In the past I was younger, but now ... Vatapa

That's a ridiculous thought! In the past I was younger. Although I know that for sure, I am not quite so sure whether I'm already feeling it. Today at work already half way through, I thought it could be over now, because my energy was gone and yesterday evening I was totally shattered. Somehow, it seems, I can't do the things anymore I was able to do five years ago. Somehow! Ah, that is really ridiculous! There ought to be a different reason for all that.
On the other hand, today, I am able to do things I wasn't able to do five years ago. Something like this ...

That's a Brazilian dish called Vatapa, a stew with fish, prawns, cashews and coconut milk. Fine, I had read something about it a month ago and we already had an entry with this dish for Bloggers Around the World quite at the beginning, but I didn't read anything about it lately.
So today, I just went for it without looking at any recipe, with just the key-thoughts in mind: you have to use fish, prawns, cashews and coconut milk.
Well, I let you know some more details now ...

Ingredients:
Splash of vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 medium sized red peppers, roughly chopped
1 small red chilli
4 small tomatoes, quartered
100 g salmon
100 g prawns
100 g cashew nuts, roasted and salted
165 ml coconut milk
150 ml water
3 spring onions, chopped up
A hand full of chopped fresh coriander
Salt and pepper

Method:
First heat up a sufficiently large pan with the vegetable oil and start with the chopped up onion in it until those pieces go soft. Try not to cry while chopping the onion, though.
Good, if you want to serve the dish with rice, it might take as long from this point on as it takes to prepare steamed rice, at least in the way I use to do it.
Back to the pan, we add the red peppers, chilli and tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes, so the vegetables start to soften up a bit, but we still want to have some crunch on those peppers in the end.
Time for the fish, prawns, cashews, coconut milk and water to join. Bring everything to the boil and let it all simmer for 10-15 minutes. If you want to reduce it more, increase the time, but then the rice will already be ready before you are finished (that shouldn't be any problem) or the peppers might go to soft. Choose for yourself, what you like.
Just before you are finished, check the taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, if you have to.
Now add the spring onions and chopped coriander. It's time to serve, it's time to eat, it's time to enjoy. I did!

I would say now, this dish is for the World Cup Bloggers Around the World as Brazil is playing Germany today. For Germany I only have some beer in the fridge. No, I don't think the colours of the labels have any meaning as to the German flag, although on this photo it might look like it. 

I might try the left one of them later today. It's called Marc's Chocolate Bock. That sounds intriguing. I would never have thought about buying those beers would it not have been for a 20 % discount at the shop due to the World Cup. This 20 % was on any kind of beer. So people were really pushing out beer from the shop in truck loads.
Anyway, I will see whether that beer was worth its cost. After all one of my workmates recommended it to me. He knows a lot more about beer than I do, but then on the other hand, everyone has to find out for himself, what he likes or not.

Enough about beer! I am not going to do any advertisement for beer here right now. No one asked me to and I have no time for it now.

Well, I also want to add this post to the No Waste Food Challenge. I wouldn't want to miss that one this month. This month Anne from Anne's Kitchen is hosting on behalf of Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. After all I saved those red peppers from annihilation as they were far too advanced toward that direction already. Good, it was time for the prawns, too as they were freezing away in the freezer already.

As a conclusion ... I might not be 20 anymore, but since then I have learned a lot and I don't want to trade in this experience ...

If it's not for you, you are too weak - Picadinho

Roughly, there are still two weeks of World Cup left, but things will slow down as the tournament reaches its climax. Already yesterday we had a day off and next week we are going to have three days without any match as well. That also means the Bloggers Around the World World Cup challenge is also slowing down and there are fewer chances left to join in and so the countries to cook for are limited, too. As for today, it's totally South American as we have Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Colombia playing.

For that I have decided to go Brazilian again. I already said, they would win the Food World Cup, but so far they are far away from that with just two counting entries. Therefor, here goes another one: Picadinho. However, be warned already, if you are too weak, it's not for you ... eh ... or the other way round. If it's not for you, you are too weak. On the other side, it's up too you how many hot peppers you use and how hot they are.

Besides that, it's going to be a somewhat rustic and meaty dish.

Now, don't talk, just cook, let the spoon fool around ... eh ... just go for it ...

Ingredients:

Vegetable oil

300 g bacon, cubed

500 g beef, cubed

2 onions, chopped

250 g tomatoes, quartered

A glass of preserved hot peppers (use as many as you wish)

1-3 spring onion, chopped

Salt and pepper, if you still feel like it

Method:

Crisp the bacon in a hot pan with some oil and then add the onions and let them cook together until the onions start to brown, but not burn. Remove the mixture from the pan.

Heat up some more oil and add the beef in order to seal it. Once that is done, throw in the tomatoes ... or be gentle to them and add them kindly.

Here we go for the peppers. I used ... hm ... eh ... 10, I think. You may use as many as you can bear. I had a taste off the peppers before and I felt they were't that hot, but ... still brought quite some heat in the finished dish. A tricky thing here is, that you use the whole liquid from the glass of peppers and so you get a bit of impact from that, too.

Let's go on and add about 300 ml of water, too and the spring onions. I just had one at my disposal. Still I feel it would be lovelier when you use more. Before I forget to mention put the bacon and onion mixture back to the pan as well.

Get the content of your pan to the boil and then let it simmer until the liquid reduces and the whole thing get thicker.

After that you are ready to eat. Serve it with rice, if you like. Use pasta, if that is more your thing. Serve a salad alongside, if you desire or ...

For me it was just some bread with it. That was all I could do at that time.

You could have used salt and pepper to adjust the taste, but ... think about it ... you already got things from the bacon and the preserved peppers. So, be very careful with adding extra salt. Make sure you taste it before you do so.

As the World Cup is progressing, what is it that you still want to cook?

Brazil vs Croatia - Filé à Osvaldo Aranha vs Fritule

Finally, this is the day where the World Cup 2014 in Brazil starts. Brazil and Croatia will kick off in the opening game in São Paulo. Who will win? I don't know and I don't favour any country is this tournament. Whoever wins, wins.
However, when it comes to individual cuisines of the various countries, things are different. There I know what I am looking for, great taste and lovely food.
All that leads us to the Bloggers Around the World: World Cup 2014 Brazil. From today on things get serious. At a day such as this you can share Brazilian and Croatian dishes. Watch out for more tweets or post on the Cooking Around the World Facebook page to find out what you can share with us on what day. Or simply keep up to date the real World Cup.

Well then, today it's Brazil vs Croatia and while it's the opening, I decided to do a food Brazil vs Croatia as well. Since I can't eat two large savoury dishes in one day, I went for one savoury and one sweet.

Let's go Brazil first ...

Filé à Osvaldo Aranha

Ingredients:
Fillets of beef
One onion, chopped up
One beaten egg
Two large knobs of butter
80 g cassava flour
Garlic, finely sliced and fried
Salt, Pepper
Flat leaved parsley, coarsely chopped
One spring onion,chopped in rings
A few potatoes to make potato chips

Method:
Things are quite fast paced here. The fillets of beef need 3-4 minutes on each side a brief time for resting. The potato chips won't take too long, once you have cut the potatoes in shape.
The bit that takes slightly more time is the Farofa. So I decided to start with this one. All the other jobs you can do in between.
Have a sufficiently large pan ready and melt some butter. Then add the chopped up onions and soften them. After that you add the beaten egg and scramble it. Finally you add the cassava flour and season with salt and pepper ... not too much salt.
Stir the whole bit ... eh ... a bit and let it go until it gains some colour.
As I mentioned, the beef needs 3-4 minutes on each side. Use a frying pan for that with some butter in it.
Be careful, when you fry the potato chips. Make sure, you patted the potato bits dry before tossing them into the hot oil.
A general reminder, don't burn anything ... especially not your fingers or any other body parts.

When everything is ready, plate up. The amount of Farofa should be enough for four people. In order to assure that, you can also serve steamed rice alongside. I read, that this is done in Brazil, too. For me, that was fine. I wasn't in need of any rice here.
Anyway, serve he fillet of beef with the fried garlic on top. On the side you put the Farofa, which you garnish with the parsley and spring onion rings. Of course, don't forget the chips and ... whatever drink you need alongside it.
That was a quick and lovely dish. However, I would recommend not to use too much salt on the Farofa and I guess, a small serving of the Farofa is sufficient.

Onward to Croatia ...

Fritule

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 tbsp. vanilla sugar
3 tbsp. sugar
50 g raisins
Zest and juice of one lemon
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 tbsp. plum brandy (or brandy or rum)
1 sachet of dried yeast (7 g)
500 g flour
Water, if the dough is still too dry (we want it slightly sticky)
Oil for frying

Method:
Let's make the dough for the fritule. Ahem, what else should we be doing?!
Get a large bowl and crack the eggs into it. Add the sugar, including vanilla sugar, and whisk it together. Then add the raisins, lemon zest and juice, vegetable oil and the plum brandy. Thoroughly mix things up ... no ... through.
Combine the yeast with the flour and then add it to the bowl. Bring all the ingredients together. Use as much water to get the right dough, not too dry, but not too wet either, you know. No? You will see, slightly wet that is.
Cover the bowl and leave to rise until doubled in size.
After that make small balls from the dough. Does that not remind you of football a little bit. You could even serve the finished product to the football watching persons in your household ... but don't forget, there is booze in these small donuts.
Yes, we got carried away. we won't have a finished product unless we do some frying for those balls. Have sufficient vegetable oil in a pan for it. The fritule need to have the chance to float in the oil without touching the bottom of the pan.
A sensible thing to do is to put the small donuts onto kitchen paper after remove them from the oil. Later you can put them into an appropriate bowl for serving.

Hm ... eh ... well, it's best to sprinkle them with some icing sugar before serving and you can also use some wooden sticks for people to help themselves to the fritule.

I reckon, as a snack for the game they would just do or ... have them any other time you want. Well, I was satisfied here, too.

What should I say to this? Brazil vs Croatia: 1 - 1. I hope we get some more lovely dishes for Bloggers Around the World during the World Cup.

However, we don't want to focus all our activities just around the World Cup. This post goes also very well to the No Waste Food Challenge, which Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary is managing together with some other lovely bloggers. This month it's Michelle turn from Utterly Scrummy Food For Families (I just love that title).

I was really lucky I still had cassava flour in my pantry or otherwise the Brazilian dish would not have been complete. However, I don't know, why I had cassava flour in the first place. Finally I found a way to use it.

As for the fritule, they were a brilliant opportunity to use the plum brandy on, which I kind of made myself, but never drink from it. So, I could even add this post to the No Waste Food Challenge twice.

Besides all this ... hm ... eh ... whatever ... don't forget to have fun and ... some delicious food from around the world ...

Bloggers Around the World: World Cup 2014 - Brazil (and a Chocolate #Giveaway)

What does all of this has to do with football? Usually that question is not difficult to answer: not much or even nothing at all. However, this time, things are different ...
It all has to do with it. Whether you like it or not, the World Cup is due to start on the 12th of June in Brazil. So, do you care about it? Or even about who's going to win it?
I don't ... unless it's going to be an underdog.
No matter what, I decided we are going to do a little game of our own in connection with this Bloggers Around the World challenge. Before you leave now and say, 'I don't care about football or any kind of challenges along that line', let me tell you there is something in for you. Chocolate! I'm sure a lot more people care about chocolate than football. I care about chocolate so it's 1 - 0 already here.

Before I go into detail regarding this chocolate giveaway and how you can get it, I wish to outline the main theme of the challenge ...

WORLD CUP 2014 - BRAZIL

The first part of the challenge is to cook something Brazilian. What comes to your mind in connection of food when you think about Brazil? Honestly, for me it wasn't too much, fruits, Brazil nuts, Caipirinha. At least that's something to work with.

Since fruits grow well in the tropical and sub-tropical conditions of the country, that point is obvious. At least it was to me. Accordingly I see some mangoes, papayas and pineapples coming.

Brazil nuts sprang to me ... eh ... you know ... the name. However, and that is if Wikipedia is true 50 % of the Brazil nut harvest is rather coming from Bolivia and only 40 % from Brazil. Still Brazil nuts are a good choice. After all Brazil nuts have a high content of omega-6-fatty acids and also vitamins. Check it out!

For all those loving booze, Caipirinha is the most obvious choice. It's the national cocktail of Brazil, containing limes, brown sugar and cachaça, which is made from sugarcane. I don't want to bother you with more details about it. For sure there are also other uses of cachaça than Caipirinha. I hope we see some of those.

Anyway, here we already have a little foundation and unless you are an expert in Brazilian cuisine it means some further research on the topic.

I already did a little bit of that and like to share some of the results with you ...

For that I like to mention two main dishes and two accompaniments. The first dish is Feijoada. It's a stew with black beans and smoked meat. As far as I have seen it, the preparation of this dish can be a bit time-consuming. So you better plan ahead for that one. As a side note let me mention, that beans can be classed as a Brazilian staple or base ingredient.

The next dish is Vatapá. This is a shrimp and cashew nut stew. Sorry, no Brazil nuts here, but I'm sure you will like it anyway.

While rice is always a good choice to go with a dish you might want to try Pao de Queijo as well. Do I have to say more than 'cheese bread'. Of course, there might be the chance you don't like cheese or can't eat it without negative effects. Then I offer you Couve a Mineira, garlicky collard greens that is.

For more you have to do some research for yourself. Fine, fine, you got me, dessert. I should at least mention a few things about dessert. Ha, I could say, 'have some fresh fruits', and that would be it, but I am nice and offer you a little bit more: Banana Frusta Com Canella Angular. That would be fried banana with cinnamon sugar. Or have some Crème de Papaya. Ice cream is involved here. I think I already know where to look for more details on this. Then, something else, that might interest you would be a Passion fruit mousse cake.

That should now really be enough for now. You have a lot food for thought to produce some lovely Brazilian food.

Now we have to discuss some rules and the chocolate thing again ...

1. In order to take part you have to leave the link to your post as a comment in this very post and in this very post alone. So you better bookmark it then.
2. Refer to my blog and this very post and this very post alone in your post. You know, others might see it and join. The more the merrier.
3. Use the "Bloggers Around the World" badge. You find it in this very post and ... no ... not this very post alone, but also any other Bloggers Around the World post.
4. You can use a new or an old post, but it has to be adjusted accordingly. Besides that, read some additional thoughts about it further down.
5. If you tweet your post use #BloggersAroundTheWorld and @ChrisCH2011, so that I can retweet your posts. Of course I will also +G any posts I see on G+.
6. If you don't have a blog of your own, you can post a photo (or a bit more) on the Cooking Around the World Facebook page. Some further thoughts about that will follow next as well.

As it happens to be, the theme of this Bloggers Around the World is not Brazil, but World Cup 2014 - Brazil. While you are free to post Brazilian posts until the end of the challenge, here comes a special rule ...

During the World Cup itself, which starts on Thursday June the 12th and ends with the final on Sunday July the 13th, you can post something with the cuisine of the country that is playing on a special day. For example, on the opening day Brazil is playing against Croatia. That means on that day, you could post something about Croatian food. What counts here is the date of your comment here in this post or on the Cooking Around the World Facebook page.

Another example, on Friday June the 20th, Japan plays against Greece and Italy against Costa Rica. Therefore you have four countries to choose from on that day: Japan, Greece, Italy and Costa Rica.

I'm sure with some planning you can do something. Along that line the challenge ends just after the final on July 13th. After that, no more posts will be accepted. Until then, you can share as many as you want and with a little bit of effort and a very tiny bit of luck you will be able to win a selection of chocolate I get from some shops around here. That would at least mean, you get some Lindt chocolate. Be assured, though, it will not just be one tiny chocolate item.

I should be able to sent a package to almost any place, so there is no excuse for not taking part.

In order to determine the winner of the chocolate, there is a system of points. The person with the most points will win. At a tie of two, I won't be stingy, but above that, I will select the winner randomly. Besides that, I count my points, too. So, to win, you need at least as many points as I have myself.

• 1 point, if you enter an older post containing a Brazilian dish.
• 2 points, if  you enter an older post containing a dish of a playing country on a game day.
• 3 points, if you enter a new post containing a Brazilian dish.
• 4 points, if you enter a new post containing a dish of a playing country on a game day.
• 5 points, if you guess the winning country of our Food World Cup correctly. That country will be the one with the most posts on game days. However, you can only guess until the 11th of June. Just mention the country in the comments. Will it be Brazil?

Got it? Did you understand everything? I hope so. At least I understand it. In the unlikely case you don't understand it fully, feel free to fire your questions ahead!

I'm sure you can find out, which country is playing on which day. However, I will also keep you posted during the event to the best of my abilities. 

Well, I'm sure, I wrote already more than enough now. Most probably you are already fed up with reading so much text here. I am sorry I am not able to provide a photo of a Brazilian dish I did, because I didn't do any yet.

Therefore I stop talking now and only say:

'Let the game begin!'