you compete with the "worlds best"?

My assignment from Kim was to try new cornbread recipes, so I tried two vegan corn bread recipes. One is from The Kind Diet by Alicia Sliverstone and the other one is from The Little House of Veggies http://littlehouseofveggies.blogspot.com/. The Kind Diet corn bread was better than most of the recipes I've tried but it was too sweet and too crumbly. It had potential; so I modify the recipe and ended up making four batches of corn bread in one week. After a lot of eating and surveying, I think I really like the end product. The corn bread recipe from the Little House of Veggies is also very good. I have a hard time deciding which one I like better so I've included both recipes.

Anyway, after all the trouble I went through, Kim said that she got a good recipe from her best friend's mom. Oh well, I guess at least I've found one good corn bread recipe and one good corn muffin recipe.

Whole Grain Corn Bread - base on the corn bread recipe from The Little House of Veggies with minor modifications.

Dry Ingredient:
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour (white wheat)
1 tablespoon baking powder1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon xantham gum (optional, helps the cornbread bind together better)

Wet Ingredients:
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup soymilk, almond milk, or milk of choice
1/3 cup canola oil

Preheat oven to 400F. Lightly grease a 8 inch square baking dish. Mix all of the dry ingredients together. Then add the wet to the dry. Pour into the baking dish and bake for 25 minutes.

Corn Bread or Muffin - loosely base on the corn bread recipe from The Kind Diet

Wet ingredients:
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 3/4 cup of rice milk
1/4 cup safflower oil

Dry ingredients:
1 1/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (or gluten free flour, see below)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon Real Salt
1/8 teaspoon of xanthan gum (it helps with binding)

Preheat the oven to 400F. Combine the wet ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Mix the dry ingredients together and add to the wet mixture. Mix till ingredients are well combined, do not over mix. The mixture is quite runny. For muffins, line the muffin tin with paper liner and evenly distribute the batter in the muffin tin; fill to about 2/3 full and bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the center pass the toothpick test (a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread or cake comes out clean). Makes about 18 muffins. For corn bread, pour the mix into a lightly grease a 8 inch square baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes.

I made a batch of this corn bread with the gluten free flour below, and it was yummy. Loved it!

Gluten free flour recipe from The Art of Gluten Free Baking:

1 1/4 C (170 g) brown rice flour
1 1/4 C (205 g) white rice flour
1 C (120 g) tapioca flour
1 C (165 g) sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour or under the brand name, Mochiko)
2 scant tsp. xanthan gum

How much sugar?

This article is about added sugar in our diet. It's amazing how much sugar is added to prepared/processed foods.

While I was preparing to teach the physical health lesson, I learned that 1 teaspoon of white granulated sugar weight about 4 gram. An average person should consume no more than 8 teaspoons of added sugar (32 gram) base on a 2000 calories diet. A teenage girl aged between 11 to 14 should aim to eat no more than 45 grams of added sugar in one day (about 11 teaspoons base on 2200 calories diet). It sounds like a lot of sugar but not really; since a lot of the food are loaded with sugar. For example, a 3.3 oz DanActive yogurt has 17 grams of sugar; that's about 4.25 teaspoon, a  little more than half of your daily 8 teaspoons. How about Ben & Jerry Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough original ice cream? It has 24 grams of sugar in 1/2 cup serving size.

Here is a fun site where you can type in your favorite food and in a few clicks, you can read the nutrition labels. http://caloriecount.about.com/

The following table listed some common foods and their sugar content. Even salty foods contain some sugar.

	teaspoons of sugar (1 teaspoon = 4 grams sugar)
Breakfast Cheerios (1 cup) Multigrain Cheerios (1 cup) Honey Nut Cheerios (3/4 cup) Frosted Cheerios (3/4 cup) Apple cinnamon Cheerios (3/4 cup) Fruit Loops, 1 cup Yoplait low fat fruit-flavored yogurt, 4 oz. Pancake syrup, 1/4 cup	1/4 teaspoons, 1g/serving 1.5 teaspoons, 6g/serving 2.25 teaspoons, 9g/serving 3 teaspoons, 12g/serving 3.25 teaspoons, 13g/serving 3+ teaspoons, 12.5g/serving 4.5 teaspoons, 18g  8 teaspoons. 32g
Foods that sound healthy, but are loaded with sugar! Granola, 2/3 cup Dried cranberries, 1/4 cup Dried blueberries, 1/4 cup	4 teaspoons , 16g 7.75 teaspoons, 31g 6.5 teaspoon, 26g
Beverages Orange Juice/Apple Juice, 8 oz. Soda (Coke, Sprite, etc.), 20 oz. Snapple Lemon Iced Tea, 16 oz.	5.5 teaspoons 16 teaspoons 11.5 teaspoons
Snacks/Desserts Balance/Power Bar    Frozen Yogurt, 1 cup Restaurant Chocolate Cake, 1 slice McDonald's Vanilla Shake, 21 oz.	4.75 teaspoons 8.5 teaspoons 13 teaspoons 24 teaspoons
Movie Theatre Combo Twizzlers, movie size, 6 oz. Soda, movie Large, 44 oz.	17 teaspoons + 37 teaspoons
Misc. Foods Ketchup, Heinz, 2 TBS Ranch dressing, Kraft Foods, 2 TBS Italian dressing, 2TBS Raspberry Vinaigrette Fat Free Dressing, 2 TBS Barbecue Sauce, 2 TBS	2 teaspoons, 8g/serving 1/3 teaspoon, 1.2g/serving 1/4 teaspoon, 1g/serving 1.75 teaspoon, 7g/serving 1.85 teaspoon, 7.5g/serving

Sources:
How much sugar should we eat?

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/joybauernutrition/sugar-how-much-should-we-eat/