The inspiration for this Modern Day Farmers Chop Suey recipe came from the opportunity to test products from LIFEWAY KEFIR. The products included Farmers Cheese and Kefir cups. Farmers cheese is cottage cheese like and the Kefir cups are their variety of yogurt. My introduction to farmers chop suey was my wife. She grew up eating cottage cheese with cucumber, radish and green onions. There are a few variations but I believe these are the base ingredients for the traditional recipe.
In this recipe, my learning was how to work with black radishes. I picked them to add to this recipe because I thought they were so cool looking – they are BLACK. I have not seen them before. Then, I went to a second grocery store this weekend and there they were again. Go figure. I believe they are probably best cooked. I will have to play with them some more. I used the black radishes for the base of my dish and it really served as a garnish. I cut them into matchsticks and served them on the top of the farmers cheese and that added some good crunch to the recipe – much like the radish does to the traditional recipe.
I sampled two kinds of farmers cheese and two kinds of yogurt. The lavender looking color is farmer’s cheese with, you guessed it, lavender mixed in. The kefir cup on top is again blueberry yogurt with more lavender mixed in. Each of the flavors were complimented with fresh fruit. This dish brings color, texture and flavor yet it is so simple.
The cast of characters.
The Modern Day Farmers Chop Suey plated.
The Recipe
Modern Day Farmers Chop Suey
Ingredients
- 4 Ounces Natural Farmers Cheese
- 4 Ounces Lavender Farmers Cheese
- 2 Ounces Blueberry Lavendar Kefir Cup
- 2 Ounces Natural Vanilla Kefir Cup
- 1/4 Whole Black Radish, horizontal slices
- 2 Ounces Black Radish, Cut into Matchsticks
- 1 Whole Strawberry, Sliced
- 3 Ounces Blueberries
Instructions
- Begin by slicing and cutting matchsticks of the black radish.Next, take 2 ounces of each of the 2 varieties of the farmers cheese and dollop on top of the black radish slice. Top each farmers cheese with 1 ounces of the similar color Kefir Cup (lavender on the lavender and vanilla on the natural farmers cheese).Finishing by garnishing with the black radish matchsticks and the strawberries and blueberries.
Responses
comments – I answer every one.
This looks amazing! So creative!
By the way, I am so loving your blog right now! Everything looks soooo delicious!
Thx so much Anne. I appreciate your kind words.
What an intriguing dish! I’ve never tried kefir, let alone knew it came in various flavours. I want to try this now!
I did not know about all there products either. That is some of the fun of being a blogger.
So pretty!
Thx.
This Chop Suey looks so great! By the way, replying to the comment above, I have never tried black radish even though I am half Russian 🙂
I learned in my research that black radish is frequently eaten by Russians. Funny!
they are used a lot in Russian cuisine and are believed to help with colds, coughs etc. I live near a large Russian community and it is a staple in the supermarkets there. I have only had the black radish in Russian preparations – where they are usually cooked or pickled.
Regardless, the way you have presented them look like a great snack!
I will need to try more traditional preparations.
I have not ever seen black radishes before but now I am intrigued! How fun to experiment with new foods. These look really great!
Thank you very much Kathy.
Love your idea and vision here and I’m always a sucker for innovative ideas. Love the post.
Thx so much for the kind words.
What beautiful hors d’oeuvres! I love how simply the come together, yet how beautiful they look.
It was on the table in 5 minutes. Sometimes that works!