Volunteers in our Secondary Education Science Teaching program in Tanzania need fuel. They teach biology, chemistry and physics to classes of as many as fifty students at a time, and participate in the Let Girls Learn initiative to increase girls’ access to education throughout the country. Good thing there’s coconut and bean stew to keep them going!
½ Cup Onions, finely chopped ½ Cup Green Peppers, finely chopped 1 tsp. Curry Powder 1 tsp. Salt ¼ tsp. Pepper 3 Tbsp. Butter 1 Cup Fresh Tomato 2 ½ Cups Kidney Beans 2 Cups Coconut Milk 3 Cups Water ½ Cup Cooked Rice 1 tsp. Shredded Coconut
Preparation: In a 3-quart saucepan saute onions, peppers, curry powder, salt, pepper, and butter until soft and translucent but not brown.
Add 1 cup of fresh tomato, cut into ½-inch pieces
Simmer for two minutes longer.
Add kidney beans, coconut milk, water. Simmer gently for 10 minutes. Add ½ cup cooked rice. If you need to adjust the spices, do this. Serve one-cup portions in soup bowls. Garnish each bowl with one teaspoon of shredded coconut.
In honor of World Food Day this Sunday, why not check out our openings for Food Security Extension Volunteers in Benin? Food Security Extension Agents work to increase household food production, income from agriculture, and economic security by providing training and support to community members growing their own food. And what kind of food is that, I hear you ask? Try this traditional cornmeal cake and find out!
4 Tablespoons of tomato paste (add more if you want to increase the color and taste)
2 finely chopped garlic cloves or 2 tablespoons of garlic powder
1 medium finely chopped yellow onion
Salt and pepper
3 cups of of water
4 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil
Preparation:
1. Heat oil in a large non stick deep pan/pot and sauté the chopped onions and garlic on medium heat for about 2-4 minutes or until they’ve softened but are not caramelized
2. Add in the tomato paste and stir for about 2 minutes
3. Add in the water and the bouillon. Stir to ensure all ingredients are well mixed. Bring to boil.
4. Once the stock starts to boil, slowly start adding in the flour to this mixture, mix it vigorously and quickly, with a wooded spoon or wisk so that you get a firm “paste” that won’t lump. Ensure the paste has no lump. To facilitate mixing if it’s too hard, you can use an electric mixer.
5. Once everything is mixed evenly, turn the heat the low, cover the pan or pot for about 10 minutes to let the corn mixture to cook. Check and stir frequently to ensure it is not burning at the bottom.
6. Transfer the paste into small molds, ramekins or one large mold and let the paste seat for about 20-30 mn. This will solidify the paste and turn it into a firm dough.
7. To serve, turn the mold into a plate and add a sautéed medley of diced peppers, onions and tomatoes.
It’s fall! Time to gorge yourself on gourds! Here in the U.S, we think of pumpkin as a sweet ingredient in lattes and desserts. But if you’re a Food Security Volunteer in Nepal, pumpkin might be the main dish. Try this pumpkin curry and see how versatile your Jack O’Lantern really is.
Ingredients:
1 lb pumpkin, washed, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
5-6 medium sized potatoes cut in same size as the pumpkin
3 dried red chilies
1 tsp fenugreek seeds (methi)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp whole timur (Szechwan pepper)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger
1tsp cumin powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
3 tbsp clarified butter (ghee)
1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
Salt to taste
Preparation:
Heat a non-stick pan and add 3 tablespoon of clarified butter. When the butter is heated, fenugreek seeds, whole Szechuan pepper, mustard seeds and cumin seeds and let them turn dark. Now, fry dried red chilies for about fifteen seconds. When it turns dark, add garlic, ginger, ground pepper, cumin powder and turmeric powder and fry the mixture for one minute in low heat.
Add pumpkin and potato pieces to the spice mixture and stir fry for around two minutes and then, add salt according to your taste. After that, add broth and let it simmer until both, the pumpkin and the potato pieces, becomes tender and the excess liquid evaporates. Then again, adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Now your pumpkin curry is ready to be served with rice or roti.
You only have one day left to apply for our Secondary Education English Teaching positions in Ethiopia, so maybe you need fuel. Pick up some nice fall beets and make this Ethiopian beet and potato salad to keep you going. It’s vegan!
Ingredients
¼ cup canola oil
1 yellow onion, diced
½ teaspoon salt, divided, or as needed
1 ½ teaspoons minced fresh garlic
1 ½ teaspoons minced fresh ginger (optional)
2 large beets, diced
1 cup water, or more as needed
4 large potatoes, diced
Directions
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat; add onion and a pinch of salt. Cook and stir onion until softened and translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and ginger; cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add beets and stir to combine. Pour water over beet mixture and sprinkle ½ teaspoon salt; bring to a boil.
Cover pot and reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, stirring occasionally, until beets are easily pierced with a fork, 20 to 25 minutes. Add potatoes and cook until potatoes are soft but not falling apart, about 15 minutes.
Blend red pepper, jalapeno pepper, chili pepper, garlic, basil, oregano, and onions in a food processor or blender. Add olive oil, coconut milk to facilitate blending. Then mix in smoked paprika, lemon juice black or white pepper and coconut milk. Adjust for salt and seasoning. Refrigerate and use when ready. You may make this a day or more ahead of time.
Trim chicken of excess fat and pat dry with a cloth or paper napkin. Rub with lemon, and season with salt, chicken bouillon and pepper
Drench the chicken with peri- peri marinate, place in a zip lock bag, or sealed containers and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
When ready to grill. Using a tong remove chicken from the peri peri marinade and remove excess marinate. Reserve the marinade
Preheat grill to medium- high heat.
Place chicken on the grill and grill for about 10-15 minutes an each side you may need to turn the chicken occasionally on each side until it is cooked all the way. Do this in batches if you have a small grill.
In a small saucepan simmer the remaining peri peri marinade and the one from the chicken for about 7 minutes. Serve with chicken or mix with chicken
Oven Baked
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 425°.
Line a baking pan with foil; top with a wire rack. Arrange chicken pieces out in a single layer.
Bake chicken until cooked through and skin is crispy, about 45-50 minutes-rotate half ways through-roughly 20 minutes.
First, peel the carrots and eggplants. Then, cut the eggplants and set them with salt for 15 minutes off to the side.
Cut up the carrots and okra into slices and mix together. Slice up onions in separate bowl.
Time to get back to the eggplant. Place a cup and a half of flour into a bowl. Piece by piece with hands, squeeze out each piece of eggplant of extra water and coat once with flour and place in pan with boiling oil until a bit brown (-5 minutes) and place off to the side
Now, put the onions in the same pan with oil until cooked down. After about 10 min, add cut up carrots and okra. Cook together for 10 minutes and add the meat. Add zachin (2 spoons of the yellow spice I mentioned before), black pepper (half spoon), red pepper/paprika (2 small spoons) and 2 small spoons of leftover flour.
Add-3 2 cups of water (400g) until all veggies covered for 5 minutes
Put in oiled baking pan and level it. Cover the fried pieces of eggplant and push down a little so they’re covered a bit. Now put top on dish and put on stove for 10 minute.
for 40-60 minutes put in oven on 250 degrees celcius. You’ll know it’s done when most of the water in the dish has evaporated.
Say you apply to our Business Advising program in the Southeast Asian nation of Timor Leste, and you begin service there in August 2017. You’ll miss the height of barbecue season, right?
WRONG. It’s always barbecue season in Timor Leste. Try this chicken satay and see for yourself.
Cookie Monster told us that cookies are a “sometimes food”, and if you end up serving as a Community Health Specialist in Malawi, these sweet potato cookies will probably be a nice treat, sometimes.
It’s our 500th post here on Peace Corps Journey, which means it’s time for another Food Friday roundup. For those of you who haven’t read the previous 499 posts, I’m Kathy: Rhode Island recruiter, Peace Corps Journey blogger, amateur cook and full time foodie. I love Food Friday recipes, but I’m also a part time vegetarian, so I don’t always cook them the week I post. I thought it would be nice to recap a few of the vegetarian/vegan/veggie flexible recipes we’ve featured in the past few months. Maybe my cooking is just improving, but I cooked these for a week of dinners, and none of them came out badly, which might be a new recipe testing personal best for me, They’re all easy and fairly healthy, and with the exception of the varenyky, relatively quick. My favorite was probably the Fata, an Eritrean bread salad with spicy tomato sauce and Greek yogurt. I could seriously eat this for lunch every day. The berbere and jalapenos together give it a whopping kick, which the yogurt cools down. It’s also really good for you, unless you’re one of those disciplined people who doesn’t eat huge chunks of bread.
My Varenyky post was easily one of the most popular posts of the past year, and I can see why - who doesn’t like dumplings? These fluffy little clouds of carb take forever to prepare, especially because the sour cream in the dough makes it so light, but it’s worth it at the end when you get to tuck into a plate of buttery, potatoey goodness. I made a large quantity and froze some, because I am one of those people who can’t resist a bargain and recently bought a gallon tub of sauerkraut out the back door of a pickle factory, and consequently have about three and a half quarts left to use up. The varenyky freeze well and sautee up nicely in a pan of butter. I served them with a side of (more) sauerkraut, which may not be traditional, but paired nicely.
Tavce Gravce is Macedonian baked bean dip, and it’s not only easy to make (I used my slow cooker and finished it in the oven), it’s really cheap. Occasionally on social media I’ll see arguments over whether or not it’s cost effective to eat a plant based diet. The consensus seems to be that it depends on what plants you’re consuming - here in Rhode Island, heirloom organic tomatoes will run you roughly the same price per pound as steak, whereas the beans I bought for this dish could easily be purchased with the change stuck between the average reader’s couch cushions. The onions give the dish a rich flavor, and it’s very filling. The only animal product is the feta cheese I put on top, so it would be easy enough to make a vegan version.
Armenian eggplant dip is even easier to make than Tavce Gravce, if you can believe it. Grill or roast the eggplant and some garlic, mash it up with tahini, and Bob’s your (Armenian) uncle. I overdid it on the garlic, so if any vampires are reading this, you might want to skip my next coffee chat. Also, yes, that is the same olive bread I bought for the Tavce Gravce, and yes, I’ve resorted to photographing my cooking on paper plates. Don’t judge me, it’s July.
My photographic skills are not equal to the task of making this spicy peanut sauce from Benin look as good as it tastes. It’s rich and savory, with a nice jolt of hot pepper, and is excellent over baked yams or rice. It also cooks very quickly. I recommend going to one of those supermarkets with the fancy make-your-own peanut butter grinder, and grinding the peanuts a little chunkier than normal to give it some texture. I gave the leftovers to Duke, the Official Beagle of Food Fridays, and he approved:
The island nation of Comoros, in the Indian Ocean, has cultural influences from Africa, South Asia and Europe. You can taste all those flavors in this savory pilaou recipe. If you want to learn about opportunities to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Comoros, check out our program openings.
Ingredients:
1 inch piece of ginger
½ tsp pepper
pinch of saffron
½ tsp cinnamon
1 ½ tsp nutmeg
salt to taste
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 lb beef, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 large onions, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, sliced
½ small can tomato paste
1 ½ tsp garam masala
½ cube maggi
½ tsp cardamom
1 tbsp margarine
2 cups basmati rice
Preparation:
In a spice grinder or with a mortar and pestle, mash the first six ingredients together with 3 cloves of garlic and about 1/8 tsp cloves.
Meanwhile, cook the meat lightly in a pot with a small amount of sated water. In another pot, sauté the onions and the rest of the garlic.
Add 1/3rd of the crushed spices to the meat (there should be a little bit of water remaining in the pot, but not much). Add half of the tomato paste and ¾ tsp garam masala, mixing well. Turn off the heat and cover. Set aside.
Wash and drain the rice (the water should run clear).
Now in yet another pot, boil about 2 cups of water and add the Maggi, the rest of the cloves, another 1/3 of the crushed spices and the rest of the tomato paste.
In yet another pot, (yes you will be doing dishes for the rest of your life), melt 1 tbsp of butter. When the butter coats the bottom of the pan, add the rest of the crushed spices, ¾ tsp garam masala and the rice. When the rice is hot, add the water with the spices in it. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for 10 minutes or so, or until about half of the water has been absorbed, then add the meat. Cover and continue to cook.
When the rice is almost done, add the garlic and onions and the cardamom. Stir well and cover. When the rice is tender and the water is absorbed, remove from heat and serve.
Today is your last day to apply to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand starting in 2017, so maybe you need special inspiration to get that application submitted. Try these perfectly crunchy banana chips, made from @tytimes host family’s recipe. Thanks, Ty!
Ingredients:
1 Bunch of Unripe Bananas (green in color)
Oil to fry chips
Salt
Seasoning (Anything you want)
Preparation:
1. Take the bananas and cut off the stems. Soak them in a
water bath for 30 minutes.
2. Peel the bananas and lay them out until dry.
3. Using a vegetable slicer, slice bananas paper thin into a
skillet with hot oil.
4. Keep stirring the banana chips until they become
crispy.
5. Take them out of the oil and lay them on a paper towel to
soak up the extra oil.
6. Coat the chips in salt and whatever seasonings you
desire. Try “taco” banana chips with taco seasoning or BBQ banana
chips with BBQ seasoning. You can even season them with a ranch packet.
7. Package them and they can stay fresh for up to one
week.
