No Rice Cooker Necessary.

When I found out that microwaved rice was so much easier than me boiling my rice and hoping it didn’t burn, I was hooked.

The instructions are as follows.

There is a 1:2 ratio of rice to water.

So one cup or rice needs 2 cups of water.

2 cups of rice needs 4 cups of water.

Add one tablespoon of canola oil

2 teaspoons of seasoning

Mix

Place in microwave and hit the potato button 4 times (18 minutes cooktime)

Voila!

All done

Quick meal

A quick meal

This is all there was to it.
I was starving so I just threw whatever I found in the fridge in to the pan and let it cook. It tasted good though :)

Underrated Vegetables

Brussel Sprouts! I never hear enough about them.

I knew that I would like them as soon as I saw them, when I came here!

Remember I am from Trinidad and I had never seen them there, but i bought my first frozen bag and was hooked!

They are like tiny cabbages.

I sautee or curry them, or sautee then stew them.

Either way, they are delicious.

A word of warning though, they have a slightly bitter aftertaste. I didn't realize it till sis and I had them over Christmas.

We ate a lot of it, and then realized that something was just not quite right.

I think the slight bitterness turned sis off, but I realised that I should just eat a few at a time with some meat and other vegetables.

The Food People

Apart from cooking, reading and writing about, and everything about food, I like to look at the food vendors.

Bear sent me a pic of a hawaiian food vendor and sis sent me the menu for Carnival Tuesday in Trinidad.

I like taking pictures of the food stalls.

All kinds of yum abound

Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares-with pics!

I know I posted this before but that was just so I would remember the recipe that Sandi gave to me.
So here it is as I plan to make it and add pictures.

Of course everyone knows I don't follow the recipe to a tee (as Trinigourmet says I am too HARDEN), so I will make notes as to how it tastes or works differently to the original.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Squares
1 ¾ cup crushed graham crackers (pulverize into crumbs)


2 ¼ cup powdered sugar. (I use 4 heaping tablespoons of chocolate frosting instead of sugar)
1 cup peanut butter
½ lb butter (melted) ( I use 1.5 sticks of butter)
12 oz chocolate chunks (I don't use the chunks because I have the frosting added)


1/2 cup of Raisin Brand cereal
1/2 cup chopped almonds

Mix together: graham crackers, sugar, peanut butter, butter.


Add a handful of chopped almonds
Add a handful of raisin bran cereal

Spread in ungreased cookie sheet.
Melt chocolate and spread on top.


Cool in fridge and cut into squares.

Note: I left in the fridge for 2 hours, but 45 mins will do if you need to serve them quickly
Go crazy with the nuts..add more if you want
The grahams I used were fudge covered, so you can ease up on the sugar

Makes about 25 squares

They are really thick and rich, so one per sitting is all you need

Trindad Doubles Bara

I wanted to make the Doubles Bara only.
Just to see if I could. This is actually the 'hard part' for me.
The filling, the channa/chickpeas is easy.
I just need to get the bara/dough down!
I love doubles but the only place I would buy from in Trinidad was the UWI doubles stand. I would get it with EVERYTHING except roasted coconut. Everything = tamarind, mango, kuchela, pepper, channa, shredded cucumber. OH MY GOODNESS!
Two of those in the morning and I couldn't eat for the rest of the day.
Too filling!
So I modified the recipe a little (you know I modify if I don't think it will hurt anything)
I added chilli powder (1tbsp), and instead of tumeric I added 3 tbsp of Chief Brand curry.

Ingredients

For dough:
1/3 cup warm water (100°-110°F).
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

In small bowl, stir together water, sugar, and yeast.
Let stand until foamy, about 5 or 6 minutes.



In large bowl whisk together flour, salt, turmeric, cumin, and pepper.



Stir in yeast mixture, then add additional warm water, if needed, until mixture comes together into slightly firm dough.



Knead dough in bowl 2 minutes, then form into ball



Smooth over with oil or water (cover with damp cloth).


Let dough rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch down risen dough and allow to rest 10 minutes.
Dampen hands (or with oil, says Chennette since the dough is really sticky), pinch off walnut-size piece of dough, and flatten into 4 1/2-inch diameter circle.
Set aside.
Repeat with remaining dough.
In deep frying pan over moderately high heat, heat oil.
Fry dough circles, in batches if necessary, until lightly browned, about 40 seconds per side.
Chennete says: Turn over as soon as it starts to swell.



Take out when it is puffy and golden.
Drain on paper towels or on wire rack set over baking sheet.
(Chennette says to cover to keep them soft)
Place 2 tablespoons filling on 1 piece fried dough.
Add pepper sauce, kuchela, and cucumber.


Top with another piece fried dough.
Repeat with remaining dough and filling.
Serve as snack or appetizer.
For my filling (because everyone knows I don't follow instructions to a tee, and Nikki at Trinigourmet.com says I am too HARDEN), I am going to use ground beef, tamarind, pepper etc etc. Check it (brussel sprouts etc) lol! :)

Notes: It tastes better with the traditional Channa filling. Mine were a bit crunchy on the outside edges, but still tasted just like doubles.
I may need to let the dough rise a bit longer than an hour, but 1 hour seemed to be fine.

Thai Eggs

This is a version of Thai eggs.

Cuz you know I don't follow instructions to a tee. :)
Hard boil the eggs

Cut in half

Shallow Fry in 4 tbsp oil both sides till brown

Add a pinch of salt, crushed red pepper flakes

Add tamarind chutney

Enjoy

A new eggy kind of yum is born.
In the Thai version,they stuff the egg with yolk, pork, and other seasonings and fry the whole thing.

I don't remember all the other details, but the tamarind give such a sweet, tangy, mellow rich taste to the eggs.
The eggs are crispy on the outside and tastes like 'fried egg' in fried rice.
I would use this as a side to an entree or as an appetizer :)

Soupy Sunday

Ok so I watch Semi Homemade with Sandra Lee.

She rarely makes anything from scratch, and when I am tired, I take a page from her book.

Vegetable soup from a can.

Doctoring it up means:

Crushed Red Pepper

Hot sauce

Tamarind (for a little warm richness)

Tiny bit of honey (1tsp) - it cuts the tartness of the tomato soup

Some chicken and feta cheese, and I'm good to go!

Long Bread

Michael Chiarello, creator of NapaStyle made bread for his wedding and anniversary meal. He actually catered the entire meal.
I thought I would try it.
This is how it came out when I followed his instructions.
I didn't put all the herbs he added.

I just added the red pepper flakes.

Bready Cheesy Rolls

I didn't want to make pizza. I wanted to use my dough though.

I just made little rounds, buttered and cheesed them up, and placed into an oiled dish

Baked at 375 for 15 minutes.

They taste really good.

Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

On the plate there is the Roll, Tomatoes, Tamarind Chutney, and Curried chicken

More kinds of yum :)

Tamarind Chutney

I started off boiling the garlic (5 cloves) in 3 cups of water.

I used 200grams (half my block of Tamarind paste).

1/4 cup of strawberry jam

1.5 cups sugar.

1 TBSP crushed red pepper and hot sauce if you want it spicier (I always like it spicy)

Boil down till thickened to how you like it.

All kinds of YUM

You will see my chutney in other dishes I make to eat :)

Behind the Apron Roundup

Was posted by 28 Cooks.
It was exciting to see all the people behind the food blogs. The ROUNDUP was a great idea
We should all meet up :)
There are so many great food blogs...How am I ever going to read them all!

Deep Freeze

The deep freezer is another Trinidad food tradition.

For as long as I could remember when I was younger, my mother wanted 'A Deep Freeze'.

The DEEP FREEZE was actually a freezer apart from the fridge where you could store all the tons of meat that you wanted to.

Numerous chickens, pieces of pork, beef and wild meat chunks could be stored there.

I found out recently that they also put all the food they cook but would be eater 'later', bits of cake, icecream, and other desserts.

The bad thing is that if the freezer breaks you are fresh out of luck!

This is the one at our house.

Valentine Brownie

This is highly recommended.

When I first met Bear, he brought with him a package from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

He remembered that I liked chocolate cake.

I opened the bag and found a brownie that had a Snikers bar coating. That was the BEST brownie I have ever had!!! Chocolatey, nutty, caramely, creamy, nougaty, rich, thick, yum.

On my way back to Tally I stopped in at the FACTORY and got one.

So far I've had it in the fridge waiting for me. I am waiting on a special occassion to have it. I am going to cut it in half and then quarters.

Four different days worth of Yum :)