M Cafe De Chaya

Many of you probably know already that I'm an organic freak,
I get my hands on everything organic if possible,
Just by looking at my kitchen here,
I have a list of organic stuff:
Organic flour,
Organic rice,
Organic noodles,
Organic spaghetti,
Organic sugar,
Organic milk,
Organic bananas,
Organic oranges,
Organic toasts,
Organic jelly,
The list goes on forever, I even have organic vanilla extract.

And the other day,
Me and my friend went to this cafe place on Melrose avenue in downtown Los Angeles,
Voila! I just found another healthy eating joint.

Inside M Cafe De Chaya-


They strive to use all-natural and organic ingredients for all the items on their menu,
Besides that,
They don't use any refined sugar, eggs, or dairy products.

Here's my order panino margarita with broccolini soup-


Made with "fresh tomato, soy mozzarella & basil-almond pesto on their house baked focaccia."
I couldn't finish all the panini so of course the other half went back to my fridge,
Somehow when I heat it up the next day, it smells and tastes even better.

My friend's panino provancale with fresh green salad-


Made with "seasonal grilled vegetables, arugula, balsamic vinaigrette, pesto aioli, and creamy tofu cheese on house baked focaccia."

But my favorite of the day was this organic fries-


Their house "macro-ketchup" was amazing,
No strong sugary tastes, only slight of sweetness with smooth fruity aroma.

Highly recommended.

Something like this place, emphasizing in natural and healthy food can go a long way in our busy and most likely polluted modern life.

Cindy's Rating: 8

M Cafe De Chaya
7119 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 525-0588

http://mcafedechaya.com/index.html

Brown Rice with Salmon Flakes and Ground Chicken

When I was a little kid in the elementary school,
My teacher always told me that it's very good for my body if I can eat more than 5 kinds of vegetables a day,
Many many years have passed, I still remember her words.
Right now every time I cook,
I strive to include at least 5 vegetables in one meal,
And here's one dish I had the other day, more than 5 veggies, very healthy indeed-


Ingredients (for 6 plates)?

4 cups of brown rice
1 can of sweet kernel corns
1 small cabbage (chopped)
1 medium stick of carrot (pealed and chopped)
1 lb of ground chicken
1 can of salmon flakes (you can find it at a Japanese supermarket)
4 eggs (beaten)
1 small onion (chopped)
2 stalks of scallion (chopped)
1 lime (quartered)
Soy sauce
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
White pepper
Red pepper flakes

How?

First we have to cook the brown rice according to the instruction on the package,
Since this is going to be a "fried rice" dish,
Leftover brown rice will be a good choice because the texture will be harder,
Harder rice makes a good fried rice meal.
However,
I personally prefer using freshly made rice while making fried rice dishes,
It's still moist which makes it easier to mix with other ingredients.

The other ingredient we need to prepare beforehand is the egg,
Simply heat up a skillet and pour in the beaten eggs,
Keep stirring it after the bottom turns light yellow color,
By doing so we can get some stir-fry egg flakes for the fried rice,
Set aside.

Have a big pan ready, drizzle some olive oil,
Toss in the chopped onions and sprinkle some salt over it,
Let it cook till the color turned translucent,
Sprinkle some red pepper flakes half way through.

Now we add the ground chicken meat together with about 3 tablespoons of soy sauce and 2/3 of chopped scallions,
Don't forget to sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper,
Keep cooking and stirring it so the meat won't stick together (we don't want big lumps in the fried rice),
After the liquid's all absorbed by the meat,
Toss in the chopped carrots and chopped cabbage,
Sprinkle more salt over it,
It helps to bring out the liquid inside the vegetables.
Also add more soy sauce depend on how salty you want it to be,
I used 3 more tablespoons of soy sauce for myself.
*But be careful, the salmon flakes already have a lot of salts in it, tastes it before add more soy sauce for your fried rice.

After the cabbage's all cooked down,
Add the corns, egg flakes, and salmon flakes,
Here's the salmon flakes I got from Mitsuwa-


Let everything cooked down a little bit more,
And it's time to toss in the cooked brown rice!

Mix all the ingredients well,
Sprinkle some more chopped scallions, white pepper, and served with 2 slices of fresh lime if desired.

Cindy's Rating: 7