Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Pan Fried Spicy Plantains

This is a great snack for a party or for watching a movie/game. To make this dish, first start with 2 dark green plantains. Skin the plantains by cutting along the ridges and peeling. Next, dice the plantains into small cubes. Put canola oil or grapeseed oil into a fry pan or wok. Raise this to a high to medium high heat. Do not use olive oil on high since it will smoke at high heat easily. Then carefully put your plantains into the oil. Try to keep the cubes separated so they can become coated on the outside with oil. Next turn the heat down to Medium or Med Hi and keep mixing every minute or two. The plantains should become crispy on the outside and stay chewy inside. After they are well browned, add salt and chilli powder to taste.

This feeds 3-6 people as an appetizer. Enjoy!!!

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Kristin's Mango Cucumber Salad

Hi Kiran!

Here's the official recipe, but Meg doctored it up with more generous
helpings of lime, sugar and coconut than called for... I doubled these
proportions for your dinner.

1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh chile (we wished we'd had a spicier chile...
ours had no bite at all)
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 tsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. unsweetened dried shredded coconut
1 mango, peeled and diced
1 small red bell pepper, minced
chopped fresh cilantro or spearmint leaves

Suggestion to chill salad for 20 min. and add cilantro or spearmint
right before serving.

Also good for a salsa.

I look forward to our next cooking gathering!

-Kristin

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Food is Life

Anyone who knows me, realizes that I think that food is central to a good life. This blog is a place to share amazing food recipes, stories and adventures about food.