Riz Aux Pois (Rice and Beans) - Haitian Dish

The effort to help the people in Haiti is still in full stride. About $5,000 in funds was raised by about 100 employees from our Montreal office alone, the month of the tragic events. Today, we're still talking about it with a few colleagues on how to continue to help this country that was in desperate need for help and care, but is now starting to show signs of hope and strength. There's still a long way to go to fully reconstruct the areas that were seriously impacted but a gleem of positivity has always resided within the people of Haiti.Haitians continue to receive food and the markets are coming back in full force. They're selling their traditional dishes such as griot, bananes pesées, joumou and riz aux pois.

Riz aux pois is a national dish that consists mainly of rice and red kidney beans. It's full of fiber and protein. It gives the body strength, energy, gratifying and so savoury....

Preparation time: 10 minutes, Cooking time : 1 hour and 20 minutes

Recipe "au pif":
1 cup red kidney beans (rinse, then soak in 3 1/2 cups warm water overnight)
1/2 cup fresh chives, finely minced
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 cloves (ground in mortar and pestle)
2 cups quick-cooking brown rice
2 cups chicken broth
1/3 cup coconut milk (optional)
salt
pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter

After soaking the red kidney beans overnight in warm water, use the same water to cook the beans in a pressure cooker. Takes about 45-50 minutes on medium heat. Strain the cooked beans but save the water and set aside. The water in which the beans cooked will be used to cook the rice and give it colour.

Heat a large deep sauce pan on medium heat. Add olive oil and melt butter, for about 30 seconds.

Add in the chives, garlic, cloves and stir for about 1 minute or until garlic is softened but not burnt.

Add in the beans and give it a good stir for about 2 minutes.

Add in the rice and stir for about 30 seconds

Add in the water and the chicken broth. Give it a stir. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 15 to 20 minutes, checking once in a while, or until the rice is fluffly.

Serve as a side dish with a red meat, fish or poultry.

Serves 4-6 people.
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Lobster in A Hot Ginger Sauce

It feels just like yesterday when my parents departed for their annual trip to Vietnam last January. They just came back and I decided to invite them over and prepare them their favourite homemade dish, lobster in a savoury hot ginger sauce. My parents could never get tired of Asian food. After all, they were in Asia for the last 4 months, but they're not like my brother and I who have grown up in North America and who would sometimes crave for a nice hot pizza or a juicy hamburger.

This morning, I woke up really really late, around noonish. It was drizzling outside and the sky was dark. Knowing this, my parents knew that the best time for them to come over was early afternoon. I dragged myself out of bed, cleaned the place a little and started to cook. In no time, the dish was ready. I just needed to take a nice long shower and really wake myself up. Just to say that I'm so used to making this dish that I can prepare it half asleep and still make it a damn tasty one!

I would normally preprare this dish with fresh lobster, but since it's not lobster season yet and I feel extremely lazy these days, I opted for the canned frozen and already cooked lobser meat. What a great alternative it was! I simply rinsed it in luke warm water and lemon juice. The meat was still very plump and juicy and I didn't have to go through the hassle of cooking a fresh one, then cracking the shell open to pull out the meat, especially when I am feeling lazy. It was so easy. But when lobster season comes, in about a month, I'll be cooking fresh ones in the many different ways I know of - grill, steam, sitr-fry. You name it.

Preparation time: 15 minutes, Cooking time: 15 minutes

Recipe "au pif":
1 lb lobster meat (fresh or frozen)
3/4 lb ground pork
4 tbsp fresh ginger, finely minced
4 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced
3 red chilis, seeded and finely sliced lengthwise
1 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce (nuoc mam or nam pla)
1 tbsp black bean paste2 tbsp corn starch
2 tbsp oyster sauce2 cups water
1 handful chopped scallions to garnish
2 tbsp canola or peanut oil

*if using fresh lobster, either steam or boil it to cook the meat. Crack the shell open to remove the meat and set meat aside. Disard shells.
If using frozen already-cooked lobster, like I have, rinse the lobster meat in luke warm water and lemon or lime juice. Strain and pat dry with paper towel and set aside. The hardest part is done.*
Heat oil in a large wok or deep large sauce pan on high heat for about 2 minutes

Add in the minced ginger and garlic and stir for about 2 minutes. Make sure not to over cook the garlic.

Add the sliced chilis and give it another good stir for about 1 minute.

Now add the ground pork and break it apart with your wooden spoon to make sure that the meat doesn't turn into patties. You want the meat to evenly cook in small pieces.

Mix the soya sauce and fish sauce in a small bowl then pour the sauce into the meat mixture then stir for about 2 minutes.

Add in the lobster and stir for another 2 minutes.

Mix the cornstarch, oyster sauce and water in a small bowl then pour the whole mix into the pork-lobster mixture. Stir for another 2 minutes.

Cover and let it simmer for about 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens and is bubbly.

Garnish with fresh chopped scallions and serve with steamed jasmine rice.
Serves 4-6 people.

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Avocado Smoothie - Delicious...AND healthy

Avocado is an acquired taste if you haven't grown up with it. It's seldom present in Asian cuisine and has a unique buttery texture for a fruit, which was bizarre to me. I had first tried it in a Mexican restaurant years ago when I was having dinner with college friends, enjoying tacos and guacamole. It was interesting, but I wasn't crazy about it. I preferred dipping my nachos in the salsa sauce than in an almost tasteless guacamole. Then, one day, my aunt had me over for lunch and served me a bowl of mashed avocado. She told me, "try it, it's very good for you". I didn't like the fact that she left out the "it tastes good". So, I had a prenotion that it was going to be pasty and bland....that I wasn't going to like it, just like the guacamole I had at the restaurant. I had a spoonful of the mashed avocado just to show my aunt that I was open to try anything that didn't move. As soon as I had a tiny taste, I swear, I felt like I was going to puke. I HATED it. So as not to offend her, I pretended to enjoy the spoonful with an agonizing "mmmmmh" sound. But my facial expression gave it all away. She said, "you are so picky, you don't like anything!". My aunt is a person who means well, but she loves solliciting unwanted advice. When it comes to food, I'm not one to be picky. The plain mashed avocado, was just NOT good.

But with time, I grew to like avocado, just like I grew to like shrimps. When I was a child, I used to think that shrimps were live insects with legs that would crawl around my stomach, even if I was told that they were dead and cooked! I can't remember the exact moment I started liking avocados, but when I started hanging around with Colombian and Haitian friends, I discovered so many different ways to prepare delicious and tasty avocado dishes.

Now, I have an avocado every morning for breakfast, not only because I LOVE the taste of avocados, but also because it's so healthy for you. I've read so much about it and seen a few medical shows talking about the health benefits of avocado, among which the top 3 are:
1) lowers bad cholesterol
2) helps prevent breast cancer
3) helps prevent prostate cancer

This avocado smoothie is quick to make and filling. You can practically put anything you want in it. The best part is that it doesn't taste like avocado at all.

Recipe "au pif":1 ripe Hass avocado, seeded and peeled
1 ripe banana, peeled and cut into small chunks
mango or orange juice (use a glass to measure the amount of juice needed - in this case use about 2/3 cups of juice of your choice for 1 serving)
vanilla-flavoured soya milk (about 1/3 cup, again for 1 serving)
a dash of coconut juice (optional)

Blend until smooth.

* to make a more wholesome breakfast, you can add about 2 tbsp of rolled oats*

serves 2 people.
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