Salads don’t have to be just lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes with a store bought dressing. You can make a salad using almost anything fresh and raw or a few cooked veggies or roots by adding a few inspired ingredients.
Some fruits and legumes (peas, beans, and garbanzos) can also be added to salads if no meat is desired.
If a more robust salad is wanted, roasted chicken pieces, shrimp, grilled ‘ahi, or any other protein can be added, including sliced hard-boiled, coddled or poached eggs.
For a piquant taste, try adding a few pieces of watercress to a plain salad and notice how it will perk up the taste! Bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and heart of palm are also wonderful additions to any salad.
The papaya and chicken combination is one I enjoy very much. I think the flavors complement each other quite well and this recipe also fits in with the large Asian influence in Hawaii.
The following ingredients make a large quantity. Of course, you may cut it in half. It might yield 8 to 10 portions served as a luncheon entree.
Combine all ingredients and add the dressing. Mix well for tastes to blend. It tastes better if left in refrigerator, covered for at least an hour or two for all the flavors to meld.
Serve in papaya halves which have been peeled and seeded. Sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds on top.
If not using cranraisins, you can use golden raisins instead.
Mix all ingredients whisking briskly until sugar and the seasonings from the Ramen packets are thoroughly dissolved.
The above is doubled the amount I usually make. The dressing should be stored in clean glass bottle.
This beautiful and taste salad is made with fresh greens from our garden: lettuces, mizuna, mitsuba, sweet basil and Dawn Dewa 'spinach', roasted chicken breast cut in small pieces, Caribbean papaya, cut in small chunks and sliced fresh strawberries. I drizzled a bit of the Surinam Cherry Vinaigrette and sprinkled with a bit of chopped and toasted macadamia nuts.
The vinegar from these cherries is a beautiful ruby red in color. Yields approximately 2 cups.
Cook in a non-reactive saucepan until cherries are soft and mushy, about 20 minutes or so, stirring once in a while with a wooden or plastic utensil.
When done pass them through a fine sieve, pushing as much of the pulp as you can through it.
After passing through the sieve let it cool a bit, bottle it and refrigerate.
We call it our 'yard salad' since everything in it, except for the chevre (goat cheese), came from our yard. This salad varies, depending on what is available to pick in the garden at the time.
The salad pictured consists of whole Malabar spinach leaves, whole Okinawan spinach leaves and a chiffonade of Dawn Dewa spinach leaves. Chiffonade of Italian or sweet basil, leaves of lemon basil; ruffled and plain purple basil; snippets of flat or Italian parsley leaves; the little top knot of pineapple sage; snipped chives; whole mizuna leaves, and another salad leaf I can't identify. I add some seeded and sliced purple peppers and some seeded rounds of banana pepper.
To add color, I sprinkle the petals from both one yellow and one orange marigold. I added the cooked, julienne bamboo shoots and about a tablespoon size piece of chevre.
For dressing, I use a vinaigrette I make with white vinegar, garlic cloves and ginger slices. It is so easy to make I never let this one run out! Keep the garlic cloves and slices of ginger in the bottle and add more vinegar as needed. The vinegar will acquire the taste for months, so one batch of the garlic and ginger will last a while.
(*) I used a combination of Malabar and Moluccan (Dawn Dewa or Sambung Nyawa) spinach from our garden. The pineapple sage leaves and blooms also came from our garden. The passion fruit vinaigrette was also made from fruit collected from our yard.
Pick and wash the greens early in the morning. Pat dry with paper towels and refrigerate stored in separate Ziploc bags until ready to put the salad together.
Slice the heart of palm stem in thin slices. Store the heart of palm slices, covered in refrigerator until ready to assemble the salad.
Scatter the Malabar spinach around the platter. Take bunches of the Moluccan (Dawn Dewa) spinach and cut into a thin chiffonade (*). Scatter some over the Malabar spinach and save some to scatter over the sliced heart of palm.
Scatter some of the pineapple sage leaves over the two other spinach.
Place the sliced heart of palm on top of the greens and then scatter a bit more of the chiffonade of Moluccan (Dawn Dewa) spinach and a few more pineapple sage leaves on top. Scatter the red blooms of the pineapple sage over all.
Drizzle with the liliko'i (passion fruit) vinaigrette.
(*) A chiffonade of greens is actually any fresh greens that have been cut in thin ribbons. To make a chiffonade, take a handful of green leaves: basil, lettuce, cabbage, spinach, etc. and loosely wad up under your hand over a cutting board. With a very sharp knife (I like to use a Santuko knife) and with rocking motions, cut across the wad of greens to make thin slices to form the ribbons.
We have a couple of wild vines growing on the property and during season, I collect a few everyday. I cut them in half, scoop out the seeds and pulp and save in a plastic container in the refrigerator until I have a full container.
Strain through a stainless steel mesh sieve, pushing with a wooden spoon to get as much of the juice and pulp as possible and collect it in a glass or ceramic bowl.
In a sauce pan bring the juice and sugar to boil. Amount of sugar depends on your own taste and acidity of the fruit. When it boils, turn it down and reduce it to intensify the flavor. Add small amount of white vinegar, again to taste. Let it cook at a slow boil for a few minutes, turn the heat off and cool. Store in glass cruet or sealed glass carafe in the refrigerator. It will last several weeks.
One of my favorite Cuban snacks is croquetas...not sure why I don't make them more often, since they're so easy to do!
The traditional croqueta is a small tube shaped roll, but it can also be round, like a small Sweedish meat ball...regardless of the shape, they are a delicious treat!
a small roll of chopped vegetables, meat, or fish, fried in breadcrumbs.
In a large skillet, melt butter and sauté onions until translucent. Add flour whisking rapidly, to make a roux (you can add more butter if needed) Whisk in milk, a little at a time, while stirring to incorporate fully.
Mix ground nutmeg, parsley and the bread crumb-flour combination and add to the roux. Add and mix in the sherry, then the ground ham or chicken; season to taste.
Place in a bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.
To make the croquetas, moisten your hands, take small amounts of the mix and roll into small balls or little tube-like rolls. Dip into the egg mix and then the seasoned cracker meal.
At this point, they can be fried or frozen to cook later.
To fry, put about an inch of oil in pan and fry as many at a time as will fit without crowding. Drain and serve hot or at room temperature.