Healthy Cooking Classes

Yesterday, my NGO colleague and I went up into the mountains to a little village to give a presentation on child nutritional needs for children up to 1 year of age to a group of community educators (mostly mothers) who will then pass this presentation onto other women in their community.

Once we finished with the talk, we headed on over to one of the mother's houses to teach a healthy cooking class to 20 women, including soy milk with cinnamon and soy "chorizo."

Soy is 10 Lempiras a pound ($.53), thus more affordable than other products with the same nutritional content (protein to fat ratio, etc...), and we are trying to promote its diverse uses. The lower region of our municipality can easily grow and sell the soy beans, so it's local and purchasing it helps the local economy.

Anyway, with 2 pounds of blanched soy beans, we made enough soy milk and soy chorizo to feed 20 women and about 15 kids. Not too shabby, right?

The Lencan community is quite traditional, so trying something new was met with a little skepticism. But, we powered on and in the end everyone seemed to enjoy the meal. The best part was, it wasn't any more time consuming for the mothers than any other meal prep.

Recipes below the pics!

Quaint little village

A little tag along...

Grinding the blanched soy beans, there's no such thing as a food processor here...

(please note the Yankees hat, my dear New Yorkers)

Everybody was a bit skeptical at first, but there wasn't any soy milk or chorizo left!

We love soy!

Cheers!

FYI... I am not a recipe writer...

Leche de Soya con Canela (Soy milk with Cinnamon):

2 lbs of blanched soy beans

2 gallons of water*

cinnamon to taste

sugar to taste

food processor

sieve

stockpot

a large stick :)

*The water wasn't measured, just poured into a stock pot, and filled bout 3/4 high, I'm estimating here.

In a food processor, grind the beans until smooth. Remove the beans from the processor and pace in a bowl. Fill a stock pot 3/4 full with water. Fill a sieve about 1/2 full with the ground soy and submerge the soy into the water (not the whole sieve) and lift out. Work the soy through the sieve with your hands (most of the soy won't go through) and repeat the submerge and lift as you are doing so. The pressure created from the repeated action pushes the soy milk from the paste. Continue this process several times (about 4-5).

What will be left in the sieve will be used for chorizo and should have very little liquid content. Place the pressed soy into another bowl for later. Continue to do this until all two pounds have been worked through. The trick is the more you work the soy, the thicker the milk will be in the end. Don't worry if the liquid seems too thin at first, it will reduce on the stove.

After the entire 2 pounds have been pressed, put the pot to boil. Once it begins to boil, lower to simmer, add the cinnamon and stir (very frequently) for 30-40 minutes. The women stirring yesterday used a large stick, whatever works! The liquid will reduce to a milky consistency. Lastly, add the sugar.

Re: the sugar and cinnamon, the women literally just poured and tasted, poured and tasted, until it was yummy.

It was served hot and was amazing!

Chorizo de Soya (Soy Chorizo):

(Since traditional chorizo is so fatty, this is a healthier and cheaper version for the local community.)

2 lbs pressed soy beans

1 can crushed tomatoes (unless you want to hand crush them, the Lencan way)

1 small chopped onion

2-3 cloves of minced garlic (I would add more)

1 chopped bell pepper

1 egg

1 chicken bullion cube*

3 tbsp Canola oil

salt to taste

Lots of tortillas

*The Lencans love bullion cubes, whether the meal needs it or not, it's just like cilantro... goes into everything. Anyway, it might not be for you, just give the chorizo a taste before you add it and if it feels lacking.. add it!

Heat the canola oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic, onion and bell pepper and let soften, then add the soy. Cover and let cook for 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the egg, tomatoes and salt and let simmer uncovered for another 20 minutes (if you add the bullion cube, add it now).

Serve hot!

We served it like you would chorizo inside of a tortilla, seemed to work well.

Bon appetit!