Odeliza Jacoba Recipes

Mahalo Chicos,

Perfect Vegetarian Broth can be used for just about anything. It’s always useful to have on hand some homemade broth because it adds that ’slow cooked’ flavor to any dish. You can use it for a base for soups, sauces, curries, rice the possibilities are endless. Just use your creative input and see what you can come up with.

This Vegetarian Broth was originally created during my personal chef business days. Cooking for about 50 clients not counting individual family members can be really tough. Especially if you are a one man show in a kitchen that was smaller than a broom closet. Anyways, I’ve found ways to stream line.

One of which is this Vegetarian Broth that was one of my key ingredients for Rice Dishes, Curries and Sauces. I prepared this in advance and keep it stored in my fridge and some in the freezer-before the weekly mad rush-. In order to get the ’slow cook’ effect you actually have to cook it slow. Duh. Or if you have a slow cooker device by all means, use it!

Prep Time: about ten minutes

Cook Time: about one hour

Serves: 2.5 Liters

What you’ll need:

1. Large stock pot that will hold 3 liters of liquid or use two pots
2. 3 liters of plain water
3. A 2 liter container to store the already prepared broth
4. 1 bushel of celery including the leaves, thoroughly cleaned and roughly chopped
5. 2 carrots cleaned and cut in half
6. 3 large onions, cut in half
7. 4 garlic cloves pounded
8. 1 inch or so of pealed and cut in half fresh ginger
9. 1 inch of tamarind outer shell removed if you don’t have the actual tamarind use about 1/4 c of the paste
10. A few sprigs of fresh rosemary
11. A few sprigs of fresh thyme
12. A few sprigs of fresh sage
13. Some fresh oregano
14. Freshly crushed black pepper and sea salt

What to do:

1. Take the stock pot with the 3 liters of water, turn to medium heat. Add allot of freshly ground sea salt.

2. Place all the celery first, cover and allow to soften for about 5 minutes.

3. Place the carrots, onions, garlic cloves, ginger and tamarind, add a bit more freshly ground sea salt and cover, allow to sit for another 5 minutes.

4. Ensure the fresh vegetables are covered in water and add a bit more freshly ground sea salt.

5. Then add all the fresh herbs and cover. Turn the heat to the lowest setting possible and leave it alone for 50 minutes. Checking once in awhile to ensure the water does not bubble over and stirring gently ever so often to incorporate all the flavors together.

6. After one hour of cooking turn off and set aside to cool off. Once cooled take the container of your choice – I bought a cheap plastic pitcher with a cover just for this broth- and carefully ladle the broth a bit at a time. You may have some extra that can not fit into your container, I find that its useful just to place it any container handy such as; a large glass or bowl, and use it for that day’s cooking.

Enjoy!

Ciao,

Odeliza Jacoba

Odeliza