mango lassi

Sarina’s Mango Lassi
Makes 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chopped mango (peeled and stone removed)
4 teaspoons sugar
1/3 cup cold water
9-10 ice cubes

1. Blend all ingredients until well-combined 

Passionate foodie, founder of Trinigourmet and

coconut flour

How to Make Coconut Flour

By Antonia Sorin, eHow Contributor

When wheat flour isn't an option in baking, whether that is due to a gluten allergy or a low-carbohydrate lifestyle, coconut flour is a viable alternative to a certain degree--plus, it's high in fiber. Coconut flour cannot be substituted cup for cup with wheat flour, as the resulting texture of the baked good is far too dense. Store-bought coconut flours, such as from Bob's Red Mill, can be more expensive than wheat flour. So instead of purchasing it, make your own coconut flour from coconut flakes while also making a byproduct of fresh coconut milk.

Difficulty:

 

Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 4 cups water
• Food processor
• Cheesecloth
• Baking sheet
• Grinder

1. • 1
     Soak 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes in 4 cups water for several hours.
   • 2
     Transfer the coconut and water mixture to a food processor and process until smooth.
   • 3
     Strain the mixture through a cheesecloth; squeeze to get out the most liquid. This liquid is your coconut milk. Transfer the liquid to a container and refrigerate.
   • 4
     Spread the pulp from the cheesecloth onto a baking sheet.
   • 5
     In a 200-degree oven, bake the pulp until dry.
   • 6
     Grind the dried pulp until you have a fine powder texture.

Tips & Warnings

• The coconut flakes can be substituted with fresh coconut meat. Make a smaller batch of coconut flour by using smaller amounts of water and coconut in a 4:1 ratio. Add honey to the coconut milk if you prefer a sweeter taste.
• If the pulp starts to turn brown in the oven, then turn the temperature down, as the coconut is baking instead of drying.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish

cassava

ime taken to create CASSAVA: 1 hrServings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs cassava @ Hi-Lo Save $3.00 on Flavour Islands Cassava Cubes and Logs 2LB 
• 1 medium onion
• 4 -5 garlic cloves ( depending on taste)
• 5 tomatoes ( very ripe)
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• salt (to taste)
• water ( to boil cassava)

Directions

1. Place the cassava pieces in a large pot and cover completely with water.
2. Place pot over medium heat and boil cassava pieces till they are a little more than fork tender (this may take 30 minutes or more - depending on the cassava pieces. Some take longer than others).NOTE: Check the cassava while it is boiling during the 30 minutes. If it isn't soft enough but needs more water, add more.
3. While the cassava is boiling, prepare other ingredients.
4. Chop one medium onion into strips, chop 4-5 garlic cloves and de-seed the tomatoes and chop into 8 pieces each. Place all into a bowl.
5. When cassava is soft enough, drain in a colander and place an iron pot on the heat and add in 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
6. When the oil is heated a bit, throw in the chopped onions, garlic and tomatoes. Stir these regularly for the next 3-5 minutes.The onions should become soft and translucent, the garlic should be slightly soft and the tomatoes should be almost disintegrated except for the skin.
7. Add in the boiled cassava and stir well to incorporate all ingredients.While incorporating, try breaking apart the cassava even more with your spoon. The end product should be semi-smooth, semi-chunky.If it seems a bit dry, add in more oil - but this should not be necessary.
8. Add in salt (to your taste) and stir well to incorporate evenly.

---

Time take to create CHICKEN: 1 hour 15 minutes

geera chicken

After posting the geera pork recipe a while back, there were several emails from people who don’t eat pork wanting a different option. Though I’m a bit late with this geera chicken recipe, this one is for all the pork haters. Geera (aka cumin) is used to give this sort of bar food (similar to how you’d find tapas in Spain) a strong ‘spice’ base and the garlic, herbs and habanero (scotch bonnet peppers are normally used) pepper gives it that unique Caribbean kick. As I’ve mentioned in the past, geera is one of those few spices I just don’t appreciate, so this dish is not made often in our kitchen. Probably also explains why my love for Mexican food is very limited.

You’ll Need…

2 lb boneless chicken breast cubed
1 tablespoon ground roasted geera (cumin)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 large onion
4 cloves garlic
1 habanero pepper (scotch bonnet or any hot pepper you like)
2 heaping tablespoon of chopped cilantro (stems and everything)
4 sprigs thyme
2 scallions
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon vegtable oil
1/2 lime or lemon for washing the chicken

Notes. Traditionally Shado Beni is used instead of the cilantro, but it’s a good substitute when you can source shado beni. Chicken breast or white meat is notorious for being dry, but I assure you that it’s will be moist and very flavorful when done. However, if you wanted to use boneless dark meat (legs/thighs), that work great as well. Finally, if you wanted to use the whole geera seeds (cumin) and roast it in a dry pan on high heat, then grind… you’ll really heighten the overall flavor of this dish. But be prepared for your entire house to be encased in that strong roasted geera smell (too much for me personally).

Start by cutting the chicken into 1 inch cubes, then pour the lime or lemon juice over it. Give it a good stir, then rinse off with cool water and drain. It’s now time to season the chicken so we can allow it to marinate for abut 1/2 hour.  In a large bowl, place the cubed chicken, salt, black pepper, diced scallions, chopped cilantro, chopped habanero or whatever hot pepper you have and the thyme. Give it a good stir and allow to marinate.

In a fairly deep saucepan, heat the vegetable oil on a med/high flame, then add the sliced onion and garlic. Turn down the heat so you can cook this without it burning. Stir and cook until the onion is soft.. about 4 minutes. Now add the ground roasted geera to the pot and stir. it will go grainy and darker. That is normal. Make sure the heat is down to low and cook for 3-4 minutes. What we’re doing is allowing the roasted geera to toast and release it’s full bouquet.

Start adding the seasoned chicken to the pot and stir as you add. The idea is to coat all the pieces with some of that lovely sort of paste we created and to pick up all the bits from the bottom of the pan (similar to deglazing). Have the heat at med/high and now cover the pot. It will come to a sort of boil and star releasing some natural juices. This is when you’ll turn down the heat and allow it to cook for about 10 minutes. Check occasionally and stir as well. If for some reason there’s no liquid, add a bit of water to allow the chicken to fully cook.

 After 10-12 minutes, the chicken should be almost fully cooked. Since we’re using chicken breast, we really don’t want to overcook this or risk it going dry. There should still be a bit of liquid in the pan, so it’s time to remove the lid and turn up the heat a bit. The idea is to burn off all that liquid and in doing so give the pieces of chicken a lovely coating of all the spice and seasoning we used. It should take about 3-4 minutes to completely burn off… you’re done!

If you’re having this as a snack while enjoying some beverages with friends, it’s enough for about 4 people and could easily stretch for 5-6 people as a side dish with dinner. The first time I had this, was with split peas dhal and boiled brown rice and it was quite tasty. You can certainly adjust the amount of geera and hot pepper you use to your own liking. I guess the same can be said for the salt as I know we all have a different tolerance for salt. Here’s a helpful video showing the entire cooking process for this geera chicken recipe.

paneer

How to make Paneer at home

"What are you upto madam?" asked the shopkeeper of the mom's favorite dairy products shop, after he noticed me inquiring, pressing hundredth time the block of paneer he had handed to me ten minutes ago. Almost, embarrassed by his tone, I blurted out, I was just curious how they got that paneer to be so soft and spongy. Not expecting an answer, after all his business relied on it, I looked up at M, who was clearly annoyed he was getting late, the shopkeeper like a true Indian salesman said "You have to buy milk from us for that". Mom has warned me not to buy milk from him already "Way to expensive and its as thin as water" she complained.

Not the one to give up so easy, I tried one more time -

Bhai (brother) do you use lime to split it?

Yes, madam.

How much do you add bhai?

Till the milk splits, little at a time

Oh good, I do it that way, what's in your milk you say?

Fat!

With that, and looking at the number of cusomters he had to attend to, I left it at that.

Though I couldn't get anything too useful from him, he actually helped me find what I was doing right. For years, friends have asked me how I make my paneer. My answer is simple, boil the milk, split it with acid, remove the whey, put weight on it and that's it. Quite a few friends where not able to recreate the results.

So today I'm sharing my technique in detail for making paneer and a few tips I hope will help you get through paneer making. Because trust me, once you make your own, you will never go back to store bought.

Paneer is a soft fresh Indian cottage cheese made by simply using acid and no rennet. From sweets, to snacks, curries and even flat breads, one or the other form of this cheese is used in North Indian cuisine extensively. Paneer can also be used in kebabs and tikka as an addictive vegetarian option. No one is going to miss the meat!

How to make Paneer
Serves 2, makes about a cup or slightly more

Ingredients 

2 liter Fresh whole milk 

2-3 tbsp lime/lemon juice

Things you will need

2 heavy deep bottom pan

Cheesecloth

Wooden spoon to stir

Method

Heat the milk in the deep and heavy bottom  pan at medium heat. Let it come to a gentle boil and stay there for a minute. Make sure the milk is not vigorously boiling. If it does, reduce the heat and bring the milk back to gentle boil.

Add one tablespoon of juice and quickly stir it in. At this point, you will start to see small curdles in the milk but no whey. Add another tablespoon of juice and again stir it in. The curdles will increase and you will slowly begin to see the greenish whey. Add the last tablespoon of juice and with this, you should be able to see a clear greenish whey separating from the curdles, switch of the gas immediately at this point. Depending on the acidity of the juice, the amount of juice you require may differ. Start with one tablespoon at a time till you achieve the results.

Line another pan with double layered cheesecloth. Make sure the cheesecloth is long enough to be bundled up and hanged later. Run the whey through the cloth which will collect all the curdles. Wash the curdles, by running it through cold water to remove the lemon taste.

Tie up the cheesecloth in a tight bundle and let it drain for about 30 minutes. Then place weight on the cheese to get it to be flatter and drain out extra moisture. I generally place it between two cutting board and add heavy pot on top for 1-2 hour.You don't want to add too much weight for too long as it can drain out way too much moisture from the cheese making it hard and crumbly.

Wrap it and store it in the fridge for upto a week. But I certainly prefer to use it as early as possible.

For using in curries, cut them into similar size cubes. You might want to trim out those irregular edges to get even cubes. Keep those irregular edges and crumbles, I have a recipe for that coming up!

Tip: Use the leftover whey for pancakes, making roti or other bread, add to smoothies, thin out yogurt with the whey for yogurt drinks, or use it to water the plants.

boiled corn

What to use

4 freshly husked ears of corn

water

shadon beni or culantro (chopped)

thyme (chopped)

chive (chopped)

1/2 white onion (chopped)

2 pimento peppers (chopped)

parsley (chopped)

4 cloves garlic ( finely chopped)

2 tbs salt

1 tbs black pepper

1 cup coconut milk

1 hot pepper (whole)

What to do

Place corn in large pot  with enough water to cover corn.   Add remaining ingredients and cook over medium heat for about 2 hrs or until corn is tender.   Serve hot sprinkled with some sea salt and chopped parsley.  Enjoy.

baked salmon

Here's a straightforward way to prepare delicious salmon! Basil, garlic, lemon juice and parsley provide a mild seasoning that perfectly enhances the distinctive flavor of this irresistible fish."
INGREDIENTS:
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 tablespoons light olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
2 (6 ounce) fillets salmon
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a medium glass bowl, prepare marinade by mixing garlic, light olive oil, basil, salt, pepper, lemon juice and parsley. Place salmon fillets in a medium glass baking dish, and cover with the marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator about 1 hour, turning occasionally.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
3. Place fillets in aluminum foil, cover with marinade, and seal. Place sealed salmon in the glass dish, and bake 35 to 45 minutes, until easily flaked with a fork.