Moorish Salad

In Trinidad when something tastes good, we say that it is moorish because you want more of it.  Chef Jamie Oliver may have been thinking along the lines of a Middle Eastern influenced salad but I find the Trini meaning to be very applicable as well. 

Moorish Salad

(slight adaptation of Jamie Oliver's Moorish Crunch Salad)

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

4 apples, sliced thinly 

juice of  1 lime or  1/2 lemon

1 large carrot, matchstick slices

4 radishes, sliced thinly

1 handful fresh parsley and

or 1 handful fresh mint

1/4 cup raisins

salt ( to taste)

freshly ground black pepper

4 tablespoons tahini paste

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Use a large frying pan. Heat the sesame seeds in the frying pan on medium high heat. Shake the pan and turn the seeds with a spoon occasionally. Remove from the heat when the seeds darken and are fragrant. Set aside to cool. 

Quarter your apples, remove the cores and thinly slice. Put the apple slices to soak in a bowl of water with a squeeze of lime. I do this to keep the apples from turning brown quickly. Slice carrot into very thin sticks. Slice your radishes thinly. Rough chop the parsley and or the mint.

Drain the water from the apples and combine in a large bowl with the carrots, radishes, raisins, parsley and or the mint. Toss the salad with the sesame seeds. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper to taste. Serve with a spoonful of tahini paste at the side or on top.

Parsad

Parsad is a Trinidadian dessert that is served at Divali.  Visit any Hindu household during this time and you will be given a bag of parsad. The popular version is made with flour. However I much prefer to make my parsad with semolina. Cream of wheat is also delicious but the semolina version is my favourite.

Parsad
Yeild (4 servings)

1 cup evaporated milk 

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp ground cardamon 

1/4 tsp freshly grated ginger

1/4 cup ghee

1/2 cup semolina (or cream of wheat)
* for a gluten free version use cassava flour
2 tbsp raisins

Slivered almonds and maraschino cherries to top it with when serving if you wish.

METHOD
Heat milk, sugar, cardamon and ginger in a medium sized pot over a medium heat. Stir until sugar is dissolved then remove from heat and put to cool.

In a large heavy duty pot, heat ghee on high. Add the semolina flour and cook on medium high for a minute or two, stirring often. Turn heat down to lowest setting and slowly add milk. Be careful it spatters. I tend to ladle out a couple spponfuls of milk before adding the rest of the milk to control the spatter. Add the raisins. Stir until the milk has been absorbed and the pudding just starts to leave the sides of the pot. Remove the pot from the heat.

The entire process goes very quickly. The pudding will be soft when you take it off the heat but will firm up further once it is cooled.

How to make microwave Cou-Cou (Trinidad Coo-Coo)

What's better than cou cou with stewed fish? Cou cou that doesn't need stirring until it feels like your arm is about to fall off, that's what.

What's the worse thing a friend can tell you when you have been proven wrong?

I told you so!

Yes Cynthia my friend feel free to unleash the three most annoying words in the english language at me.

You really did tell me so.

Cou cou, is the Caribbean version of polenta. Paired with flying fish, it is the national dish of Barbados but it is made all across the region. The traditional way of making this cou cou involves a lot of stirring with a stick that looks like this

As the liquid is absorbed into the cornmeal the entire thing stiffens up and gets very heavy. Turning it becomes a tiresome process. 

About 5 years ago my good friend Cynthia gave me a tip for preparing cou cou in the microwave. It takes just ten minutes and you can avoid the arm workout because it's so easy to do.

I was skeptical and promptly ignored her.

You will forgive me but I have deep seated ill feelings towards microwave ovens, borne out of past experiences where food basically tastes like rubber. However my recent success with making lemon curd in the microwave made me think that I should give Cynthia's suggestion a try. Am I ever glad that I did.  

Trinidadian Cou Cou

(adapted from Cynthia Nelson)

butter ( for greasing bowl)

1 cup fine cornmeal

1/2 tsp salt

2 tablespoons Trinidad pimento peppers (chopped)

1 tablespoon bell peppers

1 tsp onion powder ( or one tablespoon finely chopped onions)

1 cup okra (thinly sliced or chopped fine according to your preference)

1 cup coconut milk

2 cups water 

Method

Butter a pyrex bowl (approx 9-10" diameter) generously and put aside.
Add all ingredients to a mixing bowl and stir to mix everything together.

Pour the mixture into the buttered pyrex bowl and place in the microwave.

Set the microwave on high and cook for 6 minutes.

At the end of the 6 minutes use oven mitts to remove the bowl from the microwave. Be careful the bowl will be hot.Stir the mixture well folding the top over into the bottom and evening out any lumps. Place the bowl back into the microwave and cook for 4 minutes.

Remove from the microwave. Smear a pat of butter across the top and leave it at least 15 minutes to firm up before serving. After it is cooled turn the bowl upside down and unmold the cou cou onto a serving plate and slice to serve.

COOKS TIP: This recipe is for a Trinidadian style cou-cou which is different from a Bajan (Barbadian) cou-cou. Trinis mostly use coconut milk for their cooking liquid in cou cou while other islands do not. Trinidadian's also like to see a colourful cou cou hence the use of red and green peppers. Some people also include grated carrots.

Omelette with Greens and Pommerac

This morning I made this super simple breakfast. It may not seem like much but for me it is quite the deal since breakfast is a meal I usually skip. Now that I am on a spiritual rejuvenation of sorts, i.e. vacation, I find myself wanting to rejuvenate my physical self as well. As such, I am making it my goal to improve on how I start my days. 

Luckily this is not going to be too hard to do since a couple of the fruit trees in my yard are bearing heavily. Right now our pommerac tree is making a spectacular showing. Without a doubt this fruit is set to be a regular feature at my table over the next month. 

Red Pepper Omelette

(serves 4)

8 eggs 

1/8 cup onions (chopped)

1/8 cup red bell peppers

1/8 cup Parmesan cheese ( or any cheese of your choice, grated)

salt to taste

1 tsp oil

watercress

pommerac (sliced)

choi sum flowers

METHOD:

Crack the eggs into a small bow. Whisk with a fork. Add chopped onion and red bell pepper. Season with salt and whisk a bit more.

Heat oil on medium heat in a frying pan. Once the oil is hot pour in the egg mixture, tilting the pan to spread the egg mixture in a circle to cover the base of the pan. 

As the omelette sets use a heatproof plastic spatula to gently lift the edges. At this point depending the type of frying pan you are using you may have to lower your heat. I have a ceramic coated frying pan that cooks best on low heat. Raise or lower heat according to the kind of pan you are cooking with. Occasionally you can tilt the pan so that the liquid runs off the top and cooks. Cook until the base is set and light golden and the top is almost set. The top should remain slightly liquid. Once folded over the residual heat will finish cooking it.

Sprinkle your cheese over the top and using your heatproof spatula fold the omelette in half. cook for a couple seconds more then transfer to a large plate and cut into four pieces. Serve with watercress, pommerac and choi sum flowers.

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Strawberry Spinach Salad

It's the morning of my first day of summer vacation and I am giddy with excitement.

There I said it, summer!

In Trinidad some people assume that you are being silly to call the July/August long vacation, summer. We don't have four seasons like the temperate zone countries. So technically we don't have summer. It's perpetually warm here. What we do have is a period of more rain, then a couple months of scarcely any rain.

Whateves. 

In my mind it's not about the technicalities. Summer for me is more a state of mind than the actual change in weather patterns.

Summer is about sleeping in. Booyah! I don't have to hustle the kids out of the bed in the predawn darkness to get them ready for school.

Summer is about time.....and having lots of it. So much time that I am sure that I will eventually get bored. I look forward to ignoring mile long to-do lists and getting bored. I can't remember the last time I even had time to get bored. 

Bring it!

Summer is about slowing down.

That means there will be a lot less time in the kitchen and a lot more sandwiches and salads.....oh yeah and ice-cream and pennacools cause those are perfectly acceptable meal substitutes during summer. 

This strawberry spinach salad is a particular favourite of mine and it is one that I sometimes eat on it's own as a light dinner.

So tell me what does summer mean to you? 

For those of you still seriously opposed to the word summer, I wish you a happy Rainy Season! 

See now, that doesn't evoke quite the same sentiments as wishing you a happy summer does it?

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Plain or candied walnuts

herbed or plain feta cheese
strawberries ( sliced)
spinach leaves (washed)
Italian dressing to serve

So I am taking the easy way out here and assuming you don't need directions to make this salad. It is after all the first day of my vacation and I am feeling rather lazy. Even blogging, as much as I love it, feels like work right now.

Candied Golden Limes ~ What to do with Calamansi?

So it might be that lately I am a little, just a teeny, tiny bit, obsessed with calamondins which are also known as calamansi. A lot of it has to do with the fact that they are a relatively unknown local fruit. Truly, I feel like the fruit version of a modern day orchid hunter when I rediscover some hitherto unknown or fallen out of favour produce. Some of you might remember me getting a wee bit crazy over rumberries, and then again with purslane?

I have had my eye on this fruit for a couple of years and have been wanting to blog about it for the longest while. 

Rather surprisingly, I did not find this in a some remote country district but in a suburb of the capital city where it was being grown as an ornamental by an elderly, Chinese, gentleman. The small tree is quite beautiful when laden down with orange fruit which are about the size of limes. They have an intense, fragrant smell-like Portugals (tangerines) but don't be fooled by the heady aroma. Bite into one and you will be in for a screwed up, sour faced surprise........ugh they are so very sour! Yet, if you know what to do with them, they can be utterly delightful.

Camalodins or calamansi are also known as Chinese oranges or golden limes. The fruit starts off green, then turns yellow and finally orange. It can be used when green since it is just as sour green as it is in its orange state. The fruit is thought to have originated in China and is most likely the result of a cross between a kumquat and a mandarin. It is grown here mainly as an ornamental but not much is done with the fruit outside of using it to season fish. It is quite popular in the Phillipines where it is used commercially in juices and marmalade. 

Now can we talk about breakfast? More importantly, can we discuss how these darling, candied limes have turned my boring, healthy, yoghurt and oatmeal breakfasts into desserts? 

Yum, I love the idea of dessert for breakfast, don't you? 

Candied Calamansi 

Ingredients

1 lb calamansi

1 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Method

Lay some waxed or parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup granulated sugar on the paper. 

Slice calamansi into thin rounds and remove the seeds. Combine sugar and water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and stir a few minutes until the sugar is completely dissolved and syrupy. 

Add the calamansi slices and cook until they are translucent. Drain the rinds and lay on the sugared, parchment paper to dry. Let dry overnight or a couple of days. Store in an airtight container.

WARNING: Usually I end a recipe with a cook's tip. This time around I think it more appropriate to end with a warning.  I strongly advise that you do not under for any reason dip these in chocolate! Trust me on this. I am not to be held responsible if you ignore this warning and end up consuming a pound of chocolate covered calamansi in one sitting. Yeah, it.....uhmmmm......has been known to happen.....just saying.

It's no big deal, Lemon curd (Microwave Version)

A spoonful of lemon curd over my breakfast makes my medicine oatmeal go down in the most delightful way! To really appreciate how HUGE a deal that is for me I direct your attention to this.

Those of you who make curd on the stove top know that it involves stirring, stirring, stirring AND stirring over a low heat until the thing thickens. It's a tedious process during which my mind wanders. I start thinking about socks and laundry, I make the grocery list in my head.  I wonder.....dagnabbit will this thing be done in time for the next episode of Game of Thrones? I look down......

Gah! I have scrambled eggs. Not cool.

Today you are gonna want to high five-me.

If we aren't already friends, you are going to want to be my friend.

Hello friends! I have an easy peasy lemon curd recipe for you. It seriously is no big deal to make this. No scrambled eggs, I promise.

The hardest part is keeping the spoon out of your mouth between stirs.  

FYI, you might not want to do that as I have it on good authority that hot lemon curd burns like a motha!

That’s real.

Before this, I purchased lemon curd at the gourmet shop. An extravagance to be sure since this one little jar of curd costs a small fortune. But those days are behind me since I discovered this recipe.

The microwave has got to be the strangest invention of modern times. Almost everyone owns one of these giant, space-age looking heaters but few actually cook with it.

I am one of the few.  Until now....

now I cook curd, a lot of curd.

Please don't freak out.....it's just juice, eggs, sugar and butter stirred in the microwave.

You can totally do this.

And when you are done put a dollop over your porridge,

in your yogurt

or on your pancakes,

bake a lemon meringue pie

or just eat it straight from the spoon, cause yeah ..........that's not strange, not in the least, especially not in my home.

Lemon Curd ( Microwave )

yield 2 cups

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (unsweetened)
3 eggs

1 tsp of lemon zest

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter (melted)

pinch salt

METHOD
Add sugar to lemon juice and taste. Add more sugar a tablespoon at at time until you are satisfied with the taste. Most recipes I have seen call for a cup of sugar so my using 1/2 cup should tell you that I like a fairly tart curd. Adjust sugar to your taste.

In a 4 cup sized glass measuring cup, melt butter and let it cool. To this, add the now sweetened lemon juice, and eggs. Mix well with a whisk.
Microwave on high for one minute.
Remove from microwave and whisk vigorously.
Repeat, microwaving for one minute at a time and whisking until it coats the back of a spoon. (depending on the microwave this will take 3-5 mins)

In my microwave the curd was done in 4 mins.

Spoon test: Dip a small spoon in the curd. Let it cool a bit and run your finger across the back of the spoon. If the curd holds the finger mark, it is done. If the custard flows and closes the mark then it needs to cook some more.

Once the curd is done transfer to a jar and store in your fridge.

Assuming you don't eat it all right away, it lasts 2 weeks.

COOK'S TIP
When I don't have lemons I use a reputable brand of unsweetened, from concentrate lemon juice.

Modak ( Steamed, Coconut Dhal Dumplings)

Divali is nearly upon us and my mind is already on the food, especially sweets. This one is a sweet, steamed, rice dumpling from the South of India. Modaks are usually made for the festival of Ganesh Chaturthi in honour of Lord Ganesh. While not a Divali sweet per say, it was just too tempting to pass up.

Traditionally modaks are filled with with coconut, jaggery (unrefined brown sugar) and spices. However modern versions use a staggering variety of fillings. I have come across everything from mango modaks, to ones filled with raspberry coulis. There are even chocolate modaks. I love that it is a dessert which can be customized to just about everyone's taste.

For my first go at it, I decided to start with a more traditional version. Most people use modak molds to obtain a pretty fluted shape. It is possible to form the pleats by hand. if you are so skilled. Clearly I am not. I gave it the old college try but people I have a day job that I won't be quitting anytime soon. 

The lady in this video gives a good explanation of the pleating process at about 3.33 mins into the video.

The little red dots on top of my modaks are not traditional but if I were making these with different fillings, then different coloured dots would be an easy way to remember the stuffing of each dumpling. Plus it makes my sad looking, little, dumpling balls look just that more festive - or so I tell myself. A small amount of self delusion is quite healthy, isn't it? 

The reality is that working with any kind of dough takes practice as you need to develop a feel for it. Clearly, I need more practice to get a smoother dough. Luckily, these little dumplings are such a treat that making them over, and over, and over again, in order to perfect my technique will not be a hardship.

Modak (Coconut Dhal Dumplings )
Makes 24 modaks

For the dumpling
2 cups rice flour *
2 1/2 cups water
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tsp white sugar
1/8 tsp salt

For the Filling
1 cup dried yellow split peas
3 1/2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 cup grated coconut
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cardamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger


Method

Filling
1. Cook split peas in pressure cooker with 3 cups of water. Bring pressure to high then cook for 10 mins

2. Mash peas with a wooden spoon. Mix in the grated coconut  and set aside.

3. In a saucepan dissolve one cup of sugar with half cup of sugar and cook for a few minutes until you have a thin syrup.

Add the syrup to the peas and coconut mixture. To this add salt, cardamon, and ginger.

4. Return to the stove over a medium high heat. Cook for a few minutes tirring constantly until mixture has thickened, is no longer watery and can be shaped into small balls.

Dumpling

Place rice in a mixing bowl. In a saucepan, bring to a boil  2 1/2 cups water, sugar  salt, and oil.  Slowing pour over rice flour while mixing with a wooden spoon to form a soft dough.

Grease your hands and have a small bowl of water nearby to wet your hands if needed to help maintain a good dough consistency. Make lemon sized balls and flatten to make a small cup place the coconut/dhal filling in the cup. Wrap and seal dough around the filling. Set aside and cover with a damp cloth while you shape the other modaks. Steam in a steamer for 10 - 12 minutes


Cooks Notes
*I could not find rice flour so I used a plain white gluten free flour blend that had rice flour listed as one of its ingredients.

Dairy Free Chocolate Pudding (Vegan)

I know what you are thinking.

You don't have to say it.

Chocolate and avocado together, well that's just crazy!

I will admit to having reservations when I first saw the recipe.  

I also had ten fully ripened avocados. And just so you know there is only so much of this or this that a person can eat.

Chocolate and avocado though.........hmmmmm.

Hey, look it's a no cook recipe!

Niceness, it's starting to look better already.

Healthy too. Okay now I am backing off to being cautious again because ... honestly eewwww!

Let's play a word association game. I say dessert and you say ____________________?

I'll bet you didn't say healthy. Neither did you say chocolate and avocado pudding, am I right?

Bravely I forged ahead and tried one of the many recipes floating about the Internet for this unusual dessert.

I can not tell a lie people, it tasted ....hmmm.......uhmm...well it tasted healthy. And yeah that was a euphemism.

I stuck the thing in the fridge hoping it would taste better chilled. While I waited, Google and I got to work to brainstorm how I could make this work.

It turns out the answer was simple.  Salt!

That simple addition COMPLETLY transformed this into something that ended up in my tummy rather than the bin..

Thank you salt. Good save:-)

Dairy Free Chocolate Pudding
1-2 servings

Ingredients
1 small ripe avocado ( approx 1 1/2 cup avocado cut into pieces)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup Agave nectar (you could use honey but be aware that it won't be vegan if you do)
1/4 cup almond milk, rice milk or vanilla flavored soy milk
a pinch of salt (not optional)

Method
Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Chill before serving.

Lemony Sweet Potato 'Fries'

These aren't actually fried but baked and yet they are everything that you just love about fries - only healthier and without the side of guilt. Freshly baked with a sprinkle of salt clinging to their still hot sides you won't be able to restrain yourself.

Because the idea of  peeling and slicing potatoes for a large family is about as exciting to me as watching paint dry, my first attempt at this recipe was with a bag of McCains.
 
Bad news bears.

Although I used a lot of oil and didn't overcrowd the pan they stuck to the foil so badly that I had to scrape them off,  leaving behind a charred mess. The end results were limp, soggy fries that were burnt on the outside and  undercooked on the inside.

As if that wasn't bad enough, I read the ingredients. It's second nature when you have a child with a food intolerance to do so even when the food is naturally gluten free. Once it has been processed chances are there will be additives and in this case there seemed to more stuff in there than the actual potatoes.

Sweet Potatoes, Canola Oil, Sugar, Potato Starch - Modified Contains Less Than 2% or Less of Annatto (color), Corn Starch - Modified, Dehydrated Sweet Potatoes, Dextrin [see above], Extract of Paprika (color), Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Malt Powder, Malted Barley, Wheat Flour, Dextrose, Maltodextrin, Medium Chain Triglyceride, Molasses, Natural Flavor, Rice Flour, Salt, Sodium Acid Polyphosphate [see above] Added to Maintain Natural Color, Xanthum Gum.

The highlighted ingredients make this food off limits if you are gluten intolerant. Luckily I found local frozen sweet potatoes that contained just one ingredient - sweet potatoes.

West Indian sweet potatoes have a somewhat different flavour than their almost day-glo orange American counterparts. The two most popular varieties aren't orange but yellow and a soft creamy white. Compared to the McCains, the local brand of frozen sweet potatoes produced a superior 'fry' that was lovely and crisp on the outside despite being baked in the oven as opposed to being fried. By themselves these are a lovely snack or they can be served as a side to a main meal.

Ingredients
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into fat chips

2 tbsp Taliani extra virgin olive oil with Lemon
2 tbsp sesame seeds
* coarse salt

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 390°F

2. Toss the sweet potatoes in the oil, sesame seeds and salt and roast in the oven for about 15 minutes, until tender within and crisp outside.

Yield: one generous serving

Chili Corn Pie

Dear Saturday,

Don’t take it personally but you kind of suck as a day. On Friday we are all like TGIF euphoric at the anticipation of escaping from work for two whole days. Whoot!

My day off is finally here and I find is that there is an alarming pile of dishes in the kitchen sink, 3 baskets of laundry, 2 hungry man cubs clamouring for food, a living room full of un-put away toys and to do lists a mile long.

Friday you’re such a tease but Saturday you are just plain lame.


My only hope is that when I open the freezer I will find that I did not hallucinate making that chili corn casserole last weekend and all I have to do for lunch is pop it in the oven until it gets warm and bubbly.

Paydirt.

Now there are even more dirty dishes in the sink.

Still things sort of worked out. The casserole is gone. It was amazing. So Saturday maybe you aren’t so terribly bad after all. May I ask that next week when I open the freezer there will be lasagna?
That would be awesome sauce.
Thanks
Wizzy

Right this casserole is two parts. It's basically Felix's Corn Pie with a saucy chili on top. I am loath to tell anyone how to make their chili as I am sure you all have your preferred method. So all you get is the recipe for corn pie. I have laundry and toys to pack away remember.

The meat can easily omitted or swapped out with soya for a meatless version.

Most recipes for this sort of thing use polenta or cornbread which can be sometimes dry. Not so this pie. I promise you the smell of the corn pie layer alone might be your undoing.

Corn Pie

The original recipe which can be found here.

I doubled the amounts for a larger pie. Serves 8 

2 eggs (slightly beaten)

2 cans whole kernel corn

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

1 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup butter

4 Trinidad pimento peppers (optional)

2 large onions

1 large sweet pepper (diced)

2 cups evaporated milk

METHOD

Drain the two cans of corn and reserve the liquid in a large measuring cup. Add eggs to liquid. Add enough water to bring it up to 2 cups of liquid. Add salt, and black pepper and mix.

Pour into a mixing bowl. Stir in the cornmeal and make a smooth paste. Set aside.

In a large pot, melt the butter and saute te onions, pimento peppers and sweet peppers. Add evaporated milt and bring to a boil. Add the cornmeal mixture and stir on low heat. Stir in the whole kernel corn. Continue stirring until the mixture stiffen and starts to leave the side of the pot. Remove from the heat and pour into a buttered casserole dish. Smooth the top with a spoon. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 mins.

Cover with a layer of chili and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake in oven at 350 degrees F about 15 mins until cheese is melted. Skip this last step if you plan to freeze it.

Looking for Life's Easy Button

This blog has been quiet recently on account of work and some family drama... but mainly work. Lately everything has been happening all at the same time and I find myself exhausted and looking for life's easy button. I promise I'll let you know when I find it, until then here is a fabulous recipe for gluten-free muffins.

It doesn't look like much so what's so great about this muffin?  Well these muffins wake you up. Seriously. They are the kick your ass out of bed, put a smile on your face even though you don't feel like smiling muffins. Yeah these are those guys. They sound like this. I know they are a departure from my regular healthy, whole-grain  breakfast muffins but I do have to tell you, recently I've been needing a whole lotta kick ass to roll me out to face the days.

I have said before that I love how quickly muffins can be put together. This recipe is a little different. You can't just dump the ingredients into one bowl and mix. First you must cream the butter and sugar before combining the wet and dry ingredients. Your reward for this little extra effort will be a muffin that has a tender cake-like crumb.

Warm from the oven, oozing sticky blueberries and slathered with even more sweet butter, I can't think of a better way to chase away morning blues than with cake masquerading as a muffin for breakfast, can you?


Blueberry Muffins Gluten-Free
(NB: This recipe works just as well if you swap out the gluten free flour for regular all purpose flour)

3 cups of Dove's farm Gluten Free white flour

1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 Tbsp unsalted butter or 1 1/4 stick, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup plain yoghurt
1 teaspoon grated lime or orange peel
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries (defrosted)
1 tbsp flour (if using defrosted frozen berries)

Method

Use standard 12-muffin muffin tins. Coat each muffin cup lightly with butter. Set your oven rack to the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 375°F.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together, beating until it turns a pale yellow colour. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each one. Add the grated lime or orange peel.

Add one half of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat until it is only just incorporated. Beat in one third of the yoghurt. Beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients. Beat in a second third of the yoghurt. Add the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining yoghurt. Beat until just incorporated. Do not over mix. Fold in the berries with a wooden spoon. If using defrosted berries drain the excess liquid and coat them with a light dusting of flour before folding in.

Distribute the muffin batter equally among the cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test for  a thin bamboo skewer or a toothpick to see that the enters are cooked. Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin and serve slightly warm.
Makes 12 muffins.

The Wednesday Meal

Late breakfasts, lazy Sunday lunches and posh desserts are the stuff of dreamy, relaxed weekends. Weekdays are a whole other story.

Sure, it’s nice to have a fabulous repertoire of sensational epicurean delights to wow your family. But of what use is haute cuisine when you find yourself completely exhausted with only microwave time to get dinner on the table?

Enter the Wednesday meal. You know that dish that you can make blind and in your sleep.  I call it my Wednesday meal because that's the day of the week when I usually want a bit of reprieve from the kitchen. You won’t find this in many cookbooks nor will it grace your plate in a restaurant. However the combination of smoked herring, rice, dhal and bhaji is a traditional meal that every Trinidadian knows well.

With the exception of the dhal, each component of this meal only takes 10 maybe 15 minutes to prepare. You will forgive me the omission of the dhal as the cooking time is longer.

Dasheen Bush Bhaji

Serves- 5-6

2 bundles dasheen (rolled younger leaves)

1 onion

6 cloves garlic

1 tsp oil

1 tablespoon curry

4 ochros (okra) optional

1 pk (50g) coconut milk powder

½ lime

Salt to taste

Here is what you do. Boil some water and put smoked herring fillets to soak. Now, feeling all virtuous that you are about to nourish your family instead of cave and reach for the takeout menu, prep dasheen leaves and heat oil on medium high. Mix the curry with water and add to the pot. Cook for about 2 mins.

Finely dice a garlic clove or six.

Yeah six is definitely better.

Then in a wide, deep pot, sauté the curry and the garlic. You want this mixture to get wonderfully fragrant, but without burning. Monitor the heat and keep moving everything around the pan. Add the dasheen leaves, ochros (okra) if using, coconut cream powder and 1 cup of water. Cook it all on medium heat until the callaloo melts in the pot and the water is cooked off.

While that is bubbling away, cook your smoked herring.

Smoked Herring

1 lb smoked herring fillets

2 tomatos

2 medium onion

1 hot pepper (optional)

6-8 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 Trinidad pimento peppers (optional)

1 sweet pepper(optional)

Method
Start by putting the fillets into a fairly deep bowl and cover with boiling water. This will help remove some of the salt and make the fish tender enough to shred. Let it soak for about 10 – 15 mins. Salt content varies so taste a tiny piece of fish before going on to the next step. If it is too salty repeat the first step and steep the fish in boiling water again.

Drain the water from the bowl and rinse the fillets with a fresh batch of cool water. Squeeze dry and start shredding the fillets into small pieces. You will encounter a few small bones. Remove as many as you are inclined too but don’t worry if you don’t get them all because they are very soft and can be safely consumed.

Chop the rest of ingredients and set aside
Sauté the onion, garlic and seasonings in 1 tablespoons of oil. Then add the tomatoes and cook about 2 minututes. Add the flaked smoked herring and hot pepper (optional) and allow it to cook for about 10 minutes.

Boil some rice, a squeeze of lime over the bhaji and dinner is ready. See that wasn’t too hard was it? So tell me what is your favourite easy to prepare Wednesday meal?




This post is part of Simple Lives Thursday.

Black Bean and Corn Salad with Lime Vinaigrette

This versatile salad goes anywhere and holds up well in the heat unlike mayo based salads. It's great for picnics, backyard barbecues, the beach or wherever you choose to hang out with family and friends enjoying the outdoors. This is the salad that I am asked to make most often when friends get together for a barbecue.

Of course you can stay in and have this as well. You will want to make extra since leftovers make great next day sandwiches. Pop this salad into some whole wheat pita , add a  few cubes of pepper-jack cheese for an effortless, rocking vegetarian sandwich for lunch the next day. Just think of it as a free day from the kitchen. Whatever will you do with all that time not spent in the kitchen? Please don't say do the laundry!

I highly recommend letting this rest awhile. It tastes best the following day after the beans have soaked up all the flavours of the vinaigrette. If you can't make it overnight plan on making it and letting it sit at least 1 hour before serving.

Vinaigrette

1/3 cup olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

3 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1/8 tsp cracked black pepper

Salad

1 can black beans (15 ounce) rinsed and drained

1 cup roasted corn kernels or one can corn, drained

3/4 cup red onions

1/2 cup tomatoes, diced

1/2 cup sweet peppers, chopped

1/4 cup chardon bénit (shado benny) finely chopped( substitute cilantro)

Method

1) In a large bowl combine salad ingredients

2) In a small bowl whisk together dressing ingredients

3) Pour over salad and toss until all ingredients are coated.

The above recipe is only a guide to get you started. This is one of those recipes that you will over time just develop an instinct for knowing how much of each ingredient to add. Taste this after you add the vinaigrette to the salad and adjust to suit your own preference. In time you will develop your own ratios for your own perfect version of this salad.

South African Casserole

Last slice.
I saved it just for you.

I am fairly certain that this dish isn’t actually South African but its an old family recipe that was introduced to us as such by a vegetarian friend and the name has since stuck. I remember Aunty Hélène bringing this over to a potluck Christmas lunch when I was a child. Naturally as a family of serious meat-arians we were suspicious of  vegetarian food. Back then I loathed this purple vegetable which my mother only ever served stewed with beef. So it was only under extreme pressure and outright threats from mom that I tasted this just to be polite. The fact that I am making this some 25 years later tells you that it's good. Vegetarians surprise your carnivore friends with this tasty side dish. Oh and by the way it's goes great with a roasted or stewed lamb! We had this last Sunday with stewed fish

Tante Hélène’s South African Casserole
Ingredients
• 2 ounces raisins
• 4 melongene (eggplants)
• Salt to taste ¼ tsp – ½ tsp
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup diced onion
• 3 cups tomatoes, rough chopped (leave the seeds in as you need the moisture)
• ¼ cup unsalted peanuts, lightly roasted, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup breadcrumbs or ¼ cup farine reconstituted in 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions
Put raisins to soak in some water so that they plump up.

Peel and cut eggplants in half. Slice length ways about ¼ inch thick. Sprinkle with salt to to taste ( I only use ¼ tsp but we cook low salt around here.). Put the slices to bake at 350 degrees in the oven until cooked through. Alternately if you are worried about the oil you can steam your slices.

Meanwhile sauté garlic and onion on high heat. Cook until onions are translucent. Add the tomatoes and cook for about 2 minutes more. Turn down the heat.

Drain the raisins of excess water before adding them to the garlic, onion mixture. Add the nuts and breadcrumbs. Mix thoroughly. Remove from heat.

In a casserole dish layer the melongene, bread(or farine) mixture. Sprinkle with cheese, then another layer of melongene. Top with breadcrumbs and the rest of grated cheese. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

Cooks Notes
This is another of my recipes that has undergone a gluten free makeover. The original uses breadcrumbs. Both ways are nice. The breadcrumbs have the edge on appearance since they give a prettier crust. For some reason the farine (coarse cassava flour)  just doesn’t seem to brown.

Promise me one thing.  Do not use American cheddar to make this. An Irish or New Zealand cheddar is preferable. You need a sharp cheddar to offset the sweet from the peanuts.

Japanese Okonomiyaki - Gluten free

For my brilliant effort with this dish, I was rewarded with a circle of unenthusiastic faces staring at the thing on the plate.

What is it? They asked suspiciously.

I swear they all looked like they wanted to prod it with a stick.

Oko something or other.

OMG!!! The daughter squealed, grabbing the plate from my hand.

OKONOMIYAKeeee! She screamed again.

I was stunned. You actually know what this is?

DUH! Of course. It’s Japanese.

Apparently, a fascination with Japanese anime makes her knowledgeable about Japanese food too. Who says too much tv is a bad thing:?:-)

Why don’t you make more stuff like this?

Dear friends let me clarify. In essence this is a cabbage omelette/pancake with layers of fish and vegetables piled on top. I would like to impress upon you that various incantations of these same ingredients appear regularly in other meals around here. This same young lady usually frowns, picks out most of the vegetables and stirs the fish in contemplative circles on her plate. Am I missing something? Ahhhhh yes, the cool Japanese name.

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese style savoury pancake that I first encountered in Cate’s World Kitchen. According to Wikipedia the name is derived from the word okonomi, meaning "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki meaning "grilled" or "cooked."

Japanese food is rarely on my radar due to the difficulty of accessing specialty ingredients. This however is very accessible because you can customize it to your own tastes. What could be better than that? You can load it up with as many or as few toppings as you like. You can be as exotic as the Japanese with toppings like squid, pork, bonito flakes, nori (seaweed), or pickled ginger. If that's too out there for you then do as I did and come up with your own combination of toppings. It is after all what YOU want.


Warning: it may take you a while to learn how to say it. However it won’t take you but two minutes to learn how to prepare it and even less than that to fall in love with it. My one complaint is that for some reason it made me crave a tall cold beer. Okay so that's not really a complaint is it:-)  By the way, I forgive you in advance for calling it, the oko thing. I still do.

Okonomiyaki Recipe

makes 12 small ‘pancakes’

Ingredients

Japanese Pancake Batter

3-4cups cabbage; finely chopped

2 ½ cup flour or Gluten free flour (I used Dove Farm’s White Bread Flour)

¼ cup cassava flour and ¼ cup water (optional)*

½ cup water

4 eggs

Oil for frying

½ to ¾ tsp salt ( less salt is needed if cassava flour is omitted)

* traditional recipes include grated yam which I didn’t have at the time so I used cassava flour. This makes a thicker more filling pancake.

Condiments

1 ½ cups grated carrots

1 cup scallions chopped

¼ cup sesame seeds

1 onion 3 pimento peppers

1 can tuna (in oil)

Okonomiyaki Sauce

1/2 cup Ketchup

1 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (omit if making it GF)

1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon Soy sauce (substitute with Braggs Liquid aminos to make it GF)

1 teaspoon Honey

Directions

Make sauce

Combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and stir. Taste and adjust ingredients until it is to your taste. If it's too tangy, add more honey/sugar. If it's too sweet, add a splash more soy sauce. Set aside.

Prepare toppings

Use a mandoline and chop your carrots. Set aside.

Chop scallions and set aside.

Make pancakes

Reconstitute the cassava flour with 1/4 cup of water. After a while it will absorb the water and swell to about 1/2 cup.

In a large bowl mix cabbage, flour, cassava flour (if using) eggs and water and salt.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Toast 1/4cup sesame seeds and set aside.

Lightly grease skillet and sauté onions and pimento peppers. Add the canned tuna and fry for a few minutes then set aside. Clean the skillet and lightly oil.

Ladle approximately ½ cup of batter onto hot skillet. Cook until air bubbles appear then flip over and cook on the other side. Cook until it has turned a light golden colour.

To garnish: top pancake with fried tuna, carrots, chopped chive. Squeeze okonomiyaki sauce back and forth over the top. Then alternate with mayonnaise. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve hot

Cook’s Notes: To get your mayo into a squeeze bottle mix ½ cup of mayo with a tablespoon or more of milk. This makes a great breakfast or even dinner.

Finally if you have nothing better to do with your time, here is a funny video from a Japanese show called, “The Man who can’t get Married,” This guy appears to be on a date and is not pleased with his companion’s technique for making okonomiyaki. Finally the lady gives it over to him and he proceeds to school her on the correct technique.  When it is done, she takes a bite at last, saying delicious and he says, “It was made in such a way as to make it delicious.” You don’t have to speak Japanese (or French) to see why this guy is not married LOL.