Friday, May 11, 2018

#68 Angola: feijoada


Ok, I had a VERY hard time finding anything remotely interesting including vegetables from Angola... which is an African country, by the way... until I found this! And... I found this, but thought I was going crazy, because I already made "feijoada" from BRAZIL.

However, it turns out that Brazil had invaded/inhabited Angola for a long time, and they brought this dish over to them- and the Angolans made it their own!

AND HOW DO I KNOW THIS????? BECAUSE I ALREADY MADE OTHER DISHES FROM AFRICA AND I AM LEARNING HOW TO MAKE CONNECTIONS!!!! Woo hoo. It appears that cabbage and beans is a thing in Africa... as well as green leafy things and peanut butter. Weird.

This is frankly quite similar to the Chakalaka I made earlier... but this one is SO MUCH BETTER. SO, so, so much better.

In fact, I love this dish. It's amazing. So tasty. So weird, but tasty. The real dish has chicken and sausage in it, but I used veggie bacon, and honestly it tastes very pork-like.


Angolan Feijoada 

Ingredients

1 small onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tomates, diced (I used roma)
2 carrots, diced
3 cups of vegetable broth
1/4 head of green cabbage, sliced into bite size pieces
1 small habanera pepper, deseeded and minced
2 bay leaves
14.5 ounce can of white beans (I used butter beans)
a handful of fresh parsley leaves, minced
3 slices of Soy Boy veggie bacon (or real bacon, if you are into that)
cooked rice for serving with, if you would like

Directions

Sauté the onions and garlic in a medium/large soup pot. I used broth but knock yourself out with oil if you want. Then add tomatoes and carrots, and some more broth. When the carrots are half way soft, add the cabbage and the rest of the broth, and bay leaves. Stir often. Rinse the beans, and add them, with the fresh parsley. When the cabbage begins to soften, fry the bacon, break into bits, and add it to the pot. Stir to combine. Divine! Oh. Remove the bay leaves before serving... with rice, if you want.

SO GOOD.

#67 Philippines: corn cakes


So, clearly I had some leftover corn husks that needed using up from the Cuban tamales. I scoured the internet for a very long time to find other international items rolled in corn husks! Very hard.

Outside of Mexico and Cuba (and other countries that I already made recipes from), the only single option was the Philippines. The other South American countries use banana leaves to roll tamales (yes I have banana leaves in my freezer right now for future recipes).

But these did not disappoint. They are like... sweet corn muffins with rather chunky dough. Does that sound bad? They are not bad! They are very, very delicious.

I got the recipe from asiancooking101.com after researching and reading about them to make sure they were authentic. Seems to be!

Binaki (corn cakes)

Ingredients

2 cups fresh corn, boiled
1 cup corn meal (plus a tiny bit more) (I used Goya brand, which was not fine flour)
1/3 cup almond milk
4 tablespoons butter (I used Earth Balance vegan butter)
1/2 cup sugar
dash of salt
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
about 12 corn husks

Directions

Blend the corn in a food processor. Add the rest of the ingredients, besides the husks. Once combined, place a spoonful in each husk, and roll on the side, plus fold up the bottoms. Steam them however you can! Mine were difficult. I used a pot, can, and pie pan to create a steaming effect. Hopefully you can figure this out better than I can. :)

#66 Andorra: potato, cabbage, bacon pancake


THIS IS VERY GOOD. Well, I happen to love Soy Boy's veggie bacon, which.... really added a lot to this. Keller loved it too! Woo hoo.

Trixat (a pancake trio of potato, cabbage, and bacon)

Ingredients:

4 medium boiling potatoes, peeled
1/4 of a green cabbage, chopped up
4 slices of Soy Boy veggie bacon, or, real bacon if you are into that
salt & pepper
butter for frying
fresh parsley for making them look fancy at the end

Directions:

Boil the potatoes and cabbage. I did mine together. When the are almost done (very soft), fry your bacon and break into small chunks. Drain the potatoes and cabbage, transfer to a bowl, and mash well. Add the bacon, salt, and pepper. Warm butter in a frying pan, and add spoonfuls of of the mixture. Apparently- traditionally- you try to make one giant frying pans' worth of a potato pancake, and cut it into three slices. Huh. Sure. I ended up making mine medium sized so they were easy to flip.  

Very, very good!

#65 Albania: salad


Basically every time I come across a tomato and cucumber salad, I am going to make it.

This one was weird.

Iceberg lettuce, tomato, cucumber, white onion... then... mayonnaise and balsamic vinegar. Other Albanian salad recipes I saw include goat cheese and olives as well.

So. That's it. Cheers to Albania. I vote ranch dressing over mayonnaise, personally, but, that's just me.

#64 Venezuela: arepa


Ok, arepas are my new favorite food. I love them. Keller loves them.  So much easier to make than other tacos, flautas, burritos, etc. And, easier for Keller to eat.

For about a thousand recipes, google "arepa." As I do not eat meat or dairy, mine are pretty limited to beans and guacamole, however- there are so many options out there!! (For the record I would eat an arepa with beans and guacamole every day.)

Arepas

Directions:

Buy a bag of Goya Masarepa. Follow the insanely easy directions on the bag. (It's: 1.5 cups masarepa flour, 1.5 cups warm water, a dash of salt, and butter for frying).

You combine the flour, water, and salt, and let it sit for 5-10 minutes, then, fry. And the frying part was much, much easier that I expected.

That's it. Then add toppings.


#63 Cuba: tamales


From now on I am only making Cuban-style tamales (HAHAHA I SAY THAT NOW). They are SO much easier than Mexican tamales! I based this recipe from one on tablespoon.com after reading a whole bunch of recipes from other sites. They are all very similar. 

You just mix the "filling" in with the masa, and... roll them. SO MUCH EASIER. And tasty!

I have to say... I've made tamales at least 6 times... this was by far the easiest!!!!

Cuban Tamales 

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced small
1 red pepper, diced small
3 cloves of garlic
8 ounce can of tomato paste
2 cups of fresh corn (boiled or frozen)
1/2 cup butter (I used Earth Balance vegan butter)
1 cup corn meal (plus maybe more)
1/2 cup masa harina (plus maybe more)
...or, use only masa harina (1.5 cups)
1 cup vegetable broth 
24ish corn husks

Directions:

1. Soak the corn husks in water (in a bowl with another bowl on top of them).

2. Start boiling a few inches of water in a large pot with some sort of buffer on the bottom- I use my canning pot with the metal canning rack upside down.

3. Saute the onion, pepper, and garlic. I used broth but you can use oil. 

4. While sautéing, place fresh corn in a food processor and process a few minutes.

5. Then, add the onion, peppers, and garlic to the food processor. Add the butter, corn flour(s), and broth. Pulse a few times until all combined. Depending on your fresh corn, this mixture could be very wet or very dry. Use broth or more corn flour to get it to the consistency of guacamole. Sorry. That's the only thing I can think of to compare it to!

6. Drain corn husks and place 1-2 spoonfuls of mixture in each one, on the smooth side, rolling them on their side and folding them up on the bottom. Place vertically in an extra bowl until all are rolled. 

7. Carefully load up your steamer. Add a little more water- always add water! Burnt tamale pans smell awful and are very hard to clean.

8. Steam until they pull away clean from the corn husk. Probably about 60 minutes. If your batter is very soupy, it will just take longer, but, it will get there, don't worry.

9. Enjoy fresh or freeze. 






Thursday, April 26, 2018

# 62 Singapore: Singapore noodles


This was remarkably good for being so weird!! If you google "singapore noodles," you will see TONS of recipes for this. I loosely based mine off of the Minimalist Baker, who, as I always say, is one of the most complicating recipe creators EVER, but, you can find many variations, if you would like! I drastically simplified her recipe. Drastically. Like. Real minimalist.

Singapore Noodles

Ingredients:

2 cups of skinny noodles (I used 2 bricks of rice ramen noodles)
1 red pepper, sliced thin
1 small white onion, sliced thin
2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
1 tablespoon sweetener (agave or brown sugar)
1 tablespoon curry powder
chives as you like them

Directions:

Boil the noodles until they are done. Drain and rinse.

Meanwhile, stir fry the pepper and onion. I didn't use oil, but you can. When they are almost done, add the soy sauce, agave/brown sugar, and curry powder. Add a small amount of water- about a 1/4 cup- and dissolve the curry powder into the pepper/onion mix. Add the noodles and stir carefully, as you frying pan will be very full! Once everything is mixed very well, serve with chives.

It's like.... Asian and Indian food together. Very good!

#61 New Zealand: kiwano


That's it. It's quite refreshing, honestly! It tastes like the cucumber water you get at fancy salons.

Thursday, April 5, 2018

#60 Afghanistan: quabily (rice) and borani banjan (eggplant)


I had zero expectations for these dishes and was blown away. The eggplant is divine!



Borani Banjan (eggplant)

Ingredients: 

2-3 long skinny eggplants, or, equivalent
salt
oil for frying or baking

1/2 small onion, chopped (optional)
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder (optional)

for the yogurt sauce:
1 cup plain yogurt (dairy free if you feel like it)
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced or smashed
1/2 teaspoon dried mint

Directions:

Cut the eggplant into small thin slices, and salt lightly. You can remove skins if you wish. Leave out for 15 minutes, then wipe dry. Combine yogurt, garlic, and mint in a separate bowl.

Either fry the eggplant in a frying pan with oil (both sides, in batches), or bake for 30 minutes until soft.

In a frying pan, heat the optional onion, garlic, and tomatoes. Add spices. Simmer. Move the sauce to the sides of the pan, and add the eggplant to the middle (carefully). Cover with the tomatoes, and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve with yogurt sauce.


Quabily (Afghani Rice)

I tried this recipe, but, not going to lie, I made a smaller version of it but forgot to reduce the sugar, and it was way too sweet! Lesson learned.

http://edibleozarkansas.ediblecommunities.com/recipes/afghani-qabily



#59 Thailand: pad Thai




It is kind of hard to nail down my pad Thai recipe, since I make it so often!


Ingredients: choose your own amounts!

rice noodles (ramen or thicker)
red onion, sliced thin
red pepper, sliced thin
chives, chopped

for the peanut sauce:
1/3 cup water
3 tablespoons peanut butterr
2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
2 tablespoons brown sugar or agave
1 tablespoon hot garlic chili sauce (like sriracha)

Directions:

Boil and drain the noodles. Toast the red onion and red pepper in a toaster oven, or regular oven, until they are soft but not burnt.  Combine the peanut sauce ingredients in a small pot over heat. Boil, then simmer until thick. It will take several minutes to reduce.

Combine all and sprinkle with chives. YUM.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

#58 Brazil: rice & beans


This was so, so, so good. Keller loved it!

So the deal is: this dish normally has meat. But, I read about a lot of variations, and, using a bay leaf and some dried spices, you can get the meat flavor without the blood! Woo hoo.

It really is very good. We've made it many times!

Feijoada (Brasilian beans and rice)


Ingredients:

14 ounce can of black beans
1/2 cup rice, soaked

1 small onion, chopped
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 tomato, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 sweet potato, peels and diced small
3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1-2 bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a medium soup pot over heat, sauté the onion. Add the rest of the list (except rice and beans.) After veggies are sautéed and soft, add the rice, and 2 cups of water. Let simmer until rice is almost done, and then add well-rinsed black beans. Stir and simmer until all done!



#68 Angola: feijoada

Ok, I had a VERY hard time finding anything remotely interesting including vegetables from Angola... which is an African country, by the ...