Peru: Saltado

Saltado is a Peruvian dish not dissimilar to stir fry. It’s very quick and easy to make, and is packed with vegetables, so is quite a healthy dish. It’s usually serves with fried potatoes or chips but I think it’s great on its own and is, in itself, a healthy kind of comfort food.

It is influenced by an Asian style of cooking, which in Peru they call Chifa, which is a term used to describe cooking in a Chinese style, but with ingredients that are cheaper or more readily available in Peru. The dish can be made by marinading the meat in rice vinegar instead of wine with a splash of soy sauce. However, I think the flavours of the ingredients speak for themselves and that red wine compliments them beautifully.

Ingredients
Serves 2

200g thinly sliced beef

1 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp olive oil
3 chopped cloves garlic
1 chopped red onions

2 chopped green peppers
100g chopped Spanish chorizo sausage
100g sliced mushrooms

100g tomatoes

50ml red cooking wine
salt and pepper

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Method

1. Thinly slice the beef and toss in salt, pepper and cumin.
2. Heat the olive oil in a wok or frying pan and add the beef and cook until browned.
3. Add the garlic, onions and peppers and cook until softened.
4. Add the chorizo, mushrooms, tomatoes and red wine, then stir until cooked through.
5. Can be served on its own or with rice.

Japan: Chicken Teriyaki Ramen

Ramen is very simple to make. It’s basically fast food, something that you can cook in 20 minutes, prep and everything. Today I’m going to share a recipe for Chicken Teriyaki Ramen in a Miso Soup broth.
Nearly every province in Japan has it's own variation on Ramen, with an array of different toppings and selection of broths. The idea of Ramen is thought to be of Chinese origin, based on the term lamian meaning 'hand-pulled noodles'. It was introduced to Japan and adapted into the dish we see today.

This dish can be made with virtually anything and the general idea behind it is to put it all in a pot and let it boil. The chicken I’m going to cook in the oven, as it's a little healthier than frying.

It's easiest to used dried noodles. Cheap super noodles work just as nicely as any other dried noodles you can purchase in the supermarket. Just throw away the little sachet of powder you get with the noodle and use this recipe instead. The flavours of the soup and the vegetables are what's important to this dish.

Ingredients

Serves 1

Teriyaki marinade:

2 tablespoons of honey

50ml soy sauce
50ml mirin

2 tbsp corn flour

1 chicken breast

500ml dashi/chicken stock

2 cloves of garlic

2 red chillies

1 teaspoon of crushed ginger

100g pak choi

100g mushrooms

juice of half a lime
65g/100g dried noodles
4 chopped spring onions

Preparation time: 15 minutes + 30 minutes marinading time
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Method

 

1. To make teriyaki marinade, mix together the honey, soy sauce and mirin over a low heat. Mix in the corn flour until thickened.
2. Marinade the chicken breast in the teriyaki marinade and leave for about half an hour in the fridge.
3. Remove from the fridge and place in the oven for 20 minutes/until the chicken is cooked through on 180oc.
4. Whilst the chicken in cooking, boil a kettle and make the stock with the dashi stock sachets. (Note: A box of about 10 dashi stock sachets should be between £1-£2 in your local Chinese supermarket. Alternatively some supermarkets like ASDA and Tesco sell miso soup mix/paste. It’s not quite as good, but a suitable alternative!)
5. Boil the garlic, chillies, ginger, pak choi and mushrooms in the stock. Add the lime. After about 5 minutes of boiling add the noodles to the pot and let everything cook through.
6. Put the noodles in the bowl and pour over the stock.
7. Slice the chicken into manageable chunks (So you can eat them with chopsticks! ) and place onto of the broth.
8. Sprinkle the spring onions on one side of the bowl.

Jamaica: Ginger and Rum Cake

I feel as though I have neglected desserts so far in my blog, so here's my first cake on the blog. Jamaica ginger and rum cake. Ginger is a popular spice in Jamaica, it forms the base of many beverages like sorrel a Christmas seasonal drink as well as ginger beer

This is the first time I have tried this recipe and it turned out beautifully. Jamaica is known for it's rum and it's sweet yet spicy food. I think that this cake does their cuisine justice. It's quite light and is just as good for a summers day as it is a winter one. It's delicious with a nice cup of tea.

Ingredients

50g butter
80g dark muscovado sugar
100g black treacle
100g golden syrup
50ml dark rum
50g preserved stem ginger, finely chopped
1 beaten egg
150g self-raising flour
1 tsp ground all spice
1 tsp ground ginger

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes

Method

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180oc.
2. Gentle heat the butter, sugar, treacle and syrup in a saucepan stirring occasionally
3. Once they have heated and combined, remove from the heat and leave for a few minutes to cool.
4. Add the stem ginger, rum and the egg to the mixture.
5. Sift in the flour, all spice and the ginger.
6. Mix together until you have a smooth consistency.
7. Grease and line a 22cm round baking tin and pour in the mixture.
8. Place in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.
9. Remove from the oven. The cake should be spongy to the touch. Test the cake with a skewer or a knife in the centre, it should come out clean.
10. Serve drizzled with a little golden syrup.

Ethiopia: Doro Wat

Today I'll be going south to Ethiopia. The dish I'm going to make today is Doro Wat, a curry like dish made from Berbere which is a spice mix made with oil and a selection of spices.

It's reasonably hot and has a distinct curry taste. Doro Wat can be made with chicken, fish or vegetables. Today I'm going to be using chicken and green peppers, but feel free to substitute the main ingredient for anything you like.

It is usually served with Injera, an Ethiopia  flat bread, not dissimilar to a tortilla or a pancake. Unfortunately it takes 72 hours to make and uses teff flour that I couldn't get hold of, so I just served it with pitta bread, less authentic, but still delicious!

Ingredients

200g chicken

1 lemon

120ml vegetable/olive oil

1 tbsp ground cumin

1tsp cardamom seeds

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp ground all spice

1 tbsp ground paprika

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp ground cayenne pepper

1 tsp ground nutmeg

3 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp chopped ginger
1 chopped onion

500ml chicken stock

2 chopped green peppers

2 tbsp flour

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes

Method

1. Marinade the chicken in the lemon juice and pinch of salt.
2. Heat the oil in a pan.
3. Mix together all the dried spices in a bowl.
4. Add the spices to the heated oil and stir for about 5 minutes, releasing the aromas.
5. Add the garlic, ginger and onions cook until softened.
6. Pour in the stock and add the chicken pieces and pepper and bring to the boil.
7. Add the flour.
8. Bring to the boil then put onto a low heat, cover and leave to simmer and reduce down into a thicker curry-like consistency.
9. Serve with pitta bread, flat bread or rice.

Philippines: Kare-Kare

Today I’m travelling further east on my cultural cuisine quest; to the Philippines. In my opinion, Filipino food is massively overlooked. It’s delicious, filling and original, and often cheap to make. Who can ask for better than that? The regions food involves a lot of stews and as we haven’t quite escaped winter in Britain yet, I thought this would be a great recipe to do. The dish is Kare-Kare and it’s an oxtail and peanut butter stew. It’s intensely flavoured and one of my favourite dishes.

The oxtail gives the stew a rich flavour. Boiling the meat on the bone creates a stock, enhancing the taste of everything in the pot. This one takes a little while to cooking it is a doddle. Some recipes for the dish include banana flower bud, but it’s rather tricky to get hold of and not something that you can usually pick up at your local supermarket so I didn’t include it. Feel free to put some in though if you’re lucky enough to live in an area where you can get such things!

Ingredients
Serves 2-3

500g oxtail/ diced casserole steak

1 onion sliced

2 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped

4 tbsp peanut butter

2 beef stock cube/jelly pot

1 large aubergine (aka eggplant)
100g green beans

150g Chinese leaf cabbage/Savoy cabbage

Preparation Time: 15 minutes 
Cooking Time: 2.5 hours

Method

1. In a large pot/saucepan cover the oxtail and the onion with about 2 litres of water (make sure the meat is covered by the water) and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 1 hour
2. Add the garlic, peanut butter and stock cubes to the pot and stir into the water. If the water isn’t covering the meat add a little more water. Simmer for about another hour until meat is tender. (note: the same recipe can be made with casserole steak, if you can’t find Oxtail or you don’t want something that takes a long time to cook.)
3. Chop the aubergine into large chunks, top and tail the beans and half them, rip the cabbage leaves into manageable pieces. Add to the pot and cook for a further 5 minutes.
4. Serve with rice or just have on it's own.

Certainly a great warm savoury dish. It has been described as Filipino comfort food and I can completely see why and hope you can too!