The other day I came back from the shops with a load of really good, fresh veggies. I had a fair few ideas of what I was going to do with them too.
And then I thought, "Hangabout mate! P'haps some of me tweeterers may wanna give it a go?" So I put the list up on twitter and also mentioned a well stocked pantry plus herb garden, and asked what folks would make!
Unfortunately, I don't have many foodies following my tweets, so only 2 people gave it a go. One was braise some of the veggies then through it all into a quiche. Ummmmmm, not exactly what I had in mind. The other was stuffing the bell peppers with the chilli, put them and the rest of the veggies in a casserole dish, cover with cheese and bake. Not bad. But again, not exactly what I had in mind.
Remember, it's hard to get the meaning through in only 140 characters via twitter!
So how's about we try it here!
You may assume a very very very well stocked pantry and good garden goodies. This means things like garlic greens, wild onions, fresh herbs, potatoes, spuds etc can be used. Pretty much any kind of dried spice, dried herb, or herb mix you can think of can also be used. As far as cheese goes, just make sure you use ones that I've heard of as I usually have 7 to 10 different kinds of cheeses on hand at any one time.
And lastly, let's keep this meat free. Just cuz I feel like it.
And try not to go overboard on the pantry items. Fettuccine with a creamy cheese sauce and a few of the fronds from the fennel bulb sprinkled over the top ain't gonna make the cut! The idea is to see what you would make from this list that features the ingredients, not the accessories.
And here is the list of goodies you get to work with:
Brussel sprouts, red n green n yellow bell peppers, green beans, large fennel bulb w/stalks and fronds, button mushrooms, fresh juicy just-off-the-vine tomatoes, fresh thai chillis, 3 bok choys.
I came up with a dozen dishes I'd make off the top of my head, and then pared it down to 6 simple, tasty ones.
If you feel the need to help your knowledge a bit (cheat) by using cookbooks or the internets then you may, but you'll have to live with your guilty conscience. (I'm just joking of course!)
Obviously, there's no need to go out and get all this stuff, I'm just curious to see what other folks would make. Use the comments, it'd be nice to get into double digit comments so spread the url for this post around!
Showing posts with label chillis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chillis. Show all posts
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sautéed Onions with Chili and Garlic
This is a simple, wonderful topping for many things. They can, obviously, be put on a hot dog or burger, no worries. They make a great addition or topping to any omelet. Pile them on top of your nacho platter! Heck, I'm sure I could even incorporate them into sushi rolls!
The possibilities of uses are limitless. Provided, of course, you like onions, garlic and chillis.
A note about the chilli paste you'll be wanting to get: make sure that it is at least 90% chilli (and they should at least be as hot as Thai or African Bird's Eye) and the only other ingredients are water and salt. Well, there might be a preservative and a thickener in it... But nothing else!
What you need:
1 small onion, either rough chopped or cut into half rings
1 tbsp of chilli paste (or less if you are a wuss)
1 garlic clove, crushed
dash of sea salt
1 glass of chardonnay, or any white wine
a bit of olive oil
What you do:
Heat up a wok on medium/mediumhigh heat. Add a splash (like 1 tbsp) of olive oil to it. Just before the olive oil starts to smoke (like after around 45 seconds) toss in the onion, chilli paste, garlic and salt. Toss or stir constantly till the garlic juuuuuuust starts to brown and things start to think about sticking --this should only take 2 minutes at most. At that point, add a half glass of the chardonnay (the other half is for the cook) and give a quick stir to de-glaze the wok.
Cook it down till there's no liquid left BUT that the onions have not started to fry again.
Turn the heat off. Splat the onions over or in whatever you'll be having them over or in and ENJOY!
The possibilities of uses are limitless. Provided, of course, you like onions, garlic and chillis.
A note about the chilli paste you'll be wanting to get: make sure that it is at least 90% chilli (and they should at least be as hot as Thai or African Bird's Eye) and the only other ingredients are water and salt. Well, there might be a preservative and a thickener in it... But nothing else!
What you need:
1 small onion, either rough chopped or cut into half rings
1 tbsp of chilli paste (or less if you are a wuss)
1 garlic clove, crushed
dash of sea salt
1 glass of chardonnay, or any white wine
a bit of olive oil
What you do:
Heat up a wok on medium/mediumhigh heat. Add a splash (like 1 tbsp) of olive oil to it. Just before the olive oil starts to smoke (like after around 45 seconds) toss in the onion, chilli paste, garlic and salt. Toss or stir constantly till the garlic juuuuuuust starts to brown and things start to think about sticking --this should only take 2 minutes at most. At that point, add a half glass of the chardonnay (the other half is for the cook) and give a quick stir to de-glaze the wok.
Cook it down till there's no liquid left BUT that the onions have not started to fry again.
Turn the heat off. Splat the onions over or in whatever you'll be having them over or in and ENJOY!
Monday, May 24, 2010
Biggest Morning Tea
Each year, the Biology dept up at our local Flinders Uni hosts what they like to call "The Biggest Morning Tea". It only costs $4 to get in (that's just a couple of Aussie $2 coins). All the cooking is done on a volunteer basis.
My BIL works at the Paleo lab in the Bio dept so he's on their email list. Last week he received an urgent email asking for more cooking-type folks. So far only 4 people had volunteered, and none of them featured any savory dishes.
Mike (BIL) told them about my cooking prowess, and I got in email contact with the lady in charge. She is very thrilled with what I said I could make for them.
Here's the list of what I'll be making between now (monday arvo) and thurs morn:
Cheese and bacon muffins
soft pretzels w/ cheese sauce
mexican chocolate fondue
zucchini bread
cumin seed crackers
wholemeal chia seed bread w/sunflower and pumpkin seeds
morrocan seasoned pan bread w/ grana padana cheese
fresh homemade ricotta cheese (it's easier than you think) to go with the cumin crackers and whatever.
They are expecting 100 to 150 people... This will be challenging, especially as MIL has a couple of doctor appointments this week.
Wish me luck folks!
Oh, the proceeds from it go directly the Flinders Med Centre (right next to the U) for their cancer research.
My BIL works at the Paleo lab in the Bio dept so he's on their email list. Last week he received an urgent email asking for more cooking-type folks. So far only 4 people had volunteered, and none of them featured any savory dishes.
Mike (BIL) told them about my cooking prowess, and I got in email contact with the lady in charge. She is very thrilled with what I said I could make for them.
Here's the list of what I'll be making between now (monday arvo) and thurs morn:
Cheese and bacon muffins
soft pretzels w/ cheese sauce
mexican chocolate fondue
zucchini bread
cumin seed crackers
wholemeal chia seed bread w/sunflower and pumpkin seeds
morrocan seasoned pan bread w/ grana padana cheese
fresh homemade ricotta cheese (it's easier than you think) to go with the cumin crackers and whatever.
They are expecting 100 to 150 people... This will be challenging, especially as MIL has a couple of doctor appointments this week.
Wish me luck folks!
Oh, the proceeds from it go directly the Flinders Med Centre (right next to the U) for their cancer research.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Dingo Dave's Dangerously Hot Chili Sauce
Yes folks, I like chillis. I also spell chilli with two l's as that's how we spell it down here in Oz.
Have I mentioned I grow my own chillis? Well, I do grow them. I currently have 8 plants of an African Bird's Eye variety growing and I should have no problems keeping them through the winter (I haven't seen frost in Adelaide for 8 years now).
Normal Bird's Eye top out at around 200,000 scoville heat units (SHU) but I'm pretty sure these are in the 300,000 to 350,000 scu range. Why do I think that? Because I know how to properly grow chillis in pots so that you get maximum fruit and maximum amounts of capsaicin. And I've eaten a regular Habanero which tops out at 350,000 and these puppies are as hot as them.
Not as hot as the Red Savina Habanero and not near the famous Bhut Jolokia that tops out at over 1,000,000 SHU, but still pretty damned hot. BTW, I'll be getting some Bhut Jolokia seeds for next season... Wife thinks I'm crazy.
These chillis and this recipe is NOT for you if you think a Jalapeno is hot, my chillis are 70 times hotter.
These chillis and this recipe is NOT for you if you think Tabasco sauce is hot, my chillis are 70 times hotter than the original Tabasco sauce and 43 times hotter than their hottest sauce.
These chillis and this recipe is NOT for you if a Cayenne chilli is toxic to your taste buds, my chillis are 7 times hotter.
These chillis and this recipe is NOT for you if you a Thai chilli means instant death to your taste buds, my chillis are 3 and 1/2 times hotter.
For those of you with the guts (in every sense of the word) to read on, then please, by all means, READ ON!
Dingo Dave's Dangerously Hot Chili Sauce
I was going to wait to make this sauce till more of the chillis are completely red and half dried, but we had a big windstorm last night and two branches broke on one of the plants. Keep in mind that even in their green state these puppies are as hot as a Thai chilli.
What you need (besides a great love of chillis):
30 Habanero chillis --this is about the SHU equivalent of the variety of African Bird's Eye I grow
1/2 an onion, minced
5 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 tsp of each of the following powders: Cardamom, Ginger, Sumac, Coriander, Cumin
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tbsp wasabi paste (the really hot green paste you get with sushi)
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 to 2 cups red wine (I used a shiraz-cabernet)
1 cup water (the wet type, not the dehydrated type)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
What you do:
Firstly, you need to snip the chilli fruit off your plants, or go to a shop and buy 30 Habaneros. If the wind broke some of your branches then it should go from this:
to this:
Please notice I left the "hats" on the chillis. Why? Because under the hat on chillis (eggplant too) is where the most tenderest, succulent part of the fruit is. That's also the area with lots of capsaicin in chilli fruit.
You'll notice I'm not wearing rubber gloves whilst handling the chillis. That is because I'm not a wuss. Although my wife thinks/knows it's cus I'm crazy.
Anyways, remove the hats from the chilli keeping as much fruit as possible:
And then rough chop them:
Now add all the ingredients EXCEPT the wine, water, vinegar to a saucepan. You'll notice I grouped those at the top of the ingredient list for your convenience; you're welcome. Make sure you add the seeds too!
Mix it well and then crank the heat up. Cook for around 5 mins while stirring often. The idea is to sear stuff without burning it. It should look something like this:
The above pic is after 2 mins. After 5 mins you'll notice some of the mix getting stuck to the pan. Once it starts to stick you should also notice the chillis, onion, and garlic are well-seared. Time to add the wine and the water!
So, add the wine and the water, stir well making sure you scrape the pot so everything is incorporated into the liquid. Simmer the pot till the liquid is reduced by at least 3/4 and then add the vinegar. Turn the heat off and let it cool.
Add the whole mix to a blender and blend for a few mins so that every little bit of chilli, onion, and garlic are pureed. Put the mix back in the pot and simmer to reduce the liquid by 1/4.
Your saucepan should now look like this:
TADA! Done! Now just pour it into a jar you've disinfected, cap it, and refridgerate. Use when needed. It ages quite well and gets smoother over a couple of weeks. No preservatives are needed, I seriously doubt anything has the temerity to grow in it.
Enjoy!
Oh, btw... chilli enthusiasts (snobs) are constantly debating the heat and taxonomy of various chillis so if you think that African Bird's Eye can't get as hot as a regular Habanero then I say you are mistaken. My opinion, and I'm sticking to it.
Have I mentioned I grow my own chillis? Well, I do grow them. I currently have 8 plants of an African Bird's Eye variety growing and I should have no problems keeping them through the winter (I haven't seen frost in Adelaide for 8 years now).
Normal Bird's Eye top out at around 200,000 scoville heat units (SHU) but I'm pretty sure these are in the 300,000 to 350,000 scu range. Why do I think that? Because I know how to properly grow chillis in pots so that you get maximum fruit and maximum amounts of capsaicin. And I've eaten a regular Habanero which tops out at 350,000 and these puppies are as hot as them.
Not as hot as the Red Savina Habanero and not near the famous Bhut Jolokia that tops out at over 1,000,000 SHU, but still pretty damned hot. BTW, I'll be getting some Bhut Jolokia seeds for next season... Wife thinks I'm crazy.
These chillis and this recipe is NOT for you if you think a Jalapeno is hot, my chillis are 70 times hotter.
These chillis and this recipe is NOT for you if you think Tabasco sauce is hot, my chillis are 70 times hotter than the original Tabasco sauce and 43 times hotter than their hottest sauce.
These chillis and this recipe is NOT for you if a Cayenne chilli is toxic to your taste buds, my chillis are 7 times hotter.
These chillis and this recipe is NOT for you if you a Thai chilli means instant death to your taste buds, my chillis are 3 and 1/2 times hotter.
For those of you with the guts (in every sense of the word) to read on, then please, by all means, READ ON!
Dingo Dave's Dangerously Hot Chili Sauce
I was going to wait to make this sauce till more of the chillis are completely red and half dried, but we had a big windstorm last night and two branches broke on one of the plants. Keep in mind that even in their green state these puppies are as hot as a Thai chilli.
What you need (besides a great love of chillis):
30 Habanero chillis --this is about the SHU equivalent of the variety of African Bird's Eye I grow
1/2 an onion, minced
5 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 tsp of each of the following powders: Cardamom, Ginger, Sumac, Coriander, Cumin
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tbsp wasabi paste (the really hot green paste you get with sushi)
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp olive oil
1 to 2 cups red wine (I used a shiraz-cabernet)
1 cup water (the wet type, not the dehydrated type)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
What you do:
Firstly, you need to snip the chilli fruit off your plants, or go to a shop and buy 30 Habaneros. If the wind broke some of your branches then it should go from this:
to this:
Please notice I left the "hats" on the chillis. Why? Because under the hat on chillis (eggplant too) is where the most tenderest, succulent part of the fruit is. That's also the area with lots of capsaicin in chilli fruit.
You'll notice I'm not wearing rubber gloves whilst handling the chillis. That is because I'm not a wuss. Although my wife thinks/knows it's cus I'm crazy.
Anyways, remove the hats from the chilli keeping as much fruit as possible:
And then rough chop them:
Now add all the ingredients EXCEPT the wine, water, vinegar to a saucepan. You'll notice I grouped those at the top of the ingredient list for your convenience; you're welcome. Make sure you add the seeds too!
Mix it well and then crank the heat up. Cook for around 5 mins while stirring often. The idea is to sear stuff without burning it. It should look something like this:
The above pic is after 2 mins. After 5 mins you'll notice some of the mix getting stuck to the pan. Once it starts to stick you should also notice the chillis, onion, and garlic are well-seared. Time to add the wine and the water!
So, add the wine and the water, stir well making sure you scrape the pot so everything is incorporated into the liquid. Simmer the pot till the liquid is reduced by at least 3/4 and then add the vinegar. Turn the heat off and let it cool.
Add the whole mix to a blender and blend for a few mins so that every little bit of chilli, onion, and garlic are pureed. Put the mix back in the pot and simmer to reduce the liquid by 1/4.
Your saucepan should now look like this:
TADA! Done! Now just pour it into a jar you've disinfected, cap it, and refridgerate. Use when needed. It ages quite well and gets smoother over a couple of weeks. No preservatives are needed, I seriously doubt anything has the temerity to grow in it.
Enjoy!
Oh, btw... chilli enthusiasts (snobs) are constantly debating the heat and taxonomy of various chillis so if you think that African Bird's Eye can't get as hot as a regular Habanero then I say you are mistaken. My opinion, and I'm sticking to it.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Grilled Garlic & Chilli Prawns
Ahhhhh, this is a great lip-tingling, spicy-hot, tasty, summer grilling treat. Why do you get a great summer recipe as the Holiday season approaches? Cus I'm in Oz where it is late spring and yesterday I saw 110 F in the shade and 143 F in the sun.
Obviously this weather calls for spicy food to help cool you down! Ahem. It works, really. Trust me, 'k?
Wifey-Poo and I got a great deal on some local tiger prawns the other day. I decided I wanted to grill mine and make them rather spicy. I dug back through my ancient memories of when I was in Austin, Texas, USA. There was this one place I found that made the best cajun crawdads.
What I made last night turned out to be a very good approximation of the lip-tingling goodness that I remembered.
You can make this as a main course or a side dish. Just depends on how many prawns ya got.
The first thing to do is make the chilli/garlic paste. There are 3 ways to do this.
An easy way: Mix 2 tbsp prepared garlic with 1 tbsp cayenne powder, a pinch of sugar, 1 tsp sesame oil, and 1 tsp prepared ginger.
Another easy way: Same as above but with 2 tbsp of chilli paste (the real stuff) instead of the cayenne powder.
The easiest way: Go to an oriental grocery store and buy a jar of garlic/chilli paste.
Now put 10 raw, not-shelled, tiger prawns into a bowl, and spoon 2 tbsp of garlic/chilli paste (however you made it) onto the raw, NOT shelled tiger prawns. Use your fingers to make sure the paste coats all the prawns (be careful!!!!!! They are spiny). Then sprinkle 1 tbsp of ground black pepper over the prawns and toss them gently so the black pepper has stuck to the garlic/chilli paste.
Crank up your barby to medium high heat. Place the prawns on the barby and grill for about 2 minutes a side (don't overcook or they'll be tough instead of succulent).
Put the blackened prawns on a plate to cool just enough so that you can handle them. This would be a very good time to wash your hands, BTW.
To eat them, just rip the heads off (make sure you suck out all the juices from the head part of the shell), quickly shell the rest of the prawn and eat it. Continue until all the prawns are gone.
Your brow should have a nice sweat by now. An ice cold lager will take the heat off your tongue and the capillary-dilating properties of the spices will cool your body on a hot summer day.
Seriously, This. Is. Good.
Obviously this weather calls for spicy food to help cool you down! Ahem. It works, really. Trust me, 'k?
Wifey-Poo and I got a great deal on some local tiger prawns the other day. I decided I wanted to grill mine and make them rather spicy. I dug back through my ancient memories of when I was in Austin, Texas, USA. There was this one place I found that made the best cajun crawdads.
What I made last night turned out to be a very good approximation of the lip-tingling goodness that I remembered.
You can make this as a main course or a side dish. Just depends on how many prawns ya got.
The first thing to do is make the chilli/garlic paste. There are 3 ways to do this.
An easy way: Mix 2 tbsp prepared garlic with 1 tbsp cayenne powder, a pinch of sugar, 1 tsp sesame oil, and 1 tsp prepared ginger.
Another easy way: Same as above but with 2 tbsp of chilli paste (the real stuff) instead of the cayenne powder.
The easiest way: Go to an oriental grocery store and buy a jar of garlic/chilli paste.
Now put 10 raw, not-shelled, tiger prawns into a bowl, and spoon 2 tbsp of garlic/chilli paste (however you made it) onto the raw, NOT shelled tiger prawns. Use your fingers to make sure the paste coats all the prawns (be careful!!!!!! They are spiny). Then sprinkle 1 tbsp of ground black pepper over the prawns and toss them gently so the black pepper has stuck to the garlic/chilli paste.
Crank up your barby to medium high heat. Place the prawns on the barby and grill for about 2 minutes a side (don't overcook or they'll be tough instead of succulent).
Put the blackened prawns on a plate to cool just enough so that you can handle them. This would be a very good time to wash your hands, BTW.
To eat them, just rip the heads off (make sure you suck out all the juices from the head part of the shell), quickly shell the rest of the prawn and eat it. Continue until all the prawns are gone.
Your brow should have a nice sweat by now. An ice cold lager will take the heat off your tongue and the capillary-dilating properties of the spices will cool your body on a hot summer day.
Seriously, This. Is. Good.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Stuffed Chili Peppers
And if you are in Aus, it's Chilli. With two "l"s...
Before I let you know about how I stuffed the chili's and how they were cooked, let me reply to my massive fan club (all 3 of you , thanks!) about my question of what to do with the chili peppers I got.
Suzer: Yup, chili was on the agenda. In fact that'll be tonight's dinner. I just picked up 5 pounds of lamb off-cuts for a dollar yesterday. This morning I seared the fat and it's in a big pot of boiling water. I'll get more than enough meat for the chili, plus some good skimmed fat for cookin', and then a load of lamb stock for soup. The chili should come out to around 60 cents a serve, cool. Hmmmmm, lamb chili... I'll let you know how it tastes. Oh, I was planning on roo chili (like you suggested) but couldn't pass up the lamb deal.
You should be glad you won't be here later this week as it'll be back in the 40's for a couple of days; definitely pool weather :)
RunninL8: Pizza... drool... We have it about once a week. Thanks for the dough recipe, it's almost exactly the same as mine except I don't put the herbs in the dough cus someone here (BIL) doesn't like it like that. I think it's very cool that there's still folks in the US (sorry, Alaska) that make traditional Italian pizza, very very healthy and tasty. How many blokes do you know who have 2 pizza stones and use them regularly? They're great for cooking biscuits and some breads on too :)
The pizza last night was a bit of sauce (tomato, herbs, garlic), cheese, lots of peppers, a bit of bacon, shrooms, and smoked oysters. It was gooooood... BTW have you ever had a BBQ Roo pizza?
OT for runninL8: WP is a solitary, so is MIL (she's been reading runes for over 80 years), and BIL is a wiccan who chairs the local Uni religious centre.
Arvay: When you eat spicy food in hot weather it actually cools you off. Why? Cus all them spices dilate your capillaries so you blow off heat. Most cultures in hot climates have been doing this millenia before a/c was invented. It's cheaper too :) And tastier :)
I did stuffed chilli's for two nights in a row as a side dish for 3 of us (BIL is a wussy food weenie) so we obviously were on the same wavelength. Yes, cheese was involved :)
Ricotta Stuffed Chilli Peppers!
Mmmmmmmm, tasty and tangy.
Here's what the chilli's look like:
On a scale of 1 to 10; with a bell pepper (called a capsicum down here in Oz) being zero, a jalepeno being a 4, a habenero (sp????) being 8, a thai chilli being 8.5, and the ungodly horror that grows in India (your fingers blister if you touch it and eating one seed of it will leave your mouth in agony for up to half an hour) being 10 zillion gajillion; I'd say these come in around 1 or 1.5. In other words, not very spicy at all, but just enough to taste it.
Take two of the peppers, slice them lengthwise, take out the membrane and seeds. Next, mix 1/2 to 3/4 cup of ricotta cheese with a tsp of sea salt, 1/2 tsp dried mint, 1/2 tbsp of dill weed, and 2 tsp of corn starch (called corn flour down in Oz).
Place the halved chillis on a baking tray and fill with the ricotta mix. Then generously sprinkle bread crumbs over the top of each (there'll be four!) and pat them down a bit. Sprinkle with sea salt and ground cumin powder. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil.
Then bake them suckers! Around 180 C (350 F) for 15 to 20. Then turn the heat up to 220 C (425 F) for a couple of mins to crispy up the top. You'll know they're done with the tops are crispy but not burned.
Makes a great side dish, each person gets one of the halved chillis to go along with whatever else you are making for dinner.
Before I let you know about how I stuffed the chili's and how they were cooked, let me reply to my massive fan club (all 3 of you , thanks!) about my question of what to do with the chili peppers I got.
Suzer: Yup, chili was on the agenda. In fact that'll be tonight's dinner. I just picked up 5 pounds of lamb off-cuts for a dollar yesterday. This morning I seared the fat and it's in a big pot of boiling water. I'll get more than enough meat for the chili, plus some good skimmed fat for cookin', and then a load of lamb stock for soup. The chili should come out to around 60 cents a serve, cool. Hmmmmm, lamb chili... I'll let you know how it tastes. Oh, I was planning on roo chili (like you suggested) but couldn't pass up the lamb deal.
You should be glad you won't be here later this week as it'll be back in the 40's for a couple of days; definitely pool weather :)
RunninL8: Pizza... drool... We have it about once a week. Thanks for the dough recipe, it's almost exactly the same as mine except I don't put the herbs in the dough cus someone here (BIL) doesn't like it like that. I think it's very cool that there's still folks in the US (sorry, Alaska) that make traditional Italian pizza, very very healthy and tasty. How many blokes do you know who have 2 pizza stones and use them regularly? They're great for cooking biscuits and some breads on too :)
The pizza last night was a bit of sauce (tomato, herbs, garlic), cheese, lots of peppers, a bit of bacon, shrooms, and smoked oysters. It was gooooood... BTW have you ever had a BBQ Roo pizza?
OT for runninL8: WP is a solitary, so is MIL (she's been reading runes for over 80 years), and BIL is a wiccan who chairs the local Uni religious centre.
Arvay: When you eat spicy food in hot weather it actually cools you off. Why? Cus all them spices dilate your capillaries so you blow off heat. Most cultures in hot climates have been doing this millenia before a/c was invented. It's cheaper too :) And tastier :)
I did stuffed chilli's for two nights in a row as a side dish for 3 of us (BIL is a wussy food weenie) so we obviously were on the same wavelength. Yes, cheese was involved :)
Ricotta Stuffed Chilli Peppers!
Mmmmmmmm, tasty and tangy.
Here's what the chilli's look like:
On a scale of 1 to 10; with a bell pepper (called a capsicum down here in Oz) being zero, a jalepeno being a 4, a habenero (sp????) being 8, a thai chilli being 8.5, and the ungodly horror that grows in India (your fingers blister if you touch it and eating one seed of it will leave your mouth in agony for up to half an hour) being 10 zillion gajillion; I'd say these come in around 1 or 1.5. In other words, not very spicy at all, but just enough to taste it.
Take two of the peppers, slice them lengthwise, take out the membrane and seeds. Next, mix 1/2 to 3/4 cup of ricotta cheese with a tsp of sea salt, 1/2 tsp dried mint, 1/2 tbsp of dill weed, and 2 tsp of corn starch (called corn flour down in Oz).
Place the halved chillis on a baking tray and fill with the ricotta mix. Then generously sprinkle bread crumbs over the top of each (there'll be four!) and pat them down a bit. Sprinkle with sea salt and ground cumin powder. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil.
Then bake them suckers! Around 180 C (350 F) for 15 to 20. Then turn the heat up to 220 C (425 F) for a couple of mins to crispy up the top. You'll know they're done with the tops are crispy but not burned.
Makes a great side dish, each person gets one of the halved chillis to go along with whatever else you are making for dinner.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
A Call for HELP!
I need some input from all 4 of my ever faithful readers. See, when I'm out grocery shopping it's pretty darned hard for me to go past a really damned good bargain.
See, here's proof:
That's 99 cents aussie for 500 grams, or equal to 72 cents US per pound. But just what's in the bag? Glad you asked:
Lots and lots of chil(l)i peppers! Well, ok, there was one capsicum (bell pepper) in the bag too. See, here they are all spread out:
These suckers are pretty darned big:
Now, I've got many ideas as to what to do with them. In fact one of them will be used as my side dish to the Malaysian Squid & Prawn Curry I'll be making for dinner. Ummmm, the other folks in the house are treating these puppies like they are toxic! Well, that's one way to get them out of my kitchen, eh?
So, what's y'alls ideas? Any suggestions? I'll be pickling at least one, and drying the bell pepper, btw.
Chili Relenos (sp????) come to mind... does anyone have a good batter for that dish?
See, here's proof:
That's 99 cents aussie for 500 grams, or equal to 72 cents US per pound. But just what's in the bag? Glad you asked:
Lots and lots of chil(l)i peppers! Well, ok, there was one capsicum (bell pepper) in the bag too. See, here they are all spread out:
These suckers are pretty darned big:
Now, I've got many ideas as to what to do with them. In fact one of them will be used as my side dish to the Malaysian Squid & Prawn Curry I'll be making for dinner. Ummmm, the other folks in the house are treating these puppies like they are toxic! Well, that's one way to get them out of my kitchen, eh?
So, what's y'alls ideas? Any suggestions? I'll be pickling at least one, and drying the bell pepper, btw.
Chili Relenos (sp????) come to mind... does anyone have a good batter for that dish?
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Chili Cherry Chutney
There are literally an infinite numbers of chutney recipes. You can pretty much do anything with a chutney you'd like.
Now, some chutney enthusiasts insist on a few certain ingredients and a specific way of making said chutney.
This. Recipe. Is. NOT. For. Those. Folks.
This is one you can make easily and only has a few things in it. I came up with it after we came back from Belair with 2.5 kilos of fresh, wild, tart, just barely ripe cherries. I was planning on making cherry syrup and cherry jam only. However, I kept back a couple of ladles of the syrup to experiment with... This was then born:
Dingo Dave's Excellent Chilli Cherry Chutney.
I've reconfigured the amounts --are YOU really gonna have access to five and a half pounds of cherries? Thought not. This should be sufficient make a chutney that'll fill a small salsa sized jar, about two cups.
Here's what you need:
200 grams fresh, tart cherries
1 cup of raw sugar
2 to 4 cups water
1 or 2 fresh Thai chilli peppers (them little, red, skinny ones that are about 2 inches long and are really really really hot)
small handful of finely minced onion
1 clove of crushed garlic (or 1 tsp of prepared garlic)
Here's what you do:
Give the cherries a good rinse and remove the stems. Give each cherry a quick slice partway through --don't pit them, just give each one a little slice so that as they cook all the cherry goodness is released.
Put the cherries and the sugar in a stainless steel saucepan and then add enough water to cover the cherries plus about an extra inch of water for cooking down.
Cover the saucepan and put it on low heat. Give it a stir every 5 minutes of so. If the water has cooked down the the cherries haven't turned to pulp, then just add a bit more water. This'll take 20 to 40 mins depending on your stove-top. You should end up with around 2 cups of really good tasting cherry syrup.
Now you get to strain it! This is a lot easier than you think. Pour the liquid, pulp, and pits into a fine metal seive --Ummmmm,make sure it's over a bowl cus the syrup in what you want! Now instead of trying to use a spatula or spoon, just put your fingertips into the pulp and pits and start stirring it around in the seive with your fingertips juuuuuust grazing the seive. Waa-La! 20 seconds later all the syrup is extracted from the pulp and pits.
This cherry syrup also makes a great ice cream topping, but we're gonna add some goodies to it!
Slice each chili pepper in half lengthwise and remove the seeds (but don't toss them out). Finely mince the chilli pepper flesh and then add them and the whole seeds to the cherry syrup. Add the minced onion and the garlic. Give it a good stir and let it sit while you sterilise your jar and lid.
I usually just use boiling water to sterilise my storage jars. It's, ummmm, not difficult.
Once the jar (and lid) have been out of the boiling water long enough for you to handle the glass with your hands (but still pretty warm), it's then a good time to pour the chutney in. Make sure you seal the jar tightly!
In about 30 minutes the sealed jar should be cool enough to put in the fridge --NOTE: if you are doing this in the aussie summer heat you'll put it in the fridge but if you are anywhere else just put in it your pantry.
Put it waaaaaaaay in the back and forget about it for a month.
After a month, this will taste soooooo good! You can dip crackers in it, potato chips, pappadams, corn chips or whatever. Pour it onto your morning toast! Guaranteed to wake you up.
Once you've opened it, then make sure you refrigerate it (if you don't polish the whole thing off in one sitting.
It also makes a great marinade for roasts, chickens, lamb, fish, whatever. Just remember to keep it covered in the cus the sugar will caramelise and you don't want it to burn.
THIS IS NOT A JOKE POST! THIS IS GREAT STUFF! Trust me, eh?
Now, some chutney enthusiasts insist on a few certain ingredients and a specific way of making said chutney.
This. Recipe. Is. NOT. For. Those. Folks.
This is one you can make easily and only has a few things in it. I came up with it after we came back from Belair with 2.5 kilos of fresh, wild, tart, just barely ripe cherries. I was planning on making cherry syrup and cherry jam only. However, I kept back a couple of ladles of the syrup to experiment with... This was then born:
Dingo Dave's Excellent Chilli Cherry Chutney.
I've reconfigured the amounts --are YOU really gonna have access to five and a half pounds of cherries? Thought not. This should be sufficient make a chutney that'll fill a small salsa sized jar, about two cups.
Here's what you need:
200 grams fresh, tart cherries
1 cup of raw sugar
2 to 4 cups water
1 or 2 fresh Thai chilli peppers (them little, red, skinny ones that are about 2 inches long and are really really really hot)
small handful of finely minced onion
1 clove of crushed garlic (or 1 tsp of prepared garlic)
Here's what you do:
Give the cherries a good rinse and remove the stems. Give each cherry a quick slice partway through --don't pit them, just give each one a little slice so that as they cook all the cherry goodness is released.
Put the cherries and the sugar in a stainless steel saucepan and then add enough water to cover the cherries plus about an extra inch of water for cooking down.
Cover the saucepan and put it on low heat. Give it a stir every 5 minutes of so. If the water has cooked down the the cherries haven't turned to pulp, then just add a bit more water. This'll take 20 to 40 mins depending on your stove-top. You should end up with around 2 cups of really good tasting cherry syrup.
Now you get to strain it! This is a lot easier than you think. Pour the liquid, pulp, and pits into a fine metal seive --Ummmmm,make sure it's over a bowl cus the syrup in what you want! Now instead of trying to use a spatula or spoon, just put your fingertips into the pulp and pits and start stirring it around in the seive with your fingertips juuuuuust grazing the seive. Waa-La! 20 seconds later all the syrup is extracted from the pulp and pits.
This cherry syrup also makes a great ice cream topping, but we're gonna add some goodies to it!
Slice each chili pepper in half lengthwise and remove the seeds (but don't toss them out). Finely mince the chilli pepper flesh and then add them and the whole seeds to the cherry syrup. Add the minced onion and the garlic. Give it a good stir and let it sit while you sterilise your jar and lid.
I usually just use boiling water to sterilise my storage jars. It's, ummmm, not difficult.
Once the jar (and lid) have been out of the boiling water long enough for you to handle the glass with your hands (but still pretty warm), it's then a good time to pour the chutney in. Make sure you seal the jar tightly!
In about 30 minutes the sealed jar should be cool enough to put in the fridge --NOTE: if you are doing this in the aussie summer heat you'll put it in the fridge but if you are anywhere else just put in it your pantry.
Put it waaaaaaaay in the back and forget about it for a month.
After a month, this will taste soooooo good! You can dip crackers in it, potato chips, pappadams, corn chips or whatever. Pour it onto your morning toast! Guaranteed to wake you up.
Once you've opened it, then make sure you refrigerate it (if you don't polish the whole thing off in one sitting.
It also makes a great marinade for roasts, chickens, lamb, fish, whatever. Just remember to keep it covered in the cus the sugar will caramelise and you don't want it to burn.
THIS IS NOT A JOKE POST! THIS IS GREAT STUFF! Trust me, eh?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)