Tag: main course
Falafels
Falafels
Falafels are eaten all over the Middle East and Mediterranean. In Arabic countries, falafels are traditionally made out of favs beans. This particular recipe is Persian, which are made out of garbanzo beans. A good rule of thumb is to make sure your griddle is lightly oiled and hot. These falafels are great in a pita with tomato, lettuce, onion, and yogurt sauce.
Ingredients
- 4 cup garbanzo beans
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup parsley
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp pepper
Instructions
- In a food processor, blend the garbanzo beans, onions, garlic, and parsley. Transfer the ingredients to a bowl and mix in the baking powder, sesame seeds, salt, and pepper. Put in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to firm up.
- Form into small patties. Heat up cooking oil on a griddle over medium heat.
- Cook each patty for 4 minutes a side.
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.
Sudado de Tres Carne (3 Meat Stew)
Sudado de Tres Carnes (3 Meat Stew)
Today is Saturday October 12 in Saint Paul, MN. It is 35 degrees out and snowing in the middle of October. The leaves on the trees are still green and have yet to changed color. Summer into Winter with no in between. It is the perfect time for stew. To end this 2 week kick of Colombian cuisine, I made Sudado de Tres Carnes, 3 meat stew. For the meat, I used beef stew meat, pork riblets, and bone in chicken thighs. They are stewed with alinos columbianos paste, tomato, potatoes, yucca, carrots, and water. That simple. You can serve this as is or over steamed rice. Garnish with cilantro.
Ingredients
- 4 cups water
- 1 cup alinos paste
- 1 lb beef stew meat
- 1 lb pork riblets
- 4 bone in chicken thighs skinned and cut in half
- 1 tomato diced
- 1 lb frozen yucca
- 1 lb potatoes peeled and cubed
- 3 carrots cut into 1” pieces
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 cup cilantro chopped
Instructions
- In a large pot or Dutch oven, add in water, alinos paste, chicken, pork, beef, and tomato. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 45 minutes.
- Add in the potatoes, yucca, carrots, salt, and pepper. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
- Turn off the heat. Stir in the cilantro.
