A Blessing on Saffron

I've been eating at Saffron since I moved to San Diego in 1988. I was living in Hillcrest and once I discovered the little place on India Street just down the hill, where I could bring home a feast of Thai crispy roasted chicken, fragrant rice, and my favorite peanut sauce, I was hooked. Years later I met owner Su-Mei Yu. I took one of her cooking classes, held in the serene patio above Saffron, and appeared last season on her series, Savor San Diego. I've long regarded her as a community treasure.

So, I was honored to be invited to a very special occasion held Monday afternoon at Saffron. To celebrate its 30th anniversary, she organized a gathering of friends for a blessing ceremony and lunch. The ceremony was led by her teacher, Chodon Samtem Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist monk from Drikung Kyobpa Choling Monastery in Escondido. The main dining area was cleared and in the place of tables and chairs was a temporary altar with a statue of Buddha, offerings, foods, flowers, incense, and candles.

Mats were placed on the floor for guests to sit on during the ceremony and each of us was given a simple white scarf, or kata, which is used by Tibetan Buddhists as an offering and was to be blessed by Rinpoche, then draped over each person as a protective and blessing symbol.

Saffron's Su-Mei Yu

It was a moving ceremony, with chanting, the anointment of each of us with saffron water, then the tossing of rose petals.

Following the ceremony, we were treated to a spectacular vegetarian buffet that included:

• Kanom Cheen Nam Ya – Rice vermicelli served with a curry sauce made with mushrooms, spices, herbs and coconut cream. The accompaniments include sliced cucumber, long beans, and beansprouts. 
• Yum Woon Sen – Glass noodle salad with radish, cherry tomato, lotus root, pineapple and cashew nuts
• Pad Jay – Vegetarian stir-fry of cauliflower and peas
• Jab Chai – Vegetarian stew
• Saku Fuk Tong – Tapioca with pumpkin sauce
• Kanom Thom – Auspicious Thai sweets used since ancient times as an offering to Buddhist monks made with rice flour, fresh grated coconut and palm sugar. 

To celebrate this auspicious anniversary, Su-Mei is offering customers 30 percent off select daily specials from Oct. 19 to the 25. You can see a full list of the specials on Saffron's website.

Among the specials are these dishes, her Go Green Stir-Fry with Organic Thai Red Rice and Brain Food. Su-Mei gave me the recipes to share with you. Happy anniversary, Su-Mei, and thank you for all you do in our community!

photo courtesy of Su-Mei Yu

Go Green Stir-fry with Organic Thai Red Rice

Go Green Paste: 

Makes about 1 1Ž2 cups

1/2 cup organic carrot tops, chopped

1/4 cup minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup chopped arugula

1/4 cup chopped cilantro stems

2 large green Serrano chilies, sliced

1 cup spinach 

3/4 cup Thai basil leaves

1/4 or more rice bran oil or grape seed oil

Put all the ingredients in the food processor except for the oil and turn the machine on to mince. While the machine is running and the ingredients begin to puree and mince, slowly add the oil to puree into a smooth paste. Transfer to a container with a lid and refrigerate in the refrigerator. It will keep for several weeks. 

Stir-fry 

Makes one serving

1 tablespoon rice bran or grape seed oil

2 tablespoons Go Green Paste

1/4 cup diced firm tofu

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 cups cooked red rice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon or more gluten free soy sauce

1 cup shredded kale

1/2 cup shredded cabbage

Pinches white pepper powder

1 tablespoon chopped cilantro

Sliced lime

1.    Heat the oil in a skillet over high heat. When the oil begins to smoke, add the paste, lower the heat to medium and stir to mix. 

2.    In a couple of seconds, add the tofu and chopped onion, stir to mix. 

3.    When the onion turn translucent, add the rice and stir to mix. 

4.    Season with salt, soy sauce and stir, before adding the kale and cabbage. 

5.    Stir to mix until the colors of vegetables brighten. Once they turn limp, remove from heat and transfer to a serving plate. 

6.    Garnish with white pepper powder, cilantro and lime slice.

photo courtesy of Su-Mei Yu

Brain Food 

Makes 4 servings

Anti-inflammatory Paste

Makes about 1/3 cup

1 teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, peeled, minced

1-inch peeled ginger, minced

1-inch peeled turmeric, minced

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro stems

1/2 teaspoon white pepper powder

1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

In a mortar, pound the salt and garlic together to puree, before adding the next ingredient to puree. Repeat the process with the remaining ingredients. If making ahead, store in a container with a lid and refrigerate. It will keep for several weeks. 

Brain Food

2 cups sweet potato cubes – approximately 3/4-inch cubed

1/4 cup minced sage

Pinches of salt

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon rice brain or grape seed oil

2 tablespoon anti-inflammatory paste 

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

2 cups cubed firm tofu 

3 tablespoons gluten free soy sauce

3 cups or more thinly sliced kale

1.    Turn the oven to 400 degrees. Mix the sweet potato with sage, salt and olive oil. Spread over the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Cool and set aside.

2.    Heat the oil in skillet. Add the paste and stir fry till fragrant. Add the onion and tofu and continue to stir-fry until the onion turn limp and translucent. Season with soy sauce and add the kale. Continue to stir fry until the color brighten and it starts to wilt. Add the sweet potato cubes and mix and stir until warm. Transfer to a serving plate. 

Saffron is located in Mission Hills at 3731 India St.

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Saffron's Su-Mei Yu Featured in Sunday's Collaboration Kitchen

Su-Mei Yu, owner of Saffron and host of Savor San Diego on KPBS TV, will be featured, along with Ballast Point Brewing Co., at Sunday's Collaboration Kitchen, which runs from 5 to 8 p.m. at Catalina Offshore Products. There are limited tickets left.

What's on Su-Mei's Thai menu?

Thai Ceviche
Marinated salmon in seasoning paste, including chilies, garlic, shallot, krachai (Chinese keys) and lime juice, dressed with coconut cream, slivers of fresh Thai chilies, and shredded green mango – served with Belgian endive and rice/sesame seeds crackers. Pair with Calico Amber Ale with nice Madeira and toffee sweetness balanced with a citrus bite from Cascade hops.

Laab Goong
Northern Thai style salad with grilled marinated shrimp in Ballast Point’s Wahoo White beer, garlic, and olive oil and toss with chilies, Sichuan peppercorns, krachai (Chinese keys), shallot, green onion, kaffir lime leaves, culantro, mint and lime juice – served on lettuce leaves. Pair with Wahoo White Beer – Belgian wheat beer inspired ale with orange peel and coriander.

Grilled Mussels
Seasoned with Thai chilies, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and rinds, Thai basils, coconut cream and Piper Down Scottish Ale. Pair with Indra Kunindra – export stout infused with madras curry, cumin, cayenne, kaffir lime leaves and toasted coconut.

Southern Thai Style Spicy Yellow Curry
Turmeric-infused curry paste with yellow tail and pineapple – served with red Thai organic rice. Pair with Dorado Double India Pale Ale with the bitterness that increases from heat from curry and hop aromas and flavors similar to that of pineapple and grapefruit.

Melon Balls with Coconut Syrup
Sweetened with maple syrup and infused with rose water. Pair with Sculpin India Pale Ale with a balance of bitterness with hop flavors of tangerine and ripe mango.

You'll enjoy hearty samples of all these dishes (along with tastes from Ballast Point) and the recipes will be on your seat waiting for you as Su-Mei demonstrates how they're created (I've been to a couple of her classes and she's a terrific teacher). And, of course, we'll have the enthusiastic comic duo of Tommy Gomes and Dan Nattrass emceeing the evening. Feel free to bring your own bottle of wine. And dress warmly; it gets chilly in there!

Tickets are $75 per person and can be purchased online here. All proceeds (yes, really, all proceeds) will be donated to the James Lebowitz Scholarship Fund, in honor of the 18-year-old Cal Poly Pomona student and San Diego native who died suddenly of an aneurysm in January. You can learn more about him and his amazing parents in a moving article by Ed Zieralski published in the U-T San Diego.

So, yes, your money is going to a great cause--but you'll also have a blast, learn a lot, and eat and drink well while doing good.

Collaboration Kitchen is a collaboration between Catalina Offshore Products and Specialty Produce. Catalina Offshore Products is located at 5202 Lovelock St. just off Morena Blvd.

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Su-Mei Yu's Savor San Diego Hits KPBS This Thursday

San Diego food lovers know Su-Mei Yu, the longtime owner of Saffron in Mission Hills. She's been a culinary fixture in the community for well over 25 years, as both restaurateur and cookbook author with titles including Asian Grilling, Cracking the Coconut, and The Elements of Life. So with that deep a connection to food and to San Diego it only makes sense that she has now turned her talents and enthusiasm to television to show off many of the local producers who represent what she considers the best of San Diego's foodstuff.

Su-Mei Yu with farmer Noel Stehly at Stehly Farms in Valley Center

Her new show, Savor San Diego, debuts this Thursday at 9:30 p.m. on KPBS (airing again on Saturdays at 3:30 p.m.). The six episodes taped so far reflect the diversity of Su-Mei's interests: hand-crafted tofu, grass-fed beef, avocado oil, citrus, seafood, farmers markets and community gardens. These far-ranging subjects, however, have something besides being local to San Diego in common--they exist to get people back into the kitchen. And that, says, Su-Mei, is why she's tackling this project.

"I did it because I want people to cook again," she emphasizes. "We have so much bounty. I want people to see what's available because it's all so good."

Su-Mei learning how tofu is made, with owner Shawn Daniels in purple apron.

Su-Mei is a big and lively personality and it comes through in the first episode, which I viewed on Saturday at a launch party she hosted. It's aptly named "The Yin-Yang of Protein"since it features a tofu maker and rancher. Each episode of Savor San Diego is divided into three segments, a focus on two different venues and then a short cooking segment that ties the two together. In this first episode Su-Mei first visits San Diego Soy Dairy in El Cajon, which for more than 30 years has made organic, small-batch tofu. Su-Mei cheerfully dons an apron and billowy blue hair cap, then eagerly follows owner Shawn Daniels around the plant as she--and we--learn how tofu is made.

The city girl from Bangkok on horseback with rancher Joel Mendenhall.

We next see Su-Mei up in Palomar Mountain on the Mendenhall Ranch and through her meet low-key  sixth-generation rancher Joel Mendenhall, who for several years has partnered with Matt Rimel in producing HomeGrown Meats. Su-Mei's bravado in getting up on a horse to tour the property comes through in her laughing plea to Mendenhall that, "I'm just a city girl from Bangkok!" She's then hoisted onto the horse and trots off behind the young cowboy. We learn from Mendenhall about the benefits of grass-fed beef and how the cattle are raised.

Then comes the tie-in with an open-air cooking demo on the ranch. Su-Mei, with Mendenhall beside her, prepares "Mama Yu's Beef & Tofu Stir Fry." It's a simple recipe, packed with protein obviously, but also lots of vegetables--and certainly accessible to the home cook.

Each episode of Savor San Diego, says Su-Mei, took two days to film. What made it easier was that, other than the fishermen, she knew everyone featured. "I've been cooking with their ingredients for years."

Su-Mei in the Olivewood Gardens teaching kitchen.

One episode, however, veers away from the vendors and reflects her social work background.  "Cultivating Communities" features the New Roots Garden in City Heights and Olivewood Gardens and Learning Center in National City. "I'm involved in community, in refugees. Once a social worker, always a social worker," she says. These two places touch her heart, not only because they grow  fresh, healthy food, but because their mission is to educate neighborhoods and help build community. Clearly this is a way for her to show how powerful that can be.

You can see the show promo here:


Savor San Diego - KPBS Promo from FortyOneTwenty on Vimeo.

You can also learn more about Savor San Diego and get the recipes on www.savorsdtv.com. Additionally, Saffron is offering a premiere special on Thursday, May 2: One whole chicken, jasmine rice, Cambodian salad and five dipping sauces for $14. And, they suggest pre-ordering.




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Thai-fun with Su-Mei Yu

Saffron's Su-Mei Yu teaches at lots of different venues, but she'd never actually taught a hands-on cooking class at her restaurant Saffron. So, when she announced she was going to do two classes that would include both a tour of Thuan Phat Market in Linda Vista and then a trip over to Saffron to learn to make a variety of traditional Thai dishes--well, that was simply irresistible.

Thuan Phat used to be Vien Dong and the new owners have done a wonderful job cleaning up the place and creating an inviting market that specializes in fresh seafood and traditional Asian produce. Su-Mei took students up and down aisles to show us everything from fish sauce to noodles. The trip to the produce section was eye opening as we examined beetle leaves (not for chewing, but to wrap food for cooking), Thai eggplant, pandan leaves (used in Southeast Asia like we use vanilla), chrysanthemum leaves (wonderful in a stir fry or omelet), and a host of other items mysterious to most of us.

Su-Mei Yu showing us whole jackfruit

And here's a pomelo (think oversized grapefruit)

Pretty little Thai eggplant

We then picked several vegetables to take back with us to the class to stir fry. Baby bok choy, water spinach, and Chinese broccoli were our selections.

Back at Saffron, we went upstairs to the garden, where we encountered this strange grouping.

Beyond were the outdoor work stations Su-Mei had created for all of us.

Our first lesson was Coconuts 101. Su-Mei gathered us around to show us how to select and then prep the coconuts so they could be broken down. Basically you check the eyes at the bottom of the coconut to make sure they're clean, that the coconut is heavy for its weight, and by shaking it, make sure there's lots of liquid sloshing around inside. Once home, use a Phillips screw driver and a mallet to poke holes into the eyes and drain out the liquid (preferably on your plants, which will love it). Then put the coconut in a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes. The heat should help separate the shell from the meat once you whack it open. Don't toss the shells; save them for the next time you use your grill. Can't use the coconut meat immediately? Place it in a plastic bag with a serrano or Thai chili on the meat and keep it in the fridge.

Then we shuffled over to the curious little stools. Turns out they are Thai coconut shredders. Here's how you use them (and we all took a turn at it):



No shredder? No problem. Pull the meat away from the shell and use a peeler to get rid of any excess brown peel hanging on. Cut the meat into one-inch pieces and put in the food processor and chop until you have tiny shreds.

At this point, we're caught up with those on the little stools. For directions on how to make coconut milk, you can see my recent Local Bounty post.

Su-Mei continued with teaching us a variety of techniques as we worked--how to use a mortar and pestle, how to stir fry, how to squeeze limes and section oranges--within the context of the recipes we all made. One of the best, if simplest, recipes is her Savory Thai Salad Dressing. Take a look at how she demonstrated this to us, starting with pounding the garlic, as we followed along at our stations.



The afternoon concluded with lunch--made by all of us--eaten on the floor, Thai style.

And that salad? Gorgeous and tangy with fresh greens, finely sliced endive, sections of orange, toasted peanuts, shrimp coated with The Big Four Paste and grilled, and topped with toasted shredded coconut. It was surely one of the best salads I've ever had and one I'll certainly try to duplicate at home. Isn't that the point, after all?

Su-Mei Yu's Savory Thai Salad Dressing
Makes about 1/2 cup

1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 3 Thai chiles, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar (can substitute with agave syrup)
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon fish sauce (optional for vegetarians; if you leave out, increase the amount of salt)

Put the garlic, salt, and chiles in a mortar and pound with a pestle until the garlic is pureed and the chiles turn pulpy. Add the sugar and blend. Add the lime juice, orange juice, and fish sauce. Mix well. Taste for balance. Transfer to a bowl.

Saffron is at 3731-B India St.
Thuan Phat Market is at 6935 Linda Vista Rd.

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Lemongrass and Coconut Seafood Chowder

It looks like Mark Lane, owner of Poppa's Fish, has found his calling. Sure, he's been selling seafood at an ever-expanding number of farmers markets in San Diego, but little by little he's also been expanding his culinary repertoire. Starting first with ceviche, sea urchin, and freshly shucked oysters topped with homemade pico de gallo, he's since brought out the grill and is now making dishes like scallop and ginger tacos, shrimp chile rellenos, jalapeño shrimp poppers, and lemon pepper grilled mussels.

 
Everything is simple but beautifully cooked. And now, he's partnered with the Ryan Smith of Bitchin' Sauce, having him in his stall at the Hillcrest Farmers Market to sell their delicious almond-based sauces and using the sauces to make "Bitchin' Tacos."

It was there I tasted his tacos and the mussels and was so inspired on that chilly first day of spring that I decided to buy a yellowtail fillet and a rock crab to make a seafood chowder.

 
One of the benefits of getting to know your vendors is that you can ask plenty of questions. While I'd shown lobsters the end of life, for some reason I hadn't done the same with crabs. Lane stepped away from the grill to give me a brief crab anatomy lesson (crabs with a wide chest plate are females and mine was definitely female), explain how to hold it to avoid the painful pinch of claws, and how to clean it once it was cooked.

The flavors of chowder recipe were inspired by my experience the day before with Su-Mei Yu of Saffron, who taught a marvelous hands-on cooking class in the outdoor space above Saffron. I already had lemongrass, ginger, and coconut milk at home. I picked a lime from my tree and cut it the way she demonstrated to get the most juicy yield. I don't know that Su-Mei would approve of exactly what I did, but I hope she wouldn't argue with the results. The flavors are fresh and tangy and the chowder was infused with a tender heat that complemented the creamy coconut milk and sweet seafood. It was a perfect dinner for a stormy night.

Lemongrass and Coconut Seafood Chowder
Serves 4

There are a lot of ingredients here, but they all serve to build flavor. Instead of using plain water when cooking the vegetables, use the water the crabs are boiled in to create a flavorful base for the chowder.

Ingredients
4 cups cold water
12 ounces Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into bite-size chunks
1 medium onion, diced
2 red bell peppers, seeded and diced
2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and cut into chunks
2 jalapeño peppers, diced (for more heat, add 1 or 2 Thai peppers)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1, 4-inch stalk of lemongrass (the soft part), thinly sliced
½ inch of a knob of ginger to equal 1 tablespoon, peeled and minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Zest of 1 lime (reserve the lime for juice)
1, 14-ounce can coconut milk (I use “light.”)
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
Juice from 1 lime
2 live rock crabs
1/2 pound skinless firm-flesh raw fish (such as cod, sea bass, halibut, yellowtail), cut into bite-size pieces
1 pound raw mussels, shrimp or calamari – or combination of them, cleaned
1 cup Asian greens, chopped (optional)
½ cup cilantro, roughly chopped

Pour water into a medium-size soup pot and bring to a boil, then carefully add the crab. Cover and cook the crab for 10 to 15 minutes. Pull the crab out and let cool, saving the water for cooking the rest of the ingredients. When the crab is cool enough to handle, pull out the meat from the body and claws, also saving the legs.

Add all the rest of the ingredients (except the seafood, greens, lime juice and cilantro) to the pot with the hot crab water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the potatoes are just tender (about 15 minutes).

Transfer 2/3 of the mixture to a food processor or blender and puree.

Return the puree to the pot with the rest of the mixture. Add the seafood (including the crabmeat and legs) and greens to the saucepan. Cover and simmer until the seafood is cooked (the fish should be opaque, the mussels open, the shrimp pink).

Squeeze in lime juice from the reserved lime and stir in cilantro, saving some for garnish.


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San Diego Foodstuff Miscellany

I've got all sorts of interesting things to fill you in on.

• Let's talk about food equality. It's all well and good to be an ardent foodie, but in the San Diego area alone, according to Network for a Healthy California, 480,000 people face the threat of hunger daily, and that includes 181,000 children. Want to help do something about it? A coalition of the San Diego Hilton Family of Hotels has formed a coalition called Hunger at Home and on Friday, Nov. 21, the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines will host the Hunger at Home international tasting gala. The gala will feature over 25 international cuisines. Proceeds will be donated to the San Diego Food Bank with a portion going to The Network for a Healthy California. Hunger at Home is hoping to raise half a million dollars, which would be enough to provide 1.6 million clients with 1.5 million meals, as well as nutrition education for low-income women, single parents with kids under age six and fixed-income seniors. For more information or to buy tickets, go to www.hungerathome.com.
• On a different note, if you're a fan of Saffron, as I am, you love the authentic Thai food that Su-Mei Yu offers. Next month, from Nov. 12 to 16, Saffron will be celebrating the holiday of Loy Krathong, an annual celebration of renewal in Thailand. A special menu of traditional dishes will mark the holiday, including Kanum Gean Geand Ped Gai (spicy red chicken curry with cool rice vermicelli), Kao Tom Mud (boiled rice with coconut cream, black beans and banana wrapped in banana leaves) and Rice Crispy Treats made with palm sugar and freshly harvested, glutinous rice. Saffron is loated at 3737 India St. in Middletown.
• I love a great kitchen tool and found one at the market recently that will make freezing chicken, fish and other proteins much more palatable. Sure, I'd love to go to the market everyday for that day's meals but it's just not practical. The Ziploc vacuum pump and bags are an inexpensive way to draw air out of the freezer bag, which is what contributes to the deterioration of frozen food. It's easy to use and I'm impressed by how much air gets sucked out. Below is the salmon filet I'll be able to eat next week for dinner.

• Olive harvesting is just beginning and I'm hurrying to finish my current batch of Temecula Olive Oils so I can get more oils from the new harvest. Today, I made croutons from a sourdough baguette from Bread & Cie. I sliced the baguette and tossed the slices in a bowl with Temecula Olive Oil Company's Roasted Garlic Olive Oil, minced fresh thyme and a little salt. Bake them for about seven minutes at 400 degrees. Watch them to make sure they don't burn. Mine came close!
  

• I just bought a fascinating new book called The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. It's a compendium of ingredients and the herbs, spices, condiments and other foods that go with them. This is going to be a great resource for the times when I have something unusual that I've never cooked with and need to figure out what would work with it or to rethink and reconceive familiar ingredients to bring out new flavors.
• Finally, Rey Knight of Knight Salumi Co. told me that he's setting up shop on Clairemont-Mesa Blvd. near the 163 freeway. Not only will you be able to buy his amazing products but he's going to offer tours to show how his salumi and other products are made. He expects to be opening sometime in mid-November. Stay tuned. Currently, you can find him at the Little Italy, Hillcrest and North Park farmers markets.
  

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