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Monday Meal Review: Malaysia

THE SCENE

Ava presses the back of the spoon on the rice, smashing it down into the banana leaf.

She looks up at me and smiles.

“Mmmm”

“Looks good!” I say, watching her sneak a bite of the par-cooked rice before adding another spoonful to the cone.

Later, when we eat dinner, Ava wolfs down three sticky rice towers – taking care to balance each one on end first.

There are so many fun foods for kids in this great, big world. There’s no reason to get stuck in a processed junk food rut. These towers of coconut rice (called lemang) from Malaysia are a great example. Making them captivated little Ava, just two and a half years old, for a good hour, helping me, watching me, and playing with her finished work of art.

The joy on her face is so beautiful. So much more sublime than what a little piece of candy can bring – that’s the kind of joy that fades almost the second she pops it into her mouth.

There’s something about playing with our food that makes it so much better.

Don’t you think?

THE FOOD:

Coconut Sticky Rice in banana leaves (Lemang) [Recipe]

What I liked most about this dish:

Yes, it tastes amazing. Yes, the coconut milk gives the rice an almost buttery texture. But, best of all? This fun recipe got me, Ava, and Mr Picky – all three of us – to play with our food. (Keith was even inspired to make a smiley face on his – can you see it?)

He was very proud of himself.

What I liked least about this dish:

Not much. Even though it seems like it would take a lot of work to make these, it really doesn’t – they come together very quickly. Just like anything, it just takes a little getting used to.

Beef Rendang [Recipe]

What I liked most about this dish:

The flavor of this curry is absolutely outstanding. Ava loved it except I added a few too many chili peppers for her taste – I had to pick some of the sauce off of hers to make it more mild (a trick I learned when we cooked Bhutan). Mr Picky said that the more he ate, the more it grew on him. By the end of the meal it was a favorite, with one exception…

What I liked least about this dish:

… he wished that I had ground the spice paste down to a smoother consistency. He wasn’t crazy about the bits of fibrous lemongrass (although I didn’t mind it at all).

Toasted Coconut Paste for Curries (Kerisik) [Recipe]

What I liked most about this dish:

This was a fun seasoning paste to make. I love that it just uses one ingredient – coconut –  and that it comes together in less than twenty minutes (blending it only takes 3 minutes). I also like that 12 oz of coconut makes a full cup, which means I can use it several times, for several curries, before needing to make another batch.

What I liked least about this dish:

As I processed the coconut in my food processor there were a few little puffs of steam that escaped. The processor gets the coconut very hot as it spins, so it is important to stop every 30 seconds or so and give it a stir (and a rest). Still, you’ll be done in less than 2 minutes of processing. Easy, peasy.

Ava’s Corner:

Beef Rendang

Beef Rendang is an art. And I could eat it every single day of my life. While there are many ways to make this flavorful curry, there are two things for certain – the dish must be slow-cooked until the flavor absorbs completely into the meat, and – secondly – the curry must explode with flavor.

In a good way.

The flavor part is the easiest. In fact, there are so many amazing ingredients – galangal, ginger, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves to name a few – that you can’t help but make an amazing curry just by throwing them in a pot together. As for the slow cooking? Follow those famous words of wisdom and just  “Let it be.”

NOTE: If you would like your hot pepper to grind smooth, simply soak it in hot water for half an hour. I like the little hot bits, so I processed it dry.

Recipe inspired by the cuisine of Chef Norman Musa.

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

For the stirfry paste:

3 stalks lemongrass, chopped
2 inches of thumb-thick ginger, peeled and chopped
4 inches of thumb-thick galangal, peeled and chopped
4 cloves garlic
1 onion, quartered
3-6 dried Japones Chili peppers (makes it medium heat)

6-8 Tbsp coconut oil

For the simmering

1 1/2 lbs beef, cubed ( I used a sirloin steak because it was on sale, but you can use tougher cuts as well)
1 small, 5.5 oz can coconut milk
5.5 oz water
2 Tbsp sugar, preferably palm sugar (coconut sugar)
6 kaffir lime leaves

Finishing touches:
1/4 cup homemade Kerisik

Method:

Gather the bounty of Malaysia. Breathe in deeply and feel yourself travel across the world. This is stovetop travel at it’s finest.

Chunk up the lemongrass, ginger, galangal, garlic, onion, and Japanese Chili peppers (if desired) and add to the bowl of a food processor.

Blend into a fine paste. I made mine rather coarse, but you might prefer a smoother mixture – even little bits of lemongrass remain fibrous after cooking…

Heat the coconut oil up in a large wok and add the seasoning paste. Fry until fragrant and softened, 2-3 minutes.Next, add on the beef, coconut milk, water, sugar, and kaffir lime leaves.

Give it a stir and let simmer for about an hour.

Meanwhile, take a nap in the shade of a large clock… you know, so you can hear the bell toll, when the hour is up.

Queen Victoria memorial in town square, Melaka, Malaysia. Photo by Ken Walker.

Little by little, all the liquid will steam away, leaving a much drier mixture.

Add the kerisik and cook another few minutes.

Serve with coconut sticky rice towers, a.k.a. Lemang.

Share with friends, not yet friends, and everyone in between. And be sure to smile.

Beef Rendang
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Beef Rendang is an art. And I could eat it every single day of my life. While there are many ways to make this flavorful curry, there are two things for certain – the dish must be slow-cooked until the flavor absorbs completely into the meat, and – secondly – the curry must explode with flavor.
Servings Prep Time
2-3 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
1 1/4 hours
Servings Prep Time
2-3 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
1 1/4 hours
Beef Rendang
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:
Rate this recipe!
Print Recipe
Beef Rendang is an art. And I could eat it every single day of my life. While there are many ways to make this flavorful curry, there are two things for certain – the dish must be slow-cooked until the flavor absorbs completely into the meat, and – secondly – the curry must explode with flavor.
Servings Prep Time
2-3 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
1 1/4 hours
Servings Prep Time
2-3 people 20 minutes
Cook Time
1 1/4 hours
Ingredients
For the stir-fry paste
  • 3 stalks lemongrass , chopped
  • 2 inches ginger root , peeled and chopped
  • 4 inches galangal , peeled and chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 onion , quartered
  • 3-6 dried japones peppers
  • 6-8 Tbsp coconut oil
For simmering
  • 1 1/2 lbs beef , cubed
  • 5.5 oz coconut milk
  • 5.5 oz water
  • 2 Tbsp palm sugar - OR -
  • sugar
  • 6 kaffir lime leaves
Finishing touches:
  • 1/4 cup homemade Kerisik
Servings: people
Units:
Instructions
  1. Chunk up the lemongrass, ginger, galangal, garlic, onion, and Japanese Chili peppers (if desired) and add to the bowl of a food processor. Blend into a fine paste.
  2. Heat the coconut oil up in a large wok and add the seasoning paste. Fry until fragrant and softened, 2-3 minutes.
  3. Next, add on the beef, coconut milk, water, sugar, and kaffir lime leaves. Give it a stir and let simmer for about an hour.
  4. Little by little, all the liquid will steam away, leaving a much drier mixture. Add the kerisik and cook another few minutes.
  5. Serve with coconut sticky rice towers - Lemang.
Recipe Notes

NOTE: If you would like your hot pepper to grind smooth, simply soak it in hot water for half an hour. I like the little hot bits, so I processed it dry.

Link for homemade Kerisik.

Toasted Coconut Paste for Curries | Kerisik

If you want to feel totally epic, trying making kerisik, a toasted, ground coconut paste that looks a great deal like natural peanut butter. Kerisik is used in Malaysia to thicken and flavor curries, like Beef Rendang. There’s something incredibly rewarding about making your own, whether you do it the traditional way (in a mortar and pestle) or the modern way (in a food processor). In just ten minutes your entire home fills with the warm smell of toasted coconut.
For my kerisik, I used 14 oz package of frozen, shredded coconut (available at Asian markets and some latino markets). This makes about a cup of kerisik which you can then freeze for use whenever (and whenever) you need it. You can make as much or as little as you’d like.
So, how to do it?
First, thaw the coconut. You can also grate a fresh coconut, or use dried coconut (but that won’t be nearly as good, I’m told).

Toast the coconut over medium heat in a large wok, stirring continually.
In the first few minutes, the coconut will turn slightly golden and release an light coconut flavor.
Keep going. Keep stirring. Keep smiling.
After about ten minutes, the coconut will be a deep, golden brown and the house will be filled with a nutty, toasty aroma. If you’ve kept the mixture moving, you’ll have a nice even color.
Let cool slightly. Meanwhile, admire a sunshiny view:

Redang Island Beach, Malaysia. Photo by Lybil Ber.

Then, in food processor, blend the toasted coconut in 30 second intervals, scraping down the sides, until the oils release and the toasted coconut looks like natural peanut butter. Stopping and scraping down is very important, or you could overwork your processor.
As you go, the mixture will get denser and wetter. At first there might be little puffs of steam, but as it gets wetter this will stop.
The Kerisik is done when the coconut finally releases her oils. Good luck not nibbling on this, straight from the food processor.
Kerisik is liquid gold, and usable in Malaysian curries…
Keep in mind that, as the mixture cools, the coconut oils will solidify at room temperature, and it will look like this:
P.S. I want to share why I used a food processor instead of a mortar and pestle… it was because of this little story from Pickles and Spices:

I remember when I was a young girl starting to learn to cook with my mother. She asked me to use the pestel and mortar to make the kerisik. I was about 12 years old at that time. I hated it. It took me forever to turn the coconut paste into the right consistency.

I asked her, “Mom, is this enough?” “Not yet!”, came the answer. After about 10 times of yelling to and fro, she was finally satisfied and said: “Yes, this is what you want, you want the oil to come out like this.”

Have fun with this one.

P.S. What would you do?


Toasted Coconut Paste for Curries | Kerisik
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Kerisik is used in Malaysia to thicken and flavor curries, like Beef Rendang. There's something incredibly rewarding about making your own, whether you do it the traditional way (in a mortar and pestle) or the modern way (in a food processor). In just ten minutes your entire home fills with the warm smell of toasted coconut.
Toasted Coconut Paste for Curries | Kerisik
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:
Rate this recipe!
Print Recipe
Kerisik is used in Malaysia to thicken and flavor curries, like Beef Rendang. There's something incredibly rewarding about making your own, whether you do it the traditional way (in a mortar and pestle) or the modern way (in a food processor). In just ten minutes your entire home fills with the warm smell of toasted coconut.
Ingredients
  • 14 ounce frozen shredded coconut (this is the freshest possible, next to grating your own)
Servings:
Units:
Instructions
  1. Toast the coconut over medium heat in a large wok, stirring continually.
  2. In the first few minutes, the coconut will turn slightly golden and release an light coconut flavor. Keep going, about 10 minutes.
  3. Once the mixture is a deep golden brown remove from heat and cool slightly.
  4. In a food processor blend the toasted coconut in 30 second intervals, scraping down the sides, until the oils release and the toasted coconut looks like natural peanut butter.

Coconut Sticky Rice in Banana Leaves | Lemang

Today we’re going to make a tower… a tower of glorious height. And this tall, sturdy tower is going to be made out of rice. Our inspiration? The Petronas towers of Malaysia.

Aren’t they stunning?

Left photo by Gambar Pilihan. Three night photos by Lai Seng Sin. Right photo by Someformofhuman

I adore the fact that the skyscrapers are connected by a tiny walkway that seems to be a million, zillion miles up in the sky. But that’s a story for another day.

The fact is, I am simply thrilled to make rice towers from Malaysia. You see, I’m falling more and more in love with glutinous rice which is the secret to building our edible tower. I first made glutinous rice for Laos and, yikes, was I ever scared of messing it up. After that Adventure, however, I learned that glutinous rice is much more forgiving than traditional long-grain rice. It’s very hard to screw up. Which means, of course, that I’ll be making it more and more.

And add coconut milk into the mix?

Let’s just call this recipe love at first bite.

NOTE: For this recipe, you can easily find both the glutinous rice and the banana leaves at your local Asian market (the banana leaves are also available at Latino markets). Lemang is traditionally cooked in banana leaves inside pieces of bamboo, although home cooks simply wrap it in banana leaves, like this.

Ingredients
2 cups dry glutinous rice, soaked for 6 hours or overnight (also called sweet rice)
1 can coconut milk
Pinch salt

Banana leaves, for wrapping

Method:

First things first – soak the rice in water overnight, or for at least 6 hours.

Meanwhile, soak yourself in the beauty of Petronas at night …

Photo by Flydime.

The next morning, bring a can of coconut milk to a simmer. Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until…

… the coconut oil separates from the milk (you might have to turn off the heat to see the tiny droplets of oil – active simmering keeps mixing it back into the milk).

Add the rice and cook, uncovered, for ten minutes over low/medium heat. Stir occasionally.

Meanwhile, cut 4″ wide strips of banana leaf. You can soften them (to make it easier to fold) by quickly passing them over an open flame. 

To make the towers, roll the banana leaf up into a cone. Make sure there is no hole at the bottom for the rice to come out.

Next, stuff the banana leaf full of rice (stopping about 1 1/2 inches from the top). Pack it down tightly with the back of a spoon.

Even a two year-old can do it!

Although some rice went missing…


Now, fold the sides in, like when wrapping a present…

Once both sides are tucked in…

… you can then fold over the top and bottom, just like the edge of a present.

Layer each cone into the steamer basket, pressing the folded edge against the sides of the steamer to keep packets shut.  Steam for 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender.

Joyful towers await! But patience, my friends…

..  you must cool them for several minutes until the rice is just barely warm.

Otherwise the towers will fall apart when you try to do stand them up on end.

Success!

This fantastically fun finger food is great room temperature or just a bit warm.

TIP: My friend MC from Malaysia suggests you add a lump of palm sugar to the middle of your packet for a sweet twist.

Yummers.

Love, love, love to you and yours.

Coconut Sticky Rice in Banana Leaves | Lemang
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Rate this recipe!
Print Recipe
For this recipe, you can easily find both the glutinous rice and the banana leaves at your local Asian market (the banana leaves are also available at Latino markets). Lemang is traditionally cooked in banana leaves inside pieces of bamboo, although home cooks simply wrap it in banana leaves.
Servings Prep Time
6-8 people 30 minutes
Cook Time
45-50 minutes
Servings Prep Time
6-8 people 30 minutes
Cook Time
45-50 minutes
Coconut Sticky Rice in Banana Leaves | Lemang
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Print Recipe
For this recipe, you can easily find both the glutinous rice and the banana leaves at your local Asian market (the banana leaves are also available at Latino markets). Lemang is traditionally cooked in banana leaves inside pieces of bamboo, although home cooks simply wrap it in banana leaves.
Servings Prep Time
6-8 people 30 minutes
Cook Time
45-50 minutes
Servings Prep Time
6-8 people 30 minutes
Cook Time
45-50 minutes
Ingredients
  • 2 cups glutinous rice (a.k.a. sticky or sweet rice) , soaked for 6 hours or overnight
  • 15 oz coconut milk
  • 1 pinch salt
  • banana leaves
Servings: people
Units:
Instructions
  1. Soak the rice in water overnight, or for at least 6 hours.
  2. Bring a can of coconut milk to a simmer. Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the coconut oil separates from the milk (you might have to turn off the heat to see the tiny droplets of oil - active simmering keeps mixing it back into the milk).
  3. Add the rice and cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes over low/medium heat. Stir occasionally.
  4. Meanwhile, cut 4" wide strips of banana leaf. You can soften them (to make it easier to fold) by quickly passing them over an open flame.
  5. To make the towers, roll the banana leaf up into a cone. Make sure there is no hole at the bottom for the rice to come out.
  6. Stuff the banana leaf full of rice (stopping about 1 1/2 inches from the top). Pack it down tightly with the back of a spoon.
  7. Fold the sides in, like when wrapping a present.
  8. Layer each cone into a steamer basket, pressing the folded edge against the sides of the steamer to keep packets shut. Steam for 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender.
Recipe Notes

Cool them for several minutes until the rice is just barely warm.  Otherwise the towers will fall apart when you try to do stand them up on end.

Menu: Malaysia

First of all, I hope you had a fantastic Valentine’s Day. I wish there were a way to capture the sweetness of yesterday. Ava thinks, despite my best efforts to explain otherwise, that Valentine’s Day is a destination, not an event. So, of course, she had to ask me if I was going “to” Valentine’s Day with her and papa.

I, of course, said yes.

While I’m thinking of it, here’s a Valentine that Ava got from a friend at little school.

It’s a crayon! What a great global Valentine’s Day project.

As for our Malaysian menu? The ingredients might sound strange and the shapes might be new to you, but this is a menu easy enough for little Miss Ava to make. Maybe not by herself, but pretty close!

I think you’ll find the food of Malaysia definitely worth loving.

What sounds good to you?

Coconut Sticky Rice in banana leaves (lemang)  [Recipe]
Glutinous rice cooked with coconut milk and steamed inside banana leaves. The result? Epic, edible towers. P.S. This has 4 ingredients, including salt.

Beef Rendang [Recipe]
This is one of those curries made without curry powder. Instead, beef is slowly simmered with a complex blend of galangal, ginger, garlic, onion, lemongrass, keffir lime leaves, kerisik, and more.

Toasted Coconut Paste for Curries (Kerisik) [Recipe]
A fun, easy way to add flavor and body to Malaysian curries. The bonus? Just one ingredient.

*All recipes and posts will be up by Monday morning.

About the food of Malaysia

Tea Estate, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia.

I’ll be honest with you. I did my research for Malaysia backwards. Well, backwards from what I usually do. What I usually do is crack open the books, absorb as much information as I can, before writing all about the country. This week, I simply popped in on my old college friend MC from Malaysia, via Facebook, and grilled him with 20 questions.

What should I make? I asked him. And, then, on cooking day, I popped in with even more questions.

He was very gracious and answered my questions for two days straight. Thanks to him, I ended up with a scrumptious menu (which you’ll see tomorrow, as usual). But, only after my head hit the pillow, did I realize that I knew almost nothing about Malaysian food except for what he told me.

Merdeka Day Parade (Independence day), photo by Amrufm

So let’s start there.

Beef Rendang [Recipe] is pretty much the national dish. He told me so, just as others have before him. As with so many other foods, rendang is popular all over the region, not just in Malaysia. The curry, boasts a complex blend of galangal, ginger, garlic, keffir lime leaves, and loads of lemongrass. The dish itself isn’t particularly spicy but is a wicked explosion of flavor, thickened with toasted, ground coconut (called Kerisik) [Recipe].

From there, I learned that sticky rice and noodles are the go-to side dishes, along with roti bread. Rice can be made into flavored biryani, or steamed in banana leaves with coconut milk (lemang)  [Recipe] and, in the case of dessert, sweetened with lumps of coconut sugar (pulut inti). This style of preparation is typical of Nonya cuisine, a regional blend of Malaysian and Chinese cooking. You can read a fascinating article all about Nonya cuisine in the LA Times.

Generally speaking, Malaysian flavors are a blend of Malay, Chinese and Indian cooking. You’ll find sour tamarind just as often as shrimp paste, and rose flavored drinks as often as coconut milk. Thanks to abundant coastlines, fish is incredibly popular, especially in curries (hot and sour fish, anyone?).

Cloud forest. Mount Kinabalu, Borneo. Photo by NepGrower.

Many of the dishes we’ve cooked so far also make an appearance in Malaysian cooking, like from our Indonesian Global Table: Gado Gado [recipe], the cool vegetable salad served with peanut sauce, or rempeh [recipe], a seasoning paste served with an number of stirfries, but we ate it with shrimp and longbeans.

Malaysia is one of the most bio-diverse countries in the world. Not only is there an incredible variety of plants and animals, the landscape is varied as well, boasting rice and coconut plains and tea topped mountains. Almost 3/4 of the country is forested and lush, lush, lush all the way to the tip of the north, where spicy food is the dish du jour.

Thank goodness for the forests, because they’ll likely need some shade after all that heat.

Map and flags courtesy of CIA World Factbook. Kuala Lampur skyline by Guyfrombronx

So those are just a few tidbits about Malaysia… what’s your favorite food from the region?

Monday Meal Review: Malawi

THE SCENE

I look at the cooled, heart-shaped biscuits from Malawi. The electric, sunny color stuns me. But there is no time to dilly dally. I am late. Quickly, I tuck two of the hearts into a ziplock baggie and pour Ava into her oversized winter coat. The fur lining makes her look like a little lion. I roar at her as we jog to the car. She giggles.

When I walk into the Global Garden classroom at Rosa Parks Elementary school twenty minutes later, a dozen 3rd and 4th graders look over. They are seated in a circle on the floor, shoes off. One student shows me to my seat – the furthest away from the exits. They’ve done their homework. We are about to sample Japanese “espresso jello drink”  (from back when I cooked Japan), except their version is kid-friendly (a.k.a. caffeine free), made with mocha flavored cocoa.

I spend the next hour answering their questions about the blog and my family. I am moved and honored by their interest.

The most touching part are the questions that aren’t questions, but rather eager attempts to share tidbits about their own culture and their family’s food traditions. I love hearing their stories and I hear it in their voices – the children want to feel connected to something bigger. They want to matter, to make a difference. I tell them that kids all around the world need this, too. Everyone needs to be heard. Everyone needs to find their place – to use what they know to help others. For me, it’s been Global Table Adventure. By giving every country in the world a voice, I am offering a platform for peace.

As the class progresses, we talk about why eating food from around the world creates peace. We slurp and laugh as we sample the jello drink. We are happy to experience a new way of eating and drinking. A new culture. We feel like we understand the Japanese a little better. It is really that simple.

When it’s all done and the last child has dashed off to catch the bus, I feel happy. The teacher, Annie, and I spend several minutes talking. Her daughter, Bea plays happily with Ava. I remember the Malawian biscuits and hand Annie the baggie. Her daughter is Ava’s age and immediately digs in, eating with full speed. Ava, like a feisty pony, bucks at the idea and refuses to eat hers, content simply to watch Bea.

Seeing the enthusiasm in Bea and the disinterest in Ava reminds me – we aren’t a special, super-family. We’re just ordinary people, trying to make a difference. And it’s something we can all do.

THE FOOD

Sunrise Biscuits [Recipe]

What I liked most about this dish:

These biscuits are outrageously moist thanks to the sweet potato – making for a breakfasttime dilemma: I really couldn’t stop after just one or two of these golden beauties. Neither could Mr Picky or his parents, who were in town and tried them the second time I made them. That’s right. I’ve already made these twice. By choice. Yum+easy = family favorite.

What I liked least about this dish:

Nothing.

P.S. I think these biscuits would be fabulous with a brown sugar and butter spread. Or maple. Or, as one reader suggested, birch butter.

P.P.S. One reader made this with bits of crystallized ginger and loved it.

Dipping sauce for Chippies (Tsabola) [Recipe]

What I liked most about this dish:

I don’t know why 4 ingredients (including the salt) is so exciting or good, but it simply is. I couldn’t stop eating the potato wedges with this stuff… so much more satisfying than ketchup. Mr Picky, a.k.a. Keith, said that I could open an entire restaurant serving this stuff. And that we needed at least ten times the amount to feed the three of us.

What I liked least about this dish:

Nothing, except I ate this entire recipe before Keith came home from work… so  I had to remake it. Which, in retrospect, was probably the best thing to happen since it meant I got to eat it again.

Malawi Peanut Balls (Mtedza) [Recipe]

What I liked most about this dish:

Keith’s reaction. He ate almost all of them, eyes wide. Days later he would surprise me by saying “I love Malawi.” He went on to explain that he adored everything we ate this week, but especially these cookies. Ava liked them, too – giving her characteristic “Im getting something good” smile when she ate them. Keith’s mom described them like a peanuty wedding cookie.

What I liked least about this dish:

Nothing. For a fun variation, cashews are also popular in Malawi. I think it would be fun to see how this recipe tastes with a blend of the two, or made completely with cashews.

Ava’s Corner

Malawi Peanut Balls | Mtedza

I adore when this around the world culinary journey takes me by surprise. Here we are, the week of Valentine’s day, and I’m in Malawi – practically the heart of Africa. I had it in my head that I probably wouldn’t find anything particularly appropriate for Valentine’s Day.

Turns out I was wrong.

While I didn’t dig up any chocolate kisses or champagne mixers, I did find the lovely Sunrise Biscuits and today’s addictive groundnut cookie (that’s what Africans call peanuts). Thank goodness, because Keith prefers a good cookie to nearly any sweet.

These cookies are dusted in a snowfall of confectioner’s sugar and, when bitten, give way with a satisfying crumble. The broken bits of peanut pretty much seal the deal – these are wonderful with a cup of tea or coffee.

P.S. I’d be wrong not to tell you that, as with any good cookie, Keith made himself sick by eating most of these in one sitting. That’s a pretty good review, if you ask me.

Groundnut harvesting, photo by Swathi Sridharan.

Makes 18 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/8 cup sugar
3/4 cup finely chopped, roasted peanuts
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
1 cup flour

powdered sugar, for dusting

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Meanwhile, chop up the peanuts into tiny pieces.

Then cream butter and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer. When soft and fluffy, incorporate the peanuts, vanilla, and salt.

 Pile on the flour and mix until…

… a crumbly dough forms.

Press together with the palm of your hands into balls. This will be super easy, thanks to all that butter.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until light golden brown.Roll into a happy pile of powdered sugar and don’t stop until each cookie looks like a delicate cloud.

Enjoy with a friend (or a more-than-friend) who you love with all your heart.

Unless they’re allergic to peanuts, of course.

But then you can make those heart-shaped Sunrise Biscuits  we made earlier this week.

Ta-dah!

Malawi Peanut Balls | Mtedza
Votes: 4
Rating: 4.25
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Servings
18 cookies
Servings
18 cookies
Malawi Peanut Balls | Mtedza
Votes: 4
Rating: 4.25
You:
Rate this recipe!
Print Recipe
Servings
18 cookies
Servings
18 cookies
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup butter , softened
  • 1/8 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup peanuts (roasted), finely chopped
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • powdered sugar , for dusting
Servings: cookies
Units:
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  2. Chop up the peanuts into tiny pieces.
  3. Then cream butter and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer. When soft and fluffy, incorporate the peanuts, vanilla, and salt.
  4. Pile on the flour and mix until a crumbly dough forms.
  5. Press together with the palm of your hands into balls.
  6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until light golden brown on a lined baking sheet.
  7. Roll in powdered sugar and serve.

Dipping sauce with Chippies | Tsabola

Today’s fun recipe is a 5 minute African salsa.  You’ll need two accessories to make this snack completely Malawi, however: blue pastic bags and your most favorite potato wedges.
Here’s how it works: simply chop up onions, tomatoes, hot peri peri peppers (I used Thai bird chilies). Mix it all around with loads of salt.
While I normally go light on the salt, you need to use a heavy hand when making Tsabola … as Brittany (Be-ing Brittany), a Community Health Advisor in Malawi, tells me “Malawians eat a lot of salt to help stay hydrated with little water.”
Traditionally Malawians eat Tsabola with Chippies (deep fried potato wedges), but I decided to go healthy and baked my “chippies” (just with a bag of frozen potato wedges). The choice is yours.

Frying chippies stand. Photo courtesy of Brittany Krake.

For extra fun, epic bonus points, be sure to serve the “Chippies” out of blue plastic bags. That’s the tradition, Brittany tells me.

A very pretty tradition, if you ask me. Happy Friday!

Dipping sauce with Chippies | Tsabola
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Traditionally Malawians eat Tsabola with Chippies (deep fried potato wedges), but I decided to go healthy and baked my "chippies" (just with a bag of frozen potato wedges). The choice is yours.
Dipping sauce with Chippies | Tsabola
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:
Rate this recipe!
Print Recipe
Traditionally Malawians eat Tsabola with Chippies (deep fried potato wedges), but I decided to go healthy and baked my "chippies" (just with a bag of frozen potato wedges). The choice is yours.
Ingredients
  • onions , chopped
  • tomatoes , chopped
  • Thai bird chili peppers , chopped
  • salt , to taste
Servings:
Units:
Instructions
  1. Simply chop up onions, tomatoes, hot peri peri peppers (I used Thai bird chilies). Mix it all around with loads of salt.

Sunrise Biscuits | Mbatata

Valentine’s Day is for lazy mornings. For PJ’s all day. Breakfast in bed with your favorite cup of tea. Sunny smiles.

And then there’s real life.

Husbands go to work. Your cat uses your favorite chair as a scratching post. And, over the course of 45 seconds, your child has the following conversation with you, in regards to said cat:

“I want to sit there”

“It’s my turn to play with that toy”

“He poked me with his paw”

“Wahhhhhhhhh”

The main difference between this and having two kids?

I can put one of them outside to play. Unsupervised.

Life as a mom might not be filled with roses on my bedspread and chocolates under my pillow, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. And, if I really am honest with myself, I can conjure up a few sunny smiles on Valentine’s Day… especially if I make these Sunrise Biscuits.

This sweet potato biscuit from Malawi looks exactly like the cheery glow of a romantic sunrise. The vivid orange tuber, so popular and easy to grow in Malawi, adds a moist crumb and a slightly sweet kick, while the pinch of ginger gives a nearly undetectable bit of “yum” that will leave your loved ones wondering what is that?!

Given my tendency to happily eat nothing but sweet potatoes for dinner, and my husband’s tendency to inhale all things biscuit, I knew that this recipe was a must-make – the perfect fusion of both our tastes. What I didn’t know was how on earth this harmony already existed, halfway around the world, in the big cities of Malawi.

There’s nothing new in the world, it would seem.

P.S. You can make them any shape you want, but puffy hearts are grand. After all, love does make the world go round.

Recipe adapted from The World Cookbook for Students.

Makes 8 biscuits (using 3″ heart cutters)

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp salted butter
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup baked, mashed sweet potato
pinch ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup  flour
2 tsp baking powder

Method:

First, find a beautiful spot in Malawi to make your biscuits. I’d like to build a kitchen overlooking Lake Malawi’s lapping waves – a place continually filled with the hollow wooden sound of the traditional mangolongondo.

Speaking of which, I have a Pinterest board called Views from My Kitchen Window for daydreams like this.

Senga Bay, photo by Brian Dell. Traditional ‘mangolongondo,’ photo by Steve Evans.

Now, preheat your oven to 375F and roast your sweet potatoes until soft (be sure to slit them with a knife so they don’t burst). This can take up to an hour. When they’re done, they’ll ooze glorious golden juices so be sure to line your baking pan. Reduce the heat to 350F, for the biscuits.

While the sweet potatoes are still very hot, add 3/4 cup to a bowl with the cubed butter. Let the heat of the sweet potatoes melt the butter into happy puddles.

Note: if you’re making this with cold, leftover sweet potatoes, simply melt the butter before combining the two ingredients.

Splash on the milk..

And sprinkle on a pinch of ginger and a smattering of salt.

Next comes the snowfall: 1 1/3 cups flour and 2 tsp baking powder.

Hum a little tune and mix well. The salmon colored dough will be very moist. That’s okay.

On a heavily floured board, with heavily floured hands, press the dough flat – about 1 inch thick.

Dip your cookie cutter into flour to keep the biscuit dough from sticking. Afterall, you don’t want to rip your heart apart. Lay the hearts 2″ apart, on a lined baking sheet.
Bake for 15-2o minutes, or until puffed and golden.

Okay…. bake until neon gold.

Just like the glimmer of the perfect sunrise.

Enjoy on a dreamy boat ride along the shimmering waters of Lake Malawi as you nibble these treats… preferably with a softened pat of butter. Or two.

Enjoy today, tomorrow, or on Valentine’s Day.

Wishing you love, love, love, so much love. Always.

Sunrise Biscuits | Mbatata
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The vivid orange tuber, so popular and easy to grow in Malawi, adds a moist crumb and a slightly sweet kick, while the pinch of ginger gives a nearly undetectable bit of "yum" that will leave your loved ones wondering what is that?!
Sunrise Biscuits | Mbatata
Votes: 0
Rating: 0
You:
Rate this recipe!
Print Recipe
The vivid orange tuber, so popular and easy to grow in Malawi, adds a moist crumb and a slightly sweet kick, while the pinch of ginger gives a nearly undetectable bit of "yum" that will leave your loved ones wondering what is that?!
Ingredients
  • 4 Tbsp butter (salted)
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 3/4 cup sweet potatoes (mashed), baked
  • 1 pinch grated ginger
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
Servings:
Units:
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 375F.
  2. Roast your sweet potatoes until soft (be sure to slit them with a knife so they don't burst). This can take up to an hour.
  3. Reduce the heat to 350F, for the biscuits.
  4. While the sweet potatoes are still very hot, add 3/4 cup to a bowl with the cubed butter. Let the heat of the sweet potatoes melt the butter puddles.
  5. Add the milk, ginger, salt, flour and baking powder and mix well.
  6. On a heavily floured board, with heavily floured hands, press the dough flat - about 1 inch thick.
  7. Dip your cookie cutter into flour to keep the biscuit dough from sticking.
  8. Lay biscuits 2" apart on a lined baking sheet.
  9. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until puffed and golden.
Recipe Notes

Note: if you're making this with cold, leftover sweet potatoes, simply melt the butter before combining the two ingredients.

Menu: Malawi

When I looked at the calendar and realized Malawi week at the Global Table led right up to Valentine’s Day, I thought how ironic. Surely Malawi’s only exposure, if any, to Valentine’s Day comes from tourists and international volunteers. I’ll never be able to find any food to fit this romantic season we’re in.

Boy, was I wrong.  A quick peek online showed me that, in fact, many Malawians do know and think about Valentine’s Day. This video exploring the topic made me smile.

So get ready for an African/Malawian Valentine’s Day menu… cobbled together by yours truly. All the recipes come together very quickly, so you can spend more time loving the one you’re with.

What sounds good to you?

Sunrise Biscuits (Mbatata) [Recipe]
Spend a quiet morning eating these sweet potato biscuits seasoned with the slightest hint of ginger. If you dare to be super cutesy (do it!), use cookie cutters to shape the biscuits into puffy hearts.

Dipping sauce for Chippies (Tsabola) [Recipe]
A simple concoction for dipping potato wedges, very similar to salsa. The main difference? Fewer ingredients and a landslide of salt.

Malawi Peanut Balls (Mtedza) [Recipe]
Satisfy your sweetheart with these “peanuty wedding cookies.” Super quick to come together and, as a bonus, they just use a handful of ingredients you probably already have at home.

*All recipes and the review will be posted by Monday morning.

P.S. These recipes are more “city,” for a description of some of the “country” foods, please read more about the food of Malawi.

About the food of Malawi

Lake Malawi. Photo by Steve Evans.

Malawi undulates and ambles along eastern Africa – a collection of soft rolling hills and glistening lake waters, dotted with thatched villages, dusty courtyards, and a healthy array of vivid, green trees. The land is striking and, yet, completely new to me.

Maps & flag courtesy of CIA World Factbook. Monoxylon beach, Lake Malawi - photo by Stefan Kraft.

When it comes to mealtime, I was immediately intrigued by the street food. First, there’s grilled mice, boiled goat liver, banana fritters (zitumbuwa) and chippies. The first two I witnessed in travel videos. I read about chippies on Be-ing Brittany. Brittany is a Community Health Advisor in Malawi. We emailed back and forth, during which time I learned that chippies are simply crisp, deep-fried potoato wedges, served with tsabola [Recipe], a firey dipping sauce (most street food is served with tsabola).

Here is a typical chippies stand in action:

Frying chippies stand. Photo courtesy of Brittany Krake.

While (select) street food is enough to make me board the first plane to Malawi, most people eat a simple diet of boiled maize called Nsima or Ufa (not unlike the papa we made for Lesotho), sometimes with peanuts added, beans, or fish from the giant lake. The Nsima can be made stiff or quite soupy, so that it can easily be ladled out to large groups, like school children. Leafy greens, pumpkins, tropical fruit, and homemade ginger beer all are popular staples throughout the country as well.

In the cities, food is much more elaborate and international. Sweet potatoes might be added to biscuits [Recipe], or peanuts might make their way into cookies [Recipe]. Pizza and burgers are greatly enjoyed in little restaurants, as well.

Old Town Lilongwe, Malawi. Photo by Brian Dell.

And that’s just the beginning.

There’s a whole world of flavor in Malawi.