Turnip Cake with Ginger Sour Cream

Just as I thought this quarter at UCLA was going to be easy ... BAM I'm piled with homework and projects again. Man the quarter system came at me really fast ><. Anyways, despite how much work I have, I still have my food club in my tiny apartment. This week, my club ordered a Community Supported Agriculture box from South Central Farms. I will show you one of the dishes I came up with. I got my inspiration from potato cakes and used a little bit of my creativity to make the flavors work xD. Turnip Cake with Ginger Sour Cream

Ingredients for Turnip Cakes
2 Turnips
1/4 cup Flour
1/2 cup Bread crumbs
1 tsp Five Spice Powder
1 tsp Sesame oil
2 tsp Soy Sauce
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Green onion

Prep work and cooking
1. Dice turnips into tiny pieces.
2. Place turnips in a steamer to steam until soft (10-15 minutes)
3. Meanwhile, slice green onions and measure out ingredients.
4. Remove turnips from the steam and place on a very fine sieve to sqeeze out any water and form a paste-like puree.
5. Place turnip in a bowl and add remaining ingredients.
6. Mix well.
7. Form the the mixture into a cake (like crab-cakes)
8. Fry the turnip cakes (2-3 minutes on each side) to get a nice golden crisp on each side.

Ingredients for Ginger Sour Cream
1/4 cup Sour cream
1/2 inch peeled Ginger
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cardamon
Cilantro (optional)

Directions
1. Finely dice the ginger
2. Mix everything together

Enjoy this vegetarian friendly dish. It tastes crispy on the outside and very soft on the inside. You can serve it with sriracha.

Here's another lovely picture of the finished product!

Maverick Grits from S.N.O.B

O wow ... I haven't touched this blog in awhile. Well, it is the start of a new year! I will be blogging whenever possible. Grad school apps have been quite a pain, but I have been going through them decently.

During the break, my sister, Jennifer, made these awesome grits and shrimp etc. stuff when I came over to her condo. When grits come to mind, I think of breakfast, sweetness with brown sugar and raisins.

On a side note ... COOKING RAGE!! THEY DO NOT HAVE OLD FASHION GRITS IN WESTWOOD!! WHOLE FOODS ... NONE, TRADER JOES ... NONE, RALPHS ... Instant Crap!

I guess polenta, cream of rice from Whole Foods, or instant grits work just as well...
Maverick Grits from S.N.O.B

Ingredients
Grits of not really grits for my case:
4 cups Water
3 tbs Unsalted butter, divided
1 cup Stone-ground grits (polenta, cream of rice, instant grits workish)
3/4 cup Heavy cream

Topping:
2 tbs Unsalted butter, divided
1/4 lb Country ham (1/4 cup)
3 Italian Sauages
20 medium Shrimp
1 tsp Cajun spice blend (recipe below)
1/4 cup Green onion
2 Garlic cloves
2 Vine tomatoes
1 tbs Vermouth

Cajun Spice Blend
2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Garlic powder
2.5 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Ground black pepper

1 tsp Onion powder
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 tsp Dried oregano
1 tsp Thyme powder
2 teaspoons salt

Directions for Cajun spice mix:
1. Mix it all together!

Prep work for the main dish
1. Dice ham and place in a container
2. Slice green onions
3. Seed and dice fresh tomatoes
4. Mince garlic
5. Slice sausages into 1/4 in thick rounds
6. Peel and devein shrimp

Directions for cooking the grits!
1. Boil water and add grits
2. Stir until all the grits are incorporated
3. Add butter and cream and cook until desired consistency (Depending on what type of grain your cooking it can take from 3 minutes to 40 minutes)
4. Keep warm until you finish cooking the toppings!

Directions for cooking the topping!
1. Melt 1 tbs of butter in a pan.
2. Add sausages and cook until cooked
3. Add shrimp and cook until almost done (1-3 minutes)
4. Add garlic and Cajun spice blend and cook for 30 seconds
5. Add tomatoes, green onion, and vermouth and cook for 1 minutes.
6. Serve topping over grits.

Enjoy the new year!