Matapa! – Guest Post by Val
Hey! Long time, no post! I might have taken a little hiatus due to some crazy work schedules. But I’m back and with a bang with Guest Post #2 by Val Cooper, a friend of mine living in Mozambique who’s in the Peace Corp! I’m always so jealous when I look at her photos!
She’s an amazing writer and excellent cook! Here she is sharing just one of the fun experiences she’s had while living in Mozambique. Check out her blog for more: Tudo Bem!
———————————————————————
Ola! I’d like to share with you one of my favorite dishes from Mozambique, where I’ve been living since 2009 – matapa! Although it’s considered poor man’s food because it costs practically nothing to make, it’s one of the most unique and delicious (as well as time-consuming) dishes I’ve experienced. If you don’t have all the traditional tools lying around your kitching, don’t fret – you can always just use a food processor or buy it already prepared from the grocery store. Bom apetite!
Matapa!
Ingredients:
- 1 kilo cassava leaves (can be substituted with kale or pumpkin leaves)
- 1 coconut
- ½ kilo roasted peanuts
- 1 clove garlic, mashed
- 2-3 tomatoes, diced
- 2-3 onions, diced
- 250 ml boiling water
- 250 ml cold water
Steps:
Wash cassava leaves. Using a pilão and pau (giant mortar and pestle), pound peanuts to a fine powder. Use a paneira to shift out larger chunks. If a pilão isn’t available, a food processor will work.
Clean out pilão and then use to pound cassava leaves until a thick, slimy consistency.
In pot, mix mashed cassava leaves, garlic, water, diced tomatoes and onions. Let cook over charcoal.
Break the coconut in half using a machete or against concrete. No need to keep the milk.
Sitting on the ralador, grate the meat against the spiked end into a large bowl until the coconut is empty. If ralador is unavailble, you can probably purchased a packet of grated coconut. *Note: women must sit side-saddle and never straddle the ralador.
Simultaneously pour the boiling and cold water into the bowl of grated coconut. When cool enough to touch, repeatedly squeeze the grated coconut with hands to get all juice out.
Salted Dark Chocolate Espresso Nutella Cookies
ooo boy is my kitchen happy when the Nutella jar is on the counter. Well maybe my tummy is. Ok both.
yum yum yum yum!
I was going to add “sandwich” to the title too but I figured it was getting a little long. You know how you want everyone to know exactly how awesome your treats are and all of the different ingredients that go into them that make them tasty? So the name of the treat keeps getting longer and longer. But you don’t care because they’re just so completely awesome. oo yes. That’s these cookies. They’re incredible. Chocolately Chewy that Hazelnut goodness with a dash of espresso and sprinkle of salt on top. yummm
So I’m going to sit outside with Mr. Nut and enjoy a Salted Dark Chocolate Nutella Sandwich Cookie. Because it’s a be-utiful spring storm a rolling in day.
Note: These are also good with caramel filling. yummmmm…. and highly addictive.
Salted Dark Chocolate Nutella Cookies
Adapted from: The Faux Martha
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened dark Dutch processed cocoa powder
1/4 cup oats, lightly ground in food processor
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp espresso powder
3/4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tbsp Nutella + more for filling
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
sea salt
Preheat over to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder, oats, baking soda, baking powder, and espresso powder. Set aside.
In an electric mixer, cream together the butter, Nutella, and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg. Slowly add in the flour mixture until incorporated.
Roll dough into tablespoon sized balls and place about 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Flatten balls with the bottom of a glass and sprinkle with sea salt. These will spread about 1/2 inch.
Bake for 8-9 minutes or until cracks start to form. Cool on a cooling rack. Fill with Nutella once completely cool.
Enjoy!
Easy Peasy Chicken Curry
Chicken Curry! woot! I was watching PBS (don’t judge) with my mom over the weekend and Sara’s Weeknight meals came on. Her guest judge was Floyd Cardoz, the winner of Top Chef Masters, the topic: indian comfort food. yum! It seemed so easy, and I’ve always loved curry’s. So with today being a holiday, it was time for some weeknight cooking-something I haven’t been able to do for a bit because work’s been so busy!
I looked up a couple of recipes online and landed on one from AllRecipes.com. With almost 1400 reviews and 4.5 out of 5 stars, I figured I couldn’t go wrong! This was easy, delicious, and I made a cool curry wrap with dollops of plain yogurt for lunch tomorrow. yum!
Here’s how you do it + tips from the reviews I read”:
First cook the curry powder in oil in a saute pan stirring frequently until very aromatic. A reviewer who’s family is from India said this was the most important part since it imparts flavor. You can use a ground curry or paste.
Add the thinly sliced onions and two smashed cloves of garlic. Then chicken cut into 1/2 inch pieces. I used stir fry chicken which was already cut into thin stripes, which made it super easy to cut up.
Add the coconut milk, diced tomatoes, and tomato paste. Following reviewers advice, I didn’t add all of the liquids, cutting back on the tomatoes a little bit, and let it cook with the lid off so it thickened quicker. While the curry is cooking, make the rice. I did brown rice for a healthy take!
It’s done after the curry has thickened. Stir frequently while it’s simmering. I turned on the Voice in the kitchen- boy was the girl with the dreads good!
Serve over rice! Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 teaspoon salt and pepper, or to taste
- 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons curry powder
- 1/2 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 (14 ounce) can coconut milk
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed, diced tomatoes
- 1 (8 ounce) can tomate sauce
- 3 tablespoons sugar
Instructions
- In a saute pan, add oil and curry powder, cooking until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in the onions and crushed garlic.
- Cut chicken into 1/2 inch cubes. Season with salt and pepper and add to saute pan, coating in the curry oil. Cook until no longer pink, about 5-7 minutes.
- Pour in the coconut milk, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and sugar. Only add just enough to cover the chicken mixture by about 1/2 inch. Stir to combine. Cook uncovered stirring frequently about 30-40 minutes. While the curry is cooking, cook the rice. Curry is done when thickened. Serve over rice.
My Sister’s Weakness!
Hello! It’s been a little while since I’ve blogged. Works been absolutely crazy with launching a new client, training a huge team of new folks, and all the hard work associated with it. My days the last three weeks have consisted of driving to work, driving home from work, and sleeping. Yoga’s moved to 6:15am so I can fit it in as many times a week as I can go. phew- makes me tired just thinking about it! Let’s move on! What do you think of the new blog theme? Cute, eh? I just had to incorporate my new logo somehow and this is what I ended up with!
After messing around with my blog this morning after yoga, I heard a “Hey Molly” from my mom. “Why yes mother dearest?” “Can you make some pumpkin bread for your sister?”
It’s a rainy day here just perfect for baking, so an “I suppose so” came from my mouth. Pumpkin bread is my sister’s weakness. It’s always baked when she comes to visit from college and mailed to her just about every month.
After exiling Peanut to my room for stalking the cat.. it was down to business!
The recipe is marked with “Perfect” and is just that. Easy, delicious, and good year round with canned pumpkin.
First, mix together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Then in an electric mixer, beat together sugar, shortening, eggs, and pumpkin.
Then add the dry ingredients alternating with 1/3 cup milk or water. Scrape the bowl a couple times. One last mix. Then pour into a greased 9×5 inch pan and Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour.
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 1/3 cup shortening
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup canned pumpkin
- 1/3 cup milk or water
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ground cloves.
- Beat shortening, sugar, and 2 eggs together in an electric mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the pumpkin. Mix until combined, scraping down the bowl a couple times.
- Slowly add the flour in three additions alternating with the milk and vanilla.
- Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the bread only has a couple of crumbs attached when removed.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ground cloves.
- Beat shortening, sugar, and 2 eggs together in an electric mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the pumpkin. Mix until combined, scraping down the bowl a couple times.
- Slowly add the flour in three additions alternating with the milk and vanilla.
- Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the bread only has a couple of crumbs attached when removed.
The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
This week I’ve been eating chocolate chips by the handful. oh a couple here, a couple there. yum yum yum. Due to a very stressful week at work. So this weekend it’s all about chilling, doing some yoga, baking as much as possible and catching up with friends! oh and using that bag of chocolate chips up before the next stressful week hits!
This is the absolute best recipe I’ve found for a chocolate chip cookie… ever. No joke. I thought I found it six years ago. I even had that recipe memorized. But no- this one is way better. All it took was a taste of the batter and I knew I’d found my chocolate chip cookie recipe for life. Well that’s a bold statement, let’s just say until the next best one comes along, buuuut I don’t think there will be one!
These cookies are classic and exactly how you want a Chocolate Chip Cooke to be. Full of flavor, chewy, golden brown, and bursting with just the right about of chocolate.