Thailand

With all the Asian markets around me, I couldn't help but fix up this delicate soup while it was a little chilly. Tom Kha Gai literally means "Chicken Galangal Soup" and is a relatively traditional soup from this country. The balance of flavors is really incredible and there are several ways of varying the recipe.

Tom Kha Gai
3 cups chicken broth (I use one can and then add two cans of water and use the chicken in the recipe to make a more "homemade" broth flavor)
4 kaffir lime leaves****
3-5 inch section of fresh lemongrass, cut on an angle ~1/2 inch thick
6 slices of galangal ~1/8 inch thick (you may use 2 similar slices of fresh ginger if that's all you have)
1/4 cup Fish sauce (nam pla)  Don't skip this ingredient!
1/2 cup lime juice
2-3 Thai chilies, finely chopped
2 chicken breasts or thigh meat, cubed
1 large can coconut milk
Chopped cilantro

**** Kaffir lime leaves are extremely controlled in my area as the tree is known to carry a bug that is currently destroying some of the more delicate ecosystems in California. If you can't find these leaves, just use the zest of one of your limes. It's not exactly the same flavor, but you get a similar effect in the soup. Just make sure your zest does not contain the bitter white part of the peel.

Combine your chicken broth, lime leaves (or zest), galangal (or ginger), fish sauce, lime juice, and chilies in a sauce pan. Bring to a slow simmer and add the chicken and coconut milk. Simmer long enough to cook the chicken and flavor the broth (about 20 minutes). Add the coconut milk. Serve in a small bowl as an appetizer or a large bowl (with rice or rice noodles) as the main meal. Always serve with a generous sprinkling of cilantro.

I've also seen this soup with straw mushrooms and thin slivers of red bell pepper. I don't care for canned straw mushrooms, but I think the bell pepper would be fantastic. I've read that Laos has a similar dish that is garnished with dill instead of cilantro. If I had some dill I'd try it both ways.

Southeast France

I know I gush about just about every dish I've made so far, but this one was really amazing.

This week I made Pissaladiere, which looks, sounds, smells, and tastes impressive while being one of the cheapest and easiest recipes I've done so far.

This dish is a Nicoise specialty that uses a few key ingredients that this area of France is known for. Onions, anchovies, olives, and olive oil. If you think you don't like anchovies, try this recipe. You can vary the amount you use in the recipe to make it light or heavy handed in flavor. When baked, these salty fishes add a nutty element to the dish that contributes to the depth of its flavor.

Pissaladiere:

Puff pastry or pie dough (just enough for a bottom crust)
4 lbs onions (I used about 7), chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
12-15 nice olives (I love kalamatas. DON'T use canned black olives!!!)
3- infinite anchovy filets
1 sprig thyme
2 1/2 oz (or a nice dribble) olive oil
pinch of white sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Salt your onions lightly , add sugar, garlic, thyme, and olive oil and cook them until soft, over low heat, until soft and translucent (up to 45 minutes) Don't brown them! You're not making onion soup.
Place your pastry or dough in the pie dish and allow it to sit ~15-20 minutes at room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 390
Bake the dough 10 minutes to dry it out.
Remove from oven and either spread your mashed anchovy paste on the bottom or sparsely scatter a few filets. Add your onions in a very thick layer, it should fill like a pie when you add the filling.
Arrange your olives on top and add the rest of your anchovies (if you please).
Drizzle a tad of olive oil on top and bake for 15 minutes. Remove and allow to rest for a few minutes, but don't let it cool yet.
Serve it nice and hot or at room temperature (I like it piping hot).

The caramalized onions and salt from the olives with the nuttiness of the anchovy were to die for!

Burkina Faso

This week I cooked a recipe from Burkina Faso called Boussan Touba. The recipe seemed a little simple to taste very good, but I tried it anyway. I am so glad I did! The ingredients transform into a nutty, savory, cruchy and chewy cake that I will definitely be making again. I already bought the ingredients to do it again.

Blackeyed peas are one of the main agricultural products of this country (beside millet and peanuts) and is the main ingredient in this particular recipe. The actual name of the dish pokes fun at the "characteristic" large ears of one of the ethnic groups, but I think it should mean "bean recipe you'll never want to live without".

Though the recipe can vary a little, this is the one I used:

1 can of blackeyed peas, drained
2 carrots, diced small
1 onion, minced
1 egg, whisked
1/3 c flour
bread crumbs to coat (can also use flour to coat)
oil for frying
salt and pepper to taste

Sweat the carrots and onion until the carrots are soft (probably about 10-13 minutes) and add some salt and pepper. Sweating is a method of releasing the fragrance of these ingredients without searing them. They shouldn't turn brown, just get softer. Add the can of peas and heat them through. Transfer the ingredients to a bowl and mash them. It doesn't have to be perfect, there should be pieces of carrot and small chunks of onion and individual beans, but try to mash up some of it. You can use a blender if you want.
I don't own many kitchen appliances, so I find other ways of blending, mashing, and reheating. I figure most of the foods I'm cooking weren't originally made with a Cuisinart, so I should be okay.

Add the whisked egg and stir to combine. Add the flour in small amounts, making sure to combine it all thoroughly. The mixture should be thick and sticky at this point. Add more or less flour to your liking. Then use spoons to measure out balls of the mixture which you will coat with flour or bread crumb. Flatten them with your palm and fry them in oil (about 2-3 minutes per side). Light salt and pepper when they come out, then put them in your face!

As you can see from my photo, the oil was a little hot for the top bean cake but it still tasted fantastic. They're usually eaten over rice and I threw together a little butter lettuce with some parsley oil on top. The flavor is incredible and the protein in the beans and egg keep you full like you've had a serving of meat.

Bon Appetit!