I must admit that yesterday morning I did manage to grill up plenty of tomatoes and peppers to create a deliciously spicy salsa.
I enjoyed it over some carnitas with lime on my favorite corn tortillas. Lunch was yummy, to say the least. As you'll see in the recipe below, the ratio of peppers to tomatoes leaves an unfair playing field for the mild mannered. So keep in mind you'll have to adjust the ratio per your specific liking and depending on the strength of the peppers you chose that day. I'm not in a wasteful mood, so whatever I prepared went into the salsa.
Afterwards, I took my left over white rice and quinoa mixture from yesterday and made an equally delicious fried rice. I think I ate three small bowls of this. While fried anything isn't ideal, it is tasty and I don't feel as bad since I packed it with veggies and equal parts quinoa to rice. I think I've mentioned before that I am a fan of the Worlds Healthiest Foods website. If you click here, I'll take you to their page about Quinoa (pronounced "Keen-Wah"). This little wanna-be grain is actually related to other favs of mine, such as Swiss Chard. Since I used dark sesame oil paired with the nuttiness of the Quinoa, the flavor is unique - I'd say better even - than my local chinese restaurant.
I must apologize for the photo quality. I took them on my cell phone. :)
SALSA
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| It just looks like it packs a punch, doesn't it?!?! |
Ingredients
- 6 tomatos
- 9 banana peppers
- 6 jalepeno peppers
- salt
Directions
- Line your grill with heavy duty foil. When heated, toast the tomatoes and peppers on all sides until the meat is soft and the exterior has burn marks. The tomatoes will take longer to cook thoroughly, as they are significantly thicker than the peppers. If the tomatoes are charring too much, you can remove them and seal them inside of a plastic bag for an extra 5-10 minutes, as its own heat will finish the cooking process.
- When you're able to handle them, peel the charred skin off the tomatoes and place in a medium-large flat-bottom bowl.
- Peel the charred skin off the peppers and remove the stems. If you want, you can remove the seeds and veins, as these pack a lot of spicy heat. I kept seeds in every second or third pepper and discarded the others. Add the peppers to the tomatoes. (NOTE: You can start with a few yellow and one or two jalepenos, taste and then add more if you like. You can always add, but you can't subtract the heat!)
- With gloved hands, a potato masher or bottom of a flat glass cup, SLOWLY mash the vegetables together. If you push hard or fast on a tomato, it will squirt at you! This is worse when the tomatoes are hot inside! If using a masher or glass, as you mash twist your wrist. If using your hands, squish everything around, breaking up the large chunks as necessary (this is the method I used today).
- Add salt to taste. Enjoy!
FRIED RICE & QUINOA
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| When cooking the veggies together, feel free to add whatever your heart desires. A handful of corn kernels, peas or water chestnuts would pair wonderfully. |
Ingredients
- 1C white rice
- 1C Quinoa
- 5C water
- Sesame Oil (or other oil if preferred)
- 3 eggs, beaten
- carrots, diced
- 1/2 large red onion, well diced
- 5 cloves of garlic, smashed, peeled and diced
- handfull of sugar snap peas
- 1/4 C vegetable or chicken stock
- 1 chopped green onion, chopped
- 2-3T or more, oyster sauce
- 1/4 C or more, soy sauce
- salt
Directions
- Place the first three ingredients in a medium pot. Bring to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes. Once cool, refrigerate for a day or two.
- Add 1-2 table spoons of oil to a deep pan or wok and heat over a medium-high flame. Add the beaten egg (scrambled egg). Cook until the egg is done, but not dry. Remove from pan.
- Heat another 1-2 table spoons of oil. When hot, add the onion and cook for 30 seconds. Add the garlic, cook another 30 seconds. Add the carrots and peas. The pods need to steam for a minute or two, so if you're including them in the dish, add some stock and cover the pot for a minute or so. Be cautious not to over cook them or they will loose their crispiness. Salt the veggies. Remove from pan.
- Add more oil to the pan (enough to cover the bottom and then some). Add the rice/quinoa mixtures and fry until desired texture is achieved. I like my rice to have a little crispiness to it - a light, light brown tint.
- Pour Oyster sauce over rice. Mix to incorporate.
- Add veggies, green onion and egg to the rice and mix well. Pour desired amount of soy sauce and mix again.
- Season with salt. Enjoy!
