Pebre (Chilean style salsa)

This is Chile’s most ubiquitous condiment. It is on every kitchen and restaurant table. They make it raw and fresh every day.

Ingredients:

• Tomatoes (2 large any kind)
• Hot peppers (1 or more to taste any kind)
• Onion (1/4 cup any kind)
• Cilantro (1/4 cup fresh)
• Parsley (1/4 cup fresh)
• Oregano ( 2 tbs)
• Lemon juice or Verjus or Red Wine Vinegar (¼ cup)
• Garlic ( 3 cloves)
• Olive Oil (2 tbs)

Chop everything into as small a pieces as you can and mix together in a bowl. Add in the oil last. Chileans put this on meat. It sits on the kitchen table all day and Chileans will spoon it on eggs, empanadas, bread or crackers for a snack. Each Chilean has his own recipe. Most recipes on the net do not list tomatoes but when I was in Chile, homemade Pebre often had tomatoes. Chilean restaurants sometimes had store bought Pebre. I learned those were restaurants to avoid. Some people omit tomatoes and use red bell peppers instead. I make a big batch as it lasts 4 days covered in the fridge and I like to spoon it out as a side dish or put it on top of chopped vegetables and salads. This dish is my workhorse and I use excellent olive oil, fresh herbs and local garden tomatoes, peppers and onions. My version is more chunky and less soupy then most Pebres, with lots of tomatoes. Don’t let the simplicity of this dish fool you, if you make it with fresh local organic ingredients it will warm your cockles. Pebre always gives me a taste like I am back in the Lake District of Chile. Salud!

Olive Tapenade with Sun-dried Tomatoes

This is from foodnetwork.ca. There are many variations. Most olives are not raw. Some health food stores have raw olives that are sun dried and these are expensive but very tasty so when I am poor i use any kind even canned olives. Lifestyles Market in Victoria sells a fair trade Sun-dried Bojita Olive from Peru that is quite nice. Capers are raw but it is nearly impossible to find capers that were not preserved with a somewhat nasty vinegar. Most plain vinegars are just Acetic Acid and not that good for you (hard on stomachs). Apple Cider Vinegars (usually raw) and Balsamic Vinegars (not raw as grapes are first boiled) are nutritious, but 3 tbs of capers will not hurt you much and capers are what makes the taste in this dish.

Ingredients:

• Olives, pitted (1 cup any kind)
• Sun-dried Tomatoes (2/3 cup)
• Capers (3 tbs)
• Basil leaves (1/2 cup)
• Olive Oil (6 tbs)

Blend all ingredients together in a blender or food processor. Most tapenade fans like it chunky. I lean toward smooth so I blend longer. Also I add more capers then most people do. You should start with 1-2 tbs as capers have a very strong flavor. You can use this spread as a veggie dip or in lettuce and nori wraps. I sometimes add it to the top of a salad or as a nice little side dish. Other ingredients for this dish can be nuts such as walnuts, cashews or pine nuts, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice, tomatoes etc. Experiment. This keeps a week covered in the fridge. Salud!

Rau Song (Vietnamese Vegetable Platter) with Pineapple Dipping Sauce

This is so easy and tasty you might just move to Vietnam. This is a traditional Vietnamese dish that can be an appetizer or often the whole meal. It is as healthy a dish as there can be and it takes about 10 minutes to prepare. When more vegetables, herbs and fruits are added to the plate it becomes “Dia Rau Song”.

 

Ingredients:

• Greens (any kind in leaves for stuffing) 
• Bean Sprouts (Mung usually used but any kind works)
• Cucumbers (any kind peeled or unpeeled)
• Mint (must be fresh)

Pineapple Dipping Sauce:

• Pineapple (2 cups fresh, skin and core removed)
• Hot Chiles (1 or two depending on hotness desired)
• Braggs (2 tbs or any tamari sauce)
• Dry Sherry (2 tbs, can be omitted)
• Apple Cider Vinegar (3 tbs)
• Salt to taste

 

The picture below explains this dish better than words can. For the sauce, blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Taste and add more vinegar, Braggs or chiles to get a taste you want. You can add a sweetener like honey or maple syrup if you fancy. Put the sauce in a bowl in the center of a big plate or just in a bowl on the table. Chop the cucumbers to the size you like. Place the greens, sprouts, cucumbers and mint around the plate. People will take a lettuce leaf and put some sprouts, cucumbers and mint inside a leaf and roll. Then dip it in the sauce and eat. That’s it. If you have fresh from the garden ingredients then this will be a meal by itself. Perfect for hot summer days. I sprout my own beans and in the photo below you see both sprouted mung and lentils. I find store bought sprouts to be a little too dish overpowering in taste. Fresh and tasty ingredients are the key to this one. You can whip this up in a few minutes if surprise guests arrive or it is an easy one for a pot luck. Plus if it all gets eaten up fast you can quickly make more. “Chia Can chén (Vietnam)” “Salud!”

 

Fajita Salad

I have never had real fajitas. This tastes so good I think it makes a nice centerpiece to a meal. Especially when there will be meat eaters who will not notice the replacement of cow by the mushrooms (or at least will enjoy the dish). This is the type of dish that will cause people to propose marriage to you on the spot, so be careful to whom you serve it to. I spied this on that great web page: http://rawepicurean.net/2008/09/15/fajita-salad. This web site has many great raw ideas.

Ingredients:

• Mushrooms (1 cup any kind white, portabello’s, crimini etc)
• Bell pepper (1 medium, any color)
• Hot peppers (any kind and amount for heat if you are so inclinded)
• Onion (1/4-1/2 cup any kind)
• Zucchini (1 medium)
• Garlic (3-4 cloves or less)
• Braggs (¼ cup or Tamari or Nama Shoyu or soy sauce)
• Olive Oil (1/4 cup)
• Chili powder (3 heaping tps)
• Cumin (2 heaping tbs)
• Cayenne (1-2 tbs)
• Greens (Any kind)

Cut up the mushrooms, pepper, onion and zucchini into bit size pieces. I like big pieces you may like small. Certainly any number of vegetables would work great in this dish like asparagus, snap peas, broccoli, carrots, corn, kohlrabi, radishes, tomatoes. etc., although it then starts sliding away from being a "Fajita". Also adding hot peppers obviously spices up the dish. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Let marinate covered or uncovered in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours. Longer is better. When ready, put on plates over a bed of greens. I like this dish warmed back up to room temperature which can take 30 minutes. This produces enough of a main dish for 4 people depending on the amount of greens below it. Salud!