Plantain Pancakes

Living so far away from home, I sometimes forget and idealize certain things. Recently, I found some plantains in the store & excitedly called my mom to ask what I should do with them. "Why on earth did you buy plantains?" was the reply. Apparently my mom was not the link to plantain pleasure. I think it was a friend's mom or grandmother. Someone from either western Africa or India. Maybe even South East Asia. The benefit of growing up in a multicultural city was going to friend's houses for food.

Recently, I bought some more plantains, convinced I'd find a use for them. I ran into a friend on the way home from grocery shopping and we compared. I had riper plantains than she did but she had something I didn't: a plan. Pisang Goreng - fried plantain in Indonesia and Singapore. She just slices her ripe plantains, dips them in batter & fries them and has them as a snack with tea. I'm not a big fan of dipping things into batter, so I just made pancakes with a coconut sauce.

Plantain Pancakes
(Pisang Goreng)
2 ripe plantains (skins should be black)
1/4 cup flour
pinch salt
oil to fry

Peel plantains, mash with a potato masher. Add flour to create a batter-like consistency.
Drop tablespoons into hot oil. Fry until there is a slight caramel-crust. Turn once. Drain on paper towels.

Coconut Sauce
1/4 c grated cocnut
3 Tbsp coconut milk
1 small red chili, chopped
1/4 tsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp mustard seeds

In a small bowl, add coconut, coconut milk and chili. Allow the coconut to absorb the liquid. Roast seeds over medium heat until the mustard seeds pop. Add seeds to coconut. Serve with plantain pancakes.

I was happy with the result and will be making this again. This time, when I find more plantains in the supermarket, I'll be calling my friend over for a snack. Then I'll tell my mom what to do the next time she sees plantains.

Wild Rice Pancakes & Leftover Asparagus

Ah, the joy of working in Germany! Today is a holiday (Pentecost) and I have the day off of work. Even though I have to vacuum the apartment, do laundry, repot some herbs & build Ikea furniture, it's still a day off of work. Although I might log in later & do work, nullifying the concept of "holiday" as such, but we'll see...

For lunch, I'm getting rid of some leftovers. Last night, I tried to follow a recipe for stir-fried beef & asparagus, which was OK, but moreover, I have leftover wild rice. It's actually a brown rice - wild rice mix, but that's only a technicality. I'm making pancakes out of them & will be using the scant amounts of stir-fry I have leftover as a filling.

Rice Pancakes with Leftover Asparagus Stir-Fry
1 cup cooked wild/brown rice
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
pinch ground ginger
pinch cinamon
1/2 clove mined garlic
pinch chili pepper flakes
1/2 Tbsp lime juice
water as needed
1/2 cup leftover asparaus beef stir-fry (see recipe)

In a blender, puree all ingredients. It won't turn out smooth, but that's OK. Add water, if necessary, to maintain a "batter-like" consistency.
In a skillet over medium-high heat, spread 1/2 the mixture. Allow to get crispy & wait until it can slide on it's own. At this point, flip the pancake.
Repeat for 2nd pancake.
Top with warmed leftovers & garnish with green onions.

I wasn't thrilled with the stir-fry last night, but I was much happier with the leftovers.

Black Bean Soup

I just got back from Amsterdam (more on that later), today is a holiday, and I think I need to clean my fridge. Sometime last week, before I left, I had the clever idea of soaking black beans. I think I wanted to cook them that night, or maybe even the next day. In spite of the fact that I have been trained to listen & speak in different languages simultaneously, I am not capable of cooking 1 dish & remembering what I want to do with black beans at the same time. I had a black-bean-out. Thankfully, they were packed in water & what appears to be the hermetic seal of a tupperware container and were still good when I got back. I promised to make lunch this afternoon, and this is what I made.

Coconut Black Bean Soup
olive oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1 cup soaked black beans
600ml chicken stock
200 ml coconut milk
mint or coriander to garnish

Sautee garlic & spices in pot. Add soaked beans. Add liquid. Bring to boil, allow to simmer for 45 minutes. Blend. Put in bowl, garnish with coriander or mint, and any extra coconut milk, if you have it.

I used mint as a garnish. Later on in the day, I discovered that I had coriander in the fridge, that is remakably still good. If I had only known...

I will post on Amsterdam later, but frankly, I was a little disappointed. I love The Netherlands but I did not love Amsterdam. I will also get around to sharing more about ham & eggs.

Chicken - Dissected

This has nothing to do with the H1N1 virus, I assure you. I'm fairly confident it has nothing to do with my hypochondria either. I either have a leftover of my allergies, or I'm getting a cold. Just to be safe, I am taking my vitamins and eating chicken noodle soup.

The chicken was a completely unnecessary purchase, I admit. I already went back out to the goat farm to get another kilo of baby goat (don't ask me when I plan on eating it - the main thing is that the baby goats will grow up soon so they must stock my freezer now), as well as shrimp, lamb and escargot, ready whenever I am. I do not need chicken. I do not have room for chicken. But I want chicken, and this is the important thing.

At the local supermarket, I planned on buying about 1 pound of meat, making a soup out of half of it and putting the other half in the freezer. The problem with my plan is, if you wait until 15 minutes before the supermarket closes, they often do not have the fresh items you want. The veggie selection looked picked over and the fruit all looked sad. The only chicken I could find was either premarinated & ready to grill (don't ask me what they marinate it in, I don't want to think about it), and whole chickens.

Full of hypochondria, I selected the whole chicken and make my way back home. I imagined that one could cut the bird into breasts, legs, wings & rest. Somehow, thanks to my amazing Zwilling knives and in spite of my skills, I managed to separate the bird into exactly these parts.

Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup
For the soup, I used the wings & "rest" (back) of chicken.
I heated these parts in a large pot until the fat melted.
I added garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chillies and galagant (all minced), sautéing the spices.
I added about 2 litres of water, 2 lime leaves, put the lid on & walked away for an hour or so.
I took the chicken out of the broth, let it cool for a bit, pulled off them meat, added it back to the soup, discarding the bones.
While cooking 100g of mie noodles, I then added about 1 cup of coconut milk and a bit of fish sauce to the soup.
I then added the noodles, the juice of 1/2 lemon & served with cilantro & bean sprouts.

It's been a while since I've been stuffed on soup. I love light Asian broths that have you slurping and splashing and constantly refilling your bowl. I feel a lot better, less coughing, no stuffy sinuses. The only thing is, I have to figure out what to do with the rest of the chicken.

No Marinara for These Mussels

The first time I had mussels, it was in a white wine sauce. It was so many years ago, I can't even remember which city it was - all I remember is the red brick interior and the chalkboards on the walls with the daily specials.

Today is a hectic day. I am expecting visitors soon and need to clean the apartment, my cell phone died on the weekend and needed to be replaced, plus work is demanding more & more of my time. So, when I passed by the fishmonger & saw mussels in the window, I knew that I could grab a loaf of bread on the way home & have a quick dinner.

At first, I thought of the classic Mussels in White Wine Sauce. However, I just had the most amazing Venus Clams in White Wine that I didn't want to tarnish the memory with lesser shellfish (I prefer clams to mussels any day). I made this instead:

Mussels in Spicy Coconut Milk
1.5 Kg Mussels, cleaned
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp minced garlic
3 stalks lemongrass, chopped
1 red chili, chopped
2 Tbsp ginger, minced
3 Kefir lime leaves
1 tsp sesame oil
300 ml coconut milk
3 Tbsp lime juice

Heat oil. Sautee garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chili & kefir lime leaves. When softened, add mussels. Cover, allow to steam open, stirring occasionally. When all mussels are open, add coconut milk, sesame oil and lime juice. Serve with Basmati or Jasmine rice.

Slightly spicy, largely tasty; broth is perfect for a soup.