Mmmmm…deep fried cassava is one of our favourites…it is really hearty and warming for colder days in Belize.
Fried Cassava with Miso Dip.
And since we are moving into winter time in Belize when the temperature can drop down to 18C (64F), this dish is perfect.
To prepare the cassava, peel and wash:
Dug Up Cassava.Peeled Cassava.
Boil the cassava in a stockpot. You will know when they are ready when they start to split length-wise. Drain the roots and once they have cooled down, slice them into 1/2 inch circular pieces. Heat up oil (I use a wok) until smoking. Fry about 10 pieces at a time, until golden brown, and drain on kitchen towel.
To make Peach Palm Miso Dip combine the following :
2 tbsp Soya Sauce
2 tbsp Honey
1 tsp Peach Palm Miso (or Shiro Miso)
Peach Palm Miso Dip.
Enjoy!! We deliver Peach Palm Miso in Punta Gorda on Wednesdays. Contact us by email or Facebook if you are interested and we can drop it off for you.
Peach Palm Miso.
We can also send it to you via Tropic Air within Belize. Check out The Apothecary for prices.
Anyone for Pumpkin Bhaji? Whilst living in Scotland, I used to really enjoy Indian food especially the onion bhaji. Since we are still having a marathon run of pumpkins, I decided to make these Indian-style fritters. Check out my recipe for Pumpkin Bhaji in Belize Wild Recipes.
Pumpkin Bhaji.Pumpkins From the Farm.
In this recipe, I used pumpkin, onions and red jalapeños.
Chopped Vegetables.
The batter is made with rice flour so it is completely gluten-free. And of course, the most important flavouring is turmeric (yellow ginger, as they call it here in Belize).
Hello Everyone. We have fresh produce from our farm to sell and will be in Punta Gorda tomorrow (and every Wednesday) to sell our stuff. Email or Facebook us if you are interested and we can drop it off for you in town tomorrow.
We have the Peach Palm Miso for sale. This product is made in the same traditional way as normal miso but we have used Peach Palm (Pejibaye) instead of soya bean.
Peach Palm Miso.
This is a gluten-free, vegan natural flavouring for soups, sauces and marinades. Simply use this as an alternative to a bouillon cube. You only need to use a teaspoon at a time so one bag goes a long way. Check out The Apothecary for prices.
We will also have our coconut cream for sale which can be used for curries, stews, coconut rice and smoothies.
Hello Everyone!! I have been experimenting with peach palm a lot since each bunch weighs about 10kg (22lbs). Peach palm or pejibaye (Bactris gasipaes) is a palm which is indigenous to Central America. These trees produce bunches of orange-coloured fruit which can be eaten as a carbohydrate.
Fresh Peach Palm Bunch
Once cooked, they have the texture of a sweet potato and they taste almost fruity. In this recipe, I cooked up some of this carbohydrate, mashed it up and flavoured it with rosemary which really helps to bring out the peach-like flavour. This recipe is gluten-free and would also be a great base for a vegetarian burger.
Peach Palm Patties.
We had our Peach Palm Patties with a generous dollop of chilli sauce! If you would prefer this as a sweet, you can omit the rosemary and serve these patties with honey and ice-cream…yum…now that’s a real treat!
Yesterday (21st September) Belize celebrated its 34th year of Independence. We celebrated with a Kue Lapiz in the Colours of Belize.
Kue Lapiz, Belize Colours.
Kue Lapiz in Belize? A bit of an oxymoron…I know…but you know that we like to mix things up a bit. Kue Lapiz is a steamed multi-layed dessert, made typically from glutinous rice flour and tapioca flour, traditionally made in Indonesia (South East Asia). It is usually made of bright vibrant colours so that is why I thought of colouring it with the Belize colours: red. white and blue.
Belize Flag.
Hmmm maybe there are Indonesians (or Dutch) in Belize or Belizeans in Indonesia (or The Netherlands) who would appreciate this gesture!! Nevertheless, Happy Independence Day to Belize!!
Note: I did not post this up yesterday on the actual Independence day because I did not want to steal the Thunder from the Paradise Piggies Mayoral Election. I know that y’all out there were on the edge of your seats waiting for the results. Congrats to Mayor Gnome on his re-election. Now, life can go back to normal on the farm.
Just the other day, Gnome was asking me if I could make some sort of dessert which wasn’t heavy like cake but something light and sweet.
We have been processing a lot of coconuts lately so I tried to think up of something with this ingredient.
Our Lovely Coconuts.
Then I suddenly remembered that a long time ago (10 years to be exact) when we first came to Belize, a Hawaiin- Filipino couple had invited us to their farm and served us this delicious dessert made from coconut milk. I had forgotten about it until now and so I rummaged through my personal recipe books and found that I had written it down. I recall that my friends had mentioned that there are variations of this dessert Haupia and that some people like to add fresh fruit to it. I have opted for simple and pure coconut milk squares. They are soft, silky and melt in your mouth.
Haupia: Easy Coconut Dessert.
Gnome was very pleased with the dessert and scoffed off the whole lot in one sitting. This is very unusual for him because he does not have a sweet tooth.
Yum Yum!!
Check out the full recipe for Haupia: Coconut Dessert in Belize Wild Recipes. It is soooo easy to make and it is made from simple ingredients including cornstarch and sugar. If you live in Toledo, you can purchase our coconut cream from Green Supauls (Punta Gorda) to use for this recipe. Otherwise, use fresh or canned coconut milk.
Coconut Cream For Sale At Green Supauls.
You only need to use a 1/4 of this bag, diluted with water to make up the coconut milk component of the recipe.
Enjoy!!
If you haven’t already…Get Your Vote In!! C’mon guys!! We need your votes for the favourite candidate for Paradise Piggies!!
I originally made this meal at the beginning of the week and was all ready to post up the recipe until I discovered that Gnome had unwittingly erased my photograph.
Double Miso Pan-Fried Chicken. Second Picture.
When I told him that I would have to re-create this dish today, to get a picture, he said rather half heartedly, “Oh dear. That is a shame.”
That is a Shame!
This recipe is so-called because the chicken is marinated in miso before being pan-fried and it is served with miso ketchup. If you follow our blog, you will know that we make buckets and buckets of home-made miso. Because I have so much of it, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to experiment with this wonderful live food in more creative and innovative ways. In fact, I use miso in all our cooking now instead of salt and soya sauce. The miso adds a distictive umami flavour which adds a whole new dimension to a meal. In this recipe, I used our shiro miso which is made mostly of white rice which has a sweet and mild taste. No flour is used in making our miso so it is also gluten-free.
Hello!! We are back in action with more interesting things to show you because we have procured a camera. I finally bit the bullet and bought a new android phone…one of those blocky looking things with a camera (of course) and many things that do not concern me like the Android and the numerous applications. Gnome is messing around with it in his Gnomish way and actually having a lot of fun with the gadget!
Anyway, we have been making cheese out of coconut milk. Coconut milk, along with the cream, can be hand-squeezed out of grated coconut.
Grated Coconut.
This liquid eventually separates into the thick, white cream at the top and the coconut milk at the bottom. We sell off our coconut cream to the local market as Belizeans like to cook their rice and beans in this. For the Toledo readers, you can buy this from Green Supaul’s in Punta Gorda.
Coconut Cream For Sale.
We kept the coconut milk until we had acquired a volume of about 2 gallons (8 litres) which was roughly equivalent to about 100 coconuts in total. The coconut milk is high in protein (similar to milk) and so we decided to try to make “cheese” out of it.
Coconut Milk in Pot.
First of all, we placed the coconut milk in a stainless steel pot and boiled the milk until it produced curds which floated up to the surface. This takes about 30 minutes and you have to keep on stirring to prevent the curds from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Coconut Curds on Surface of Boiled Coconut Milk.
We allowed this to cool down for about two hours and then drained the curds into a cotton towel on a sieve (you can use cheese cloth…we just didn’t have any).
Draining Coconut Curd.
This was left to drain overnight and the liquid part, the whey, was collected in a basin under the dripping curds. At this point, it looks and tastes very similar to ricotta cheese and you can eat it at this point if you prefer. We gave the whey to our animals to drink.
Coconut Ricotta.
The next morning, we wrapped the drained curd in a towel and placed it between two clean blocks of wood and applied a weight on it (5 gallon carboy containing wine). After 24 hours, we removed the weight.
Pressing Coconut Cheese.
To make this into feta-style cheese, we removed the coconut cheese from the cloth and placed it in a clean glass container. Next, we added about 1 cup of salt to dry salt it.
This was done this morning and we will leave it to salt for three days. After that, we will cut the cheese into cubes and store them in brine. We will let you know what it tastes like…so far so good.
Between the two of us, 172 bananas in this huge bunch, is quite a bit to get through.
Bunch of Green Bananas.
This bunch was so heavy that it broke off the tree and we found it on the ground on Saturday morning. If you want to eat green bananas, you have to start eating them quickly, or else they start ripening within 7 days.
Luckily, the weather has been hot and dry this week, so I have been able to process the bananas for sun-drying.
This is what I have been doing the last three days. I have been grating them with this neat grater that I found in the Taiwanese store near Belize City.
Grating Green Banana.
The grated bananas just need a full 8 hours in the sun to dry completely. I have been processing 50 bananas a day which fills up a gallon jar once dried.
Fifty Dried Green Bananas.
So, by the end of today, I will have three gallon jars of dried banana. In my experience, each jar is equivalent to 20 meals and so in total, I have 60 meals in all. That is what I call food security!
Dried banana can be re-hydrated to make porridge, rostis, fritters, fillers for sausages, vegetarian bean burgers and much much more. Furthermore, this dehydrated stuff can be ground into fine flour for making breads, biscuits and pastries. This dry form is so versatile! I will post up recipes as I start cooking with it.
One last thing…this big bunch of bananas would retail at about $20 (USD$10) in this country. $20 gets you two meals of rice and beans with stewed chicken, which is typical Belizean food fare. To me, it really makes a lot more sense to go through the extra labour of processing the food so that I can get 60 meals out of it all. It’s also a labour of love…home-cooked food is always the best!
I used the local spices Tumeric and Chilli Powder (bought from Punta Gorda market, Toledo) to flavour the dish.
Tumeric and Chilli Powder.
We had a yummy Sunday Brunch with these bananas:
Tuna and Avocado with Pan-Fried Green Banana.
This is a great way to eat unripe bananas; they make a hearty and satisfying food. Definitely a tasty way to chomp your way through bananas especially when you have 172 of them!!
