Spicy Slaw with Peanut Sauce and Apples

Mmmmm...curry, peanut butter, and apples?! Yes please!

-2 cups shredded cabbage
-1 cup shredded carrots
-4 sliced green onions
-2 apples, thinly sliced
-1/2 cup salted peanuts
-chopped cilantro to taste

Sauce:
-1/3 cup peanut butter
-1/2 Tbsp. curry powder
-1/2 Tbsp. Asian chili oil
-1 tsp. rice vinegar

Combine the slaw ingredients in a bowl. Mix the sauce ingredients together, pour over slaw and toss.

Romanesco Fritters with Peanut Curry Dipping Sauce

This was my first attempt at cooking with or even eating the intriguing Romanesco, or "Italian Cauliflower". So why did I choose to fry it rather than enjoy it in all its simple, spiky, prehistoric-looking simplicity? Speaking of simplicity, there's no simple answer to this question. There, I said it. Everything tastes good fried, including some of the most visually pleasing veggies. I was inspired when I came across a recipe for cauliflower fritters and happened to have just picked up my first Romanesco from the farmers market, so why not, right?
As for the dipping sauce, it's a tried and truly yumtastic one that I use for my Thai enchiladas. Even though it has my stamp of approval, feel free to play around with the ingredients and remember that since I almost never measure ingredients, my recipe isn't going to be exact. I'll never forget a disclaimer I saw on a food blog telling readers exactly this, because "this is cooking, not baking" AMEN!!!!!!!

YOU WILL NEED:

-1 head romanesco, cut into "florets". I know this isn't cauliflower but i don't know what else to call them

FOR THE BATTER:

-1 cup Flour
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/2 tsp. baking powder
-dash of chili powder (optional)
-1/2 cup warm water
-Panko bread crumbs to roll fritters in optional..i guess =/
-oil for frying

FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE: taste as you go for best results!
-1/2 can coconut milk
-1/4 cup Peanut butter
-1 Tbsp. soy sauce
-1 Tbsp. Sesame oil
-2 Tbsp. Thai curry paste
-Sriracha sauce or Asian chili oil to taste
-2 Tbsp. sugar
-at least 1/4 cup water. add more or less (but probably more) depending on how thick you want it.

Mix all the batter ingredients together until it's as lump-free as it's ever gonna get. Heat oil (at least 1/2 inch) until bubbles gather around a drop of batter. let the first batch of romanesco florets soak in the batter for at least a minute, while you lovingly and repeatedly spoon more batter over them. roll battered florets in Panko and fry immediately until golden on each side, flipping only once. let cool on paper towels. serve with the sauce, unless you had other plans for that sauce. It's your sauce, dude.

A fun little fact: I suspected that the particular romanesco head I bought was on the small side, and I was right. I ended up having a lot of batter left over, so I decided to fry some apples and yams! mmmm...so good! Breaded, fried apple slices are my new favorite thing.

"Drink your apple-a-day!"
-Martinelli's

"Fry your apple-a-day!" '
-Me

Raw Ahi Tuna in Coconut Milk

This is a delicious, boyfriend/girlfriend-pleasing mixture of raw Ahi Tuna, coconut milk, and spices. I had just enjoyed yet another Ahi Poke from Aloha Island Grill and was looking up recipes for Fijian Kokoda when I knew I had to make this.

YOU WILL NEED:
1/2 pound raw Ahi Tuna, preferably sushi grade
1 "mini" can coconut milk or half of a normal-size can.
2 green onions, chopped
1 carrot, grated
1/8 cup crushed Macadamia nuts
1 Tbsp. curry powder
Sea Salt
Sriracha Sauce
1 cup Jasmine Rice

On a clean, smooth surface and with the sharpest knife you can possibly find, cut the tuna into small cubes. Mix with the coconut milk, curry powder, green onions and salt. Cover and refrigerate the mixture for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the rice. When it's done, serve the tuna on top of the rice topped with carrot, macadamia, and Sriracha.

I found this tip for cooking with Ahi Tuna on someone's blog. I wish I remembered the name so I could credit this person. "Serve with the receipt from the Tuna."

Orange Devil Curry

This demonic curry will send you to hell and back! Well, not exactly. It didn't come out as spicy as I expected, but it was still absolutely delicious!
For those of you who don't know, I'm a hopeless curry addict. That's not going to change any time soon, so I decided to make a curry dish with an "orange" theme, meaning using as much orange-colored food as possible! The stars of the show are yams, butternut squash, and kumquats (you know, those sour little orange citrus things)! You can get kumquats at the health food store, or if you're me, off a bush in grandpa's garden when you were little.
This is unlike any curry I've ever made. It's like a summer vacation spot where sweet, spicy, and tart all hang out on the beach and become best friends! DIETERS BEWARE: you'll be back for seconds before you can say "How many Weight Watchers points is this?"

1 can Coconut milk
1 tsp. Chinese Five Spice powder
1 tsp. Curry powder
1 tsp. Garlic powder
1 dried California chili pepper, stem removed.
1 small Garnet yam, peeled
1 cup cubed Butternut Squash
1/2 cup whole Kumquats
3 green onions
1/4 Cup Macadamia nuts
Any kind of long pasta or noodle (I used spaghetti)


Heat the Coconut milk and spices in a frying pan. Tear the chili into pieces, add to the mixture and stir.
Cut the yam into quarter-inch cubes and add to the pan.
Cut the Kumquats into circles, squeeze over the pan to release the juice, and add to the mixture.
Cover the pan, turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add the squash, stir and cover again, stirring occasionally, for about 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta, crush the Macadamia nuts, and slice the green onions.



Serve the curry on top of the pasta, sprinkled with green onions and macadamia nuts