Rosemary Crackers - #BreadBakers

Sunday morning my brother walked into the kitchen, opened the pot of ackee and saltfish and then reached into the cupboard for the bread. It's what he does every Sunday morning, except this morning, there was no bread. He grabbed a bag of crackers instead and commented that crackers were nicer anyway. I agreed.

Crackers are a huge part of Jamaican cuisine. And I don't mean that we have a variety of crackers. In fact, there used to be only one type - water crackers from the Excelsior brand - but we use that one type for EVERYTHING. They dunk it in porridge. They drink it with their tea. They give it to teething babies. I love crackers and butter (childhood guilty pleasure was crackers and butter sprinkled with sugar - warmed in the toaster oven). When my brother wants to cook steamed fish, he can't proceed until he has a bag of crackers. Jamaicans add the crackers to the pot near the end so they are just barely softened. Best part of the dish. Not feeling well? You may need some crackers. We are obsessed.

They don't look like much but I assure you, once you eat one, you won't be able to stop

Coincidentally, I was preparing that Sunday morning to bake some crackers. Alas, I wasn't making the delicious water crackers - I have NO idea how they make it. But these rosemary crackers were a good enough substitute. I tested several with ackee and saltfish and they passed the more-ish test.

I love how easy these were to make and look forward to making them often.

This month the Bread Bakers are baking all types of crackers. Be sure to scroll down to see the list. Thanks for hosting, Sneha!

Rosemary Crackers 

Ingredients 

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (plus extra for sprinkling)
1 tablespoon finely minced rosemary
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon oil

Directions 

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and rosemary.  Add the water and oil and gently knead into a smooth ball. If the dough feels dry, add a little water a teaspoon at a time. If it's wet, sprinkle in some flour.

Roll out the dough on a sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle with extra salt. Cut the dough into desired shapes.

Bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden. Allow to cool before eating.

• Baked Nacho Chips from Anybody Can Bake
• Cheesy Crunchy Mini Crackers from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Homemade Senbei Rice Crackers from Food Lust People Love
• Lavash from Sneha's Recipe
• Olive Oil Crackers from A Messy Kitchen
• Rosemary Crackers from Passion Kneaded
• Sourdough Cheddar Cheese and Rosemary Crackers from Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Sprouted Wheat Crackers with Sea Salt from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Wholegrain Sesame and Flaxseed Crackers from Ambrosia
• Wholemeal and Oats Carrot Crackers from Cook with Renu

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Jamaican Rock Buns

I spend a lot of time researching recipes from all over the world but spend very little time on Jamaican recipes. We don't have a lot of traditional desserts but it's about time that I learn to make them. I'd been thinking about this for a while and voiced this some friends back in December. They decided to join me on this quest. We created a schedule. One recipe for each month in 2019. No pressure though. If it doesn't get done in that particular month, no big deal.

For January, we chose rocks buns. I first made rock buns in first form of high school (at 10 years old). It's a really easy recipe and a good way to start because some of these months are going to be very hard for me.

I'm not quite sure how to describe a rock bun. A dense mini cake? Scone's denser cousin? A delicious treat that you should just eat and stop trying to describe it? Let's go with that.


Jamaican Rock Buns 

Ingredients 

480 grams flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
170 grams butter
200 grams brown sugar
1 cup shredded, fresh coconut
1/2 cup raisins
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
milk, as needed


Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 2 baking sheets (I used a half sheet and a quarter sheet).
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.  Stir in the sugar, coconut and raisins. Beat the eggs and vanilla then stir them in. Splash in enough milk to get the mixture to stick together. I used about a 1/4 cup but you might need more.

Scoop mounds of the batter onto prepared sheets. I used an ice cream scoop but you can use a large spoon. It doesn't need to be perfect. If desired, sprinkle the tops with a little bit of sugar.
Bake 20-25 minutes or until the tops are dry and the rock buns are golden.

Note

Sometimes I use a cup of grated coconut. More coconut = more happiness.

Adjika-Style Salsa - CIC

Bell peppers and apple juice. What do you make with those two? A drink? Hmm, I do want to start drinking vegetable juices. But not this time. How about taking liberties with a Ukranian salsa called adjika. Let me tell you, I have no chips to scoop up this salsa but that hasn't stopped the shovelling.

Adjika-Style Salsa 

Ingredients
1lb tomatoes
1/4lb bell peppers
1/4lb apples
1 small carrot
1/8lb onion
1/2 scotch bonnet pepper
2 tablespoons apple juice
1 bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
pinch of cayenne


Directions 

Process the tomatoes, bell peppers, apples, carrots, onion, and scotch bonnet peppers until coarse and chunky. You may want to do this in batches. Transfer to a pot and add the apple juice and bay leaf. Bring to a quick boil then turn down the heat to low and allow to simmer for an hour.

Add the garlic, oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, salt, red pepper flakes, and cayenne. Let simmer for another 10 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Cool and enjoy.

Notes

Slightly adapted from iFoodreal

An InLinkz Link-up

Peanut Butter and Banana Parfait - #CIC

This little blog of mine has been seriously neglected and I wish I could say that things would change soon. No time, no time, no time. I feel most guilty when I have to miss or be late for a Crazy Ingredient Challenge. So I am really happy that I was able to make this month's challenge - Peanut Butter and Flaxseeds.

I'm clearly not myself since I didn't bake a crazy pastry or some weird cake with the combination. My brain just cannot handle all of that now. So I present to you a simple parfait. Its more of a guide than a recipe. I wish that I'd used some colourful fruits but that's for another time.

Peanut Butter and Banana Parfait 
Yield: 1 serving 

Ingredients
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tablespoons peanut butter (I used chunky)
honey, to taste
2 teaspoon ground flaxseed (or to taste)
1 tablespoon sunflower seeds (or to taste)
1 banana, sliced

Directions
Mix the yogurt, peanut butter, and honey if using. In a small jar layer a third of the yogurt, half the flaxseed, half the sunflower seeds, and some banana slices. Repeat and then top with the remaining yogurt.

An InLinkz Link-up

Mocha Beet Smoothie - #CrazyIngredientChallenge

The past week had me on edge. It rained every single day starting at approximately 2 pm each day. And every single day, our street turned into a river. I'm not even slightly exaggerating. Within an hour, water would just be rushing along, cars would be stuck, and brave pedestrians would have to take their shoes off, roll their pants up, and wade through the waters. I didn't need to go through the water. I was on edge because we are in a flood prone area and have been flooded out several times. It usually starts exactly like last week. Heavy rains each day. Earth too saturated. Drains overflowing. And then the next thing you know, the water is rushing into the house. My first experience was when I was 4 years old. I remember being woken up in the middle of the night and placed on someone's back and taken to a neighbour's house. The water was actually coming in through the windows then.  

I needed to write up a post for our Bundt Bakers group last Thursday but I was just too distracted by the flooded roads to sit down and write. Plus, what if it did flood on Wednesday night? I just wouldn't have time to do what was needed on Thursday. I just couldn't get it together. The great news is - the house wasn't flooded and the rains stopped on Friday night. Two days of full sun has been amazing. Outside is still wet and the roads are still full of debris but inside is dry. I hope this is the last of the crazy weather for the year. I think this is the 4th time that we've been sitting around wondering if the water would make it inside. Not fun.

So onto Crazy Ingredient Challenge. This month we're featuring beets and coffee! I wanted to bake a cake and/or brownies so badly but having that much cake around when my self control is at its lowest, was not the best of ideas. So I went with the opposite of cake - a smoothie. I don't recognise myself either. 

The base of this smoothie is one that I often use when I'm in the mood for a smoothie - frozen banana, cocoa, and coffee. I usually add some protein powder too but didn't this time. You can make this with raw beets or you could add some roasted or steamed beets if you have that around. But that's an extra step that I didn't want to take on. 

Mocha Beet Smoothie

Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients 

1/2 a beet (about 100 grams)

1 frozen ripe banana

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon instant coffee

dash of cinnamon

sweetener to taste (I used a little honey)

Directions 

Grate the beet then add to a blender with the banana, milk, cocoa, coffee, and cinnamon. Taste and add a sweetener, if needed. Serve immediately. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Hotteok (Korean Stuffed Pancakes) - #BreadBakers

When I first heard the theme for this month's Bread Bakers (pancakes), I pictured yeast, an overnight rise and later some cinnamon invaded my pancake dreams. It was going to be great. And then I read the description from our host Mayuri. We had to go global. I almost took the easy way out. Pancakes aren't really a part of my cuisine. (My friend and I are still arguing about whether a particular Jamaican dish is our version of a pancake. The "no" side is currently winning.) This meant I really could just do a North American-style pancake and take the easy way out. Yeast isn't traditional. Plus, I can still count the number of times that I've ever made pancakes so it still felt like I was exploring? No? I couldn't convince myself either.

I was about to sit the event out because most of the pancakes that interested me included ingredients I can't get here. I also fell into a flatbread vs pancake rabbit hole. Lots of blurred lines there. I ended up choosing hotteok, a Korean stuffed pancake, that actually seems more flatbread-like to me. However, all the sites used the word "pancake" in the English name. While I was making it, I realised that I did fulfil my pancake dreams - there's yeast and cinnamon!

Hotteoks are a popular street dish during the winter and are served piping hot. Be careful though - that melted sugar can burn you. The sugar, cinnamon, and nuts filling is traditional. However, they can be filled with anything you desire. How about some cheese? A pizza filling? Nutella?

Picky Nephew came over right as I was finishing these up. I thought about offering him one. But why let him ruin hotteoks for me? I stuffed a hot hotteok into my mouth and then listened to him talk about whales. Look, I know I sound like a bad aunt there. I promise you, I am not that bad. A couple weekends ago, he requested pancakes. I made them. 
"Did you flip them in the air? I wanted to watch you flip them in the air!"
"Eat that one first and then I will show you that."
No, I cannot actually flip pancakes in the air.
"I don't want pancakes."
"What do you mean?! You asked me to make them for you!"
"I don't like pancakes."
*runs off to play*

I later learned that he has never tasted a pancake. I guess he just saw someone making them on TV and placed a request. We tried to get him to take a bite and that was just hell on earth. So, no, I was not offering him any of my hotteok.

Scroll down to see all the pancakes that the Bread Bakers made this month.

Hotteok (Korean Stuffed Pancakes)

Yield: 6 pancakes

Ingredients

Dough
156 grams flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
1/4 teaspoon salt
120 grams water
2 teaspoons oil
Filling
4 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons peanuts, crushed
1 teaspoon cinnamon

oil, for cooking and coating your hands

Directions

Whisk together flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.  Pour in the water and oil. Mix together for a few minutes then cover and let proof until doubled.
When the dough has doubled, flour your work surface and oil your hands. This is a sticky dough! Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces, shape into a ball and let rest for 10 minutes while you make the filling.
For the filling, make sure there are no large pieces of peanuts that may tear the dough.
Flatten each ball and fill with about 2 to 3 teaspoons of the filling. Seal the ball.
Heat a pan over medium heat with just enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan.
Place a ball in the pan and cook for 30 seconds. Flip the ball and flatten with a spatula.
Cook for 1 minute on this second side then flip the pancake again.
Turn the heat down to very low and cover the pan. Cook for  another minute so that the filling can completely melt then remove from the pan.
Repeat with the remaining balls.

Serve while still warm

Notes

• Don't worry if the balls look a bit messy. It will look just fine when cooked and still taste amazing.

Check out the Pancakes from different parts of the world that our fellow Bread Bakers have baked this month:

• Alagar Kovil Dosai from Sara’s Tasty Buds
• Blueberry Dutch Baby from Hostess At Heart
• Brown Rice Dosa (Indian Savory Crepes) from Spiceroots
• Buckwheat, Blackberry and Saffron Drop Scones from A Shaggy Dough Story
• Chinese Scallion Pancakes from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Corn Pancakes from Kids and Chic
• Crepes from A Baker’s House
• Dutch Baby from Herbivore Cucina
• Galettes de Sarrasin from The Bread She Bakes
• Greek Tiganites from Gayathri’s Cook Spot
• Hotteok (Korean Pancakes) from Cook’s Hideout
• Hotteok (Korean Stuffed Pancakes) from Passion Kneaded
• Kabalagala (Ugandan Pancakes) from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Keralan Yeast Appam from Food Lust People Love
• Malpua (Sweet Indian Crepes) from SimplyVeggies
• Oven Baked Tropical Pancakes from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pannukkau (Finish Pancakes) from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Potato Latkes (Jewish Pancakes) from Sneha’s Recipes
• Savory Finnish Baked Pancakes(Pannukakku) with Smoked Salmon from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Srilankan Hoppers from I camp in my Kitchen
• Strawberry Nutella Crepes from Spill the Spices
• Swedish Pancakes from Palatable Pastime
• Sweet Potato Pancakes with Brown Sugar and Pecan Sauce from A Salad For All Seasons
• Wholegrain Yeast Pancakes from Ambrosia

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page.

We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.

Beer Caramel Corn Flakes Clusters

This month's CIC is quite a fun one. The winners this month were beer and corn flakes. (Wait, do you type cornflakes or corn flakes? I use them about equally. In the title above, I am playing on the fact that there's also popcorn in the mix - not actually going for the two word version.) When I saw the winning combination, I thought that there would be no way that I would be able to pull off dessert. Beer and cornflakes seemed to scream batter and fry. But I can't fry! Well, sometimes, I can. I was trying to think of dessert bars with cornflakes in one layer. No go. French toast? Last resort. I just kept going back to some chicken brined in beer and then fried. Perhaps a beer dipping sauce too? Maybe make some sliders? I am sure it would be delicious.

I was resigned to a savoury dish when my friend mentioned bourbon and corn flakes ice cream. There was hope for my sweet tooth after all! Ice cream sounds great but I know I wouldn't have time so I decided to throw in some popcorn and go for caramel. My sweet tooth is happy and I have escaped savoury once again.

Beer Caramel Corn Flakes Clusters

(adapted from Beeroness)

Ingredients

4 cups popped corn

2 cups corn flakes

1/2 cup nuts

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup stout (I used Dragon Stout)

4 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Combine the popcorn, corn flakes, and nuts in a greased 9" x 13" baking dish. Preheat oven to 300F.

In  a saucepan, combine sugar, stout, butter, and corn syrup. Stir until sugar dissolves then let boil for 7 minutes and the mixture has thickened.

Stir in salt. Pour beer caramel over the popcorn mixture. Stir with a greased spoon or spatula to coat the popcorn mixture.

Place the baking dish into the preheated and bake for 15 minutes. Stir the mixture then bake for an additional 15 minutes.

Cool on wax paper. Break up to serve. Store in an airtight container.

An InLinkz Link-up

Chickpea Fudge - Crazy Ingredient Challenge

The winning ingredients for this month's Crazy Ingredients Challenge are chickpeas and honey. My personal challenge with this  group is to always try to make something different from the standard fare or relatively unexpected with the ingredients. That doesn't always happen of course as all I often want to make is bread. I fought that urge this month and decided on this fudge.

Fudge made with chickpeas just sounds a bit "wrong" doesn't it? I actually made chocolate chip cookies years ago that had chickpeas instead of flour. I don't think I liked it so I'm not sure why I jumped on the fudge bandwagon. While a chickpea fudge may sound unusual to me, it's pretty standard fare in Indian cuisine. They combine chickpea flour with sugar and ghee . I've also seen condensed milk.

The fudge is surprisingly good. You definitely do not taste the chickpeas at all. I thought it needed to be a little sweeter - we're calling this fudge after all - but I stopped myself from adding a lot of extra honey or even sugar. You don't have to show the same restraint. Some chocolate chips would be a great addition too. That would add an extra sweet touch. I haven't crunched the numbers but I think with all the chickpeas and nuts included here, this may work well as a protein snack after a gym session.

Be sure to check out the other chickpeas and honey recipes from the other CIC bloggers below. Additionally, I'll be sharing a really unusual use for chickpeas next week. Look out for that!

Chickpea Fudge

Ingredients
1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Directions
Line a 9" x 5" pan with plastic wrap.
Blend all the ingredients except the walnuts together until it is smooth. Taste and add extra sweetener or spices, if desired. Stir in the walnuts then scoop into the prepared pan. Freeze for at least 5 hours then cut into small squares to serve.

Keep frozen.

An InLinkz Link-up

Naked Ladies with Their Legs Crossed - Foodie Extravaganza

Do not, I repeat, do not do a Google image search for "naked ladies with their legs crossed" if your safe search filter is off. In fact, I don't even think the safe search search filter will help you. Just do yourself a favour and add "recipe" to the search terms. I may or may not have done such a search. Let's talk about these particular naked ladies and not the ones that Google showed me.

I came across this recipe in a 2007 Cook's Country magazine.  It's nearly impossible to see such a title and walk away. I had to find out what it was about. It turns out that the magazine made a call for long lost recipes and this is one of the recipes that they received. These naked ladies (maybe I should stop typing that, the Google hits are not going to be pretty) are basically potato crullers with a German heritage. They were particularly popular on Shrove Tuesday (Fastnacht) when people tried to use up all the fat and sugar before Lent began. In fact, potato donuts are called fasnacht by the Pennsylvania Dutch.

All the Google hits seem to point back to the Cook's Country recipe so I couldn't find more information about the specific shape of these crullers. Most of the potato crullers I found were shaped like circular crullers. Other potato donuts had traditional donut shapes. However, I did find one that had a slit in the center and then the dough was pulled through that slit. My best guess is that these ladies are related to those.

When I first saved this recipe, I had no intention of making them. I simply do not fry. Well, that's not true, I make an exception for breadfruit. I'm not some health nut* avoiding fried foods. Far from it. Fried food is up there with ice cream and chocolate on my favourite foods list. I just don't have the patience for frying. My oil is never hot enough and whenever I get it to the right temperature, I get distracted, leave the kitchen and suddenly things are burning.

The recipe was just going to languish in my collection until Kathleen chose potato as the theme for this month's Foodie Extravaganza. I did a search of my collection and the ladies popped up. I went back and forth between this and another dish for weeks. But there was no way that I could seriously pass up sharing the naked ladies. I knew that there would never be a perfect time to make them again.

I am so glad that I did! Rolling them out was not as troublesome as I thought it would be (the dough is a bit sticky - make sure the surface is well floured). I grabbed my thermometer and made sure my oil's temperature was correct and set a timer so that if I left the kitchen, there'd be a timer summoning me back in. All so very worth it. I used nutmeg instead of cinnamon and loved the taste of nutmeg in the dough. It was so hard to not eat them all before taking pictures for this post. Those are the only three that survived, actually. I can definitely say that I will be heating up some oil to fry these again. If you love donuts, you will love these.

Be sure to scroll down to check out how everyone else used potatoes this month!

*My apologies to anyone avoiding fried foods but doesn't consider themselves a health nut.

Naked Ladies with Their Legs Crossed

Recipe by: Kelly   Adapted from: Cook's Country

Yield: 12

Ingredients 1/2 cup mashed potatoes, unseasoned 1 egg 2 tablespoons milk 1 cup sugar, divided 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg  Oil for deep frying

Directions Beat the mashed potato, egg, milk, 1/2 cup sugar, and vanilla until well combined. Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Add the potato mixture and stir to form a moist and sticky dough.  On a heavily floured surface, roll the dough out to 14" x 9" x 1/4". Cut the dough in half to make two 9" x 7" rectangles. Cut each rectangle into six 7" x 1.5" strips.  Make a slit in each strip for the legs and twist to form crossed legs. Refrigerate until ready to fry.  Heat oil in a pot large enough to fit the strips. Oil should be heated to 350F. Carefully lower each strip into the oil - do not crowd the pot. Fry until crisp and brown on both sides - about two minutes per side.  Transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain for about 30 seconds then toss with the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar.  Best eaten immediately.

Notes Do not use mash potatoes that contain any other ingredients - no milk, salt or butter. Ensure that there are no lumps. I used a russet potato. The crullers can be refrigerated up to 24 hours before frying. I actually refrigerated the dough before rolling it out. That made it much easier to roll out.  The original recipe calls for rolling out to 18" x 14" x 1/4".  There's no way there was enough dough to do this. I would have needed to roll it about 1/8" thick. Maybe you will fare better.  Check your oil's temperature periodically. Maintain between 325F and 350 F. You could toss the crullers in cinnamon sugar or a glaze, if that's your preference.

 

Foodie Extravaganza is where bloggers come together and celebrate food holidays. Did you know there is at least one food assigned to each day of the year to celebrate that food? Kathleen from Fearlessly Creative Mammas is our host this month and since she is from Idaho, she picked potatoes. All of the recipes will feature potatoes in one form or another. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of the month. If you are a blogger and you're interested in joining in the fun, visit us at our Facebook Foodie Extravaganza page. You can also visit our past party submissions on our Pinterest Foodie Extravaganza board . We hope you will enjoy the recipes we are sharing this month. The potato is so versatile that we've come up with a huge variety of recipes for you to try.  

• Bloody Mary Potato Salad from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Chicken and Mashed Potato Waffles from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Chipotle and Lime Roasted Fingerling Potatoes from Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Copycat Chicken & Gnocchi Soup from Pantry Friendly Cooking 
• Bloody Mary Potato Salad from Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Horseradish Potato Au Gratin from From Gate to Plate
• Japanese Moon Gazing Potatoes from Ninja Baker
• Jersey Royals with Mint from Food Lust People Love
• Latvian Spiced Dill French Fries from Fearlessly Creative Mammas
• Llapingachos (Ecuadorian Stuffed Potato Patties) from Tara's Multicultural Table
• Loaded Pierogi from Cooking With Carlee
• Naked Ladies with their Legs Crossed from Passion Kneaded
• Potato Gnocchi with Wild Mushrooms from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Potato Rolled Tacos from Foodie and Wine
• Roasted Purple Potatoes with Rosemary and Thyme from Our Good Life
• Shredded Potato Crusted Chicken from The Freshman Cook
• Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup from Making Miracles
• Sweet Potato Spiced Swirl Bread from Baking in Pyjamas
• Tortilla Espanola (Spanish Omelet) from Cali's Cuisine

Coconut Cilantro Pesto Dip with Baked Plantains - CIC

I put my hand upon your hip.
When I dip, you dip, we dip.

Ahem. Sorry. I just couldn't help it, So after procrastinating last month and having to rush to melt a back up dish for Crazy Ingredient Challenge, I vowed to not let that happen this month. As soon as the final votes were on, I started planning a dish using this month's winners - coconut and pesto. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to make. That was until a friend challenged me to avoid making bread. It wasn't exactly bread that I had planned but fiiiine, I'd step away from my flour crutch.

Stepping away wasn't easy. Coconut can be hard to highlight since it's flavour is so subtle. I eventually decided a chickpea salad/dip. Still clutching to my bread love, I thought I'd make a sandwich using this whimsical bread that I made. My owl is a little drunk/sad but he still makes a good sandwich.

Somehow, even after all that planning and a vow to not procrastinate, I found myself running to the supermarket at 11pm on the 18th to grab basil and coconut milk. Oops! And guess what? The supermarket was out of basil! Since it was too late to go elsewhere, I had to switch gears. I grabbed cilantro for a cilantro pesto then made a last minute decision to ditch the chickpeas. Instead I went with baked plantains. Really delicious and later this week, I'll still cook a batch of chickpeas to mix with the dip.

The plantains are twice baked in the style of the fried tostones. Growing up, my mother would often make these on weekends. She' fry them though. I don't think we have a particular name for them in Jamaica. I just knew them as the best plantains ever. But I know Latin American and African countries have a variety of names for them.

Be sure to scroll down to see how others used coconut and pesto!

 

Coconut Cilantro Pesto Dip with Baked Plantains

Ingredients

Coconut Sour Cream

1 can coconut milk 

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon vinegar

1 teaspoon oil

salt, to taste

Coconut Cilantro Pesto Dip

2 packed cups cilantro, chopped

1/4 cup nuts of choice

1 jalapeno pepper

2 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons shredded coconut

1 tablespoon lime juice

2 - 4 tablespoons oil (coconut or olive oil)

 salt to taste

 coconut sour cream

Baked Plantains

 2 green plantains 

salt 

oil for brushing

Directions

Place the coconut milk in the fridge for at least two hours. If short on time, you can place it in the freezer. After the can has chilled, carefully open the can. Do not shake the can at all. 

Scoop out the cream that has solidified at the top. Reserve the remaining liquid for smoothies or Jamaican rice and peas. 

Mix together the lemon juice and vinegar and stir in a little at a time into the the coconut cream. Taste and add enough to reach your desired taste. Stir in oil and salt. Place in the fridge to chill and solidify a a little. 

Put the cilantro, nuts, jalapeno, coconut and garlic into a food processor. Process until well-blended. Add the lemon juice then drizzle in the olive oil until you have reached your desired consistency. Err on the side of a thick peasto as you will be stirring in the coconut sour cream that will thin it considerably. Additionally, aim for a really spicy pesto since the coconut sour cream will mute the heat quite a lot. Stir in salt to taste. 

Mix the cilantro pesto and the coconut sour cream. Taste and adjust with salt or acid, if necessary. Chill until ready to use. It will thicken the longer it sits in the fridge. 

Preheat the oven to 400F. 

Slice the plantains into 1 inch pieces. Brush the pieces with oil then place on a greased baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes. 

Remove from oven and flatten the plantain pieces. My mother usually used two saucers so that's what I did.  Brush with additional oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for another 15 minutes or until the plantain has reached the desired crispness. You can place it under the broiler for just under a minute if it's not reaching your preferred colour. 

Serve warm with coconut cilantro pesto dip!

Notes

Everything above is totally customizable. Taste at each step and adjust where you see fit. You may want more or less coconut. You may want less heat or more acid. There's no messing it up. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Lemon Peeps Popcorn - Crazy Ingredient Challenge

If it feels like I am phoning this post in, it is because I am. It's been quite a week. The highlight was my hard drive deciding it did not want to live anymore. Woohoo!

This month's ingredients for the Crazy Ingredient Challenge were lemon and Peeps. I've seen Peeps in the supermarket but never tried them. I was actually shocked to learn that they were just marshmallows covered in colored sugar. I thought the entire candy was whatever colour it was on the outside. My bad. I also expected there to be a flavour above and beyond the marshmallow. Wrong on that front too. But you know what I was not wrong about? Lemons plus Peeps plus popcorn. DELICIOUS! Don't tell anyone that I ate all 9 cups of popcorn in one sitting.

Lemony Peeps Popcorn 

9-10 cups of popped popcorn (this was from 6 tablespoons of unpopped popcorn)
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 3oz package of Peeps


Place butter and zest over medium low heat and melt while stirring. Add the Peeps and stir slowly until completely melted. Immediately pour the mixture over the popcorn. Stir carefully with a wooden spoon to coat all the popcorn. Some of the Peeps mixture may pool at the bottom of the bowl so check for that and stir some more. Sprinkle any sugar from the packets over the popcorn.
Enjoy!

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