Chips and Salsa

I have made kachumbari for years (an uncooked “salsa” recipe that, to be fair, is tasty and fresh…) 

but this recipe gets me so close to proper jarred salsa that I now make a few batches a week, and crave it by the hour.

Cooked Shamba Salsa

12 peeled, chopped, roma tomatoes*

2 cloves garlic

1/8 cup lime juice (fresh-squeezed and strained for seeds)

1 tbsp. salt

1 tsp. cayenne pepper

¼ tsp. cumin

1 red, 1 white, 1 yellow onion (or all red, if you have to choose) chopped

2 hot peppers (jalapeno), deseeded and finely minced

2 tbsp. dried cilantro

*PEELED tomatoes are the key to any good tomato based recipe, in my experience; Soups, curries, red sauces, and – well – salsa.  It is actually quite easy to peel a tomato with a good veggie peeler (which is what I do,) but you can also drop them in boiling water for a few seconds to cause the peels to separate from the fruit enough to pull the peels away.  Whatever you do, don’t leave those peels on.  They do make a difference.

Mix everything together in a stock pot and cook it down for about 6 or 7 minutes (just check that the onions have softened, and that should be long enough.)  I make two or three batches at a time, and then freeze them in old jars, but canning would be optimal… then you can give them as gifts with these:

Tortilla (Chips)

*disclaimer* these will taste nothing like the corn chips you buy at the market, because they are rolled from wheat flour.  But they are what I can make here and they are delicious, crisp and buttery.

4 cups flour

1 tbsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

2/3 cup melted shortening

1 1/3 cup milk

Melt the shortening and milk together.  Mix separately 3 cups of the flour with salt and powder , then stir together with the melted ingredients.  Dump onto a floured surface and kneed in the remaining cup of flour.  Separate into golf-ball sized portions and roll out into round tortillas.  Brown both sides in an ungreased, hot skillet. 

Now you have tortillas!  Make burritos! Enchiladas! Quesadillas! Or… chips.  Here’s how.

Take 4 tortillas and layer them in a stack.  Cut them, pie-style, into triangles.  Fry them in about an inch of oil, both sides, until just browning (they get too dark FAST so watch them carefully!)  Drain on a paper bag or towel – then serve with Shamba Salsa.  

Then eat it for breakfast, like I do.

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Spicy Orange Snapper

I'm calling this recipe 'Orange Snapper' because chicken is a very rare and expensive treat in these parts and we've decided that Red Snapper is the TRUE chicken-of-the-sea.  It's really a Chinese inspired orange sauce, and I've made this recipe with both snapper and beef, but chicken is the most likely choice.  I also don't have ready access to dream-vegetables like green onions and red-peppers, but imagine you could throw in just about anything.... I used cashews, ginger, onions and carrots.

Here we go...

Spicy Orange Snapper

To start, brown about 1/2 cup chopped cashews in a little butter, and set aside.  Use the same pan to sauté all your desired veggies in a few tbsp. of oil, and set aside with the cashews.

To bread snapper/chicken:
- 1 lb. meat
-1 egg
-1 tbsp milk
-1 cup four
-2 tsp salt

Cut meat into small cubes
Prepare bowl of egg and milk
Prepare bag with flour and salt.
Coat meat in egg mixture, and add piece by piece to the flour mixture - tossing occasionally to coat.
Stir-fry in about 1/3 cup oil until crunchy and golden.

For Orange sauce:
-3 tbsp. soy sauce
-3 tbsp. water
-8 tbsp. sugar
-5 tbsp. white vinegar
-The grated zest and juice of one orange
-Add some heat to taste (we like to use fresh poblanos, but you could also use dried, crushed red.)
-2 tsp. cornstarch.

Stir together all ingredients.  Pass the juice from the orange through a sieve before adding to the sauce.  Stir well.

Add cashews, veggies, and chicken back to the pan.  Reheat, and drizzle the sauce in its entirety over the whole lot.  Heat through until the sauce thickens, and serve over sticky white-rice.

I sometimes have the shameful urge to make a batch of this sauce to DRINK.  It's that good. Pin It Now!

Maple Pumpkin Butter.

I actually made up several batches of this Maple Pumpkin Butter last Autumn when we were in the glory of the coolness and colors and warm belly that is Fall.  I don't know why I didn't post the recipe then... but I have been ACHING for some now (especially since my panini maker arrived with our shipping container, and a cream-cheese, pumpkin butter, sliced ham panini would send me straight to heaven right now.)  I had to drag up the pics off our hard drive, but even seeing them made me happy.  I promise it really bakes itself, and the hardest part is cutting into the rind of the pumpkin.  That said, you might as well kill two delicious birds with one stone, and use a portion of the pumpkin for some Pumpkin Soup... just scroll down, be happy, and warm your bellies for the sake of an Upstate girl who loves fall, but hardly ever sees it.

Maple Pumpkin Butter

1 1/2 lbs. Fresh, peeled, sliced pumpkin (boil until soft and drain.)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup apple cider
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ginger

Blend all ingredients together in a blender, then place in a glass 13x9 inch dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours - stirring every 15 minutes.  The moisture will bake away, leaving a thick, delicious butter behind.  Shed a tear for me over the sheer beauty.

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Grace's magic.

Grace's magic* 

(aka. Bagels)

*My mother-in-law used to have a cook.  Grace.  Sweetest Kikuyu woman with a magic hand for all things dough.  She dictated this recipe to me one day about 4 years ago.  I tried it three weeks ago, and now bake them every other day....

1 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. yeast

2 cups very warm water

-Put sugar and yeast in a bowl and stir in the 2 cups warm water.  Allow to do it's thing for about 10 minutes while you move on.

3 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. salt

5 cups flour

Glaze (for later): 

1 egg

A little milk

(and sesame seeds, if you so desire, which I do.)

Simple, right?  Mix sugar, salt and flour, then dump in your fluffy yeast mixture.

You HAVE to have good yeast.  If it doesn't look foamy and full, ditch it and try again.  Too cool water won't activate the yeast, and too hot will kill it.

Kneed the dough for about 10 minutes until it is smooth and silky, adding flour constantly.  Pinch it in half to make sure the dough is dry and not sticky.

Divide the dough into 12 equal portions, and roll into balls.

Put all 12 rounds onto a greased cookie sheet, and cover lightly with a tea towel.  Set in a warm place to rise for about 40 minutes.

Uncover and it's time to pinch holes!  Just grab each round between your thumb and forefinger and pinch - then insert your thumb to widen and smooth out the center.

Cover with that towel again and leave them to rise a bit longer (about 20 min) while you heat up a nice big pot of water to boiling.  Preheat the oven, while you're at it, to about 400 degrees.

Gingerly place three bagels at a go into the water to boil for three minutes (1 1/2 min per side).  Remove with a slotted spoon and return to the cookie sheet to cool.  When they're cool enough to handle, dip both sides in the egg/milk glaze, then one side in the toasted sesame seeds, if you so desire (which I do.)

The rest is easy.  Slide the tray into the oven and watch the magic.  In about 40 minutes you should have a dozen GORGEOUS bagels.  With any luck they should be delicious too.  I always flip the bagels at the 40 min. mark and pop them in for an extra five min. to brown the underside too.

Okay, now I'm hungry.

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Homemade Thinmints.

I love girlscout cookies, but $3.50 a box?


Homemade Thin Mints

Homemade Thin Mints
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp peppermint extract

In a small bowl mix flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder and salt.
In a large bowl cream sugar and butter and milk with a hand mixer, then add in the extracts. Mix in the flour mixture until fully blended. Dough will be very stiff and dry.
Shape into two logs, about the diameter of a thin mint, and seal in seran wrap. Freeze for at least thirty minutes before slicing very thin (1/6 inch). Place slices on wax-paper lined baking sheet, and bake at 375 F for 13-15 minutes until edges are firm. Cool cookies completely before coating.


Dark Chocolate Coating
10-oz dark or semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup butter, room temperature

Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler until smooth.
Dip cookies in coating, then return to wax paper to harden and cool in the fridge or freezer.

I got this recipe from bakingbites.com Pin It Now!

Mama Lilee's Bungo Yogurt

I don't consider myself particularly "granola" by nature, but living in Africa has thrust a certain green-ness on me out of necessity. Along with carrying all our produce from the market in a woven basket, and bringing things like margarine and eggs home in a piece of newspaper, where we then scoop them into a worn out old plastic tub or place them, feathers and all, in a beat up, well used carton... I also now make yogurt (and butter, and cheese.) I actually used to make yogurt in Sudan, but with fresh fruit a-PLENTY here, this time around the yogurt is certifiably delicious.

And easy!

Here's how:

Mama Lilee's Bungo* Yogurt

You will need to buy one small container of plain yogurt from the supermarket (but you will only need this ONCE, as long as you remember to cut a 1/2 cup from each batch to use as a starter for the batch to follow.)

ingredients:
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 gallon milk
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup bungo (*or, here's the beautiful part, ANY type of concentrate you'd like to add, homemade or store bought)

Heat the milk to about 160 degrees F, then place in a large glass jar and allow to cool to about 110 degrees. You don't need to use a thermometer for this - just know that the milk has to go from hot to warm. Once the milk has cooled to about 110 degrees, add the plain yogurt. Now you need to keep the milk warm (at about 110 degrees) for the next 4 hours. I (thanks to my mom-in-law's recollecting that another lady she used to know did it this way...) use a thermos (the big kind for ice-water) and fill it with warm water. Place the jar of milk (lid off) into the water so that it is surrounded by, but not submerged in the water, then replace the thermos lid and let sit for four hours. Pop the lid, and there you have it. Yogurt.

It is a bit bitter to taste, but can be used in curries and marinades plain, or sweeten it by shaking in the sugar and concentrate as a treat. I've also blended up a banana to add as a puree, and would have done the same with strawberries or peaches or blueberries, if only... and imagine it would be delicious with the concentrate omitted and just a little sugar and vanilla to taste. Whatever it may be - it cuts down on the numerous containers we plough through when buying yogurt by the six-pack (which we can't get here anyhow) and it just feels good!

Note: This is "drinking yogurt" as it is called in Kenya. Probably much less thick than you're used to in the US. So, no - you didn't do it wrong - it's supposed to be that thin. Pin It Now!

Mimi's Banana Muffins (with chocolate chips)

Pretty sure there must have been a predecessor to The Mimi for this recipe, but since it's mom's banana bread I remember, she gets all the props... even though I don't think she ever made it as muffins. Or with chocolate chips.

Anywho...

I give you:
Mimi's Banana Muffins (with chocolate chips)

1/2 cup margarine

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

3 bananas mashed*

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Sift together dry ingredients. Cream margarine and sugar, mix in eggs and mashed bananas. Add dry ingredients and mix through. Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon equal portions into a greased 12 cup muffin tin. Bake at 350 for 25 min.

*I think the muffins are more delicious when the bananas are pureed by food processor. But then there's more dishes to clean. It's a toss-up...

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Pumpkin and Tomato Soup with Rice

Pumpkin and Tomato Soup with Rice

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. ripe pumpkin, peeled, seeded and chopped
3 tbsp. butter
1 lg. onion, peeled and chopped
3 lg. tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 inch fresh ground ginger
1 tsp. salt
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
4 cups chicken broth
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 cups half and half milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup cooked rice


Place chopped pumpkin in a pot filled with enough water to cover. Cook pumpkin til tender (about 30 min.) in 450 degree oven.
Saute onion, tomato, carrot and ginger in butter and salt 'til soft and liquified.
When pumpkin is cooked, add to tomato mixture in a large soup pot.
Add broth, vinegar and spices
Cover and simmer about 30 minutes, then, working in batches, puree soup in a blender or food processor. Reserve some of the chunks of pumpkin til the end and only add in to puree if you want to thicken the broth.
Return to stove-top and stir in half n' half and salt and pepper to taste
Add 1 cup cooked rice.
Serve hot and garnish with fresh cilantro and chopped tomato.

This is crazy yummy, but maybe you should wait 'til october to try it out in style...

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Lime 'n Chili Sweet Potatoes

Mihogo is a life-force here on the island. One of the carpenters once told me that we wouldn't have so many freckles if we ate more cassava... freckles being a sign of an inferior culture, obviously. We also would only have to sleep about 3 hours a night.

I wanted to try out a new flavor I had in mind of Grilled mihogo (cassava) with lime and chilies. However, I accidentally wrote Sweet Potatoes in stead of Cassava on my shopping list when Reid was going down to the market... but I was so infatuated with the idea that I couldn't wait, and rolled the sweet potatoes in the lime and chili themselves. Presto! Our new favorite dish.

I guess I've given away the recipe already, but for those of you who weren't paying attention during that captivating anecdote, here it is spelled out:

Lime 'n Chili Sweet potatoes.

Preheat oven to high/broil

Ingredients:
8 small sweet potatoes, peeled
1/2 lime seeded and squeezed (or equivalent of 1 1/2 tsp. lime juice)
I small red chili or thai bird, seeded and chopped, very fine.
1 1/2 tsp. salt

Boil the sweet potatoes 30 min. until tender
Prepare the rub by mixing the lime, chili and salt in a large bowl.
When the sweet potatoes are cooked through, remove from water and cut into one inch slices. Throw all the pieces in the bowl and toss to coat. Dump the coated sweet potatoes into an oven-proof pan and broil for about 5 minutes.



You'll want to be sure you don't over do it on the lime. I've made this mistake. Pin It Now!