Curtido, a recipe from Latin American Paleo Cooking

The best tacos I've ever had were served to me at a gas station in the mountain town of Glenwood Springs, CO. Let me guess.... you thought I was going to say something like, "on the streets of Mexico City" or "at this hole in a wall restaurant in Texas, just north of the border." Nope. A gas station in Glenwood Springs, while waiting for a bus. I know, that's just not as cool. But they were $1.00 each and simple. Super simple. Just a bit of shredded chicken on a 4-inch corn tortilla topped with this Mexican cabbage slaw that added acidity, crunch and freshness. That was my first taste of Curtido, and my last--at least for some time.

I didn't happen across curtido again until I visited Nicaragua, and then, boy, did I eat curtido. Many people credit El Salvador with this brilliant recipe, but it's eaten all through Central America. In Nicaragua, it came with virtually every dish I ate. Finally, towards the end of my stay, I attended a cooking class where sure enough, we learned to make curtido from a well seasoned abuela. Everything was done by hand: what most of us would do in a food processor, she did with ease on a small cutting board. She sliced that cabbage with more finesse than I've ever sliced anything in my life. The result was ribbons of cabbage were the most delicate, long and beautiful pieces of cabbage I had ever seen. (Every time I slice cabbage now I think of her, and attempt to mimic her motions. I still haven't mastered the skill). 

When Latin American Paleo Cooking cookbook showed up at my front door, and this recipe sat within its pages, I knew I needed to make it stat. Taco night anyone?

Getting your fair share of veggies on taco night is not always easy (some days you just don't feel like taco salad). But curtido! It's the answer. When you make curtido, you put your veggies in your taco, and it's the most delicious taco you'll eat. It's the crunch, acid, and spice your taco needs. And the recipe in this cookbook is awesome... along with the rest of the recipes in there. Want to hear a few? 

• Mofongo Relleno de Camarones - Mofongo Stuffed with Shrimp 
• Empanadas al Horno - Baked Meat Empanadas 
• Pupusas con Chicharrón - Pupusas stuffed with sausage (or cheese!)
• "Arroz" con Dulce - Grain-free rice pudding 
• The list goes on...

So, if you have been on a grain-free diet for a while (or not that long) and are seriously craving some real Latin American food, this cookbook is for you. (I can relate to your cravings... case in point: those tacos in Glenwood Springs! And enchiladas. And tamales. Don't get me started on tamales. This cookbook is totally the answer to your cravings). 

You can get it on Amazon, here! 

YC Media sent me this cookbook to review. Thoughts and opinions are all my own. 

Curtido

Published October 17, 2017 by Amanda Torres, Latin American Paleo Cooking

   |     Print This Recipe

Serves: 4-6   |    Total Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 small head green cabbage, sliced very thinly or grated
• 4 carrots, grated
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced and cut about 1" (2.5 cm) long
• 2 fresh jalapeño peppers, diced and seeded, or 1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp (12 g) fine Himalayan salt
• 2 tsp (4 g) dried oregano
• ½ cup (120 ml) filtered water
• ½ cup (120 ml) apple cider vinegar

Directions:

1. In a large, nonreactive bowl, combine all the ingredients and stir well. Depending on how large your cabbage is, you may need to add a bit more vinegar and water. Place it in the fridge for 15 minutes before serving. The flavors will continue to develop as it sits. Serve a generous portion alongside Pupusas con Chicharrón o “Queso” (page 63 of the Latin American Paleo Cooking cookbook)
2. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 to 4 days.
3. AIP compliant: Simply omit the jalapeño peppers and substitute minced garlic.

It's Here! The First Foraged Dish eCookbook is Ready!

Today is a big day! Today, I get to announce that the eCookbook I've been working on for months is HERE! I am over the moon about it. Here are the details!

It's finally here! Order Foraged Breakfast, the first Foraged Dish eCookbook, for Amazon Kindle Fire®, Apple iPad® or iPhone®, Android devices, and Mac or PC computers for just $2.99. Just click below! 

Inspiration

No more than seven cookbooks sit on my bookshelf. It's a sad showing to say the least. But there's a reason. To me, cookbooks are best when they are still fresh and unexplored: yet to be cracked, a cookbook is a jackpot of inspiration. The images are sure to spark 100 ideas, or more. Their pages are a pile of potential. My favorite cookbooks to flip through are picture heavy: if there is no full-page image for that recipe, I can't bring myself to care. One of my favorite time killers is to sit down in the middle of the cookbook isle of the bookstore and just absorb all of the pictures.

Perhaps this is why I always told myself I wasn't going to write cookbook. But I just hadn't found my groove. Hadn't found my own expression of what a cookbook could be! 

In helping me with final designs for the Foraged Breakfast eCookbook, my friend joked with me that it was really a picture book. Of course it is, I compiled it after all! And never would I purchase a cookbook that wasn't at least half images. 

Spinach & Onion Frittata for Two - page 16 of Foraged Breakfast

About Foraged Breakfast

The breakfasts in this book are real.

Real Ingredients: The recipes in this cookbook are all grain-free. Opting for flours that are nutrient dense, like almond flour, these recipes will keep you full and fueled. They use bright and fresh produce whenever possible.

Recipes for Real Life: You have 10 minutes to put breakfast together. You have places to be. We all want to eat a good breakfast every day, but it just gets pushed aside sometimes. Many of these recipes come together in 10 or 15 minutes, so you can eat well any day of the week. Others can be made once a week and enjoyed for the next seven days. And then of course, there are recipes for the days you want to take a little bit of extra time, too. 

Foraged Breakfast has recipes for everyone. If you are a foodie that cares about what you eat, this cookbook is for you. If you just love trying new things, there's plenty here for you! All gluten-free and mostly paleo, these recipes are perfect for sharing with a crowd of people, too.

Grain-Free Dutch Baby Pancakes - page 48 of Foraged Breakfast

Download the Foraged Breakfast cookbook to see all the recipes. The eBook is optimized to work on your Amazon Kindle Fire®, Apple iPad® or iPhone®, Android devices, and Mac or PC computers. Chapters include: Weekday Fixes, Batch Breakfasts, Slow Sundays, and Breakfasting with Friends. With eighteen recipes that are sweet, savory, and everything in between, they're recipes that will fit into your everyday.

Homemade Loose Leaf Masala Chai Tea

Update! This recipe is one of my faves. I shot new photos in December of 2018, and updated the recipe a little bit. Watch the video below!

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My first introduction to this spicy drink was in middle school, when my mom brought home a carton of Oregon Chai concentrate. Little did I know that single discovery would take me on quite the Chai-adventure!

I quickly learned to love plenty of other types of chai — and began to prefer spicier flavors over sweeter ones (if you’ve tried Oregon Chai, you know it’s pretty dang syrupy!). Bhakti Chai was a small start up in my home town at the time, and I fell in love with the pungent ginger in each sip. A mug of Bhakti Chai became a very special treat when I went to college — something I’d buy myself when I went to the school library during finals week.

I visited India with my dad when I was about 15. There, chai was served out of little carts on every street corner. It was called “Masala Chai,” because the word “chai” in Hindi simply means “tea.” Each cart served up their own recipe, a proprietary blend of spices and served with raw sugar. I scribbled down one recipe from a woman in Udiapur, and have been using that as my baseline ever since. But that’s the thing with Masala Chai: everyone’s version is slightly different. Some people want it sweet and cinnamon-y. Others want the ginger to be bright and bold and in your face. Me? I’m a cardamom lover, though I don’t object to the ginger, either. I also prefer honey over sugar. Lately I’ve been digging this Lazy Bee Ranch Whipped Honey, made locally in Colorado.

Once you’ve made Masala Chai three or four times, you’ll start to realize which camp you sit in, and you can adapt your own recipe to match exactly that.

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Making chai at home is far superior in terms of flavor than buying tea bags. It’s also far cheaper than buying pre-made concentrates. If I’m going to make a big batch of chai at home, I’ll use fresh ginger root and simmer it with spices in a soup pot. It usually doesn’t last more than a day — we drink it non-stop until it’s gone.

This recipe, however, calls for ginger tea (not crystallized ginger, buy dried ginger — like this or this) instead of fresh ginger. Why? Well, sometimes a girl wants her chai and she doesn’t want to bowl a whole soup pot just to get a mug of it! 🙃Using dried ginger means you can keep this tea in your cupboard with the rest of your teas, and brew a mug at a time on demand whenever you please. It’s the best for when I need a pick me up on a work day.

I also almost always make a hot mug of chai in my thermos when we go climbing or hiking in the spring, fall, or winter. It keeps me warm when it starts to get chilly, and I enjoy the caffeine lift in the afternoon. (P.S., this is my favorite Thermos to take climbing — keeps my tea cozy and super easy to drink from! (Affiliate link))

Chai is my reset, my comfort zone... a happy moment in a mug. Nothing feels more like hitting the reset button than sitting down with a steamy mug and slowly sipping.

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Homemade Loose Leaf Masala Chai Tea

Published June 10, 2015 by Caitlin Sherwood

   Print This Recipe

Yield: 15   |    Active Time: 40 minutes

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Ingredients:

12 cardamom pods

4-5 whole cloves

8 black peppercorns

3 whole allspice berries

Pinch whole anise seeds

1 cinnamon stick (about 2-3 inches long)

3 tablespoons black Assam tea (English breakfast works too, if it’s all you can find!)

2 tablespoons dried ginger tea

For serving: water for brewing tea, and honey and milk to taste

Directions:

1. Place cardamom pods, cloves, peppercorns, allspice berries, anise seeds and cinnamon stick in a small skillet. Toast over low heat, stirring, until spices are fragrant.
2. Scrape spices into a mortar and pestle, and roughly grind the spices.
3. Combine Assam tea, ginger, and ground spices in a bowl or jar. Stir to combine.
4. Tea can be stored at room temperature in an air tight jar for quick some time — it may start to loose some of it’s flavor after a few months.
5. To brew: Heat 8 ounces of hot water. Place tea in a fine mesh tea stainer in a mug, and pour water into mug. Allow to steep for 5 minutes, then remove tea and strainer from mug. Sweeten with honey and milk to taste.
6. You may find that the bottom of your mug had spices in it — that’s where all the flavor comes from! I avoid drinking that very last sip, just like I might avoid taking the very last sip of sludgy French press coffee. Personal preference!