Cook & Learn About the World: Angola: Chicken Muamba

II first started adding these posts as a way to explore dishes from other countries in an attempt to widen my children´s palettes and also teach them about different countries around the world. Life however got iin the way and cooking the world kind of got put on a backburner...until now...when again my interest iin trying out new dishes,flavours and ingredients has been piqued.

 So, finally, we move onto Angola, an African country, which I  know little about including it´s cuisine. I drew on Global Table Adventure¨s recipe for Angolan Muamba Chicken Stew  for my inspiration, with only a few tweaks to the recipe. Instead of using a  whole chicken, quartered, I used half a chicken, quartered, which was plenty for the four of us. I also only used 2 tomatoes and 200g pumpkin. As I cannot buy okra where I lived , I substituted it for 100-200g courgette. I don´t like very spicy food and as we couldn´t buy any chilli peppers, I omitted it from the recipe. I also added less chilli powder,about 1/4 of a teaspoon as opposed to 1 1/2 teaspoons. As red palm oil is not very healthy and also because I cut down the amount of chicken and vegetables, I used only about half a 1/4 measuring cup of red palm oil ,which I then filled the rest of the 1/4 cup with mild olive oil.I also added salt & pepper to season the stew.

The result was a tasty chicken stew, with the chicken meat being very tender. However, I think it did lack a little in flavour for me so I would add more of the chilli powder and/or the chilli peppers if I were to make it again! 

 

Cooking England County by County: Cheshire: Cheshire Cheese Soup

 Cheshire is in the north-west of England,very close to my neck of the woods and is known for its cheese, which is a crumbly, mild cheese,similar to mild Cheddar or Lancashire cheese. It also features in many regional recipes,including this one for Cheshire Cheese Soup. If you are unable to buy Cheshire Cheese you could substitute it for a mild Cheddar.

I´m not really that keen on soup but I enjoyed this soup and it is lovely to mop up with a fresh, crispy French baguette...even if it doesn´t look so appetizing in the photo. Perfect for cold, autumn and winter days! I used the following recipe. Enjoy!

Cooking Spain Region by Region: The Balearic Islands: Cocarrois or Spinach Pasties

 

 When you think of the Balearic Islands, you tend to think of beautiful beaches and crystalline waters and you probably aren´t far wrong. The Balearic Islands are formed by Mallorca, Menorca,Ibiza and Formentera. The only island of the Balearic Islands I have been to is Ibiza but I was more into the clubbing scene at that time and typical gastronomy could not have been further from my mind!I don´t recall even seeing these typical spinach pasties, or Cocarrois, let alone trying them. However, I decided to have a go and making them for this month´s Cooking Spain Region by Region and they were definitely worth it.

The pastry was a very short, crumbly pastry made with lard and olive oil, which was new to me and it was filled with spinach, pine nuts, currents and smoky paprika. These could easily be made vegan or vegetarian by using vegetable shortening. I´d definitely make these again even though unfortunately I couldn´t persuade the kids to try them. The recipe is taken and adapted from the book ¨ Las 1000 Mejores Recetas de Cocina¨. I think I halved the recipe which made about 3

  

Cocarrois (serves 4)

 Ingredients:

Pastry:

 400g plain flour

50g lard

50 ml olive oil

40g sugar

50ml water

1 egg

 Filling:

3/4kg fresh spinach

50g currants

40g pine nuts

1tbsp of sweet, smoky paprika

40ml of olive oil

Salt & pepper to season

Method:

1. Mix the egg, lard and olive oil until creamy, then add the sugar and water and mix till combined,add the flour gradually and knead till it has some consistency. Cover and allow to rest for half an hour.

2.Wash the spinach leaves, chop and boil for 10 minutes, then wring as much water out of the spinach as possible.

3. Fry the spinach in a little oil for a few minutes,season with saly and pepper and add the currents, pinenuts and paprika, stir quickly over the heat for a short time.

4. Roll out the pastry..it is quite crumbly so my advice is to roll it out on top of plastic wrap or Clingfilm. Using a small saucer or pizza cutter cut into circles of around 20cm and place filling in the centre of each circle.

5. Double the pastry covering the filling to form a semicircle or pasty shape,sealing the edges of the pasty.

6. Heat the oven to 180/170º C and place ¨Cocarrois¨ or pasties on a greased baking tray and cook for 25 to 30 mins until a pale golden.

7.Serve hot or cold.

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Eat More Variety Alphabet Challenge: F: Fish: Monkfish Kebabs

 It´s back! The Eat More Variety Alphabet Challenge is back and to kick off we´re continuing with the letter F. I knew immediately which ingredient to choose for F! Fish without a doubt! We don´t eat enough of it as I´ve never liked it, neither the taste,the smell nor having to touch it and my hands smelling fishy. We only eat it once a week and I can only eat white fish battered(usually frozen battered tilapia!) and my daughter is also not so keen on fish so hopefully I can discover some new recipes that will change our minds. The first recipe I decided to try out was one I came across in a book about feeding babies and  toddlers and family food; monkfish kebabs. The recipe is very simple and fairly quick to make and it was a hit with both my husband and my son.However, I chickened out of trying it....I think it would taste too fishy for me and my daughter refused to try it at first ,then she eventually tried it but spat it out so a bit of a mixed result.I don´t think this is going to convince my daughter and I to eat more fish though.

If you´d like to join in with the Eat More Variety Alphabet Challenge, either make this recipe or make your own fish recipe and blog about it linking back to this page. I´d love to see your fish recipes and get more inspiration of ways to eat more fish especially for those who don´t like fish!

Ingredients (for 2-3 people)

1 tomato cut into 6 slices
1/2 small red pepper,cut into squares
1/2 small yellow pepper,cut into squares
3 mushrooms
monkfish tail cut into about 12 cubes
juice of 1/2 lemon
a pinch of black pepper
1/2 tbsp olive oil

Method:
1.Heat the grill and soak 3 wooden skewers.
2.Thread a slice of tomato,monkfish,red pepper, monkfish,yellow pepper and then a mushroom onto the wooden skewers.
3.Mix olive oil, lemon juice and black pepper together.
4.Place kebabs on top of oven tray covered with tinfoil and brush the dressing over the top.
5.Grill for 5 mins,then turn over and cook for a further 5 mins till fish is cooked.

Cook & Learn about the World: Albania: Leek Pie & Leek & Rice Bake

Things as usual have been very hectic and I haven´t got round to blogging these delicious Albanian dishes, depite making them months ago. The first is Leek Pie, which is a tasty and usual vegetarian leek pie. I say unusual because the filling is very different, kind of like a custard. I  have actually made this pie twice now because it´s so good. The first time I made it the filling leaked out of the pie.The second time the filling also leaked out a little....I don´t know if this is because I put an airhole in the pie even though the recipe doesn´t tell you to do this or just because the pie was overfull. Although all the grown ups enjoyed it, I couldn´t persuade my kids to even try it but I know it is a recipe that I will repeat. I followed the following recipe from Global Table Adventure and hardly altered it although I
think I halved the amounts or put 4 eggs instead of 6....I can´t remember very well now!!!                   

I also made Leek and Rice Bake following the recipe from the blog,My Albanian Food. The only changes I made to the recipe was to use cubed leg of lamb as it´s difficult to buy lamb mince here and instead of using lamb stock, I used chicken or beef stock. Unfortunately this dish wasn´t a hit with either my husband or my children although I thought it was tasty. My husband blames the type of lamb here in Spain and that it isn´t good for cooking in this way. We didn´t learn much more about Albania unfortunately as I couldn´t find much.

Eat More Variety Alphabet Challenge E: Eggplant: Eggplant Parmigiana

 Why when you can´t sleep at night, words come easily for a new blog post but when you actually sit down to write it, you can´t even remember what you were going to put or even think of anything to write. Zero,nada, zilch! A big fat nothing!

I had an aubergine lurking in my fridge, about to go bad, waiting to be used and I came across a recipe for Eggplant Parmigiana...or aubergine as it´s known as to us Brits, in my trusty American Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Every recipe that I cook from that book turns out delicious and it is one of my most used and well-thumbed, tatty,falling apart and spattered cookbooks. I decided to make it for me and my other half´s dinner as I wasn´t sure if the kids would even try it,despite the fact that one of my aims in doing this Eat More Variety Challenge is to get us all eating more variety. This dish was definitely a winner and I think the kids might even like it,if I can manage to get past the first stumbling block of getting them to at least try it, as it´s reminiscent of pizza. However, my daughter can even be fussy with pizza as she doesn´t like it with cheese...who doesn´t like cheese on pizza?...so she might not like the cheesey aspect of this dish.So with out further ado, on to the recipe.

Ingredients (Serves 2)
 1 small eggplant
  1 beaten egg
1/4 cup plain flour
2 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup meatless spaghetti sauce or bolognese sauce
3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Method:
1.Wash and peel the aubergine and cut into thin slices.
2.Combine egg and 1 tbsp water,then dip aubergine slices in egg, then flour to coat
3.Fry aubergine in hot oil  for 4 to 6 mins until golden on both sides, drain on kitchen roll.
4.Place aubergine in a single layer in a baking dish about 30x 19x 4.5cm,then sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, then add the spaghetti sauce and finally sprinkle the Mozzarella over the top.
5.Bake for 10-12 mins in a 200ºC oven until cheese has melted.

...and there you have it!Easy peasy! Enjoy on it´s own or with a salad and some crusty bread.

Eat More Variety Alphabet Challenge E: Eggplant: Stuffed Eggplant

It´s the start of a New Year and with it brings new promises, many of which I try to keep and often fail. One of those promises is to try and blog more,something which I have very little time for these days but somehow I´m going to have to find it, and the other is to eat healthier and attempt to get my kids to eat healthier and eat more variety of food.So I have returned to my Eat More Variety Challenge after my long absence to continue from where I left off,with the letter E. After brainstorming ingredients beginning with E, I decided to choose eggplant,even though it really begins with A if you´re from the UK like me! Eggplant is the American English word for aubergine and although I like it,it´s not something we eat a lot of and getting the kids to eat it is a whole other ball game!

Eggplants,or aubergines, have many nutritional and health benefits. They contain anthocyanins and chlorogenic acid which fuction as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds as well as containing fibre,potassium,Vitamin C,Vitamin B6 and phytonutrient so can help with heart health, blood cholesterol,cancer, cognitive function, weight mangement and liver health.

I discovered this recipe for Stuffed Aubergines when I was browsing my cookery books and thought it sounded yummy and it certainly didn´t disappoint. I made this for supper for my husband and I, thinking that maybe the kids might be persuaded to try it but I should´ve known better, despite the fact that they thought it looked a little like pizza, they wouldn´t even try a tiny forkful!!Another good thing was that it didn´t take me as much time to prepare as I had expected.

Stuffed  Eggplant orAubergine, based on the recipe in The Dairy Book of Home Cookery(Serves2)

Ingredients:
2 medium sized eggplants/aubergines
1/2 medium onion
2 slices of bacon (think I´d increase this to 4)
1/2 green pepper
1/2 can of tinned tomatoes(around 200g)
25g butter
50g sliced mushrooms
50g white breadcrumbs
salt & pepper
50g Cheddar cheese,grated

Method:
1. Halve eggplants lengthways and scoop out the pulp, leaving 1/2cm thick shells.
2.Chop pulp and place in a saucepan.
3.Chop onion, green pepper and bacon
4.Add to aubergine pulp along with the butter and simmer gently till pulp is tender.
5.Add tinned tomatoes and stir in mushrooms.
6.Remove from heat and add breadcrumbs to thicken,season with salt & pepper.
7. Stuff eggplant shells with the mixture and spinkle with grated cheese.
8. Cook in preheated oven at between 200ºC/400ºF for 15 '20 minutes.

Cook & Learn about the world: Afghanistan:

 So welcome to a new regular post I´m going to be blogging about frequently: Cook and Learn about the World. Inspired by the Global Table Adventure blog, I decided that I wanted to also cook the world so my family could try new cuisines and dishes from different countries, eat more variety and hopefully encourage my daughter to be less of a fussy eater while at the same time learn about these countries and cultures and become more tolerant and open-minded. And after the recent attack in London, it couldn´t come at a better time.

The first country on the list is Afghanistan and I was excited to try this cuisine as I´ve never eaten Afghan food before. I turned to Global Table Adventure´s Afghan recipes and decided to make the following recipes:Burani Bonjon (or Spicy Braised Aubergine with Seer Moss(Garlic Mint Sauce);Kabeli Palau(Twice-cooked Basmati Rice with Chicken & Carrots)and Firnee (Cardamom & Rose Water Custard). I chose these particular dishes as they were the ones that I liked the sound of the most but also because I thought that my children might like/eat these better than the others.Although I used Global Table Adventure´s recipes for Afghanistan, for other countries I might use other recipes I find in addition to those of Global Table Adventure.

The first dish I made was the Kabeli Palau(Basmati Rice with Chicken & Carrots). I made the slightly quicker version using chicken breasts and chicken stock(yes, with an Oxo cube!) and even though I made the "quick" version, this recipe did take quite a lot of work but in the end it was so worth it.The rice with tender chunks of chicken lightly spiced is reminiscent of Indian cuisine(one of my favourites!) and the crunchy yet sweet carrot and nutty garnish just finishes off the dish perfectly. I´d definitely reccommend trying this dish.It was a real hit with everyone except my daughter who only ate the rice(and that was with loads of ketchup!!)


The second dish I made was Burani Bonjon(Spicy Braised Aubergine)& Seer Moss(Garlic Mint Sauce) I made this as a side dish. Unfortunately I didn´t make all these Afghan dishes on the same day as it would have made an ideal side dish for the Basmati Rice with Chicken & Carrots. I knew my daughter probably wouldn´t try this dish with it being a vegetable dish but you can live in hopes....I think my 18mth old had a little bit although I think he spat the aubergine out. This was tasty without being too spicy and the garlic mint yoghurt sauce was a great accompaniment to it...very garlicy. I had to use dried mint as didn´t have any fresh so I think the mint flavour was lost a little. Again, I´d definitely reccommend trying this dish.

 Finally, I made Firmee(Cardamom & Rose Water Custard). Both of these flavours were pretty new to me,especially the rose water...which I managed to find in a Morrocan food shop. The recipe itself is pretty easy to make(just make sure you add warm milk to the cornflour not cold otherwise it won´t thicken..I realised this later on but corrected the problem and managed to thicken it up!!)I couldn´t find peeled pistachios so peeling the pistachios was probably one of the things that took up most of the time in this recipe and then grinding it and the cardamom...luckily I had my trusty Thermomix! Unfortunately, we weren´t very keen on this dessert as it has a very strong, perfumed taste despite me only making half the recipe and using half the amount of the rose water.Neither of my children tried this dessert either.


My view:I really enjoyed the food from Afghanistan and would love to try more dishes now including the other recipes featured in Global Table Adventure. However, dessert was a little disappointing.I´ll definitely be making both the rice and the aubergine dishes again in the future.Delicious!!

My children´s view: Not such a success with the kids. The rice was the most successful especially with my 18 mth old and we mananged to encourage my daughter to eat it with copious amounts of ketchup and by saying that it was a special "paella".

Now for the learning part, you can find educational activities about Afghanistan on both Activity Village & Enchanted Learning,however you have to pay to become a member to obtain these activities.I found the following page with various educational activities about Afghanistan and printed out the Afghanistan flag for my daughter to colour.However, we haven´t done anything else so I was a little disappointed that she hasn´t learnt more about this country. I´d love to know of any books aimed at children about Afghanistan or any other activities....please feel free to share them with us. I´d also love to hear if you make any of the dishes too!

Just adding on this quick. I´ve found a book about Afghanistan at my local library(and even better it´s in English!) which looks like a great way to teach my daughter a bit about Afghanistan. It´s called The Sky of Afghanistan by Ana A.de Eulate and illustrated by Sonja Wimmer. I´ve only just borrowed it from the library so we haven´t read it yet but it appears to be a lovely story about an Afghan girl, a dream and a song for peace and it is also beautifully illustrated.

Eat More Variety Alphabet Challenge: C for Cabbage: Fried Cabbage with bacon

So we´ve arrived at the second C for cabbage recipe in the Eat More Variety Challenge,in which I decided to use cabbage as a side dish. Cabbage is a vegetable we hardly eat and neither of my children have tried it before and this is a great way to jazz up cabbage and make it more palatable for fussy eaters or those who aren´t keen on it. Add bacon and garlic and what´s not to like??We loved it and even my 1 year old gobbled it down although my elder daughter wouldn´t  even try it. So an epic fail on trying to get my fussy eater to eat more variety and get more veggies down her! I won´t be giving up though, I have found some other cabbage recipes that I´m going to try out and hopefully eventually one of them will persuade her to try it!!I do know that I´ll be repeating this cabbage dish and cabbage is going to become a vegetable we consume more often.

The recipe I used was adapted from Delia Smith´s Complete Cookery Course, with the changes being that I used less cabbage than in the original recipe.I used around 350g as although we are 4 I knew that both my 1yr old and my daughter wouldn´t eat a huge amount of cabbage and I think there was plenty...we even had leftovers. I still used the full amount of bacon though. I´d definitely reccommend trying this dish as the bacon gives the cabbage a lovely taste and the crispy charred bits of cabbage and bacon are full of flavour.

Don´t forget that you are welcome to join in the Eat More Variety Alphabet Challenge anytime. All you have to do is publish  your cabbage recipe on your blog linking it back to this post and leaving a comment on this post and at the end of this month I will publish a round up of all the recipes with links to your blog.