Arroz a la Cubana

Why did I waste another two hours of my life? Do you know this feeling? Maybe you started watching a movie and thought you had to finish it only to recognise that it really wasn't worth it. In fact the movie was really stupid and not that entertaining as you hoped at the outset. It could be that it started out good, but then it has an absolutely unexpected useless end and you feel empty taking nothing away from this experience. I'm sure you know this feeling. Have you watched any really disappointing movies lately?

The feeling can even get worse when you apply it to watching series. You devote time to watch a few episodes or even an entire season. Maybe you even enjoy watching it only to be faced with the fact that they are going to cancel the series after the first season. Now you are never going to find out if they really will catch John or if they are going to safe the world or whatever ...

For that part, sadly, I have some experiences. Do you, too?

On the other hand, with watching food shows you are not so much in danger. They make you hungry, give you some inspiration and maybe even make you a bit adventurous. As to that, one of my favourite series is the show 'Somebody feed Phil' on Netflix. Do you have any favourite shows that involve food?

Besides that, I always love a good food and cooking movie. Thinking about it right now, I would say that my favourite one, right now, is 'Kiss the Cook', although ... thinking too much of it, right now, I want a cubano with this crispy bread, the meat filling, the cheese melting in your mouth and ... sadly that's not going to happen. 

That leaves me with my memories of our last trip to the US where we had some cubanos. Strangely I'm just finding out that I didn't take any photos of them, although we had some even at the day of the cubano in New York. Sometimes, this world is really strange.

That could easily lead us to whip up a cubano and write about it right here and right now, but that is not going to happen either. It's not that I didn't try it before or that I will not try it again. However, that would be another story.

Today's story is more simple, although it still has Cuba in it: Arroz a la cubana, something like rice Cuban style. 

Well, you don't really have to call it like that. You could just call it rice with fried eggs, just that simple. But what's the fun in that. You could make a beef stew and call it beef stew, but it just sounds better if you call it bœuf bourguignon. Another example, you could whip up a salad and call it mixed salad or ... for the fun of it ... call it anti-rabbit salad with honey mustard dressing.

I guess you get the idea. That being said, let's get cooking.

Ingredients

Cooked rice

Fried eggs

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 medium red onions, finely chopped

1 green bell pepper, finely chopped

4 medium tomatoes, finely chopped

Olive oil

Coriander or parsley (optional)

Method

As the list of ingredients suggests we are not going hardcore here. Just cook the rice at your gusto and fry the eggs like you fancy them.

Then we just concentrate on the tomato sauce. Get some olive oil going in your pan. Toss in the onions and the garlic and let them catch some colour. Can you smell it? Do you love the smell of garlic being slowly fried in the pan? I do.

Then add the bell pepper and the tomatoes and let it all come together. The tomatoes should have enough liquid for the sauce. In case not, just add a tiny bit of water. 

If you want or have or like, you can add some chopped up coriander or parsley. Around here coriander is not always easy to get your hands on, sadly. But if I have it I would always add it.

Once all is finished you can plate up, although this is a bit of useless thing to say, more or less. Why would you plate up, if you haven't finished?!

Again, if you want or have or like, you can place some avocado on the side or some cooked or fried plantains. Just as you fancy.

In fact, this dish is something you can plate up anytime as an emergency. Here you have a lot of things you usually have in stock at home ... well I do. You could also use tinned tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes. 

Here we have come to the end of this post and I hope you don't have to say at the end of reading this post: Why did I waste this time? Well, at least it didn't take you two hours reading it.

On the other hand, if you think, oh what a shame it's already over again. Just stay a little bit longer. Leave a comment. Tell us what your favourite food movie or series is. Do you have an emergency meal? Maybe you have some more examples of dishes getting fancy names or ... as you want.

Thank you for being here and spending some time visiting this humble blog!

See you when I see you!

A Day out, Flowers, Caribbean and Dominican Tortilla

Finally we got the sunny weather. If you combine this with a day off and time to spare this makes for a good opportunity to have a day out. Accordingly we decided to take the train to Hannover, Germany, and look around of what is to see, buy some special food items and eat something special.

Arriving at the train station gives you the chance to have a snack right away, so we are having roasted pork in a bun. There is a place as well, that sells roasted pork in a bun nearby where we live, but that isn't half as good as the one at the train station of Hannover with soft onions on top of the meat. You could easily fill up on that, but ... I think it's better to leave some space for more.
For me, visiting Hannover means to go and see the Herrenhäuser Gärten. The gardens are really beautiful and you can enjoy them a lot. On this day it was quite quiet, if you don't count the workers. There are some days they have special events there and you can see a lot more. For the time being we enjoyed this quiet time, although it was that quiet, that they even turned off the water. If you want to see the grand fountain of water, which can shoot up the water even over 60 metres you have to be there before high noon or after 3 p.m.

Originally we only wanted to see the great garden, but the ticket came as a package with the mountain garden and the greenhouses as well. It's worth a visit as well. I would really enjoy to have some of those plants at home, too, but ...

Good there wasn't even a tiny cloud in the sky that day. So we could enjoy the gardens to the full ... with some bottles full of water.

So far regarding the cultural part. Of course you could do a lot more, but if you are walking around all the time and want to do a wee bit of shopping as well, the options are limited.
After walking around all day and buying a lot of chillies, platanos (plantains) and guandules (pigeon peas), it was time for more than a snack ... We set out for a place called Boca Chica. It's named after a place in the Dominican Republic. As we don't have the chance to fly every year to the Caribbean, this was the best we could do for now. The weather was right and they had a nice terrace where to enjoy the meal outside. We started with a mixed plate of starters ...

There was a lot going on on the plate: tostones (fried plantain), boquerones, aubergine salsa, plantain salad, yucca salad, mango, chicken, calamari and Dominican tortilla.
The Dominican tortilla is a bit like the Spanish tortilla, but instead of potatoes you use rice. This is a very good opportunity to use up leftover rice. Simple mix it with some eggs and if you like to get a bit more taste out of it add shopped up coriander or peppers. Then just fry it as small cakes. 
Next up the main dish with some fish ...

I decided to go for parrot fish as I never had it before. Seems quite healthy to me, but I still have to work a bit on my tastebuds regarding seafood. Well, that's not so easy around here as we don't have the chance to have it too often as no sea is nearby.
The rice had some guandules (pigeon peas) and that was something I had for the first time as well.
Something I didn't have for the first time was postre (dessert) ...

I have to try this one as home myself, if we ever get hands on ripe plantains around here. Well, it's not too fancy, but it makes for a solid dessert.
Anyway, it was a luvly day out we enjoyed very much. I hope I get my hands on some good and delicious cooking again soon.

Rodrigo's Paella

Summer and sun? – Check!

Lot’s of food? – Check!

Some drinks? – Check!

Crazy? – Check!

So far it has been a lovely summer with a fair share of sun, lot’s of food and some drinks. You can call me crazy for various known and unknown reasons. I leave that up to you, but for today, you can call me Rodrigo.

So, make sure to keep that in mind. I settled with a friend on that and he tries to call me Rodrigo. Since we have established that, we can go on with some food.

However, before we get to that, we need something else.

Spanish music? – Check!

These days with all those music streaming services and Internet radios, it’s not that complicated.

Now playing: Amistades Peligrosas – Me Quedaré Solo

Well, I don’t know about that, but I’m not sure whether I like that message. Anyway, that isn’t the subject of this post nor of this blog. I don’t want to get that personal here.

Calling back to mind what we want here now: Food.

Therefore I bring you now Rodrigo’s Paella …

You still remember, who Rodrigo is, don’t you? No Dices Más. Well, that is fitting now and the song that is playing right now: Moenia – No Dices Más.

Right, you don’t have to say anything as we start finally

Ingredients:
Olive oil
2 small chorizos
350 g chicken breast
100 g duck breast (optional, it was a leftover)
100 g shrimps
100 g mussels (ready to eat)
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
150 g cherry tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 yellow bell pepper
Salt
Pepper
Paprika powder (mild)
3 cups of rice
2 bay leaves
700 ml chicken stock
Pinch of saffron

Method:
Put a large pan on heat and add some olive oil.

Get a sharp knife to do all the cutting. Make sure it’s really sharp, so you get a clear cut in case you should cut yourself … oops … I didn’t mean it. I am sure, you can get through the recipe without cutting yourself. Anyway, I heard you cut yourself more often, when the knife is too dull. So it’s better to use a sharp knife, that does its job properly.

Now we go on with doing our job properly.

Cut the chorizo into small pieces and add it to the pan. Cut the chicken breast (and duck breast) into small chunks and brown them together in the pan with the chorizo. When it all has gained some good colour remove all the meat from the pan and set aside.

Finely chop up the onions and fry them in the pan until translucent. Chop up the garlic and add it, too.

Then quarter the tomatoes and put into the pan.

Cut the bell peppers into mouth-manageable size and add them to the pan as well.

Season everything with salt, pepper and the paprika powder.

Afterwards add the rice and the chicken stock. Add the meat back again as well. Add also 2 bay leaves and the pinch of saffron.

Let it all simmer until the rice is cooked. If you feel, the paella gets too dry, add a tiny bit of water.

Almost there! At the end add the shrimps and the mussels and heat them up. That shouldn’t take too long.

Now you are ready to plate up and enjoy Rodrigo’s Paella.

Well, I am not 100% sure whether that is a typical paella for I have never eaten paella in Spain – or at least I don’t remember. I have to put it on my list I want to do. Argh, that list is too long anyway. I also have a kind of list or better say a pile of papers of recipes I still could post. There are 11 papers and I don’t know how to manage. Anyway, you might see some of those things on this blog one day, so make sure to come back.

First, though, have some more paella and, if you like a bottle of beer with it. For sure there are more days coming to enjoy and … if I am able to put my eyes on a computer screen again – besides work – I will write you something more.

Well then, see you, when I see you. Next time I may be Chris again and not Rodrigo anymore. We will see ... 

The Spicy Side of Life - Chicken Rendang and Nasi Minyak

I don’t know whether I am back in business, but I try. Today I had that wonderful feeling again … of hot and spicy food slightly heating me up from the inside.

I had some Chicken Rendang and Nasi Minyak. 

As it was my first step into the direction of Malay cuisine, I had to do some research. Usually I go about by checking Wikipedia and then reading through the different dishes. I found a few other things I would love to try, like for example Murtabak, but that has to wait for a while.

I set my eyes on Nasi Minyak, rice flavoured with ghee and some dry spices and … you will see later. The description said, it is usually eaten with Rendang.

The most traditional way of doing that dish is with buffalo meat. As I don’t have it and I didn’t want to try getting it, I settled for chicken, which is also quite common these days.

So, don’t be afraid of the heat or the colour (you will see later, why it has roughly the same colour), we have means and ways to reduce the heat.

Now, let’s go for the Chicken Rendang first.

Chicken Rendang

Ingredients
1 tbsp. ghee
500 g chicken breast, cut into small chunks
1 tsp. turmeric powder
Salt
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Thumb-sized piece of ginger, finely chopped
1 stalk of lemongrass, finely chopped
1 dried chilli, finely chopped (less seeds, less heat)
Some water
400 ml coconut milk
A hand full of fresh coriander

Method
Melt the ghee in a pan. Then fry the chicken pieces together with the turmeric and a bit of salt.

Bash the shallots, garlic, ginger, lemongrass and chilli together in a mortar, adding a bit of water to make a paste – kind of.

Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. In the same pan, fry now the paste you just made.

Now add the coconut milk and the chopped up stalks of the coriander. Bring this to the boil and leave to simmer.

At some point add the chicken back and continue simmering until the sauce thickens.

Just prior to serving, add the coriander leaves and check the seasoning whether you need more salt.

Serve the Chicken Rendang together with the …

Nasi Minyak

Ingredients
A mug of basmati rice
Two mugs of water for steaming the rice
1 tbsp. ghee
A hand full of cashew nuts
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
4 cardamom pods, cracked open
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped (mind the seeds)
1 tsp. turmeric
Another mug of water
A hand full of peas (frozen, if you like)
A hand full of fresh coriander
Salt

Method
Add the mug of rice and the water into a pot and bring to the boil, while the lid is open. Then put on the lid, reduce the heat to a minimum and leave for 20 minutes.

Fork through the rice to loosen it up a bit, if you like and then set the rice aside.

Melt the ghee in another pan and roast the cashews. Then remove them from the pan.

Toss the cinnamon stick, star anise and the cardamom into the pan and fry them.

After that add the shallot, chilli and the turmeric. Let them all together enjoy some heat.

At this point it’s time for the rice to return. Add them to the pan together with some water.

While you are at heating things up, add the peas as well and finally the chopped up coriander leaves and the cashews.

Serve right away – as I already said – together with the Chicken Rendang. Well, they have both turmeric in it, so it’s not too much contrasting in terms of colour on the plate, but it tastes luvly.

Hähnchen Rendang und Nasi Minyak

Heut ist es mal an der Zeit für malaysische Küche. Das habe ich bis jetzt noch nicht ausprobiert. Also wird es mal Zeit. 

Insgesamt habe ich zwei Chillies verbaut. Es war trotzdem leicht scharf und aufwärmend. Das ist auf jeden Fall gut, wenn es wieder kälter wird – oh nein, der Winter kommt.

Falls man nicht so auf Schärfe steht, wäre es vielleicht angebracht, die Samen der Chillies zu entfernen. Was soll’s immer her mit der Schärfe.

Hähnchen Rendang

Zutaten
1 EL Ghee
500 g Hähnchenbrust, in kleine Stücke geschnitten
1 TL Kurkuma
Salz
2 Schalloten, feingehackt
2 Knoblauchzehen, feingehackt
Daumengroßes Stück Ingwer,feingehackt
1 Stengel Zitronengras, feingehackt
1 getrocknete Chilli, feingehackt
Etwas Wasser
400 ml Kokosmilch
Eine Hand voll frischer Koriander

Zubereitung
Das Ghee in der Pfanne schmelzen. Dann darin die Hähnchenstücke anbraten mit dem Kurkuma und etwas Salz zusammen bis das Fleisch etwas Farbe bekommt – und damit meine ich nicht die Farbe von dem Kurkuma.

Die Schalotten, Knoblauch, Ingwer, Zitronengras und Chilli in einen Mörser geben und dann ordentlich zusammenstampfen. Ein wenig Wasser dabei, so dass eine Paste entsteht – oder so ähnlich.

Das Hähnchenfleisch aus der Pfanne nehmen und statt dessen die Paste hineingeben. Das Fleisch erst mal zur Seite stellen. Die Paste anbraten.

Dann die Kokosmilch und feingehackte Korianderstengel hinzugeben. Das ganze zum Kochen bringen und köcheln lassen.

Irgendwann kommt dann auch das Fleisch zurück in die Pfanne und weiterköcheln lassen bis die Sauce etwas dicker wird.

Kurz vor dem servieren noch die Korianderblätter hinzugeben und kontrollieren, one noch etwas Salz nötig ist.

Das Hähnchen Rendang servieren zusammen mit …

Nasi Minyak

ZutatenEin Becher Basmatireis
Zwei Becher Wasser zum dünsten des Reises
1 EL Ghee
Eine Hand voll Cashewkerne
1 Zimtstange
1 Sternanis
4 Kardamomkapseln, das innere davon
1 Schalotte, feingehackt
1 rote Chilli, feingehackt
1 TL Kurkuma
Noch ein Becher Wasser
Eine Hand voll Erbsen
Eine Hand voll frischer Koriander
Salz

Zubereitung
Den Reis mit dem Wasser in einen Topf geben und zum Kochen bringen. Sobald der Reis schön blubbert, den Deckel drauf und die Hitze reduzieren. Für 20 Minuten vor sich hinköcheln lassen.

Wenn man mag, kann man dann nochmal das ganze kurz mit einer Gabel auflockern. Den Reis zur Seite stellen.

Das Ghee in einer anderen Pfanne schmelzen und die Cashewkerne darin rösten. Dann die Cashewkerne aus der Pfanne entfernen.

Da kommt jetzt die Zimtstange, Sternanis und Kardamon rein. Kurz anbraten.

Es folgt die Schalotte, Chilli und Kurkuma. Die Zutaten ein wenig die Hitze schmecken lassen.

Nun kommt der Reis wieder zurück in die Pfanne mit einem Becher Wasser, so dass uns da nicht anpappt.

Wo jetzt nun schon mal alles erhitzt wird, kann man auch gleich die Erbsen hinzugeben und wenn man dann schon fast fertig zum Essen ist, kommen noch die Cashewkerne und der Koriander mit drunter.

Zeit zum Essen. Wie ich schon erwähnte – ja, das habe ich schon gesagt – Nasi Minyak und Hähnchen Rendang zusammen servieren und Spass dabei haben. Lecker!

A Typical Costa Rican Meal - Casado

Have you ever been to Costa Rica? I haven't, but I got as close as planning a trip there and to buy a travel guide for Costa Rica. It would have been lovely to go there to see some awesome bits and pieces of nature in the tropical rainforest or the cloud forest. Honestly, I don't know what went wrong and why we didn't go. It has been too long since.
Now with the World Cup going on and with the Bloggers Around the World challenge along that line, I get the chance to think about things again. Now, wouldn't that be wonderful to have a post for every country taking part in the World Cup. I wouldn't manage that alone, but I already see there is a lot of interest in the blogger community to try things also from not so often mentioned countries.
Anyway, I do what I can and for today I decided to do Costa Rica. Here we go ...

Sometimes there is the tendency to do some fancy things, but here I decided to go for a typical Costa Rican everyday meal. It consist of rice (arroz), beans (frijoles), some greens or salad and a piece of meat - in my case some chicken (pollo). Normally there would go some plátanos with it, but I couldn't get hold on any plantains today. Otherwise, I would have sliced the plantains up and soak them in salt water for 10 minutes, pat them dry and fry them off. However, since I didn't have any, I didn't do it.
Back then to the typical Costa Rican meal. This time we have rice, chicken, beans and a mixed salad with cucumber, iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, onions, lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
For beans I used some baked beans for ... I didn't have the beans in my pantry I thought I would have. Had I known, I would have bought some other beans while shopping today. anyway, baked beans will do.
All the different things are served side by side on the plat as you can see in the picture. Put together like this this meal is called 'casado', which means married.
From that a few flashes of the past come up. First of all, I have to say you find meals like this in neighbouring countries, including the Caribbean as well.
There I had the chance to go in the past, to the Dominican Republic. Well, I even went several times and one time I stayed a few weeks with a local family. They had no fridge and electricity not all the time and ... well, running water also not all the time. Now have a guess, what I had for a meal several times a week. Rice, beans, chicken and salad.
They didn't call that dish casado, though. However, I was asked several times whether I am casado ...
Most likely I will turn up the sound system soon and will go for some Merengue on my own. It's some good fitness, too.

Of course you see that glass on the picture, too. It's a fresco, juice mixed with milk. When I read about this kind of drink in my travel guide I immediately remembered the taste from back then. I often used to drink passion fruit juice with milk. Of course, the passion fruit was fresh. I couldn't achieve that today. So I got some ready juice. Just mix it 1:1, half juice, half milk. It's quite refreshing and lovely ...
Oh, all that makes me kind of a little sad, when I think about back then and on the ideas and plans I had and how nothing did work out. I remember all the sun, the sea, the beach and even the wedding with all that very very sweet cake and the lot of dancing and ...
Fine, we were in Costa Rica now. Casado is a filling dish and as I had it today it was quite tasty, too. Well, I had baked beans. Otherwise it will be a bit dry as I remember it. Think about it, would you love to eat that almost every day?

At least it's an inexpensive meal and you could vary the meat on the side or even use fish or no meat at all and put some corn tortillas on the side, too or some other vegetables.

Well, where are you still planning to go when it comes to food? Would be lovely to see someone going African in the coming days ...

Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow - Fish Soup (#ReadCookEat)

I reckon you don't want to hear anything about snow right now, but ... I do it anyway. Where does it say that you have to read books playing in winter and with snow and winter and summer books in summer? Does this aid your imagination or what?
Well, I read a certain book, when I feel like it. There was it on my bookshelf: Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow or as you would call it in the original Frøken Smillas fornemmelse for sne by Peter Høeg. What shall I say? For sure there are better short summaries of the book online somewhere, but I still give it a shot. 
Smilla, 37 year old daughter of a female Inuit hunter and a rich Danish physician lives alone in an apartment complex. One of the neighbours is an alcoholic. That one has a son called Isaiah. She forms a friendship with him. Suddenly Isaiah dies. The police explains it as an accident, the boy falling from the roof. However, due to his marks in the snow on the roof and some other facts, Smilla does not believe in an accident. She investigates, later together with another neighbour, called Peter. He is a mechanic. Whatsoever, there is some kind of conspiracy and ... the rest you have to read for yourself.
As Galina from Chez Maximka and I myself are still doing the ReadCookEat challenge, it is no wonder I also kept an eye on the food in the book apart from obviously following the real plot.
While I would have loved to go for a raspberry cake I decided for this ...

In one scene in the book the mechanic, Peter, is preparing a fish soup for Smilla and himself. The description of the ingredients and the preparation is quite detailed so I tried to reproduce it, although I stuck to the ingredients I could get more easily ... eh ... for what was in that one shop, when I went shopping for the dish.

Ingredients:
Splash of olive oil
1 onion
2 carrots
1 small bulb of fennel
1 leek
Various items of fish (I had: gilthead bream, haddock, salmon)
Hand full of prawns
Rice
2 Star anise
1 tsp. cardamom
2 tbsp. sour cream
Juice of half an orange
Salt and pepper

Method:
I prepared the rice in the usual way with the star anise and the cardamom. I did this in a separate pan. You know, double amount of water, bring to boil, cover, reduce heat to minimum or turn off and let it work for 20 minutes. Anyway, you may have a different method or even a rice cooker. Feel free to do as yo are accustomed to do.

Than start with a large pan to do the soup. Give a splash of olive oil to the pan, which you put on low to medium heat. Chop up your onion and throw it into the pan.
Afterwards go for the carrots. Peel, chop up and off to the pan. Now the fennel and finally the leek. Give the vegetables a good time in the pan to soften them a bit and to release some flavour, maybe 20 minutes or more. Just make sure, you don't burn anything.
In between season the whole thing with salt and pepper and Pour in 1,5 litre or water. All this you bring to the boil and let simmer for 10 minutes.

It's not called fish soup for no reason. Therefore we need some fish in the pan. If you feel you just want to go ahead as I did (with little knowledge about fish) just use whole fish like I did with head, fin and bones and all (as was done in the book as well). However, that might get a bit messy, for later you don't want the head, fins and bones in the finished soup. For your convenience use fillets of fish. That will make your life easier, but you might have less flavour, if you can notice. Just one more thing, you don't want to have the scales of the fish anywhere near your pan. That, of course, if you have a good fishmonger should be no problem at all. I don't have ... a good fishmonger.
Fine, you put your pieces of fish into the pan, pushing it under the liquid and let the fish boil together with the rest for 10 minutes. If you need to remove heads, fins and bones afterwards ... your problem. 
Once all the undesirable parts are removed, add the prawns and cook them for another two minutes. After that you can finish the soup of with the sour cream and the orange juice.

Serve the soup together with the rice and if you like some bread as well.
That was one of the more expensive dishes, for you know, fish isn't that cheap. However, I got a good quality meal and finally some more fish for my health and a more balanced diet. Apart from that, there are some leftovers for another day ... or maybe too.
While eating I still discovered some fishbones in the soup - maybe that's why I don't have fish too often.
Whatever I say, I enjoyed the fish soup and am glad I have some more for the weekend.
Now that's something lovely for ReadCookEat.

Anyway, it wouldn't have been my fault, if the soup would have been terrible, for I followed most of the time Peter Høeg's description.

If it happens to be the case you have been reading something or are still doing so and you find any connection with food in that book and find the power to do a dish, then I see no reason, why you should not join ReadCookEat this month ...

Click here to go to the Link-up

Rice, Spinach, Egg, Feta ... Spanakorizo

So far, things are still fine. After all, the sun is shining today and it's still quite warm. So I enjoy it ... and while we are at it, we can go for some more Mediterranean food. My mind is still on the current Bloggers Around the World: Greece. And once more I like to go for a vegetarian dish: Spanakorizo. Some rice, spinach and egg is involved. Of course I make sure we aren't going to miss out in the feat department. Whatsoever, the name of the dish would be translated spinach and rice.

If you have some fresh spinach available go for it. However, I had to use frozen one. No worries, both ways it's going to work ... Wish I could say the same for my spinach in the garden, which didn't work at all this year.
Now, though, we want to cook ...

Give me an N - No Fuss Capsicum and Pork

I was thinking ... no, I'm just kidding, I wasn't, but ... I had a look at my recipe page on my blog and I noticed, I didn't have any recipes starting with E, I, J, N, V, X and Y. I reckon, I have to work on it. Most probably it would be easy to work of everything with cakes and puddings: Eton Mess, Irish Coffee Cake, Jaffa Cake Tart, Nutty Surprise, Vacherin Something, X-Men Cake, Yogurt and Berry Dream ... things like that. Really, I don't  know, why I don't have anything with E as eggs something would be quite easy as well. Strange ... I am ...
So, give me an N and ... have some No Fuss Capsicum and Pork.

Confused? Green White Cabbage Risotto

There is something lurking in the freezer part of the fridge, a few bags of frozen white cabbage. I couldn't possibly use the whole head of cabbage in one go for coleslaw or kimchi or for whatever. I needed a cabbage break. Into the freezer it went and stayed and stayed there. What to do with it?
Then I read something about cooking the cabbage with garlic and I thought by myself, why not have a risotto, a Green White Cabbage Risotto.

Isn't that a bit confusing? I don't know really, because I am kind of confused most of the time and simply try to go on. In this case here, however, I am just referring to this "Green" and "White" thingy. Well, not really. You already see, how we get the white cabbage green. Lets go for it then ...

Ingredients:
A quarter of a head of white cabbage
4 cloves of garlic (the more the merrier)
Vegetable stock
A bunch of basil leaves
A splash of olive oil
One small onion, finely chopped
200 g  of risotto rice
A splash of dry white wine (might be a bigger splash)
A knob of butter
50 g of freshly grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper

Method:
The recipe unfolds with the leaves of cabbage cooked together with the peeled and halved cloves of garlic. Just cook them a few minutes together. Then remove the cabbage and the garlic together with a bit of the liquid and transfer it to a blender. Add the basil to the blender, too and ... blend it.
As for the remaining cooking water, you can mix it with the vegetable stock and keep it warm.
Now have the pot for the risotto ready and start softening the onions in some olive oil. Once you have achieved that, give the rice into the pot and go through it with a spoon to bring things together. Pour in some white wine and cook until most of it has been absorbed.
Then we can go on with the risotto fun part by adding one ladle of stock to the rice at a time and cooking until most of the liquid is assimilated. 
Keep going for about 18 minutes. Then toss in the knob of butter and the grated Parmesan. Cover the pot for two to three minutes. Remove the lid again, spoon the risotto through and season it with salt and pepper. Then it's time to plate up.
Enjoy your Green White Cabbage Risotto.

Maybe you do. At the beginning of the month I thought, maybe I get the chance to take part in Herbs on Saturday (Cooking with Herbs) from Lavender & Lovage this month. I just made it ...

Clueless ... Bánh Mì? ... Asian Baguette with Omelette

I have no clue ... therefore I must be clueless so to speak. One of my teachers once said: "You can be stupid, you only need to find a way." Easier said than done, though ... if you are clueless. I would need some kind of a plan. Should I not manage, things will simply keep flowing in uncertain ways. Do you have a clue what I am talking about?
How, if I'm already clueless. Anyway, I found some photos on my computer. I took them a few weeks ago. Now I need to figure out what they were for or how I did things in order to present you something worthwhile.
Here we are then ...

Now that you could call Bánh Mì, a Vietnamese sandwich or baguette. Right away, I have to be honest that I never had a real Bánh Mì so I have no clue what it is supposed to be like. When I was in London, I went to City Càphê to had a try.
Unfortunately, I came to late and they had ran out on Bánh Mì. I had to eat something differently and still went on without any practical knowledge about Bánh Mì. Then I had no further chances to have a try.
If you start digging for information you will find out that Báhn Mì, the Vietnamese baguette was influenced by the French colonial time.
Well ... "You can be stupid, you only need to find a way."
I had rice the day before or even the day before that day. There were leftovers. So here comes the stupid idea ...
Why not have rice in the dough of the bread.

Ingredients:
350 g strong baking flour
100 g cooked rice
1,5 tsp salt
4,5 tsp yeast
200 - 300 ml lukewarm water

Method (if ... that is a big IF you want to call it so in this clueless case):
The flour goes into a large bowl.
Our attention moves right away to the cooked rice. It was in the fridge before that a day or two. Ah ... toss it  into the blender with a bit of water and then ... go. Try to blend it as good as it gets.
Add the salt and yeast to the flour.
Our attention moves back to the rice. It has to join the flour as well. Additionally we add as much water as it needs to do the job. Use your fine hands to knead the dough and form it into a ball. Let it rest for ten minutes and then knead it for 15 minutes, knowing you save the money for going to the gym, too.
Let the dough rise for 45 minutes. Then separate the dough into four party and form some flat longish objects, which will be left alone and covered with a wet towel for 20 minutes.
Now fold the four objects together to make them look more roundish. Maybe you can extend them lengthwise a bit, too.
Place them back to rest for another 35 minutes in a way where the folding edge is at the bottom side ... just use your imagination.
Transfer the baguettes to a baking tray. Slash them at the top a few times with a sharp knife and bake them for 20 minutes at 230 °C. At the beginning spray the oven with a bit of water for the crust.

In my humble opinion, the baguettes looked and tasted nice afterwards.
The rice didn't do any harm. But did it do any good? Well, I can say they tasted a bit different from the ones without rice. I was satisfied, although still clueless.
Now we still need something to fill the baguette.
A simple omelette will do. For that we just use three eggs, a bit of salt, one or two finely chopped red chillies and a hand full of coriander. After all we don't want to complicate things. Therefore mix the egg with the salt and the chilli and do your omelette in the pan as you are accustomed to do, if you are.
Obviously you have to cut the baguette open, fill it with the omelette and add the coriander to give it the final touch.
And then?
I reckon, you have to eat it. 
Taste?
I liked it. I might be clueless, but I still know what I like taste wise. Apart from that I know something else. Once more, I managed my leftovers not go to wate. With that in mind I like to add this post to Credit Crunch Munch by Helen from Fuss Free Flavours & Camilla from Fab Food 4 All. The trick, though, this time it is hosted by the wonderful Anneli from délicieux. Go, have a look and start having fun with some lovely entries there.

That's it! I'm through, done and at my wits' end. There is nothing much left to say.
Now I need to continue looking for a plan in order to get back on what track I'm supposed to be ...

Bloggers Around the World Round-up: India

You should stop when things are at their best. Why is that? How am I supposed to know. However, there is something I do know. One month has past again, so it's time to finish our stay in India for Bloggers Around the World.

 

Did you have a pleasant stay and enjoyed some nice food? You have to speak for yourselves, but I did. Let's see, what everyone came up with ...

First was Nicole from Yumsome! That was the fastest entry for Bloggers Around the World so far. Right the next day Nicole entered her Tomato Masala. When I see it, I get hungry again. Above that it comes with all the facts you need, like cost per serving and nutrition facts. Good!

We go on with some more lovely food from Janet at the taste space - steam, bake, boil, shake! There we get good taste with Basmati Rice Pilaf with Caramelized Onions and Broccoli. Just look at how fresh it looks.

Enjoy it! What else?  Are you familiar with garam masala? For sure you will enjoy Diane's Garam Masala Chicken. Head over to Simple Living and Eating to find out more and ... as a bonus ... so to say ... find some more lovely Indian food.

Any thoughts on cheese? I couldn't live without it. Great thing we also have some cheese in India - paneer. So, just have a look what great food Caroline conjured with it ... Caroline Makes ... Paneer Curry. Sounds intriguing? Find out.

Do you want something for pudding? Then have this rice pudding.

So far the entries I found around here.

Back to this stopping thing ... stopping when things are best. How am I supposed to know when things are best. They still could get better. 

I myself might be down at something somewhere, but I refuse to give up (for now). Where do we go then next. I guess the following would be nice. Let us go back to Europe and do ...

ITALY

There is still so much lovely food to enjoy. Italian food is one of my favourites. I reckon I need to get  some basil ready.

A few words for the trip ...

1. Leave a comment with a link to your post here in this very post or send me an email at cookingatworld@yahoo.co.uk or even - if you don't have a blog of your own - post a fitting photo on my Facebook page.
2. Link to my blog and this challenge in your post.  
3. Use the "Bloggers Around the World" badge (the one you find at the beginning and end of this post ... you know!).  
4. You can use a new or an old post, but it has to be adjusted accordingly (you know, all the linking). 
5. You can have up to three entries, but ... if you just post on my Facebook page, you can have as many as you want.
6. Enjoy cooking, eating and posting. La vita e bella ... I reckon.

So, make sure to check in before the 13th of June to leave something here with us.

We see us when we see us!