Community Service Committee posted on November 19, 2011
On Saturday Nov 19 at 9 in the morning, six spirited volunteers (Joe, Anna, Jason, Russell, Sang, and Jeffrey) came to the New England Center for the Homeless Veterans (NECHV) in downtown Boston to learn how to make a couple of simple yet delicious Asian dishes and then donated most of the food to the homeless veterans. The teacher of this cooking class, Jay Halim, part of the NAAAP Community Service, along with the volunteers, cooked four large food trays which were being served for dinner that same night. Jeffrey, one of the NAAAP Community Service directors, also came to volunteer and cooked with us. Most of the important prep work was done beforehand on Thursday and Friday thanks to Joe, Jeffrey, and Calvin.
All volunteers had fun in the NECHV kitchen… prepping, cooking, cleaning, and chatting among themselves along with some of the friendly NECHV kitchen staff. The first dish that they made was Spicy Korean Beef dish (marinated 1.5 days in Korean spicy bean paste) with giant leeks, napa cabbage, stir-fried in aromatic garlic, ginger, seasoned rice wine ("mirin"), soy sauce, and finally garnished with scallions and roasted sesame seeds. The second dish was Tangy Malaysian Pork (marinated 1.5 days in tamarind concentrate) with stir-fried in garlic, more tamarind concentrate, sweet baby corn, straw mushrooms, and delightful fish sauce. Finally this exotic dish was garnished in freshly-cut pineapples, fresh cilantro and sprinkled with lime juice. Are you hungry yet? Don’t worry, the recipes are available for free and can be viewed HERE.
Positive feedback was received both from the volunteers and NECHV kitchen staff. Since the NECHV kitchen staff hardly serve Asian dishes, it was a wonderful treat for them and especially for the homeless veterans! The volunteers truly enjoyed the class and would cook those dishes again at home. The NECHV staff can’t wait to have the students return to the kitchen, especially since the dishes were a big hit at the facility! Watch the Calendar and Upcoming Events to sign up for the next “Cooking for a Cause”, especially since the space is limited!
