Chilled Honeydew Coconut Milk Soup

It's hot. And sticky. And apparently, it's going to get even hotter and stickier this week. Usually this is when I make a batch of gazpacho--but I did that a couple of weeks ago during the last heat wave and I'm kind of over it for now. Yeah, I made too much.

Last week I came across a display of orange-flesh honeydew melons and knowing how beautifully sweet they are, I picked one up. And the wheels started turning. Chilled honeydew soup! Oh, how perfect! Yogurt? Check. Mint? Check. I could even add some Persian cucumbers. Or maybe I'd make a smoothie and add some baby kale. And then I thought, oy, melon, mint, and yogurt; that's so obvious. So I scoured my pantry and discovered a can of light coconut milk. Ah, here we go! It sent me off in a totally different Southeast Asian-style direction. I had a little container of kaffir lime leaf powder from Specialty Produce that would work perfectly. All I needed was lime juice and ginger. And maybe some honey.

Ginger. I don't know about you but when I buy ginger, I use a bit of a knob and then store it away for the future in the fridge or just keep it on the counter. Invariably it shrivels into the saddest little root and I end up tossing it. Well, I was done with that. I knew I could freeze it--but I don't like the texture of whole frozen ginger root. So I poked around a little online and, voila, thanks to The Kitchn, realized I could peel a hand of the root, grate it, measure it off in teaspoons, and freeze it. Did you know this? Well, if so, why didn't you tell me?

I actually did it a little differently. I didn't peel the root and instead of grating it, I pulled out my mini food processor, sliced sliced it up, and ground it as fine as I could. Then I used a mini cookie scoop, which measures about a teaspoon, and before I knew it I had more than a dozen scoops of ginger on a parchment-lined pan. I put the pan in the freezer. Two hours or so later, I placed those now-frozen ginger rounds in a little freezer bag so I can have what I need when I need it. And sans waste.

That was over the weekend. When I decided to make my honeydew soup, I pulled out a round of ginger and gathered the rest of the ingredients--all five of them--and puréed them together in my Vitamix. In other words, on a sweltering day when you don't want to be in the kitchen, you'll be in for all of 10 minutes, including clean up.

Now you probably will only need five of the six ingredients. I added a touch of honey, but I don't think it was really necessary since the melon was so sweet. I would add it to a version of this made with cantaloupe, however. Be modest with the kaffir lime leaf powder and the ginger. You don't want to overpower the mild honeydew, just complement it.

The result is a bright, refreshing creamy liquid that sings honeydew but has delightful background notes of acid from the lime juice and bite from the ginger and kaffir lime leaf powder. Enjoy this with a salad for a light meal on a sultry day. Or pour it into a glass with ice for a chilly drink.

Chilled Honeydew Coconut Milk Soup
(printable recipe)
Yield: 2 cups

1/2 honeydew melon (about 2 cups), seeded and cut into chunks
1/2 cup light coconut milk
1 teaspoon ginger, minced or grated
1 pinch kaffir lime leaf powder (available at Specialty Produce or spice shops)
Juice from one lime
Drizzle of honey

Combine all the ingredients. Puree in a blender until smooth. Chill for an hour before serving. Grate a little lime zest over the soup as garnish.

Print Page

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.

Print Page

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.


Print Page