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Mpuh Fish (Fish in Plantain Pudding)
Mpuh Fish (Fish in Plantain Pudding)
Mpuh fish is a Central African dish consisting of a catfish steak in plantain batter wrapped in a banana leaf then steamed. The plantain batter firms up into almost a tamale like consistency with the whole catfish steak in the center. Plus it gets the earthy flavor from the banana leaf. I’ve been wanting to make this dish for quite a while. It has a lot of steps. You could say that this is a complete pain in the ass to make. But, holy shitballs is it good.In Cameroon, they typically use catfish. You can also use snapper, tilapia, striped bass, or mackerel. I purchased a whole cleaned catfish for only $3.99lb. So it’s fairly inexpensive considering you yield 4 servings. If you are unable to find njansa, country onion spice, or African nutmeg, you can substitute garlic and onion powder. My local Asian market has a huge African section, so I was able to find them there.
Servings: 4
Equipment
- Steam pot
- blender
- twine
Ingredients
- 1/2 medium onion
- 1/2 small bell pepper
- 2 tbsp njansa
- 2 tbsp country onion spice
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tsp African nutmeg
- 1 cup plantain flour
- 2 cups warm water
- 3 tbsp palm oil
- 1 tbsp chicken bouillon
- 3 lbs catfish
- banana leaves heated under a broiler or open flame for pliability
Instructions
- Add the onion, bell pepper, njansa, country onion spice, African nutmeg, and a 1/4 cup of water in a blender. Purée.
- Add the purée to the plantain flour, palm oil, warm water, and chicken bouillon. The consistency should be similar to pancake batter.
- Rinse the whole catfish under warm water quickly to wash away any slime.
- Cut into 4 steaks and add to the plantain batter.
- Place a catfish steak in the center of the banana leaf with a scoop or two of the plantain batter.
- Wrap and tie up, making sure that none of the batter pours out.
- Do the same to the other catfish steaks.
- Place the banana leaf packages in a steamer pot. Steam over high heat for an hour, making sure that there is always enough water in the pot. Let rest for 20 minutes before serving.
Plantain Pudding
- There’s a good chance that you will have extra plantain batter. You can portion out the batter into ramekins like so.
- Add them to a steamer pot. Steam for 25 minutes.
- Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Gallo Pinto
Gallo Pinto
Gallo Pinto is the Costa Rican national dish. It is eaten almost every day for breakfast, accompanied by fried eggs, plantains, fried cheese, avocado, and corn tortillas. To get the traditional taste, the most important ingredient in this dish is salsa lizano. Salsa lizano is a vegetable based condiment, used almost similar to Worcestershire sauce. It adds a salty, peppery, cumin taste to the rice and beans. You can find salsa lizano at any Latin market.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 medium onion diced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1/4 cup salsa lizano plus 1 tbsp
- 1 can black beans with juices
- 2 tsp salt
- 3 cups day old white rice
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauce pan over medium high heat. Add in the onions and bell pepper. Sauté for 8 minutes.
- Add in the garlic. Sauté for 1 more minute.
- Stir in the black beans with it’s juices, salsa lizano, and salt. Simmer over medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Add in the day old rice. Mix thoroughly with the beans, breaking up any rice clumps. Simmer for another 5 minutes until the liquid is absorbed by the rice.
- Turn off the heat. Stir in 1 tbp of salsa lizano and the chopped cilantro.
Jamaican Meat Pies
Jamaican Meat Pies
I first tried a Jamaican meat pie at the West Indies Soul Food booth at the MN State Fair about 15 years ago. Instead of an empanada shape, they sold them in the shape of a patty; hence why they called them Jamaican beef patties. They were unbelievably good and spicy as hell. The baked dough was very similar to a pot pie crust. Every year I make sure to go back and eat one with a large Jamaican Arnie Palmer.Past forward to present day. My high ass had a craving for these since I didn’t go to the Fair this year. So I had to learn how to make them. They take time to prep, but are overall fairly easy. This is something that you just can’t make one of, so be aware that this recipe yields 10/12 meat pies. The nice thing is that you can freeze these down on a baking sheet and store in a freezer bag. The meat pies take 30 minutes in a 375 degree oven.
Servings: 10 Meat Pies
Equipment
- Mixer with dough hook
Ingredients
Dough
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 5 oz lard room temp
- 4 oz butter room temp
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar
- 1 cup ice water
Meat Filling
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 medium white onion diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp Jamaican curry powder
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp chicken bouillon
- 1/2 tsp allspice
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
- 3 green onions finely chopped
- 2 tbsp parsley chopped
Instructions
Making the dough
- Mix together the dry ingredients.
- Turn the mixer to medium speed. Add in the butter and lard, mixing until it is incorporated with the flour. Add in the cider vinegar and the ice water. It should form into a ball.
- On a well floured surface, separate the dough into 2 balls.
- With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/4” thick. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Cut out discs with a 6” bowl.
- Do this until all of the dough is used up. You should yield 10-12 dough frisbees. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Meat Pie Filling
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the onions, garlic, and all of the spices for 2 minutes.
- Add in the ground beef and breadcrumbs. Cook for 8 minutes, until the ground beef is cooked all the way through.
- Turn off the heat. Stir in the green onions and parsley. Let cool.
Meat Pie Assembly
- In a large empanada press, add one of the dough discs.
- Add 2 heaping tbsps of the meat filling.
- Fold it over, crimping tightly.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
