Global Recipe Project

Another Caribbean country finished! Jamaica was fun, bright, and delicious. Jerk chicken, rice and peas, rum punch and a pineapple cake. We broke with tradition and made the rice and peas even though it wasn't Sunday. Great recipes if not a tad heavy on the carbs. As an aperitif we had some plantain chips and coconut soda. Wonderful way to spend a Thursday evening. Rice and Peas Ingredients 1 can red kidney beans 1 can coconut milk 1 tbsp fresh thyme 4 green onions, chopped 2 cups of rice (rinsed well) 2 cloves of garlic, minced water salt pepper Preparation Drain the kidney beans over a measuring cup that holds 4 cups. Add the coconut milk and then add enough water to make 4 cups of liquid. In a large pot, add the liquid mixture, garlic, thyme, onions, kidney beans, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and taste the liquid for saltiness. Next add the rice and boil or 2 minutes. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 15 - 20 minutes. Fluff with fork and serve wa...

How about a little Caribbean flair? We ran through Puerto Rico with street food and a hearty rice dish. The recipes required that I run around the neighborhood looking for seasonings and spice packets that were completely foreign to me. I tried the huge Mexican supermarket chain store, Cardenas. I had mixed success there. Turns out my unassuming Vons store had everything and more. We headed over to our friends' house (who graciously provided the grill) and enjoyed: Arroz Con Gradules Pinchos Bolitas de Queso Also, did you know that Puerto Rico is home to the first pina colada? You're welcome. The rice was very salty though no actual salt is in the recipe.... However, I loved the idea that you throw dried herbs, and sliced olives into the pot before the rice. The pinchos are the Puerto Rican version of chicken kebabs. Delicious. The bolitas de queso were heavenly. Fried cheese balls. A's Rating: 7 out of 10 H's Rating: 7.5 out of 10 M's Rating: 8 (...

Oh Peru, how I love thee. What a magical place that has been on my top travel destinations since forever.  But, has to wait until M is old enough to hold her own on the Inka Trail. I was quite ambitious and made the following: Anticuchos de corazon (beef heart kebabs) Pollo a la brasa (grilled chicken) Ceviche Chicha  (fermented corn beer) We invited some friends and had a house full of adults, children (six kids under 4) and pisco sours! The chicha was a last minute addition when a wonderful friend, Grace, sent me this link  and challenged me to have it ready in two days. Challenge accepted. Chicha is an ancient fermented drink of the Andrean region which tasted like sweet corn water. Fun though weak on the alcohol. We also had a potato salad, boiled corn, boiled sweet potatoes, and an edamame salad. The chicken was aaaaaamazing. Seriously. It will be my standard grilled chicken recipe forevermore. Out with the lemon and rosemary and in with the c...

Wow, it is hard to find the time for creative cooking with a toddler..whew! Tonight's menu includes Chicken Kabsa. The national dish of Saudi Arabia. It's essentially chicken and rice, but the Middle Eastern version. Who doesn't love chicken and rice? Especially when it's made with cardamon, coriander and black limes. Yes, black limes. The black limes were an intriguing yet elusive ingredient. I traveled all around town to specialty spice shops looking for these little beasts. I finally located a small Middle Eastern market about 40 minutes from my house and sent Tony on a mission.   He came back with small bag of dried, black limes and a report that the market made very delicious shawarma sandwiches. Double win! We invited a few friends over and the Saudi Arabian feast began. Chicken Kabsa 1 cup of basmati rice 1 whole chicken cut into 8 parts 2 tablespoons sunflower oil 1 large tomato, diced 2 bay leaves 1 chicken bouillon cube 1 onion, diced3 garlic c...

Middle-Eastern food makes me happy.  The play on savory/sweet makes my tongue tingle and belly smile. Tonight is Pakistan. I know. We've been gone for a while. Okay. A very very long while. However, we had a kid and were learning how to live with another human being in the house. We think we have the hang of it now so we decided to re-start the recipe project. Tony relinquished the job of picking a country from the jar in favor of baby M. She picked Pakistan and I decided to make Chicken Chapli Kababs. It was delicious. The Middle-Eastern version of turkey burgers, but better. And, with chicken. I loosely followed the recipe here. Baby M, Tony and I loved it. Heidi's Rating: 7 out of 10. Delicious. Tony's Rating: 7 out of 10. Yum.

Coconut Chicken Curry? Yes, please. I've never been good at curries.  Mine are always too dry or too mushy.  I have not mastered the art of the curry sauce until tonight.  This dish is simple and amazing. I followed the recipe from MalaysiaFood.net which can be found  here. The recipe calls for Malaysian meat curry powder which I didn't have, could not find and could not order.  Therefore, I made my own concoction using: 10 whole cloves 10 whole black peppercorns 4 whole cardamom pods 1 cinnamon stick (about 2-inches/5 cm) 4 whole dried red chilies 4 tbsp coriander seeds 2 tbsp cumin seeds 1 tsp fennel seeds 1 tsp turmeric  Essentially, you toast all ingredient then grind them to a powder.   Rating: Easy 8.5 out of 10. The flavors were lovely and the consistency of the sauce was delightful.  The only drawback was the small bits of spices that didn't thoroughly grind in the mortar.  Next time I will invest in a coffee grinder and ...

My sister is visiting from Boston and I gave her the task of picking the next country.  She skillfully pulled out Thailand which was good since we already had a recipe and the ingredients for Pad Thai. It's pretty difficult not to like Pad Thai.  Noodles, soy sauce, chicken and peanuts.  There's really nothing you can't love.  The recipe I followed is found here . (However, I omitted the dried shrimp) Rating: 7 out of 10 The Pad Thai sauce was very delicious and the right balance of sweet and salty. I will certainly use that again on multiple recipes. Tony's Rating: 6 out of 10. "I've had better." 'nuff said I guess...

We're heading down to South America and we're making Chicken Curry, Baigan Choka and Roti ! Fresh bread is amazing. Fresh fry bread is especially amazing. I would recommend roti for almost any meal; seriously. It was relatively easy to make and the total rising time was a meager 60 minutes. I looked at many recipes and they were always slightly different. I found the most help through the Trini Gourmet site The chicken curry was....okay.  Potentially there were some flaws in the recipe or flaws in my attentiveness to the recipe but nonetheless I wasn't impressed.  I wouldn't make it again. It was mushy and pasty and not at all saucy. Roti deserves a great sauce. This chicken curry didn't deliver anything of the sort. Baigan Choka taught me that I don't really like eggplant. Who knew?  Roti Rating: 9 out of 10 Chicken Curry Rating: 3 out of 10 Baigan Choka Rating: 1 out of 10

Micronesia is a federation of small islands that includes Guam, Wake Island, Marshall Island and a few others. There doesn't appear to be a distinctly "Micronesian Cuisine" but there are some notable dishes from the individual islands. I chose Chicken Kelaguen which comes to us from Guam.  The dish is found anywhere you can find Guamanians, they love it and I do too. To be classified as "authentic" one must make the finadene marinade and BBQ the chicken after it has marinated overnight. (Some sources say to use a store bought rotisserie chicken and recommended Costco.--Yeah, I love that chicken too, but last time I checked, there were no Costcos in Micronesia.) Finadene 1 cup soy sauce 1 cup lemon juice 1 bunch of green onions (chopped) 5 hot red peppers (I used dried peppers) Chicken Kelaguen Naan bread (lightly grilled) 1 whole chicken 1/4 cup lemon juice 1 coconut 1 bunch green onions (chopped) 5 hot red peppers (chopped) salt and peppe...