3 COCONUT WATER RECIPES. COCONUT SMOOTHIE RECIPE. COCONUT SMOOTHIE WITH DRAGON FRUIT- COOKING-VARIETIES “WATER IS LIFE” RECIPE SERIES.

CUT GREENS WHEN IMMERSED  IN WATER, WILL REMAIN FRESH  FOR  A WEEK.

NAME OF COOKING VARIETIES RECIPE:
COCONUT AND DRAGON FRUIT SMOOTHIES
COOKING-VARIETIES "WATER IS LIFE" RECIPE SERIES

COCONUT SMOOTHIE WITH DRAGON FRUIT

Ingredients: from cooking-varieties "Water Is Life" original recipes collection. Serves 4.
Water from 1 half ripe coconut (about 2 glasses)
1 medium size red dragon fruit (about 2 glasses)
1 cup yogurt or 1 glass yogurt
Peel dragon fruit and blend with coconut water and yogurt. Serve immediately with ice cubes. Use chilled glasses if you don’t like ice cubes. Coconut water is slushy and has a uniquely delicious taste.

UNRIPE COCONUT FRUIT SUITABLE FOR DRINKING IT'S JUICE

Health benefits of Dragon fruit
The dragon fruit or( Pitaya thanh long in vietnamese) contains a lot of water, is rich in vitamin C, minerals and fiber. Eating dragon fruits can help prevent colon cancer and diabetes, neutralize toxic substances, lower cholesterol level and high blood pressure. The red dragon fruit variety is rich in antioxidants.
Health benefits of Coconut water
Coconut juice has a cooling effect on the body, thus a cure for fever and lower down body temperature.
Fruits contain a lot of water. Water covers 70.9% of the Earth's surface and is vital for all known
forms of life. The human body contains from 55% - 78% water, depending on size
The next essential element after oxygen for human life is water. WATER IS LIFE. Water should be highlighted in cooking-varieties recipes
The UN General Assembly recognized WATER AS A HUMAN RIGHT. 

DRAGON FRUIT SLICES

Global rivers are in severe crisis due to pollution of all sorts, loss of wetlands, changing climates, and other natural disasters such as earthquakes.
 Earthquakes too have gone global, not just in Indonesia but also Mexico, New Zealand, Japan, The Philippines and latest quake at Myanmar, with the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami being the hardest hit.
The Fukushima nuclear plant, still emitting radioactive vapour that made the Japanese capital's drinking water unsafe for infants and sparked a global food scare.
Water is used in every cooking, Keep your rivers and water sources clean.,
'WATER IS LIFE' RECIPE SERIES FROM COOKING-VARIETIES

PASTA VARIETIES WITH BEEF AND MUSSELS RECIPE- AND A TOUCH OF NUSANTARA SPICES



Image-of-Pasta-with-Beef-and-Mussels

NAME OF COOKING-VARIETIES RECIPE:
PASTA VARIETIES WITH BEEF AND MUSSELS
Ingredients:  from cooking-varieties pasta collections
Pasta for two persons- Use a mixed variety of pastas for this recipe. Boil pasta until cooked (10 minutes or more). Drain water, fold in 1 tbsp olive and mix well, this is to prevent the pasta from sticking to each other. Set aside.
1 large white onion- cut into cubes
2 pieces garlic- minced
1 cup minced beef
8 pieces green mussels.
2 slices young ginger root- minced
2 tablespoons chili sauce
4 tablespoon tomato puree
1 stalk leek- cut into slices
4 tablespoon olive oil
Salt to taste
Parmesan cheese
Heat up oil in a non stick pan. Add in onions. Stir until golden and add minced beef, ginger and garlic.
It’s good to add in ginger, it helps empower the beefy smell
When water/juice from minced meat is almost dried up, add in mussels and 2 cups of water.

When water boils, add tomato puree, chili sauce and salt. After mussels already cook, add pasta and leeks. Stir for 2 minutes and put off fire. Serves hot and garnish with parmesan cheese.
BEEF AND SEAFOOD (MUSSELS) PASTA RECIPE--   

PASTA
BEEF AND SEAFOOD  PASTA

Health benefits:

Pastas are made from refined wheat grain. Most refined grains are enriched. This means certain B vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid) and iron are added back after processing. Fiber is not added back to enriched grains

Mussels contain omega 3 fatty acids- decreases heart disease, reduces blood pressure, helps prevent arthritis and abnormal heart rhythms and promotes healthy brain function.
Tomato is rich in vitamin C and potassium. Diets rich in potassium helps maintain a healthy blood pressure
Health experts recommend eating lots of green vegetables- green color is formed by chlorophyll, the compound that has proven effective against cancer.

SALT CRUSTED OR SALT CEMENTED FISH BARBEQUE RECIPE



 SALT CRUSTED OR SALT CEMENTED SEA BASS FISH BARBEQUE

NAME OF COOKING-VARIETIES RECIPE:
SALT CRUSTED OR SALT CEMENTED FISH BARBEQUE RECIPE.
SEA BASS FISH BARBEQUE WITH NUSANTARA DIP RECIPE
Ingredients:
1 large sea bass fish. Do not remove the scales.
Alternatively you can use any very scaly fish of a reasonably large size.
Clean the fish and towel dry the scales and inside of fish properly.
Blend the following into a paste and marinate fish with this paste for 1 hour
3 pieces garlic
3 cm ginger
1 teaspoon sugar

You can now get your barbeque set ready and light up coal etc
Place 2 layers of aluminium foil wrapper on flat surface- the size must be big enough to wrap and totally seal your fish. Put 2cm thick of coarse rock salt on the foil, spread it wide enough to fit size of fish. Put the fish on top of salt.

Next, spread also 2cm thick rock salt to cover top of fish. Put more salt at the sides and ensure that the fish is totally covered with salt. Wrap up fish with foil and ensure its properly sealed. thus forming a salt cement when heated up and hardened. The salt cement will turn brown after barbeque.

Barbeque fish for an hour, by then, the outer layer of salt will turn brown in color and the fish inside is really cooked. The outer part of the salt is really cemented together and not loose. This also depends on how hot your coal (fire) is, if your are not sure, add another 15-20 minutes. This means, the fire must be hot enough to turn the salt into cement and not loose as this will make the fish salty. That’s why it’s very important that the fish must be towel dry, before putting salt on it..

Serve hot. Put the whole thing on a large serving plate. When ready to eat, break the salt and put aside.
You may want a dip, here is a nusantara dip recipe for fish… Mix the following ingredients and leave for an hour before serving.
Dip Ingredients:
4 tablespoon dark soy sauce
3 pieces garlic –minced
1 tablespoon dates vinegar
1 large onion- cut into paper thin slices
1 red/green chili- cut into slices
The health benefits of Sea bass
I have researched Sea bass and found that it - contains omega 3 essential fatty acids, which helps to reduce cardiovascular disorders, improve heart, arteries and veins, and other parts of the cardiovascular system. Essential fatty acids lowers the 'bad' LDL cholesterol, and increase the 'good' HDL cholesterol levels in the body.
Study shows, a regular intake of sea bass, significantly lower blood pressure levels.Sea bass also has good phosphorous and protein content and of course fish oil is good for the eyes.Two servings of

fish in the diet per week, can reduce instances of death from heart diseases

From the Washington Health Department:-Fish is brain and heart food. Fish with omega-3 fatty acids,provides protection from heart disease and are great brain food for you, your children and if you are pregnant, for your unborn child. It is important to continue to eat fish to gain the healthy heart and brain benefits

STEAMED SAGO PUDDING WITH CORN SYRUP RECIPE- A NUSANTARA SAGO PUDDING RECIPE- ( RESIPI PUDING SAGU)



Image of Steamed Sago Pudding with corn syrup

NAME OF COOKING-VARIETIES DESSERT RECIPE:
STEAMED SAGO PUDDING WITH CORN SYRUP (RESIPI PUDING SAGO)
Ingredients: from cooking-varieties exclusive recipe
2 cups sago pearls
2 cans of 425 grams Corn in syrup
6 tablespoon sugar
2 pandan leaves- shred (substitute with 2 drops vanilla essence)
Banana leaves (about 20 pieces, 11 cm width)
Permitted food coloring- orange
1 1/2 cup coconut milk (substitute with 5 cups low fat milk
3 teaspoon cornflour

Image of Steamer filled with Sago wrapped in banana leaves

Banana leaves need to be softened or slightly wilted, so that it won’t tear off, when folded. To do this, you can heat the leaf over your stove fire for a few seconds. Or u can put it under the hot sun for 20 minutes. You may substitute this with some other large non-poisonous leaves. The leaf texture should not be too soft.

Cooking-varieties use leaves, to ensure that the sago cooks with excellent results and not soften and get ruined if it’s boiled directly in water. This is the intricate part of cooking sago, although the recipe is very simple to follow.
When that is done, cut the banana leaves into pieces,about 11cm wide. Set aside. Leave the length as it is.
Wash sago pearls and drain away water. Do not use strainer. Add food coloring and 3 tablespoon sugar- mix well with sago pearls. Set aside for 15 minutes, to let sago soften a bit.
Boil water in a Steamer pot.
While waiting for water to boil, start wrapping up the sago using banana leaves.
After 10 minutes, sprinkle sago with some water and turn over to ensure it is evenly spread (use about ½ cup of water only-not more than this amount).
Shape banana leaf into a cone, fill it up with sago and fold down the top to close the cone. Place and arrange this cone directly onto the Steamer pan. Repeat this, until all sago has been wrapped up.
Put pan on Steamer pot. Cover with lid and let it cook for about 20 minutes- depending on your steamer size/layers of cones stacked, as in the case of a small-size steamer.

Image of Sago pearls in a mixture of yellow and white color

While waiting for sago to cook, boil corn syrup with 3 cups of water, pandan leaves (or vanilla), 3 tablespoons sugar, cornflour and coconut milk. Do not add water, if you use low fat milk. The sugar may be too much, if the brand of corn syrup is already very sweet. Stir continuously and let boil for 5 minutes .Turn off fire.
You can open up one cone and check- if sago has turned translucent color, then it is already cooked. Remove from Steamer and leave to cool.
When ready to serve, pour corn syrup into individual serving plates or bowls. Add sago. When served, do not remove the leaves.
Health benefits:
Sago is mainly carbohydrate (carbs) with very little protein, vitamins, or minerals. Energy in the form of glucose, is obtained faster from carbs, as compared to protein intake. Some cell tissues (eg. in the brain) are dependant on glucose from carbs souces, hence low carbs intake can result in slowing down brain function.
It is in Ayurvedic belief- sago helps to cool down body heat.
For more Appetising Sago recipes, view cooking-varieties-nusantara- click at Tab menu above.

Image-of-Sago-Pudding-cooked-by -Steaming