HAPPY HALLOWEEN

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE...

M A N T I

Manti is Turkish dumpling that normally filled with ranges of spicy ground meat, garbanzo, spinach to different kind of chopped nuts. This one is the vegetarian version using garbanzo bean.

Dough:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup cold milk

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups light sodium chicken stock

• Put the first three ingredient in a mixer, with the dough hook on a low setting, mix the ingredients, add olive oil and the cold milk little by little until all the dough just start to form a clump. Change the setting to medium and continue to process just until its start to pull away from the side of the bowl. Transfer into kitchen counter top, shape into a ball, cover with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rest at room temperature for 1 hour.

Filling:

1 can (14 oz) garbanzo bean, drained

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon crushed coriander

1 teaspoon ground red pepper (optional)

salt and pepper

• Combine the ingredients for the filling in a bowl, mix well (do not over mix) cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375F.
• Turn out the dough onto lightly floured counter top. Roll the dough as thin as possible into a retangular. Cut the dough into 2" squares.
• Place the filling into each square, about 1 teaspoon each. 
• Bring four corners on each square together and press them with your fingers, so that the dough is seal.
• Place the dumpling into lightly oiled baking pan (at least 2" high), bake them for 15 - 20 minutes or until they are lightly browned.
• Remove the pan from the oven, pour the chicken stock over the dumpling and return the pan  to the oven. Lower the oven temperature to 325F, and bake for another 15 - 20 minutes. Take out from the oven, let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
• To serve: ladle the tomato sauce into a warm plater, add the dumpling, drizzle with yogurt garlic sauce and paprika oil.

Simple Tomato Sauce:

1/2 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 canned fire roasted tomato
2 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

• Saute onion until translucent in a medium pan over medium high heat, add garlic, cook for a few second then add canned tomato. Continue to cook for another 10 minutes. Add parsley season with salt and pepper, stir and taste to see if need more salt or pepper. 

Yogurt Garlic Sauce:

In a medium bowl, combine 2 cups plain yogurt, 1 teaspoon mince garlic, juice from 1/2 lemon, salt and pepper to taste. 

Paprika oil

Heat gently 2 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint in a medium heat. As soon as the mint wilted, turn off the heat, then add 1 teaspoon sweet paprika. Swirl the pan to mix all ingredient. 

CAMBODIA, My Kitchen My World

Thank you to Lauren who chosen Cambodia as our challenge for this week. 

Lauren is also our new moderator for MKMW.  

Curry Mouan

Recipe Adapted From: The Elephant Walk Cookbook

By: Longtein De Monteiro & Kathereine Neustadt

According to this book, Cambodian consider the look of the curry is very important! They like to see lots of small dark spot of oil - dark red from the chilli peppers pooled on the surface of the sauce.

Serve 8

Paste: 

¼ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup sliced lemongrass

3 dried New Mexico chillies, soaked, seeded, and deveined

5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

1 large shallot, coarsely chopped

2 slices peeled galangal, about  1½" across & 1/8" thick

1½ cinnamon sticks, cracked

4 whole star anise

9 cardamom seeds

1 small asian nutmeg

16 peppercorns

½ tsp coriander seeds

½ tsp fennel seeds

¼ tsp turmeric

2½ tsp shrimp paste

1 cup water

¼ cup chopped cilantro

• Heat oil in a large skillet, fry all of the ingredients above, except water and the cilantro, to release their flavor about 5 minutes. Transfer to a blender,  add the water and the chopped cilantro, process until smooth. Set aside while you are preparing the other ingredients.

The curry:

½ cup plus 1 - 2 tbs vegetable oil 

3½ cups coconut milk 

1½ - 2 pounds chicken pieces (2 - 3 whole legs, cut into 1½"pieces, and 2 wings, severed at the joint with a cleaver)

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

2 tbs fish sauce

4 teaspoon sugar 

1 tsp salt

1 pound Idaho potatoes, peeled, halve and cut into 1" thick-slices

• In a large heavy pot pan, heat the oil over medium heat, add 1 cup coconut milk and cook until the oil begin to separate from the milk. Add 1½ cup of the curry paste (freeze any extra for future use) cook and stirring bout 2 minutes until the flavor develop. If the surface of the sauce is not cover with dark spots, add another tablespoon of oil.
• Add the chicken, stirring well to coat, then add onion, fish sauce, sugar, and salt. Cook for 5 minutes. Add the remaining 2½ cups coconut milk, and cook high simmer, partially covered, until the chicken is tender, about 20 - 25 minutes.
• While the curry is cooking, heat the remaining ½ cup oil  over medium high heat, add the potatoes, and fry until golden brown. 
• Add the fried potato into the chicken curry, and finish cooking until the chicken is done and the potatoes are tender.
• Transfer to a serving dish and serve with steam jasmine rice.

Note:

Since I used rock cornish hen for this recipe, I didn't really bother to cut them into smaller pieces. I also reduced the amount of the coconut milk to only about 1 cup. It was creamy enough to my standard, and I also didn't use potatoes as the recipe stated. Instead, I used winter squash, peeled and cut into chunk then added the curry. It was delicious!

Please visit other MKMW member to see what Cambodian dishes they come up with.

Alfafa Sprouts And Tofu Gado-Gado

Super delicious and pretty  simple meal, good for lunch or dinner!

Make 4 serving

1 pkt firm tofu, cube and place on a colander in a sink to drain the water 

4 cups alfafa sprouts

2 cups shredded carrots

1 Italian green sweet pepper, or jalapeno, thinly sliced

• Add about a tablespoon or two oil in a non stick skillet, put the skillet over a medium heat. Fry the tofu lightly, just enough to browned them. Transfer to a plate line with paper towel.
• Arrange the tofu, and  the rest of the vegetables on individual plate, top it with the gado gado dressing. You can also drizzle some good aged balsamic vinegar, if you wish. Serve immediately. 

Dressing:

1 cup chunky peanut butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp or more sambal oelek, or any chili sauce you have in hand

2 - 3 kaffir lime leaf

1 tsp seedless tamarin pulp

1/4 cup or more water

• Put all ingredients for the dressing in a food processor, whirl for a few second. Transfer to a bowl.

ARGENTINA, My Kitchen My World

Teresa of I'm Running Of To Eat chose Argentina for this week MKMW challenge.

I'm running late, but still want to submit my entry.  So here there are, I made Grill Rib Eye Steak and serve it with chimichurri sauce and vegetable succotash. 

Thank you to Teresa, for choosing Argentina for our culinary journey.

Grilled RIb Eye Steak Serve With Chimichurri Sauce And Vegetable Succotash.

2 pounds rib eye steak

salt and pepper

• Season the rib eye steaks liberally with salt and pepper, Grill to your desire doneness.
• Let the steak rest for couple of minutes before serving. Serve with chimichurri sauce and vegetable succotash

Chimichurri Sauce:

1/2 cup very finely chopped parsley

1 tablespoon very finely chopped fresh oregano

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp red pepper flakes

salt 

ground black pepper

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

• Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Vegetable Succotash:

1 small onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 medium size zucchinis, diced

1 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup corn kernel, fresh or frozen

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 tbs butter

2 tbs chopped flat leafs parsley

salt and pepper, to taste

• Heat the butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion, saute until translucent. Add the bell pepper, cook until a little bit soft, add rest of the ingredient, except the heavy cream, salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes, then add the heavy cream, season with salt and pepper. 

Persian Rice With Potato Serve With Chicken Fasenjan

Another Potato Ho Down exciting event, and I am

sending this entry to our Hillary @ chew on this blog, where she 

will be the host  for this month

This time I want to share my passion for Persian dishes. When I made this rice, my family was already waiting with plates in their hands, I felt so bad and couldn't concentrate to take photograph, so as you can see it is quite a simple looking rice, but I can assure you that taste so delicious that you almost don't need anything fancy to accompany this rice. 

I first learn to make this rice (with potato) years ago, when I met my sister's husband family. The parent are Iranian and the father is extremely a good cook. So, he always make this rice in every family gathering. He taught me how to make it and I've always use his recipe ever since . 

There is an article about Persian rice in New York Times that is very similar to my sister's father in law recipe. So I have include the link and if you like potato, simply substitute the pita bread with potato. Here is the link for  recipe from The Ny Times (the recipe for the rice will be on page 3)

Pomegranate are in season, and I am so happy that I have quite a few of these exotique fruits in my garden. 

Koresh-e fesenjan ba jujeh

(Pomegranate Khoresh With Chicken)

Recipe adapted from:

New Food Of Life: Ancient Persian and Modern Iranian

Cooking and Ceremonies

Written by:

Najmieh Batmanglij

Ingredients:

2 large onion, thinly sliced

2 pounds chicken leg

3 tbs oil or butter 

2 cup shelled walnut, finely ground

2 tbs sugar

1/4 tsp ground saffron, dissolve with 1 tbs hot water

1 cup chopped butternut squash

1/2 cup pomegranate paste, dissolve in 1  1/2 cup water, 

or 2  1/2 cup fresh squeezed pomegranate juice

salt, to taste

2 tbs fresh pomegranate seeds

• Brown the onion and the chicken in a dutch oven, add the diluted pomegranate paste. Add the ground walnut, sugar, saffron, and butternut squash. Stir to coat all ingredients. Cover and simmer gently for 1 hour to 1  1/2 hours. Stirring from time to time to prevent the nuts from burning. Add water if necessary or if you find that the juice is too thick.

• Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with fresh pomegranate. Serve with rice.

I picked one to garnish this delicious Chicken fahsenjan. I also like to sprinkle it in my salad. 

My husband and my son, they both love to eat it just like that.

And, oh I think I made the 

perfect dessert to complete this meal.

MOROCCO, My Kitchen My World

When I find out that MKMW  has announced MOROCCO for this week challenge, I was so happy that, I have decided to make Moroccan dinner for the whole week. I thank Judy so much for choosing this exotic country for our culinary journey!

Moroccan food has been my family's favorite for over the years, I make them on any occation wether it is for a simple gathering with friends, or just for supper during week day. Most of my friends and families are becoming  addicted to Moroccan food, they even like the spicy harissa that I always serve to accompany every meal. 

Since I have never been to Morocco (I would one day) nor have I been to Moroccan restaurant, I have no notion about the authenticity of my cooking. I only rely on my cookbooks and use my own judgement about the taste. 

Brochettes Serve With Carrots Salad and Harissa (picture on the left)

Recipe adapted from: A Season In Morroco: A Culinary Journey

Written by: Meera Freeman

1 pound cube beef or lamb ( I substituted with chicken leg, butterflied)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

1 tbs olive oil

salt and pepper 

• Soak the bamboo skewers with cold water for an hour, alternatively use metal skewers if you have one.
• Marinate the chicken legs with cumin, paprika, olive oil, salt and pepper for about one hour.
• Thread the chicken legs onto skewers, grill until the brochette cook thoroughly. 

Carrots Salad

This was pretty easy salad to make, just shred the carrots, spice the carrots with pinch of cinnamon, salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Delicious!

These are  the other Moroccan dishes that  I made this week : Just click  the title , if you are interested in the recipes.

Monday

Moroccon Spiced Shrimp With Manggo, Avocado and Arugula Salad

Tuesday

B'stila

Wednesday

Grilled Salmon With Chermoula

Serve with Couscous With Dried Fruits and Za'alouk

ZA'LOUK, very delicious!

Thursday

Chicken Tajine With Apricot, Saffron, And Orange Blossom Water
I made this dish on my Tajine pot,  it taste so unique that you won't get from the regular dutch oven

I hope you like them. Don't forget to check out the MKMW to see what other member comes up with.

Tajine Of Chicken With Apricot, Saffron, And Orange Blossom Water

The combination of apricot and  orange flower water give this tajine a very unique sweet, fragrant and spicy flavor. 

1 (3 pounds) chicken, cut into 8 pieces

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 can (14oz) chopped tomatoes

1/2 tbs ground cinnamon and 1 stick cinnamon

1 tsp crush red pepper

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp saffron threads, mix with  3 tbs hot water

1/4 cup dried apricot, sliced

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 - 1 tbs orange blossom water

2 tbs olive oil

For garnish:

1/4 cup dried apricot, sliced, 

1/4 cup lightly toasted slice almond

3 tbs raisins

salt 

• Put the Tajine pot or dutch oven on top of the stove, turn on the heat to medium. Add 1 tablespoon oil to the heated dutch oven, add the chopped onion and fry the onion until translucent. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the last 4 ingredients. Cook until it releases its fragrant. Add the chicken into the dutch oven, stir to coat the chicken. Cover the pot and simmer gently for 40 minutes, or until the chicken is completely done.
• Transfer the chicken to a serving platter, cover and keep warm.
• Pour the sauce into a blender, blend to a puree.
• Heat another one tablespoon oil in a small pan, add dried apricot and raisin and cook just until hot enough.
• Pour the sauce over the chicken and scatter the apricot, raisins and almond. Serve With plain couscous.

Za'louk

Another absolutely delicious Moroccan Salad!

1  1/2 pounds small Italian eggplants

2 tablespoon lemon juice

1 pound tomato, peeled and chopped

3 garlic cloves,finely  chopped 

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 tablespoon chopped parsley

4 tablespoon chopped cilantro

1/4 cup black olives, to garnish (optional)

Dressing:

In a small bowl combine all ingredients below and mix well. 

Set aside while preparing the eggplant.

2 tablespoon olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon chili pepper flakes

Salt and pepper

• Prick the eggplants all over with fork or knife, bake in a preheated oven to 4750F for 45 - 55 minutes until really soft and the skin are wrinkled. Cool, roughly chop the eggplant, and place them in a colander to let the juice run out completely.
• In a  medium sauce pan, heat a tablespoon olive oil, add garlic and saute until fragrant. Add the chopped tomato,  cook for about 20 minutes, or until reduce to a thick sauce.
• Transfer  the chopped eggplant into a salad bowl, add the tomato sauce, chopped parsley, chopped cilantro, and the dressing. Mix gently, taste to see if its need more seasoning. Serve with couscous, rice pilaf or pita bread.

Grill Marinated Salmon With Chermoula

Chermoula is a blend of spices, fresh herb, garlic, preserve lemon and chili pepper. Recipe will varies from region to region, even every household has their own recipe for chermoula. This versatile spice-herb blend is good for fish, poultry, meat and even vegetables. It can be use either for marinate or to use as a sauce pour on top of grill food. 

Tonight I served this grill salmon  with Za-louk (see recipe below), Harissa, and Spice Couscous with dried fruit

Ingredients:

2  1/2 salmon fillet

for chermoula:

Finely chopped rind of 1 preserved lemon 

2 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 tsp  red chili pepper

1/2 tsp crushed fennel seed

1 cup chopped parsley

1 tsp paprika

1/4 teaspoon saffron threads

1/3 cup olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

• Mix all ingredient until well blended, transfer to a tight fitting jar, and place in the refrigerator. Use within a week.
• Rub the salmon with chermoula, let it marinate in the refrigerator for an hour. Grill the salmon over medium heat. Cook to your doneness!

Za-louk

1 1/2 pounds eggplants
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 pound tomato, peeled and chopped
3 garlic cloves,finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 tablespoon chopped parsley
4 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1/4 cup black olives, to garnish

Dressing:
In a small bowl combine all ingredients below and mix well.
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 lemon juice
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground chili pepper
2 teaspoon toasted cumin seed, ground
Salt and pepper

• Prick the eggplants all over with fork or knife, bake in a preheated oven to 475⁰F for 45 - 55 minutes until really soft and the skin are wrinkled. Cool, peel and drop them in a bowl of water with 2 tablespoon lemon juice to keep the flesh pale.
• Roughly chop the eggplant, mash a little with fork and place them in a colander to let the juice run out completely.
• In a medium sauce pan, heat a tablespoon olive oil, add garlic and saute until fragrant. Add the chopped tomato, continue to cook for about 20 minutes until reduce to a thick sauce.
• Transfer the mashed eggplant into a large salad bowl, add the tomato sauce, chopped parsley, chopped cilantro, and the dressing. Mix gently, taste to see if its need more seasoning.

B'STILA

I am  too excited about this week culinary journey to Morocco,

 and can not wait until Saturday to post what I have been making. I also have far too many good recipes that I have made over the  years. 

Couldn't bare the feeling just having one or two recipes for Saturday,

I have decided to dedicate this whole week to cook  Moroccan food. 

(and yes my family  love Moroccan food, that

they will be happy if I cook this exotic food everyday)

Recipe Adapted From: The Moroccan Collection

Written by: Hilaire Walden

1 small chicken (I substituted with skinless 3 duck legs, yummy)

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 tsp grated fresh ginger

a pinch saffron treads (I use 1 tsp)

3 tbs chopped fresh cilantro

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 tbs chopped parsley

4 eggs, lightly beaten ( I use 2 eggs)

2 tbs unsalted butter (I use 2 tbs olive oil)

2/3 cup blanched almonds, chopped

2 tsp sugar (I omit the sugar)

3 - 7 layers filo pastry

olive oil for brushing

salt and pepper

To serve:

Confectioner's sugar and ground cinnamon (optional)

I wouldn't skip this sugar-cinnamon coating, because they give this pastry very unusual sweet savory taste. Very delicious!

• Put the chicken (or duck legs)  into sauce pan with the onion, ginger, safron, cilantro, 1 tsp cinnamon, parsley, salt and pepper. Add enough water to barely cover the chicken. Simmer gently for 45 minutes untl the chicken is cook and tender. Increase the time to 1 1/2 hours if using duck legs.

• Transfer the chicken into a plate to cool completely, then seperate the flesh from the bones, coarsely chop the flesh. Set aside.

• Boil the juice until reduce to a thick sauce, add butter (if using) and the beaten eggs, stirring constantly until the egg scrambled.

• Meanwhile, lightly toast the chopped almond, add sugar and cinnamon. I didn't put any sugar here.

• Take out the fillo pasry from the fridge and cover with towel to prefent them from drying out. Using overlapping sheets of filo pastry and brushing each sheet with olive oil, make a square 3 layers thick ( I make 7 layers) and 18 inches across on baking sheet. Spread the eggs mixture in the middle of pastry, top with chopped chicken and the almonds. Fold the pastry to enclose the filling, brush the top with olive oil.

• Bake for 35 - 45 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

• Let cool slightly, transfer the b'stila into serving plate, sieve confectioner's sugar over the top and sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon, if desire.
  

MOROCCAN SPICED SHRIMP WITH MANGO,AVOCADO AND ARUGULA SALAD

My husband is not particularly fond of shrimp or shell fish in general, except crab, but he never really mind if I cook shrimp or add shrimp in any of my cooking. He simply fish it out and enjoy the food with no fuss. He is that simple and am forever bless!

This recipe, yield 4 serving

Ingredients:

1  1/2 lb extra large shrimps

4 tbs olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp hot paprika

1/2  tsp cayenne pepper

1 tbs finely chopped cilantro

1 mango, diced

1 avocado, diced

4 - 5 cups baby arugula

juice of 2 limes

salt and pepper, to taste

• In a medium bowl, make the marinate by mixing 2 tbs olive oil, cumin, ginger, paprika, cayenne pepper and chop cilantro. Add the shrimps and let it sit to marinate in the refrigerator for 15 - 1 hour.

• Heat the iron skillet over medium high heat, season the shrimps with salt and pepper, and cook them for about a minute on each side.

• In a small bowl, combine the rest of the olive oil with limes juice, salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside.

• Put mango, avocado and baby arugula in a salad bowl, add the dressing and toss well.

• Arrange the salad  in an individual plates, top each plate with 4 - 5 shrimps.  

ECUADOR, My Kitchen My World

Shelby of the life and loves of grumpy's honey bunch took as to visit Ecuador for our culinary journey for this week. Since I have at least two cookbooks about South American cooking. I wasn't really to worry about it, until I found out that none of this cookbook has Ecuadorian recipe. Didn't want to miss the date line, I started to  search online and found one recipe that I think my family would like it. Fanesca (sounds very pretty, isn't it) is a  salted cod stew with mix vegetables, normally serve with fried plantains and fresh slice avocados.

Fanesca

Originally this stew is made from salted cod as the main ingredients, but my husband absolutely detest anything smell too fish, so  salted fish was absolutely out of question. I had to substitute salted cod for salmon, oh well. If I would eat this for myself, I'd go for salted cod. 

Muchines de Yuca

Delicious as a snack or appetizer, made from grated yuca filled with cheese or ground pork. I made mine with ground bison, coated with Japanese bread crumb (Panko) I can assure you that this little treats was utterly addicted. In Indonesia they have a  similar snack like this, it's called "Combro" pronounce "chombroo" is traditionally filled with tempe (soybean cake) that has been spiced with shallots, garlic, coriander, lemongrass, kaffir lime and off course chilies. Very delicious!

Recipe for Muchines de Yuca:

1 lb Yuca root, peeled and grated
1 small onion, grated 

1 egg
Salt and pepper -- to taste

Oil for frying

• Mix together the yuca, onion, egg, salt and pepper. 
• Take about 3 tablespoon of yuca mix, flatten and put about 1 tablespoon (more or less) of the filling in the middle, fold the yuca over the filling to enclose it. Form into a ball. Repeat with the rest of the yuca. 
• Heat oil in a skillet, fry the yuca balls until golden brown. 
• Serve as an appetizer! Yummmm

Filling:

1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 cup finely chopped  onion

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tbs chopped Italian parsley

1 tbs finely chopped cilantro
salt & pepper, to taste

1 - 2 tbs canola oil

• Heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Sauté the onion until translucent, add the pork, break the lump with the back of wooden spoon. Add cumin, parsley, cilantro and salt,  continue to cook until the meat is cooked through.  Adjust seasoning as needed. Turn of the heat,  set aside to cool completely.

I serve Fanesca with slice avocados, muchines de yuca and fried plantain. The other suggested garnishes were  hard boil eggs and palm heart!

I use  THIS!  recipe for my Fanesca!