THE ELECTRIC KITCHEN
Fruit dressing, salsa make tasty gifts
Are you thinking about giving gifts this season from your kitchen? It's easier than you might think. You don't have to bake up fancy cookies and sweets to give a gift that's made-from-scratch-homemade.
These recipes for salsa and dressing are easy to prepare and would probably be a welcome change from the abundance of sweets most people receive at this time of year.
Package the salsa in a nice glass jar, and tie a pretty bow around it.
The Passion Fruit Dressing can be used with vegetable or fruit salads. Pour the dressing into one of those pretty glass bottles available at most cooking supplies stores and tie a pretty ribbon or raffia around the neck.
Look for more easy-to-prepare gifts from kitchen ideas in this column next week.
Fruit Salsa
1 papaya (you can also use 1 mango, 1/4 pineapple, 2 peaches or 2 plums), diced
5 basil leaves, chopped
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 stalks green onion, chopped
1 Serrano chili, chopped, or 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven-pepper mix)
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 heaping tablespoon sugar
Fresh ground pepper, to taste
Mix all ingredients together. Serve with tortilla chips or grilled fish, chicken, or pork. Makes about 1 cup (4 servings).
Approximate nutritional analysis, per 1/4-cup serving: 60 calories, no fat or cholesterol, 20 mg sodium, 15 g carbohydrate, 3 g fiber, 10 g sugar, 1 g protein.
Simply Salsa
4 large tomatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
3 Hawaiian red peppers, minced
1 can (4 ounces) chopped black olives
1 bottle (8 ounces) zesty Italian dressing
In a bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Chill several hours before serving.
Serve on burritos, with chips, or vegetable sticks. Makes about 8 cups of salsa (32 servings).
Approximate nutritional analysis, per 1/4 cup serving: 35 calories, 2.5 g total fat, no saturated fat or cholesterol, 150 mg sodium, 3 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 2 g sugar, 1 g protein.
Passion Fruit Dressing
1 can (6 ounces) frozen passion fruit juice, thawed
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
Put all ingredients into blender. Cover and blend well.
Serve with fresh fruit chunks or slices. Makes 1-1/2 cups.
Approximate nutritional analysis, per 1/4-cup serving: 300 calories, 28 g total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 200 mg sodium, 13 g carbohydrate, no cholesterol, fiber, sugar or protein.
Approximate nutritional analysis, per 2-tablespoon serving: 150 calories, 14 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 100 mg sodium, 6 g carbohydrate, no cholesterol, fiber, sugar or protein.
Hawaiian Electric Co. presents this weekly collection of recipes as a public service. Many are drawn from HECO's database of recipes, accessible online at
www.heco.com.