Category Archives: Food

Fried Miso and Sweet Potato Cakes.

March 21, 2015 Munchkin

What a perfect combination! We have been harvesting sweet potatoes on the farm; a combination of pinks, reds and whites and we have been grating and drying most of them; great time to sun-dry because it is so hot and dry in Belize right now.

If you have read the last post, you will know that we now have our very own home-made miso, ready to eat. We are so pleased because it has such a great taste plus, I am sure it has gathered some of own house yeasts so with time, it will a Belizean strain miso! It is only 9 months and it tastes sooo good; it will definitely be worth making more. Gnome and I have already discussed the urgent procurement of many 5 gallon buckets.

So, here is my recipe of the day:

The miso helps to round off the flavour, giving a unique floral fruitiness to the whole taste experience.

Check out Miso and Sweet Potato Cakes in Belize Wild Recipes.

We will be making Miso soup tonight, of course!!

Belize, Farming, Food, Saving Money

Dry Season…Time to Dry Fruit.

March 18, 2015 Munchkin

The days are becoming hotter and drier, with rains becoming fewer and far between. This is the time to harvest anything that you can get your hands on and dry it.

Sapodillas are still in season:

We have gathered quite a bit to sun-dry.

When dried, they make a very good substitute for dates; they are intensely sweet and would be good for baking. Gnome will be making mead with dried sapodilla…watch this space!

We have also been drying orange peel:

Dried orange peel can be added to savouries like stews, curries and soups to impart a warm, orange flavour. It can also be ground up and used in cakes and breads. It is extremely versatile and uses up something that you would normally throw away. I hate to waste anything, especially when it involves something edible! Look out for my recipes which use orange peel:

You will find this recipe in Belize Wild Recipes; this one is an orange peel curry.

Okay everyone, start sun-drying all your fruits now!!

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

Unusual Exotic Fruits: Barbados Gooseberry.

March 14, 2015 Munchkin

This is a beautiful cactus, with spiny stems and fragrant smelling flowers. I propagated it originally from one single seed about two years ago and now it is producing globular, orange fruit which are edible.

The fruit are acidic tasting like gooseberries and I imagine they would be good for jam making or fruit tarts.

I am really, really excited about this plant because I have just found out, on an Internet search that the green leaves can be cooked and eaten. Apparently, there is a particular place in Brazil where this vegetable is prized and it is called Ora-Pro-Nobis meaning “Pray For Us.”

I can’t wait to try this as a vegetable. It has been growing crazy and out of control so it will be a good excuse to cut it back. I will definitely post a blog up about cooking with this new, exotic vegetable.

For those interested, this plant can be grown from seed or cutting and apparently, even from a fallen leaf.

Belize, Food

48 Hour Venison Curry.

March 13, 2015 Munchkin

This is Part II from yesterday when I spoke about how I cooked up 20lbs of venison meat. Twelve pounds of the meat was cooked up as Cantonese BBQ Venison (yesterday’s post) and the rest was made into a slow cook curry.

The trick is to use plenty of onions to make up the base of the curry sauce (15 medium onions in this case) and to cook it in a slow cooker for 48 hours. After this time, the meat is sooo tender and falls off the bone and the curry sauce is so aromatic. The kitchen smells great!!

Lots of Onions with Other Fresh Ingredients.

I learned to cook curries when I was a medical student at university; many of my friends were second generation Indians (mostly Bengali) and they taught me how to make this wonderful dish. Besides, in Scotland, everyone eats curries…it’s the 2nd national dish after Fish and Chips!!

If you want to see the full recipe, check out Slow Cook Venison Curry.

Belize, Food

Cantonese BBQ Venison (Like Char Sui).

March 12, 2015 Munchkin

A few days ago, I sequestered myself in the kitchen for the whole day (I know…I do that a lot). This is my usual “go-to” response when I can’t face the ongoing pressures of maintaining the farm and I just want “time-out.” I had bought about 50lbs of venison and I set about trying to process about 20lbs of it.

So, the first thing I made was Cantonese BBQ Venison which is really Char Sui made from venison rather than the typical pork. I am not sure what to call it since I do not know the word for venison in Chinese! So, if there are any Real Chinese people out there…how do you say BBQ Venison?

12lbs of the venison turned into this:

I coloured it with a Central American spice called Recado since I did not have any Chinese food colouring:

Yummy…it turned out really well!! You would have thought you were in a Chinese restaurant in Singapore or Hong Kong!

The other 8lbs of venison became a slow-cook curry with lots of spices (cumin, mustard seeds, tumeric, chilli and lots more):

Venison Cooking In Curry. — Venison Ready To Cook in Curry.

You will get the Venison Curry Recipe tomorrow. That was delicious too!!

Belize, Farming, Fermentation, Food

Beer Tasting With Friends and Pumpkins.

March 9, 2015 Munchkin

Our friends, Erin and Jim came to visit our farm today and did an impromptu maize beer tasting. It is interesting to see other people’s perspectives and they thought that it was a pleasant tasting sour beer, much akin to “Lambic” with the taste of fermented apples. We were very pleased to hear that it was compared to a well-known traditional beer! We now wish that we didn’t gave away so many bottles of the beer earlier on when we thought that it was a failure. We live and learn…we will hoard every single drop next time…that is the Scottish coming out in me!

On another note, we are harvesting pumpkins so, we will mostly be eating pumpkins. Aaaahhhh, what a gloriously uncomplicated life we live!

Belize, Food, Plants

Sapodilla and Orange Peel Curry.

March 1, 2015 Munchkin

Just catching up on some recipes that I created over the last few weeks: It is sapodilla season!! This is a sweet tasting fruit with the flavour of caramel and cinnamon. Gnome has got first dibs for making a Melomel (honey and fruit wine) but I have been sneaking some past him to create some tasty dishes..they don’t call me Ninja Munchkin for nothing!

Sapodilla fruit makes a great base for a curry especially with its aromatic cinnamon tones. I have complimented this “earthiness” with dried orange peel which I have coarsely ground with a blender:

Other spices in the curry include: cumin, mustard seeds, fresh curry leaf and fennel. Venison was cooked in the curry and then the dish was served with basmati rice.

Gnome decided to overlook the fact that I had taken some sapodillas, without his permission…since the curry was so good!!

For the full recipe, click on Sapodilla and Orange Peel Curry with Venison.

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

Pigeon Pea and Green Papaya: Farm Fresh.

February 28, 2015 Munchkin

We have been podding green pigeon (cajanus cajun) peas everyday to eat:

The plants have been very generous and we have had wonderful meals with this pea. The pea tastes like a “green pea” and maintains its texture very well. It only needs a 5 minute cooking time which makes it a versatile ingredient.

Today, I cooked Pigeon Peas with Green Papaya…all fresh from the farm. Everything had the taste of vitality…something money can’t buy!! Since we started living like this and cooking our own food, we actually find that we dislike eating out because nothing seems to have the freshness and individuality of home-cooked food. Going to a restaurant just means eating something that is displayed nicely on a plate but does not necessarily have the best ingredients (ie. bulk buckets of processed material).

Check out my recipe in the Belize Wild Recipes Section. You can have this meal with a carbohydrate like bread or rice, if you like. I am on a non-carbohydrate diet since the Chinese New Year Pig Out…too many mochi balls!! So, we just ate this with by itself. Right now, my diet consists of fresh vegetables as above (one meal a day), no whites (carbs) and plenty of fresh fruit like papaya and oranges. Seems to be working out well for me.

Belize, Food

Lotus Paste Doughnuts with Custard.

February 22, 2015 Munchkin

Recently, I have been having a craving for “Dunkin’ Donuts”; It may be a nostalgic feeling from my university days when I used to choose a different flavour each time to take home and enjoy with a nice cup of tea.

We managed to get a hold of a huge packet of lotus seed paste and Gnome and I have been diligently and conscientiously working through it as hard as we can. I did an Internet search on recipes with lotus paste and only two main things came up: mochi balls and mooncake. Well, we have been eating mochi balls like they have been going out of fashion (and loving it). And, I would like to make the mooncake for the Mid-Autumn Festival which is the night of the full moon between early September and Early October (celebrated by Chinese).

So, I decided to mix things around and fulfill a doughnut craving at the same time. Today. I made Lotus Paste Doughnuts:

I opted to make a yeasted dough without eggs and milk. This gives a fluffier and lighter texture. Also, I added very little sugar to the dough because I thought that the filling was sweet enough.

And, of course, we had to have ours with custard!!

Needless to say, I am no longer thinking of shop-bought doughnuts…if you are interested in my lower calorie doughnut recipe, check out Lotus Paste Doughnuts.

Belize, Food, Plants

Cantonese Gibnut with Taro.

February 20, 2015 Munchkin

Good Evening Everyone. It has been a really drizzly day today so no farm things were accomplished.

We stayed indoors and continued eating left-overs from last night’s Chinese New Year extravaganza.

As promised, here are pictures of the Cantonese Gibut:

For anyone interested, the Gibnut is also known as a Paca which is a member of the genus Cuniculus of ground-dwelling, herbivorous rodents in South and Central America.

We cooked Taro, a type of ground root, as an accompaniment:

This tasty vegetable comes in different shades of purple and some are white. We have a nice variety with purple flecks; once cooked, it becomes a uniform lilac. It is an extremely glutinous vegetable which goes well with fatty meals.

This is what we had for Chinese New Year last night:

Sliced Cantonese Gibnut, Taro and Seasonal Vegetables.

The Gibnut had the texture of suckling pig and it was extremely delicate tasting. The meat was so tender that it melted in your mouth. It was well worth the preparation (6 hour marinating and 6 hours cooking time). Gnome says that he would consider it a “prized” meat like venison or wild boar.

Check out my recipe: Cantonese Gibnut. It is flavoured with Chinese five spices, crushed star anise and orange peel.

Casa Mascia Apothecary

Category Archives: Food

Fried Miso and Sweet Potato Cakes.

Dry Season…Time to Dry Fruit.

Unusual Exotic Fruits: Barbados Gooseberry.

48 Hour Venison Curry.

Cantonese BBQ Venison (Like Char Sui).

Beer Tasting With Friends and Pumpkins.

Sapodilla and Orange Peel Curry.

Pigeon Pea and Green Papaya: Farm Fresh.

Lotus Paste Doughnuts with Custard.

Cantonese Gibnut with Taro.

Everything Handmade in Belize.