Versatile Pomegranate Seeds

 

 

I was first introduced to pomegranate seeds by a Thai co-worker 6 years ago and was pleasantly surprised by the juiciness and crunch.  But I didn't have the confidence to cook with it until my DC housemate, Jamie, and I put our feet down and decided to incorporate pomegranate seeds into our cooking.

Once, I accidentally cut open a hard, unripe avocado.  Avocados are expensive so I tried to think of ways to salvage the fruit.  I originally wanted to make guacamole so in a similar vein, I thought that I could make a crunchy avocado salsa and substitute tomatoes with pomegranate seeds.  I tossed them with lime juice, salt and pepper, seedless cucumbers, and chopped scallions.  It turned out sublime!

Crunchy Avocado, Cucumber, and Pomegranate Salsa

Another successful use of pomegranate seeds is Pomegranate and Rose Water Rice.  I found a delicious-looking rosewater nut pilau recipe but didn't have all the ingredients.  I cooked short-grain Japanese rice, which is softer and stickier than basmati, with rosewater.  When the rice was done, I fluffed the rice with pomegranate seeds and toasted almond slices.  I paired the rice with Za'atar seasoned chicken legs and roasted asparagus. 

Rosewater Pomegranate Rice with Za'atar Chicken and Asparagus

Rosewater Pomegranate Rice

 

When I got an ice cream machine, the first ice cream Mike and I made was vanilla ice cream with pomegranate seeds.  Frozen pomegranate seeds are delicious, but Mike and I have to find a better vanilla ice cream recipe before I share with you the recipe.  

Pomegranate Vanilla Ice Cream

 

Making Dumplings with Jamie

I'm going to mix up blogging about current things and things I should have blogged about within the last two years to catch up.  It's kind of nice because only the foods or moments worth remembering will be posted! A natural filter!

One of my best memories is living and cooking with Jamie in DC after we both graduated from policy school.  Jamie has lived in China and Brazil and is a constant learner of languages and a participant of different world cultures.  She loves adapting cultures that have been introduced to her into her cooking. She was the perfect housemate!

One of our favorite comfort foods is Chinese dumplings.  There's so much room for creativity in the filling that it never gets old!  We used to make a ton of these and freeze them so we can always rely on boiling some dumplings when we had nothing else in the fridge.

Chicken, scallions, napa cabbage, and shiitake filling

Chicken, cabbage, mushroom dumplings

This one time, we had too much filling and ran out of dumpling wrappers.  We had a jar of Tom Yum soup paste in the pantry so we improvised and made quenelles out of the chicken, cabbage, mushroom filling to fill a pot of tom yum soup!

Quenelles are basically French meatballs (usually with a seafood paste mixture) shaped by scooping a dollop of the meat mixture multiple times between two spoons until it takes on a firm oval shape.

Tom Yum soup base

Shaping the quenelles with two spoons

quenelles boiling in a separate pot

Tom Yum soup with Chicken Quenelles

Two other versions of dumplings we made were fennel and beef and lamb with spinach,  lemon zest, red onions and ginger.

Beef with fennel and ginger

Lamb with red onions, ginger, lemon zest, and spinach

We shaped the two kinds of dumplings differently so we can differentiate the two afterwards.  The lamb ones were flat while the beef dumpling sat upright.

Lamb dumplings and beef dumplings

This time, we had leftover dumpling skins, so we took leftover sweet potatoes from another night and made a dessert dumpling filling with brown sugar and ginger.

Sweet potato dumplings with honey and sesame seeds

I would love to start making dumplings again (I've been eating ones that my mom made and froze in my freezer) with Mike and my Madison friends. Perhaps a dumpling making party  is in order?

Picnic at the National Cathedral

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Washington National Cathedral

One of my favorite places in DC is the Washington National Cathedral.  It's free to visit, the cathedral and the grounds are beautiful, the view from the top is awesome, and it's a great picnic spot!  I toured the cathedral a couple weeks before the earthquake hit Virginia in August and came back post-earthquake for a picnic when the cathedral was closed for repair.

It wasn't a great idea coming to the cathedral after the earthquake because a large part of the grounds was also closed off to the public.  It seemed like an especially bad idea when what was supposed to be a sunny day turned cold and rainy after we arrived.  Jamie and I were not about to be deterred though.  We made a damn good picnic and were determined to eat it regardless of the weather!

We managed to dine al fresco by pulling our blanket under a big tree after it started to rain.

Our picnic consisted of the following:

Spring Mix Salad with Fennel and Pomegranate Seeds

(Recipe Adapted from Saveur)

Spring Mix Salad with Pomegranate, Olives, and Fennel

Instead of orange slices as called for in Saveur's recipe, I added pomegranate seeds.  This salad is tangy and refreshing.

Chicken Satay

(Recipe Adapted from Williams-Sonoma)

Chicken Satay with Lemon-Chive Tzaziki

This chicken satay recipe from Williams-Sonoma is the best recipe I've encountered while living in DC.  The chicken is extremely addictive.  The flavor combination of fish sauce and coconut milk is magical.  TRY THIS RECIPE if nothing else from this blog!  

Jamie and I paired the chicken satay with a quick tzaziki we made by dumping the leftover lemon zest and chives from making the lemon-chive deviled eggs below into a couple generous spoonfuls of Greek yogurt.  We also squeezed some lemon juice into the yogurt to thin it.  It's good to have the tzaziki to cool of your tongue if your satay turns out super spicy.

Lemon-Chive Deviled Eggs with Capers

(Recipe Adapted from Williams Sonoma)

Deviled Eggs with Lemon Zest, Chives, and Capers

The deviled eggs were a little bit underwhelming.  I wanted either add some spice or more tartness.  I think next time I'll add more capers.

Radish Tartines with Chive, Ginger, and Sesame Butter

(Recipe Adapted from Bon Appetit)

Radish and Chive-Ginger-Sesame Butter Tartine

I've never been much of a raw radish fan, but this tartine converted me.  Fresh, crunchy, buttery, with a radishy kick.  Yum!

Plating

Do you see why we were willing to endure the rain to have this picnic?

Picnic with a view

After our delicious but wet picnic, we decided to go to a coffee shop to warm up.  We picked Politics and Prose because, well, we both studied politics and we've heard that it has character.  

Politics and Prose

It seemed liked everyone who studied politics/IR/policymaking got the same memo, and they all decided to mix and mingle here too.  We had to stand around for 30 + minutes before we were able to steal a table.

Reading and Sketching at Politics and Prose

By the time we walked back to the National Cathedral, the sun decided to show up right before setting.  Nice!

Cooking with S and B in Beijing

Meet the Chefs: S, B, S Freezing in Beijing

I was fortunate to have friends who were willing to endure living with a very ill person in close quarters.  Several days I felt too sick to go out for dinner, or we all agreed that it was either too cold or that we needed to watch our spending a bit.  We all took turns being head chef at S's apartment. 

S had a box of gnocchi that she wanted to cook but didn't know how to cook properly.  B came to the rescue with a lemon cream sauce recipe.  We were able to make do with ingredients that we found at an international grocery store in a mall, and B proceeded to wow us with a delicious meal.

B Impressing the Heck out of S & S

Parmesan, Garlic, and Panko Crumbs for the Chicken

Lemon Cream Sauce for the Gnocchi

Pan-frying Panko-crusted Chicken Tenders

My Easy Spinach Stir-fried with Garlic

A Very Balanced Meal: Garlic Spinach, Lemon Cream Gnocchi, and Parmesan-Garlic, Panko-crusted Chicken

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Another time, S called from work saying that her colleague at work made some spicy braised pork ribs for her to bring back home as a dish for dinner.  I took on the task of steaming some rice and preparing simple dishes to go with the ribs.  I opted to make stir-fried youmai cai (a kind of Chinese lettuce) and a delicious winter soup of daikon, mushrooms, and ginger in beef broth.

Spicy Soy-braised Pork Ribs (made by S's colleague)

My Daikon, Mushroom, and Ginger Soup

Stir-fried Youmai Cai

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S is from Guangzhou, where there is an emphasis on the relationship between ingredients and human health according to Chinese medicine.  Because I was coughing like crazy, S insisted that I eat plenty of white fungus, which is supposed to be good for my lungs.  S, the master of soup, made all sorts of after-dinner soups for me.  My favorite is a sweet and soothing one with goji berries, papaya, white fungus, longan, and Shanxi dried dates.  S never adds any sugar to her fruity-herbal soups; everything is based on the ingredients' natural flavors.  I felt very lucky to be taken care of by someone who's younger than me.  Ah...Thanks S, and Happy Chinese New Year!

Papaya, Shanxi Dried Dates, Goji Berries, Longan, and White Fungus After-dinner Soup