By Caron Golden
For The Union-Tribune
The atmosphere in MAKE Projects’ MAKE Cafe in North Park has a quiet energy that comes from women focused on learning. Learning how to cook dishes that may derive from a world away from where they’ve come from. Learning how to be front-of-the-house servers and hosts and basically do any of the jobs involved in working in a restaurant or catering.
The women — and they are all refugee and immigrant women, like Nilofar Mohammadi from Afghanistan and Nejat Sultan from Ethiopia — are trainees participating in a 12-week program to develop work skills and English-language skills. As part of the program, they also learn how to write resumes, do job interviews and complete both employment applications and all the various onboarding forms that come with getting the job. The cafe is the vehicle for that education.
The women come from all over the world, usually with little English. Some have French as a common language, or Spanish, or Farsi. Some, like Mohammadi, were serious home cooks or restaurant owners in their country of origin and are now interested in finding work in restaurants. Others, like Sultan, who has been in the U.S. for six months, are less engaged in the culinary world but are using the training to get a foothold into employment.
“I’m here to get work experience,” she said. “My last week (in the program) is next week and I’m open for work.”
The cafe is part of the larger MAKE Projects organization that also includes a 1-acre farm, newly relocated from a North Park church to Mission Valley behind Snapdragon Stadium. It, too, is a training ground for women as well as youth. It supplies much of the restaurant’s produce but also features a Community ed Agriculture (CSA) box subscription to bring in income.
MAKE stands for Merging Agriculture, Kitchens and Employment. Originally a part of the International Rescue Committee, the workforce program spun off from the IRC.
“At that point it was Project Shop Catering and Youth Farm Works, which was a youth version of a social enterprise farm,” recalled executive director Anchi Mei. “In February 2021 we set up our own 501(c)(3) and have been growing steadily.”
Andrew Gerdes is the cafe’s executive chef and trains the women in the kitchen, along with two other chef/trainers, TaCee West and Cindy Quinonez.
“We work with the women here to get them where they want to go,” explained Gerdes. “We teach them the skills they need to do that. Food is a kind of means to start the conversation and start building their confidence.”
Because the cooking skills of the women in any given program cohort are all over the map, said Gerdes, it’s part of his job to suss out where they’re at.
“I’ll ask ‘What did your mom make for you when you were a kid?’, ‘What flavors do you ?’, What is the thing you miss most that you can’t find here?’,” he said.
Not only is that a way to break the ice, but it’s also yielded some wonderful recipes from students that have been incorporated into the cafe’s eclectic menu. And the chef/trainers aren’t shy about creating dishes from multiple cultures.
The best example of that is their tacos. Here is a dish that could probably not be made anywhere else. Yes, the tacos are held by traditional corn tortillas, but what’s inside is a global feast. At the heart of the dish is “Afghan chicken” marinated overnight in a tangy yogurt mixture of warm spices like cumin, turmeric, coriander, granulated garlic, and salt and pepper. You can then grill or roast the chicken, then slice it for the tacos. Or you can make a larger amount of chicken and use leftovers for tacos. The marinade is also delicious with pork or hearty fish like salmon.
Instead of topping the chicken with salsa and other traditional extras, MAKE Cafe has developed a recipe for a fantastically tart and colorful Haitian pickle relish called pikliz. It’s made with shredded cabbage, bell peppers, carrots, red onion, lime juice, habanero, thyme and salt. Just combine all of the ingredients in a quart jar, then cover with distilled vinegar and refrigerate overnight. Pikliz is also perfect to tame the richness of meats or even bean dishes.
You also need a good sauce for a taco, and instead traditional hot sauce or salsa, meet piri piri, an African sauce that features orange juice, bell peppers, hot peppers, roasted garlic, fresh ginger, sugar, lime juice and salt. It’s simple to make but requires boiling down the juice to a syrup, roasting the peppers, and then pureeing all the ingredients together. And beyond the tacos, piri piri is perfect in place of how you’d use any hot sauce — plus, it freezes.
Do we even need to tell you how to put these taco components together? Just pile them into grilled tortillas and enjoy with a side of beans and rice — or however you do tacos.
Another international dish on the menu is a stunning bowl of Somali red lentils served with focaccia. One of the things I love about this recipe is that you also get a fantastic recipe for Somali xawaash spice mix, borrowed from a program graduate named Famiya. This is a spice mix that can be used in so many other dishes — think of making a rub with it for chicken or pork or shrimp, or using it as the base for a salad dressing, or sprinkling it on flatbread, or adding it to scrambled eggs.
But here, this mixture of turmeric, cumin, black pepper, clove, cinnamon, coriander and a bay leaf — all toasted and ground, to be gorgeously aromatic — is part of these red lentils.
The lentil dish itself is easy to make. You saute onions, carrots and bell peppers, then add garlic and tomato paste, along with the xawaash and berbere spices, which you can find at Middle Eastern markets, Penzeys Spices, or online. Stir it up and then add the lentils with canned tomatoes and water or vegetable stock, bring it to a simmer and just keep stirring until the lentils are cooked — a mere 10 minutes or so. Add lime juice, mushroom powder (an ingredient you can find online or make by grinding dried mushrooms), and salt. If you want, you can add chicken or shrimp, but this dish is flavorful enough without adding other proteins. Plate it on a bed of rice or other grains — or do as the MAKE Cafe does and scoop it up with a slice or two of focaccia.
If you’ve never made bread before, this focaccia recipe is a great place to start. It’s just flour, instant yeast, salt, water and some olive oil. You mix together the dry ingredients, add the water and olive oil, then knead it in a stand mixer for about five minutes. Place the dough in an oil bowl, cover, and let it rise for about an hour. Then smooth it out on an oiled sheet pan, cover, and let it rise again — or put it in the fridge overnight to bake the following day. , push that dough out onto the sheet pan with your fingers to get a dimpled texture. And you can sprinkle it with spices or chopped herbs (or add cherry tomatoes). Then you bake for just half an hour.
Somali Red Lentils
Makes 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1/2 onion, diced
1 carrot, small dice
1/2 bell pepper (any color), small dice
1 tablespoon roasted garlic (can substitute with fresh minced)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 tablespoon xawaash spice mixture (recipe follows)
2 teaspoons berbere spices (available at Middle Eastern markets or online)
1 cup red lentils
Water or vegetable stock as needed
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 teaspoons mushroom powder (available online or grind dried mushrooms to make powder)
Salt to taste
DIRECTIONS
1: With an immersion blender, briefly blend the canned tomato (leave a bit chunky).
2: In a large pot, saute the onions, carrots and bell peppers until softened and just beginning to brown.
3: Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook 30 seconds more, until paste just begins to stick.
4: Add the xawaash and berbere and cook a few seconds until fragrant.
5: Add the lentils along with the canned tomato and water or vegetable stock to cover by at least 1 inch.
6: Bring to a simmer and stir frequently to prevent sticking (the lentils will cook and thicken quickly).
7: Add additional liquid as needed while cooking to maintain proper consistency. Should be the consistency of a lightly thickened stew.
8: Once lentils are cooked (approximately 10 minutes), turn off the heat. Add the lime juice, mushroom powder and salt to taste. Serve with focaccia or grains.
Famiya’s Somali Xawaash Spice Mix
Makes 1 1/4 cups
INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup turmeric, ground
1/4 cup cumin seed, toasted and ground
1/4 cup black pepper, toasted and ground
2 tablespoons clove, toasted and ground
2 tablespoons cinnamon, ground
1/4 cup coriander seed, toasted and ground
1 bay leaf, ground
Combine all ingredients thoroughly.
Focaccia
Makes 1/2 sheet pan
INGREDIENTS
7 1/2 cups (1,200 grams) bread or all-purpose flour
0.37 ounces (10 grams) instant yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
24 ounces (700 grams) water
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil plus oil for bowl and pan
Chopped herbs or za’atar herb blend (optional)
DIRECTIONS
1: Combine dry ingredients in a stand mixer and mix together.
2: Add water and olive oil and knead with dough hook approximately 5 to 7 minutes until smooth.
3: Place dough in an oiled bowl with plenty of space for it to expand.
4: Wrap tightly in plastic and allow to rise at room temp approximately 1 hour or until nearly doubled in size.
5: Oil a half sheet pan liberally with olive oil.
6: Turn out dough onto sheet pan once it has risen. Press into the pan all the way to the corners, using fingers to create dimples.
7: Wrap pan with plastic wrap and allow to rise another 45 minutes at room temperature if baking the same day, or place in the refrigerator to rise overnight if baking the next day.
8: When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees. For same-day baking, after the dough has risen for 45 minutes, remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle with the herbs or za’atar mix, if using. If baking the next day, remove the focaccia from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature while oven is preheating, approximately 20 to 30 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle with the herbs or za’atar mix, if using.
9: Bake for approximately 25 to 30 minutes until golden-brown.
MAKE Projects Tacos
Makes about 4 soft tacos
INGREDIENTS
Marinated Afghan Chicken (recipe follows)
Pikliz (recipe follows)
Piri Piri (recipe follows)
Assemble the tacos: Once you make each component above, lightly grill corn tortillas. Let chicken rest enough to where you can handle it without burning your hands. Slice chicken and place a portion in the tortilla, topped by a couple of tablespoons of the pikliz. Drizzle with piri piri. You’ll have enough pikliz and piri piri to use for other dishes
Marinated Afghan Chicken
Makes about 3 to 4 servings
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup whole milk yogurt
1 teaspoon cumin, ground
1 teaspoon coriander, ground
1/2 teaspoon turmeric, ground
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ground
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
DIRECTIONS
1: Combine all the ingredients except the chicken in a large mixing bowl and whisk together thoroughly.
2: Add the chicken thighs and mix well. Place in a covered dish or zip-top bag and refrigerate a couple of hours or overnight.
3: When ready to cook the chicken, remove some of the excess marinade before placing on the grill or in the oven. Season chicken with additional salt before cooking.
Pikliz
Makes about 1 quart
INGREDIENTS
1/4 red or green cabbage, shredded
1/2 bell pepper, any color, julienned
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, julienned
1/4 cup lime juice
1 habanero, cut in half
1 teaspoon thyme, dried or fresh
2 teaspoons salt
Distilled vinegar to cover the vegetables
DIRECTIONS
1: Combine all ingredients except the vinegar and mix thoroughly. Place in a nonreactive container.
2: Top with enough vinegar to almost cover. Place in the fridge at least overnight and store for up to 1 month.
Piri Piri
Makes about 1 cup
INGREDIENTS
3 cups orange juice
1 large red bell pepper
2 or 3 hot red peppers (red jalapeño, fresno, bird’s eye or habanero; can also use green)
1 tablespoon roasted garlic
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced or grated
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon lime or lemon juice
Salt to taste
DIRECTIONS
1: Place the orange juice in a medium-size pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to about 1/2 cup of liquid or until syrupy. Be careful especially toward the end so it doesn’t burn!
2: Meanwhile, using a pair of tongs, place the bell pepper directly over a gas flame on the stove or in a 450 degree oven on a foil-lined sheet pan. Cook, turning as needed, until completely blackened all over. Place in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow to steam. This will make it very easy to peel off the blackened skin. Peel and remove the seeds once cool and set aside.
3: Prepare the hot peppers by cutting the stem off and cutting in half. Using gloves, remove the seeds if you prefer to remove some of the heat. At this point, judge how spicy your peppers are and how spicy you want your sauce to be and adjust accordingly.
4: In a blender, place the reduced orange juice, peeled bell pepper, hot peppers, garlic, ginger, lemon juice, sugar and salt.
5: Put cover on blender and turn on. Blend thoroughly. Taste and add salt and more lemon juice if needed. Once blended, it will keep about 2 weeks in the refrigerator or can be frozen indefinitely.
