Tag: side dish
Lao Papaya Salad
Lao Papaya Salad
Many southeast Asian countries have their version of papaya salad. Laos is where it all originated from. Papaya salad has a certain funk to it that I can’t get enough of. The combination in the dressing of shrimp and crab paste, lime juice, fish sauce, tomatoes, and sugar, for some reason is very pleasing to me. The dressing is tossed with shredded green papaya, long beans, and Thai eggplant. Serve the papaya salad with sticky rice.
Equipment
- mortar and pestle
Ingredients
- 4 cups green papaya shredded
- 4 bird’s eye chilies finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves sliced
- 1/2 tsp shrimp paste
- 1/2 tsp crab paste
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 3 tbsp lime juice
- 8 cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 cup long beans cut into 1” pieces
- 2 Thai eggplant sliced
Instructions
- Pound in the garlic, chilies, shrimp, and crab paste in a mortar with a pestle.
- Add in the fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar.
- Add in the cherry tomatoes. Lightly pound them until they release their juices.
- Toss the dressing with the shredded papaya, long beans, and Thai eggplant.
Yucatán Fried Beans
Yucatán Fried Beans
I love refried beans. This is possibly the easiest and most flavorful recipe to make Yucatán style fried black beans. Toast the onions and habanero. Purée the black beans with the onions. Fry the purée with the habanero until it reaches your desired consistency. That’s it. You can use either vegetable oil or lard to fry the beans in; depending if you want them vegan or not.
Equipment
- blender
Ingredients
- 2 slices white onion
- 1 habanero
- 4 cups cooked black beans with broth
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil or lard
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Dry toast the onion and habanero for 5 minutes in a sauté pan over medium high heat.
- Place the onions and black beans in a blender .
- Purée until smooth.
- Heat up vegetable oil or lard in a sauté pan over medium heat. Pour in the beans. Add the toasted habanero back in. Simmer for 5-10 minutes until the beans are thickened to your liking. Season with salt.
Mash Ki Daal
Mash Ki Daal
Mash ki daal is a lesser known daal eaten in Pakistani households. The particular daal used in this recipe is urid daal, which are split white maape beans. The daal is soaked then simmered with a tomato/onion/garlic masala. This type of daal is best garnished with green chilies, cilantro, and a knob of butter(omit if you want to keep this vegan); served with chapati to scoop up the lentils.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 5 garlic cloves minced
- 1” ginger minced
- 2 roma tomatoes
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
- 1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1 cup urid lentils soaked for 1 hour
- 2 cups water
Garnish
- green chilies finely chopped
- cilantro chopped
- butter optional
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil in a pot over high heat. Sauté the onions, garlic, and ginger for 5 minutes.
- Add in the tomatoes and all of the seasonings. Sauté for 10 minutes until the tomatoes have completely cooked down. Add a couple splashes of water to help the process.
- Pour in the water and urid lentils. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 25 minutes.
- Adjust the salt to your liking. If the dal is too thick, add a little more water.
