Native Foods Blog

A New Year's Cleanse with Chef Tanya and Native Foods

by Chef Tanya Petrovna

Native Foods Cafe

The New Year is typically synonymous with new beginnings, rejuvenation, and refreshing the tired, maybe unhealthy ways, of the previous year.  And without a doubt, eating healthier is one of the top resolutions made by people this time of year.  But instead of making a resolution to simply start doing one thing, or stop doing another, slowly implementing lifestyle changes, and altering eating habits can have a more effective impact. 

At the beginning of every year, I engage in a macrobiotic cleanse for a week. All it is really is enjoying well-thought out and prepared foods that clear out your organs, including the largest one… your skin. I invite you to join me for a fun macro diet cleanse party!  What makes it a cleanse is that macrobiotic eating is basically clean eating. What makes it a party is that we are doing it together and it's new and exciting!  Time to shine. Join me. Watch our FB and blog postings and cleanse with me, my biz partners Daniel, Andrea and our avant media savant, Holladay.

This is a basic Macrobiotic chart (they vary slightly).  Replace the fish with Native Foods Cafe homemade tempeh and you're good to go!  Fish have feelings too.

Macrobiotic eating allows one to reap the most energy from the food, while taking the least energy to digest, a very balanced equation so to speak. The body has to work less at balancing acids so it relaxes and just absorbs maximum nutrition. It also cleanses various impurities.

Each day I'll post recipes that we will prepare the following day, so you can mentally and physically prepare. I'll post a message for that day along with some healthy tips and facts to keep you motivated and educated. I'll do everything except cook it for you. Part of the journey of this cleanse will be YOU taking time for YOU. It's not always easy, not saying you will do it forever, but if you do it for a week, you will always know you can do it and what it feels like and it will always be easier to do it again. Knowledge is power and feeling good is really powerful.

Whole foods prepared fresh & daily by you! With the help of Chef Tanya and Native Foods Cafe.

You get your grocery list tomorrow!

Until tomorrow, why not come in and have a Deli Reuben or an Oklahoma Bacon Cheeseburger today at Native Foods Cafe?   We're closed New Year's Day!

 

Malaysian Monkeys and Native Foods

by Chef Tanya Petrovna

Native Foods Cafe

Gado Gado is a traditional vegetable salad dressed with a peanut sauce served throughout Malaysia and Indonesia.  I love this recipe because of all the fresh veggies… and it is always open to interpretation, i.e. whatever you got in the fridge!  The peanut sauce and veggies used vary throughout Indonesia and Malaysia.  Feel free to change it up and get wild… or try the peanut sauce from the Native Foods Restaurant Cookbook.  It is a little more complex in flavor than the one below, but also has a few more ingredients. 

Malaysian Gado Gado

Chef Tanya likes to use Native Foods Cafe homemade tempeh in her Gado Gado.
Photo Credit: http://peacelovecupcakes.wordpress.com/

Ingredients:

6 long beans, cut in 2 inch pieces (you can find in most Asian groceries)

1 cup mung bean sprouts, rinsed

6 oz tempeh, cubed and lightly fried or baked

4 oz firm tofu, cubed fried, baked, or however you would like it

6 French beans, cut in pieces (green beans will work too, or yellow beans!)

2 potatoes, cubed in 1 inch pieces

3 cabbage leaves, torn in pieces (red or green, or both)

For the sauce:

10 oz roasted peanuts

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 ½ tsp sugar  (more or less to taste)

1/2 tsp chili powder
(mix in a little cayenne if you like it spicy!)

1 cup water

Directions:

Boil the potatoes, then cool, make sure they aren’t too soft.

Steam the vegetables (except the mung bean sprouts),then drain and cool.

Blend the sauce ingredients.

Place the salad ingredients on a plate. Pour the peanut sauce over the salad ingredients.

Feel free to garnish away…. Sliced chiles, a squeeze of lime, roasted peanuts, fresh herbs, green onions, crispy onion… you can really improvise with this dish.

Eat while imagining you are in the middle of Taman Negara making friends with a monkey.

 

The Native Foods of Malaysia

by Chef Tanya Petrovna

Native Foods Cafe

My days in the oldest rainforest in the world started in Malaysia, right after traveling through tasty Thailand.  Taman Negara simply means National Forest. And apparently it is the oldest forest, as it hadn't been affected by melting polar ice caps… not yet anyway.

   (Photo Credit: Chef Tanya Petrovna, Native Foods Cafe)

The destination Kuala Tahan gets you to the Natural Park office and is a 3-4 hour boat ride on a river in a deep bottomed boat where you sit with your eyes nearly level to the water. We passed Bungor trees filled with parrots of many colors, swinging long-tailed macaques, and met with human vendors selling fresh mangosteens. A fruit you need to eat fresh in Southeast Asia for the full flavor profile. Mangosteens are the most aromatic, erotic and exotic fruit I've ever eaten. This would have been Eve's choice fruit pick if it was available at the time!

  Mangosteen was Chef Tanya's favorite Malaysian fruit... future Native Foods Cafe dessert?

A Postcard to My Parents from Taman Negara April 30, 1989;

 

Hi Mom and Dad,

 

The jungle is fascinating. This picture doesn't show all the twisting trees and hanging roots and huge trees. This picture can't let you feel the humidity, feel the rain (warm), see the lightning, smell the flowers and the jungle and you can't hear all the sounds, monkeys, cicadas and other singing bugs and birds of all types from this photo. You also can't see the  birds and animals and other unusual things here, so much for a picture is worth 1000 words!  I saw elephant footprints(and elephant s***, but no elephants). I saw tapir, monkeys, 6-12 foot lizards, beautiful colorful birds, ants an inch long and leeches sticking to everyone's legs. I swam in cool rivers, hiked for hours, watched for leeches (I didn't want to get even one stuck on me) and sweat like crazy. It's great! See you soon! Love, Tanya

 
The front of the postcard Chef Tanya sent her parents Peter and Gertrude:  Pre Native Foods Cafe Era!

 

Malaysian recipes and treats coming very soon!  Coconut rice and mangosteen.... Mmmmmmmm.

 

Buddha's Hand in a vegan vodka?

by Chef Tanya Petrovna

Native Foods Cafe

What hand gesture would Buddha give? Hand gestures are many around the world and in different cultures. Actually, when traveling to a foreign land, it is important to know what hand gestures you may be encountering. For example the "a ok" sign in the U.S. where the thumb and forefinger come together to form a circle, means not such a nice thing in France and Latin America.

 The Corona gesture, where the two middle fingers and thumb are curved toward the palm symbolizes "hang loose" in Hawaiian, at the University of Texas it symbolizes their school mascot, the longhorn. In the Meditteranean, it means your wife is cheating on you and in many cultures it is the symbol of the devil. Rock stars use it to mean positively cool and in Buddhism and Hinduism is is called the Karana Mudra, and is a symbol to ward off evil.

 In yoga hand symbols are called mudras and you can direct flow of energy within the body by where and how you position your hands and fingers. This is especially beneficial to nourish internal organs. Just trying to position your fingers in some of them is a workout in itself, but great for finger mobility as we get older.

(photo credit:  Chef Tanya of Native Foods Cafe with her trusty old camera...yes, Chef Tanya did grow this in her backyard...she plans to plant Buddha's Hands at Native Foods Cafe Palm Spirings!)

So what is this fruit that looks like a nuclear radiated lemon? It is actually called a Buddha's Hand. It is a citrus cultivar that originated a long time ago in Northwest India or China. It is used mostly in Asian countries for it's fragrance to light up a room or clothing. It is juiceless and seedless as you can see from the piece I cut.

(Two friends stopped by Native Foods Cafe Palm Springs the other night and couldn't believe the fragrance from a Buddha's Hand....now we're tinkering with vegan recipes for this beauty....coming soon to a Native Foods menu!!!)

It has the best zest qualities so when needing zest this is the piece de resistance! The peel is candied by a lenthy procedure of removing the pith and then soaking in salt brine for 40 days, removing the salt by soaking more, and then boiling in sugar to candy but the result is supposedly unbelieveable. I haven't tried it yet. I was just so impressed with the fruit I planted a tree and this is my just picked specimen! I took some of the tips and a finger and placed it with spliced vanilla bean in Russian vodka and I'll let you know how it turns out in four months!  (ooops, maybe we'll be looking into a full blown liquor license for Native Foods Cafe if it's as good as I hope it will be!).

Oh and the symbol/mudra that formed on my fruit this year means Happy New Year!

Eat Peace,   Chef Tanya at Native Foods Cafe

 

 

Turtles, Tough Love, & Toxic Liver!

by Holladay Allen

Native Foods Cafe Tribe Member

Turtles are funny.  They seem to shy from the limelight.  You never here reports of turtles attacking!  Or turtles being attacked!  Or turtles as a delicacy, thank goodness! Well actually, now that I think about it… when I was young, I was watching one of those made-for-TV movies about a family who was sailing in the middle of somewhere and their sailboat/ pirate ship sank and they ended up on a lifeboat for like a month (wow.  Was that a run-on sentence or what?)  So while trying to decide whether or not to drink each other’s urine, they also were trying to catch whatever they could eat out of the ocean, and ended up catching a giant turtle. 

ummm... you're really going to try and eat that?  gimme a break.

They ate it raw, except the liver!  The dad was adamant about not eating the toxic liver! Yuck.  Raw turtle could not possibly sound appetizing to anyone, even Andrew Zimmern.  And I couldn’t find any info on that being true, the toxic liver part that is.  But just to play it safe, I have a gut feeling that all turtles, every part of them, are toxic to humans… So don’t eat them! Ever!

Oh man! Talk about cramped living quarters.

 

Turtles have this Zen-like quality about them… they just kinda lay low under that built-in-roof they call a shell, and move slowly through life… just taking it all in.  When I was really little, and we lived in the blue house across the street from the park, I had two turtles.  My godmother, Jackie, created a little terrarium within a used MacArthur milk carton, snuck them through security, and flew them down to Key West one summer.  She handed me the milk carton with a big smile on her face, and said, “I got you something sweetie!”  I couldn’t believe it!  What an unexpected, wonderful surprise.  I peeked inside the carton and saw the tiniest little baby turtles staring up at me. 

They were about this tiny... uncontrollable adorableness.

 

I immediately converted an old baby pool we had in the storage area into a turtle wonderland… and named my new friends Silly Sam and Sally.  We had some good times together.  They didn’t really do that much in the form of entertainment, which I expected as a child, but I still loved them and their slow, peculiar ways. 

They were healthy little buggers cause they just kept growing and growing.  Soon the pool that once seemed like an entire ocean to them became like an overcrowded dorm room.  I refused to see their rapid growth as any sort of a problem and made construction plans in my head of waterfall ponds in our small backyard.  My parents had other plans unfortunately.  One afternoon, they sat me down and told me that it was time for Silly Sam and Sally to move into an even bigger pond than the one I had dreamed up for our backyard… The Blue Hole on Big Pine Key, otherwise known as "where the alligators live."  I was distraught.  We drove up there the following weekend and with tears in my eyes and an extremely heavy heart, I set them down on the sandy edge of the Blue Hole. 

It was kinda like this, but a lot more sobbing on my part, and they were much bigger.

And much to my dismay, instead of slowly and hesitantly moving toward the giant lake in front of them, turning their heads back every now and again to glance longingly my way, they high-tailed it toward the alligator-infested sinkhole that lay in front of them.  They were gone forever, and even though I couldn’t recognize it at the time, they were on to bigger and better things.  I tried to not think about them becoming a midnight snack for one of those gators, and instead starting a turtle family and making friends with other turtles and iguanas and herons.  And I realized that while they seemed content in that faux-aquatic world I created for them behind the blue house on Virginia Street, they wanted something more, and when they finally got it, they were never looking back.  I love you Silly Sam and Sally… and despite the heartbreak you caused me at the time, I am grateful for the life lessons I gained from you. 

Look at some really cute turtles eating stuff here:

http://www.turtleseatingthings.com/

 And another cute turtle picture here:

HaHaHaHahahahaha!

Kwanzaa Kickoff with West African Ground Nut Stew

by Holladay Allen

Native Foods Cafe

Kwanzaa, a weeklong celebration of African-American culture, starts today.  Kwanzaa was created by Maulana Karenga in 1966 as the first African-centric holiday celebrated in the U.S.  His goal was to introduce and reinforce seven basic values of African culture allowing African-Americans to reconnect with African roots and strengthen communities from within.

Theses seven values are called the Nguzo Saba, which in Swahili means the Seven Principles. “Developed by Dr. Karenga, the Nguzo Saba stand at the heart of the origin and meaning of Kwanzaa, for it is these values which are not only the building blocks for community but also serve to reinforce and enhance them.”

In honor of Kwanzaa, here is one of my most favorite recipes from West Africa… guaranteed to keep you full, happy, and warm on a chilly day.

West African Ground Nut Stew

Ingredients

1Tbsp peanut (or olive) oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 red or yellow pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp fresh ginger, minced

1 serrano pepper, seeded and diced (leave the seeds in for added heat)

2 c water

2 c tomato juice

1 14oz can stewed or diced tomatoes (preference)

2 large sweet potato, diced

¼ cup curly parsley, chopped

1 1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

½  cup chunky peanut butter (add more to taste_

2 cups chopped green kale

 

Directions

 

1. Saute onion, pepper, garlic, ginger, and chile in oil 4-5 minutes.

2. Add water, tomato juice, tomatoes, sweet potato, and spices. Simmer 25 minutes over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally until potato is very tender.

3. Stir in peanut butter.

4. Add kale and continue to simmer, stirring frequently.

5. Remove from heat and let stand 5-10 minutes.

Serve with brown rice, fresh crusty bread, or anything else that sounds good.

Happy Kwanzaa!

 

メリークリスマス!

by Chef Tanya Petrovna

Native Foods Cafe

That's Merry Christmas in Japanese! That's how you spell it and how do you say it you may wonder? Well it's exactly "Merry Christmas."

How do I know this? I lived in Japan for one year teaching conversational English and traveling in Asia. I lived near Kyoto in Muko-shi near the bamboo forest. It was wild and fun and it was great to immerse myself in another culture and world that was completely unfamiliar. Well not  completely unfamiliar as I had been familiar with some Japanese foods due to the rise in popularity of sushi restaurants in the U.S. The other most fun influences of Japanese cuisine came from my almost second family I inherited from my college roommate, the Tanji's.  We would spend New Year's Day near San Diego with a huge group of their Japanese friends and family members making fresh mochi, and if you knew mochi, like I know mochi, oh, oh, oh what a thrill.

Mochi is made from sticky rice, a higher sugar/starch content rice (there are many many types of rice). It is steamed traditionally in stacked bamboo steaming baskets where it then gets turned into a big stone bowl. From here two men with wooden mallots take turns pounding it until it is a big sticky stretchy ball.

They then toss the giant rice ball onto a big communal table encircled by smiling women with hands dusted with cornstarch. Each woman gets tossed a chunk of it and then proceeds to pull off smaller pieces and roll those pieces in their palms to form balls, which then are compressed lightly to form a fat disc.

At this point the mochi balls can be dropped into a hot bowl of miso soup and the sticky chewy dumpling fun begins, or they can be dried for later use (this is common).

After drying one can do the same in the soup but usually then you need to simmer for a bit to get the mochi soft, or you can take the dried mochi and pop it in the oven and watch it and expand and kind of blow up. I've taken them at this point and slice them open while warm and put something inside, like miso mashed with tofu, or a tofu ricotta and it makes a great mini sandwich treat. Another popular style is making a sweetened adzuki bean puree and putting a ball of that and wrapping the soft mochi around it. That's traditional but you can let your creative cooking skills go here and imagine all the fun things you can fill them with...yes even chocolate! 

How did my living in Japan at Christmas time story turn into a making mochi in America story? I think it must be Mercury in retrograde and I'm a Gemini. I can tell you though that Christmas is really more of a commercial holiday in Japan since most Japanese are of the Buddhist or Shinto religions. My biggest in awe moment of Christmas is the tradition that somehow came to be of giving a Christmas Cake on the 25th of Christmas. Almost every single person in Japan will get one from someone and it is a huge business. It is basically a white cake with cream and strawberries. The pastry shops literally have boxes stacked 10 feet tall curbside so people can drive by and purchase (I thought of this as I was packing containers of Christmas dinners!).

You rarely see one person NOT carrying a box. The other thing that is called Christmas Cake that isn't really a cake in Japan is a women over 25. There is a push and it is a social thing that women must be married by 25, if she's not she is considered old and the slang for her is Christmas Cake, ok really. I do hear traditionally that is changing somewhat and women are getting married later. It's a trip, and a great trip it was. The culture and the people were fantastic as was the food, though the Christmas Cake wasn't that great.

I'll share other fun food adventures from my travels in some upcoming blogs....stay tuned, but now go bake a Christmas Cake!!!

A Camouflaged Christmas

by Holladay Allen

Native Food Cafe Tribe Member

The troops converge about two days before the battle begins.  The first night, the enemy is sized up, calculations are made, and a plan of attack begins to develop.   On day two, the battlefield is inspected and canvassed, while the enemies' actions and weaknesses are observed and noted.  When night falls, a traditional curry stew is served, wine is drank, and the enemies slowly begin to let their guard down against the troops.  Day three arrives… A large meal is served mid-afternoon to fuel the evening’s battle.  If all goes as planned, the enemies will imbibe and fall into an afternoon slumber, which will leave them groggy and sluggish come nightfall, when the battle begins.  The plan works everytime… come 4:30 pm, the enemies are nodding off, not in uniform and vulnerable to attack.

The scene is my grandfather Peep’s house, the enemies are my cousins, aunts, and uncles… and the battle is Black Out Hide-And-Seek (which essentially means hide-and-seek in the pitch black forest that surrounds my grandfather’s house). 

Hide-and-Seek is about to get hardcore boys

Every year we played, always on Thanksgiving but you can most definitely transfer this “festive” game to any holiday you find yourselves surrounded by relatives.  It is always family vs. family, i.e. my mother has three sisters, so it was each sister and her family as a team.  We always had a disadvantage as my mother NEVER played.  I am not sure what her deal was, probably a pansy and scared of getting hurt.  Well actually, we came to look at it as an advantage as she is rather slow… I love her and she excels at many other things… but speed is not one of them.

This game involves traversing a small ravine, which is usually freezing, and most definitely the home to many poisonous snakes (NO!), covering a few acres of land via foot, getting tackled by bigger humans, and crawling through poison ivy… sounds scary, right?  It gets your adrenaline pumping that’s for sure. 

Looks Snakey!

It was usually just myself, my little brother, and my father working together.  But we definitely had a powerhouse little team going.  While we faired just fine against my football-playing cousins, we decided to step it up one year and dress head-to-toe in camouflage, and black our eyes out with burnt corks (leftover from the winos!).  Needless to say we stopped the show and kicked serious arse.  We were stealthy, incognito, and just plain awesome.

The original gangstas of face paint Lord of the Flies.  Put some camo on boys!

So the low down on Black Out Hide-And-Seek

1)    Put on your camo gear.

2)    Paint your face.

3)    Hold a team meeting. Set your strategy.

4)    One team is picked as the seeker (take turns).

5)    They count to a designated number (depending on the size of the terrain) at the designated SAFE spot.

6)    Then they GO.

7)    Seek and detroy (we allowed tackling, clotheslining, whatever it takes).

8)    The goal is for all HIDERS to make it to the SAFE SPOT in one piece.

 

Remember to have FUN and not take it tooooo seriously (we’ve most definitely made that mistake before) cause then it can turn into family warfare that manifests itself in other ways… all over a game of Hide-and-Seek!  Whew.

Put on your camouflage and get out there… burn off those holiday feasts and have a great time.  Happy holiday havoc!

 

The Night of the Radical Radish

by Holladay Allen

Native Foods Cafe Tribe Member

Around the world, and perhaps the universe even, there are so many types of religions, and even different sects within one religion.  It is practically impossible to keep track of them all, unless you are a dedicated theologian or avid student of the history of the world.  Here in America, the melting pot so to speak, we are lucky enough to be steeped in so many different cultures and religions, that our knowledge of theology and culture can be expanded just by getting to know our next-door neighbor, or driving into a different part of town.  In our brief history, America has no doubt been most heavily influenced by the traditions of Christianity, which around this time every year brings the celebration of Christmas.  Now Christmas has most definitely evolved into a yearly celebration, or something to that effect, that reflects the capitalism of America.  It seems that even non-religious folk celebrate Christmas because it has indeed become a national holiday, not just a religious holiday.  So it is refreshing to see Oaxaca, Mexico celebrate Christmas the same way for more than 100 years…it’s not about gifts, re-gifting, or sleeping outside a store all night to be the first to get that video game little Johnny has been asking for… its about RADISHES!!! And lots of them.

Shopping for radishes at the Hollywood Farmer's Market with Chef Tanya

These Mexicans know their radishes, and I am not talking about those small magenta roots you slice and dice for your salad to give it a little kick.  I am talking about some mammoth radishes grown buy some very cool farmers, or shall we say radish connoisseurs.  They leave the radishes in the ground for months after their normal harvest in order to reach lengths in excess of two feet and weights more than 6 pounds.

Hardcore Radish Peeps

So every year on December 23^rd, thousands of Oaxacans come together in the zocalo, or main plaza of the town, for Noche de Rabanos, or Night of the Radishes.  There is a giant exhibition of carved radishes in the form of sculptures, nativity scenes, mythical tales, and historical plots. 

Radish Gator! Don't run... he can outrun us all

Onlookers stroll through the zocalo under a canopy of string lights taking in the magnificence of these incredible works of tuber art!

The Virgen of Soledad, Oaxaca's Patron Saint

“The viewing continues all evening with everyone enjoying the occasion — the interesting exhibits and the ingenuity shown in their creation, the Christmas lights, and the company of others. Enjoyment of life in tranquility and good fellowship is the spirit of the night.”

 http://christmas-in-oaxaca.com/night-of-radish.htm

What a lovely night.  Happy Holidays to everyone… what ever you may celebrate!

 

 

 

Easy and Off-the-Wall Homemade Gift Ideas

by Christopher Arnett

Native Foods Cafe Tribe Member

1.   Have an old jar or bottle lying around that you’ve filled up with loose change? Voila! Instant gift.  I know it seems like something Grandpa might give... but that makes it like a "vintage" gift, right?

2.   Find a picture of Santa Claus and his reindeer, or any other wacky image of your choosing.  Photoshop (fancy) or cut & paste (a little more rustic) your friends’ and family’s faces onto the heads of Santa and the reindeer. Frame. Give. Giggle.

3.   Get some small pots sowed with the seeds of Spring flowers. When the season arrives, just add sunshine and water.

4.   Give an anti-fruit cake! Bake a pan of cornmeal filled with beans, peppers, onions, and smothered in enchilada sauce (Ok. So it’s more like a tamale pie, but calling it an anti-fruit cake is way more fun!)  Check out Chef Tanya's recipe for Weird Al's tamale pie veganized from our blog archives!

 http://blog.nativefoods.com/nativefoods/2010/08/weird-als-tamale-pie-recipe.html

5.   Create sachets of winter herbs and spices (allspice berries, whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, dried orange peel, nutmeg).

6.   Send an e-carol. Record yourself singing your favorite Christmas songs and send them to friends.

7.   Jingle-gourds! Pick the ones that have the best rattle ( I mean jingle, hehe) and paint them with holiday imagery. Great for hanging on the tree or resting on the mantle.

8.   Make homemade ornaments of yourself. Glue some pictures of yourself onto different colors of construction paper and cut into winter shapes, leaving a colored trim around the edges. Add a paperclip or ribbon at the top, and you’re done.  Mom's gonna love this.

9.  Make some homemade spiced almond milk! Add spices like nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. Who needs eggnog?

recipe:

1 cup almonds, soaked 6-8 hours, rinsed well

3 cups water (add more to taste and viscosity desired)

dates to taste

pinch sea salt

1/8 tsp cardamon

1/8 tsp cinammon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Blend the almonds with the water. pour through a cheese cloth on a mesh strainer When you get to the point where most of the liquid is through, wrap the cheese cloth around the remaining almond pulp and squeeze. Put the liquid back in the blender with the remaining ingredients and blend. Store in the fridge 2-3 days.

10.  And last (and probably least), a good old-fashioned rubber band ball. Hours of entertainment for pets, children under four, and the easily amused. The bigger the better.  Enjoy.