Serves 2 Thick, creamy, and spicy, this drink popular in Northern Chad is refreshing and healthy. Ingredients: 4 cups cubed papaya (if fresh is unavailable you can use 2 cans, drained) 2 cups milk 3 Tbsp sugar 1/4 tsp cardamom pinch ginger 1-2 cups ice, as desired Method: Gather your ingredients. First the beautiful papaya… drained and ready for the blender… Then the spices. Start off with just a little and add the full amount if you can handle it! 🙂 Dump into a blender with some cold milk… And ice, to taste. You can make this drink as thick or as thin as you like. Make it on a wickedly hot day, or a balmy night.  Or right this minute. Spiced Papaya Milk Votes: 0 Rating: 0 You: Rate this recipe! Print Recipe Thick, creamy, and spicy, this drink popular in Northern Chad is refreshing and healthy. CourseDrinks, Sweets Lifestyle5-ingredients or less, Vegetarian Food TypeCold Drinks, Fruit, Non-Alcoholic Drinks Servings 2 people Servings 2 people Spiced Papaya Milk Votes: 0 Rating: 0 You: Rate …
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Serves 2-4 as a dip 4-6 as a sandwich spread This dip/spread is a happy blend of sweet and creamy. In Cape Verde, they call this a salad and serve it with shrimp or prawn nestled on top. Personally, I like it spread on a hot turkey panini. If you want to add a kick of flavor, splash in a capful of brandy. (We omitted this step so that Ava could sample the dish). According to Duffy in Cape Verde: “Cape Verdeans put sugar on [avocados], and not just a little bit of sugar but so much sugar that you can’t even taste the avocado.” In this recipe, natural dates (a popular north African ingredient) provide a similar sweetness. Ingredients 2 ripe avocados 1-3 dates, minced Capful of brandy (optional) Method: Scoop out the buttery flesh of two avocados and place in a mixing bowl. Reserve the shells. Remove the seed from each date, then mince it up. Dates are incredibly sweet and sticky, so the minced dates clump together. Add the dates to the …
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Serves 4 Corn with plantains is a common pairing in West Africa. Add a little heat with your favorite hot pepper, or use regular bell peppers. Our version is vegetarian/vegan. Ingredients: 1 tsp red palm oil 1 lb fresh or frozen corn 2 yellow plantains 1 chili pepper (I used a poblano from my garden that turned red), diced 1/2 cup water Method: Heat up a little oil in a medium pot. Chop up a couple of plantains… … and add them with the corn. If you’re using hot peppers, add them now. I like how they give a little splash of color in a sea of cream and gold. Add enough water to keep everything from sticking on the bottom. I like to think of water droplets as fairy grapes. Simmer, covered until everything is cooked and the plantains are tender, about 30 minutes. Makes a tasty side dish – great for a potluck or dinner party. 🙂 Corn with Plantains Votes: 0 Rating: 0 You: Rate this recipe! Print Recipe Corn with plantains …
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A puckering combination of tart and sweet, the frozen Daiquiri blends ripe fruit, rum, and fresh lime juice with a mountain of shaved ice. This slushy sip of paradise makes it five o’clock everywhere. It’s true. I’ve tested it myself. The original daiquiri from the early 1900’s was nothing so complicated – a plain, stout mixture of sugar and lime juice poured over (or shaken with) ice. Over the years, the drink gained popularity and traveled around the world from Cuba to Cameroon. Today we honor Cameroon’s wonderful mango groves with a flexible recipe for a frozen Mango Daiquiris. You’ll see the proportions generally say “to taste.” This is because some like it strong with a little ice, while others don’t want any alcohol, but enjoy a great amount of ice. By leaving the mango and lime quantities static, everything else is easy to play with. My goal is to provide you with basic guidelines to get you poolside with your favorite drink, as soon as possible. So grab your blender. Let’s play! Makes up to 1 …
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Makes 6 pickled limes Pickled limes add a sharp citrus kick to recipes. Â As the rind softens, it releases a bitter note than permeates throughout the lime. The insides break down as they set in the salted water, so the texture becomes rather mushy. Use a sharp knife when slicing to preserve the beautiful lime shape. Cambodian pickled limes are easy to make but take a little time – you’ll probably need start two weeks ahead. Hot and sunny temperatures are necessary to dry out the limes quickly. When we made them, temperatures were floating around 104 (with a heat index of 111F). I may have set a world record for time to dry out six limes. Two days! NOTE: You could also use small key limes for this recipe. Special thanks to Karen Coates of Rambling Spoon whose post Ode to a Grandmother inspired this recipe. Ingredients: 6 limes water, as needed salt Method: Dry a bunch of clean, fresh limes in the sun. Rotate as needed to get all sides dry. I put …
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Makes 1.75 liters (plus the pineapple) Chilled hibiscus tea is light and refreshing. The natural floral tang is a wonderful counterpart to sweet pineapple chunks. Kids will love fishing out the fruit in this totally and wonderfully decaffeinated iced tea. VARIATION: Some recipes call for equal parts lemonade to hibiscus tea. We tried this “pink lemonade” and loved it! Ingredients: small handful hibiscus flowers (or 4 teabags) 6 cups boiling water 4 cups ice 1 pineapple, cubed Method: 1. Pour boiling water over hibiscus flowers or teabags. Let steep about 30 minutes. Hibiscus puts on a wonderful show as the purplish dried leaves turn the water vivid red. Strain into ice to speed up cooling. Trust me, you won’t want to wait any longer than you have to! Serve chilled with chunks of pineapple. I made my chunks large. I couldn’t help it. This was the sweetest pineapple I’ve had in a long time. Yum! Cheers! I hope you the last bit of your summer is splendid! Iced Hibiscus Drink with Fresh Pineapple | Bissap …
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Makes 3-4 liters Many eastern European countries enjoy Kompot all year round. This sweet, chilled drink is refreshing on a hot summer’s day and, in the winter, Bulgarian children enjoy kompot as part of the Christmas celebration. Feel free to use your favorite fruit to make this recipe your own. Mint could even be added for fresh flavor. When serving, be sure to give everyone a few bits of fruit at the bottom of their glass! Ingredients: 10 cups water 1 cup sugar 6 oz prunes 4 oz currants (about 3/4 cup) 3 oz dried apricots 4-8 cups ice 1. Add all ingredients, except ice, to  a large pot. First the prunes – not just for old ladies, you know! I keep prunes in my fridge door for snacking on. I can only get Keith to eat them if I call them dried plums. Go figure. Next, the dried apricots. This particular brand is organic. I’ve never seen such dark, sultry apricots before – they look like fireplace embers, right before they burn out. Then, …
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Makes 10 servings This unusual treat can be served either for dessert or as a snack. The sweet and salty combination is shocking to my sheltered palette, but Brazilians serve this beloved treat up in many forms. For less of a salty/sweet contrast, try spreading a dab of cream cheese on top of the Guava paste. This mild spread is more suited to the sweet guava. Also, consider using queso blanco, a less salty cheese. P.S. Here’s a related recipe, called the Martin Fierro, which we made when we cooked Uruguay. Ingredients: 1 block of guava paste (available at some Latino and Asian grocers) 1 block of white cheese, (like queso fresco or canastra) toothpicks Method: 1. Slice guava paste and cheese in thin, even slices (preferably thinner than what I did – I just know you’ll do a better job because you won’t have a teething baby begging you to get a move on). 2. Layer 2-4 per toothpick, alternating colors. 3. Serve chilled or room temperature. Brazilian Romeo and Juliet | Romeu e Julieta …
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The crimes of fruit salad are many: not ripe, over ripe, tart, bitter, warm, rotten … Because of these transgressions fruit salad has become the “Fruit Cake” of summer barbecues – a popular dish that only the brave eat. This week I made a Himalayan inspired Fruit Salad (just mango, red banana, and papaya) for our Bhutanese Global Table. In my interpretation, I decided to avoid the many pitfalls of regular fruit salad and serve it as elegant finger food. In this format each piece of fruit shone – sweet mango, earthy papaya and buttery bananas in the middle. Incredible. Pop one and you. can’t. stop. I dare you to try. But first: 5 Keys to a Great Fruit Salad 1. Never use pre-cut fruit. Ever notice how pre-cut fruit in plastic boxes tastes… fizzy? A tad chemically? The salad is an unsatisfactory blend of unripe cardboard fruit (usually the pineapple), mixed in with overripe, bruised, fungus fruit (often the grapes). Awful. Serve pre-cut fruit to a bitter enemy, if you must, but never serve the stuff if you’re …
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Serves 2 Bananas in orange sauce is a fresh, summery way to use bananas as a dessert topping. When we made the Baked Brown Sugar Bananas for Antigua and Barbuda (made with brown sugar, rum and butter) I didn’t think they could be beat, but these west African bananas are totally different and just as yummy!! Ingredients: 1/2 cup orange juice 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 Tbsp lemon juice (optional) 2 slightly under-ripe bananas NOTE: We used red bananas which are about 4 inches long, you can also use baby bananas or regular bananas. Method: 1. Heat orange juice, brown sugar, and lemon juice in a skillet for about 15 minutes on low (there should be small bubbles breaking the surface, but not quite a simmer). The orange juice will reduce and thicken into a syrup. 2. Peel bananas and add to syrup. Cook for a few minutes per side, making sure to warm through. 3. Serve immediately with ice cream, pound cake, or plain. Baby Bananas in Orange Sauce Votes: 0 Rating: 0 You: …
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One plantain serves 1-2 Fried plantains can be on the table in less than 5 minutes. This easy, delicious side dish goes well with any Caribbean or African food. In particular, the slightly sweet flavor helps contrast with both region’s spicy dishes. Ingredients: 1 plantain vegetable oil salt or brown sugar Method: 1. Heat a thin layer of vegetable oil in a frying pan. Meanwhile, cut plantains into long, oblong slices. NOTE: Choose plantains that are yellow to black in color, not green. The green plantain in the photo was still under ripe and inedible. Green plantains behave like green bananas, after a few days the bland astringency gives way to a mildly sweet flavor. 2. Fry in the oil on both sides until browned. NOTE: How browned you like them is a matter of taste. I like my fried plantains pretty dark 🙂 3. Sprinkle immediately with salt or brown sugar. Serve hot. The first time I made plantains – oops crispy. Although they are a bit charred, they are still uber tasty. When I …
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Makes about 1 1/2 quarts Strawberry Kisiel is easy to make and very tasty. The sweet dessert remains light and refreshing. Unless, of course, you serve it over a bowl of vanilla ice cream… which I totally recommend. Ingredients: 1 lb fresh strawberries (or other seasonal berries) 4 cups water 4 Tbsp cornstarch sugar to taste (between 1/2 and 1 cup is about right) Method: 1. Puree strawberries with sugar in a blender or food processor. Pour into a pot and heat over medium. 2. Meanwhile, add a little water to the cornstarch and combine, making a slurry. 3. Pour cornstarch slurry into the strawberry mixture and heat up, stirring frequently. When the mixture thickens into a pudding-like consistency, begin to pour in the water, a little at a time. Do not add more water until the previous addition is mixed in evenly or you’ll get lumps. Continue until all of the water is added. Check for sweetness one more time. Add extra sugar if desired. 4. Heat the mixture until a few bubbles pop …
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