Tag: side dish
Stir Fry Mustard Greens
Stir Fry Mustard Greens
This is a quick and healthy side dish that takes only 5 minutes to make. Mustard greens are a little more bitter then other greens when stir frying, so the use of the sugar helps balance out the flavor. If you don’t like mustard greens; spinach, kale, and turnip greens are all great substitutes.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 5 dried chilies seeded and chopped
- 1 bunch mustard greens chopped 1” thick
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil in a large sauté pan or wok over medium high heat. Add the garlic and dried chilies. Cook for 1 minute.
- Turn up the heat to high. Add in the mustard greens, sugar, salt, and sesame oil.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes. Serve immediately or place the greens in a serving dish to stop the cooking process.
Duck Fat Potatoes
Duck Fat Potatoes
I’m not sure if there’s any better way to prepare potatoes than sautéing them in duck fat. It really adds a whole new dimension of richness; as if these potatoes were coated in gold. These take very little time to prepare. You can use any type of potato that you like; skin on or off. Duck Fat can be found at higher end grocery stores for relatively cheap. Unless you’re going to use up all of the fat quickly, store the duck fat in the freezer. What’s nice about the duck fat is that a little goes a long way. If you ever happen to prepare a whole duck, you can save all of the fat that you render out; just as long as there’s no marinades or flavorings added to the duck that would alter the flavor of it’s fat. A whole duck can render up to 2 cups of duck fat.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp duck fat
- 1 1/2 lbs potatoes
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp chili flakes
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp sichuan peppercorn powder
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 3 tbsp chives chopped
Instructions
- What ever the type of potato you use, make sure that the pieces are no more than an inch in size. Cover them with water in a pot and bring to a boil. Cook them for 5 minutes. Strain and rinse under cold water. Pat them dry.
- Heat up duck fat in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add in the potatoes. Let them brown on 1 side for 5 minutes without stirring.
- Add the garlic and spices. Toss and cook for another 5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat. Garnish with chopped chives.
African Corn Tamales wrapped in Banana Leaves
African Corn Tamales wrapped in Banana Leaves
These corn tamales are indigenous to Centra African cuisine; specifically Cameroonian. They consist of corn, cornmeal, palm oil, and spinach wrapped and steamed in banana leaves. The main difference between wrapping your tamales in banana leaves as opposed to corn husks like the Mexican version is that the banana leaves give the tamales more of an earthy flavor while husks make it taste more corny. I have been putting off making these for the last month thinking that they were going to take longer than I thought. You can honestly make the corn mixture in less than 10 minutes. The banana leaves took less than 10 minutes to wash and heat up under the broiler. This step is very important and can’t be missed. Heating them up under a flame allows the leaves to be pliable. If you skip this step, the leaves will tare when you roll up the tamales. I’m extremely efficient in rolling up things; so it took me less than 5 minutes to make the entire batch of tamales. This recipe should yield you 10-12 tamales. So 25-30 minutes of assembly with 90 minutes of steaming. When they are finished, the tamales need to sit for 15-20 to firm up.These tamales can be eaten out of the leaves as is or are even better topped with cheese, sour cream, and hot sauce. Skip the cheese and sour cream if you want these to continue to be vegan.
Equipment
- Blender or food processor
- steamer pot and basket
Ingredients
- 6 cup corn
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 3 tbsp palm oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp dehydrated onion
- 3 cups spinach chopped
- banana leaves
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor, pulse the corn with 1 cup of water until roughly chopped, but not puréed.
- Add the corn mixture to another bowl with cornmeal, salt, palm oil, garlic powder, and dehydrated onions. Mix thoroughly.
- Mix in the spinach.
- Tare the banana leaves into 10”x12” pieces. Wash thoroughly. Place them under your broiler for a minute. This helps them be pliable. Take 1 cup of the corn mixture and place it across the center of the banana leaf.
- Roll it up. Don’t smoke it.
- Line the bottom of a steamer basket with banana leaves. You don’t want any water touching the tamales while steaming.
- Place the tamales upright in the steamer basket. Cover and let steam for 90 minutes.
- When finished steaming, remove from the pot and let sit for 15-20 minutes to firm up.
- You can eat these asis right out of the banana leaf.
- Or you can top the tamales with sour cream and your favorite hot sauce.
