Cranberry Sauce

So I looked absolutely everywhere for fresh cranberries, and although it’s approaching October, absolutely no one had it! I went to two different grocery stores, one farmer’s market, and called the people on the inside at Granville Island and nope. They were no where in sight! Until, alas! Kin’s Farm Market saves the day with a shipment that came in today with fresh cranberries! Yay!!

So. This is a recipe that I think I picked up from my best friend’s mom… I might have derived it from somewhere else… nevertheless, this is the way I’ve been making cranberry sauce for years, so it must be good! I really like the orange zest and juice in it that adds to the tang of the cranberries and brings out the sweetness in the sauce. (I add a couple tablespoons of sugar too, just to help it out.)
Final Product:


Ingredients:
1 bag (3 cups) Fresh Cranberries
Zest and Juice of one Orange
1-2 Cinnamon Sticks
1/2 tsp Ground Cardamom (optional)
1/4 tsp Ground Cloves (optional)
Zest and Juice of 1/2 Lime (or lemon)
1/4 cup Agave Syrup
3 Tbsp Sugar
1/3 cup Water
1. Heat a pot to medium high heat. Pour in cranberries, zest and juice one orange. Stir.

2. Add cinnamon sticks. Add zest and juice of 1/2 lime

3. Add water and stir making sure the bottom is scraped clean.

4. Add ground cardamom and cloves.

5. Add agave syrup and sugar. The reason why I added both agave and sugar is to reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe by balancing it out with natural sugar sources. Yes I could have used all agave, but it would have become too runny. 3 Tbsp of sugar is better than 1 cup in most other recipes!

Simmer on low until all cranberries have popped. Taste it and adjust the sugar if you want it more sugary. Serve with turkey, chicken, in sandwiches or use in pie!
 

Raita

The Greeks have their own version, usually with Mint or Dill and Lemon they call Tzatziki, the Indian have another version with cumin, ginger and garlic. You can basically add whatever you want to Yogurt and garlic, and it becomes a really refreshing condiment to put on kabobs, falafel, in wraps, with fish cakes, or to dip vegetables into. There are so many variations which include adding cilantro, limes, and even pomegranate. Make your own mix and experiment with different ingredients. This is my favourite Raita recipe.

Final Product:



Ingredients:
1-2 cloves of Garlic, pressed (depends on how garlicky you want it)
1 cup Plain Yogurt (2.5%)
1/2 “ Ginger, minced then pressed.
1/2 Green onion, minced fine
1 tsp Cumin Seeds, Toasted then ground
1 tsp Black Peppercorn, Toasted then ground
1 tsp Fennel Seed, Toasted then ground
Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 Cucumber, peeled and grated
1/2 fresh green chilli, minced
1 Tbsp of Roughly Chopped Parsley

1. Put the cumin seed, peppercorn and fennel into a hot pan and toast until it starts to brown and smoke. Set aside to cool. Toasting and grinding the cumin seeds adds a greater depth of flavour than simply using ground cumin. Take this extra step to make the raita amazing.

2. Mince 1/2” of Fresh Ginger and press into the yogurt. The reason I press it in, is because I don’t want the texture of ginger, but the juice that comes out when pressing adds the flavour to it.
 
3. Add clove(s) of garlic. The texture of garlic is okay, it’s more tender than woody ginger.
 
4. Put toasted spices into a mortar and pestle and grind them down to a powder. Add a pinch of cayenne, then add to the yogurt.
 
5. Using half the green chilli pepper, Half it lengthwise. Run your knife on the inside to get rid of the membrane and seeds. Then mince. Add to yogurt.
 
6. Finely slice 1/2 a green onion and add it in.

7. Peel 1/2 a cucumber, Grate using the coarse grating side, the chop it up to get it minced.

8. Mix it all up. Taste and adjust the taste to your liking by add any more salt or more pepper, more garlic even.

9. Chop up the parsley and put it on top. Let it sit in the fridge for about an hour or more, so that all the flavours permeate the yogurt.

Serve with Curried Fried Fish, Fish Cakes, or Spicy Coriander Chickpea Pancakes, Chicken, Falafel, whatever you’d like.