Uncategorized – Pineapple Sushi

South Africa: 51/52

Chakalaka

Chakalaka is a South African staple, especially at barbecues. So maybe December isn’t the best time of year to make a BBQ side dish (we are well into winter weather up here), it can at least remind us of warmer times. This dish is a bit sweet, spicy, and crunchy…with every veggie under the sun included.

The Dish

The recipe comes from the Immaculate Bites blog and includes a mix of peppers, spices (including cumin, paprika, and curry), carrots, tomatoes, and the “star” of the dish…baked beans. It seemed like an odd addition, but we can see why this is a staple at BBQs.

The Verdict

The beans brought an interesting twist to this dish. Maybe it was because E was shopping for baked beans in an American supermarket, but this dish came out a lot sweeter than expected. The blend of peppers, carrots, tomato, and curry made for a nice condiment. E thinks this could be delicious paired with BBQ ribs or even a hot dog!

Best served chilled on a warm summer day…sigh…

Ethiopia: 48/52

Berbere Chicken and Misr Wot (Lentils)

Berbere is a traditional Ethiopian spice blend of fenugreek, paprika, ginger, cardamom, coriander, nutmeg, garlic, onion, cinnamon, and allspice. This dish has it coating the chicken and stewed with spicy lentils. We couldn’t get enough of it!

The Dish

The recipe is pulled from the Feasting from Home blog. E scored a berbere spice blend from the Chelsea Market in NYC, which was essential for this dish! The chicken is coated in the berbere spice and lentils stew along with carrots, tomato, onions, ginger, garlic, and more berbere.

The Verdict

Top 5 Pineapple Sushi dinners! The chicken was so juicy and S couldn’t get enough of that crispy berbere chicken skin. The berbere stewed lentils were a perfect pair for this dish.

Mongolia: 47/52

Suutei Tsai (Mongolian Milk Tea)

We’ve been eyeing Mongolia on our list of countries for a long time. Mongolia’s cuisine has been shaped by the country’s extreme climate and conditions, and a lot of their dishes call for rather unique set-ups and situations (open fires, yaks, whole goats, etc.) hard to come by in Brooklyn. So, we opted for an easier but unique drink called Suutei Tsai, which is a salty milk tea.

The Dish

The recipe comes from Global Tea Adventure. The basic idea is to boil heat up some water & milk, and then steep some green tea for a few minutes and add salt to taste. The recipe calls for millet, which you cook up with some butter and serve with tea – we used puffed millet instead, which together with the milk tea reminded us of cereal.

The Verdict

The distinguishing feature of this tea is the added salt. Knowing that, we didn’t play it safe by adding a pinch – we added the whole 1/2 teaspoons and didn’t look back.

The result was, perhaps not surprisingly, a salty drink. It reminded us more of a soup than a tea. Even after a few sips, our taste buds continued to be confused by the fact that this tea was salty rather than sweet. It wasn’t bad, but we never really got used to drinking it.

Suutei tsai is probably a very satisfying drink on a cold day in the vast Mongolian plains, a setting we just couldn’t recreate in Brooklyn.

We’ve probably drank too many Chai Lattes to ever want a salty tea again, but we’re glad we gave it a try!

Chile: 46/52

Empanadas

Empanadas are a popular hand pie from Latin America and Spain. The most popular Chilean version is called “pino” which is a mix of beef, raisins, olives, and hard boiled egg. These morsels came out so moist and flavorful. Bring on the ’empies’!

The Dish

The dough and filling were made separately. The beef for the filling is sauteed with onions, garlic, and a mix of spices, with some added broth to make it extra juicy!

Next comes filling, folding, crimping, and baking these little morsels. After making a fair share of dumpling-esque dishes on Pineapple Sushi, E thinks she is starting to get the hang of it.

It never hurts to have some help in the kitchen. M was very…helpful…

The Verdict

These savory pockets of goodness are the ultimate comfort food – warm, filling, and packed with flavor.

Empanadas are often paired with sauces, and we found that Peruvian green sauce (which we made with our Peruvian Chicken) pairs incredibly well, giving it a spicy jalapeno kick.

Make sure to make extras, as they can be frozen and reheated easily for breakfast, lunch, dinner and the much needed ‘2am Saturday night’ snack.

Malaysia: 45/52

Laksa

Thanks to some talented college friends, E was lucky enough to have tried homemade Laksa before. While “dorm room Laksa” brings back great memories, this version may be a little different. Laksa is a noodle/soup dish found in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. There are many varieties of Laksa (curry, chicken, tamarind base) but most have a distinct rich fish broth. Our version is made with a shrimp broth and spiced up with jalapenos.
The Dish

Our version of Laksa is from Food and Wine. First, a homemade fish stock is prepared with shrimp shells, carrots, and onions. Then, the laksa “paste” is prepared — jalapenos, garlic, onion, ginger, coriander, turmeric, and peanuts (NOTE: PineappleSushi substitution for macadamia nuts, because we ain’t made of money) are blended together and sauteed to form the base of the dish.

The dish is topped off with some coconut milk, shrimp, and noodles. We opted to add in some baked tofu for some extra texture.

The Verdict

Let’s just say, the pot of simmering shrimp stock had M bouncing off the walls for a couple hours. The homemade stock is worth the effort, and the result is a rich, spicy, and flavorful soup. A squeeze of lime really brought out all the flavors and had us slurping for seconds…and thirds.

India: 44/52

Saag Paneer

Another first on Pineapple Sushi, we made homemade cheese! Paneer is a fresh cheese common in South Asian dishes. It is very similar to homemade ricotta cheese with its mild flavor, but can easily take on the flavor of any spice added to it. In this case, the cheese is marinated in cayenne and turmeric for a powerful pop in this spinach dish.

The Dish

The recipe is from the Food Network and was an easy dish to whip up– spinach is sauteed with ginger, garlic, garam masala, corinander, cumin. The fresh cheese is cubed, marinated in spices, and lightly fried. Then the paneer is added to the dish and served with a side of basmati rice.

**The spinach to cheese ratio seems about right here…**

**“E! The recipe says you need turmeric, coriander, cumin, and uhh anchovies! Extra anchovies!!” – M**

The Verdict

With cheese being the star, it is a surprisingly light dish. The touch of yogurt at the end of cooking really helps mellow out some of the robust spices used in this dish.

Reviews from the PS crew:

E -Yum! Will make again!

S- It’s great!

M- Lacking in anchovy flavor, but alright…

Nicaragua: 43/52

Gallopinto

Rice and beans. Doesn’t get any more simple than that, right? Well, the recipe for Gallopinto, the Nicaraguan take on rice and beans, isn’t as easy as throwing some rice and beans into a boiling pot* but the result is worth the time and effort.

*This is how S thought rice and beans were made.

The Dish

We followed this recipe from Serious Eats. We opted to boil the rice in chicken stock to maximize flavor. Note that this recipe recommends chilling the cooked rice in the fridge for at least a day, so plan accordingly!

The Verdict

Since rice and beans isn’t a main dish, we served it with some chicken and pico de gallo. Gallopinto can be served soft or crisp – we opted for the latter and were not disappointed. The contrast between the tender beans and burnt rice was just right.

Leftovers were just as good as our freshly cooked meal. S got adventurous and added some mushrooms to Gallopinto for a quick breakfast and was amazed by the results. A delicious and versatile dish!

Pakistan: 42/52

Samosas

It was a quiet Sunday afternoon and E was craving something crunchy, savory, sweet, and spicy (don’t we all know the feeling) and samosas fit the bill! Samosas are by no means unique to Pakistan (also popular in India and other countries) but are a popular street food item that has become very popular in America.

Time to break out the spice cabinet and redeem our frying skills! Huzzah!

The Dish

The recipe is pulled from a NYTimes article. It’s a straightforward recipe with potatoes, carrot, onion, ginger, cilantro, and a mixture of traditional spices. Cumin runs throughout the dish and is incorporated into the dough and the filling, giving the snack great flavor. The dough is rolled out, stuffed, dipped in a pot of hot oil and are done within minutes.

Every fried item needs a dip… so E whipped up a quick mango “chutney” (no recipe… just guts and gall) with mango, chilis, and a myriad of spices that seemed appropriate (more cumin!).

Pineapple Sushi’s 13,845 dish that uses cilantro…

Stuffing the morsels with yummy potato filling

The Verdict

This is probably one of those times where E didn’t need to cut the recipe in half… These little suckers were gobbled up in no time. S, E, and M had a battle royale for the last little morsel. It’s a surprisingly easy dish to put together and perfect for a quick snack or lunch. This will have to be a keeper.

M plays the “cute” card in an attempt at snatching a samosa

USA (Hawaii): 41/52

Spam Musubi and Tuna Poke

E grew up on Virginia ham and S grew up on Chicago dogs, so we know how important (and distinct) regional dishes can be. As the newest state in the union and the only one that’s an island, Hawaii has a very distinct food culture that we wanted to explore. Hawaii is probably best known for Spam and their fresh seafood, so we tried our hand at Spam Musubi and Tuna Poke.

The Dish(es)

The tuna poke recipe was pulled from Bon Appetit. We went to the local Japanese market for sushi-grade Tuna for the Tuna Poke – you don’t want to mess around with the quality of fish when you’re eating it raw! We had mirin on hand thanks to our Japanese dish, but you can find that at most grocery stores.

For the Spam Musubi, we opted for Spam LITE, which has less sodium, fat, and calories… but still has plenty of all three.

The Verdict

If you’ve never had Spam, chances are you’re a little turned off by the fact that it comes in a can – however, once you fry it up, you’ll ignore the part of your brain asking how long it’s been in the can for. Spam itself is full of flavor, so it works well as an omusubi (which is basically a Japanese riceball). It’s no wonder that this is a popular snack on the go in Hawaii as it’s really easy to make and quite filling.

The star of the Tuna Poke was the sauce, which along with the jalepeño pepper gives the dish a really satisfying kick. Whenever tuna and avocado come together for a meal it’s a winner, and this was no exception!

Meat aged in a can for… well, let’s ignore that

Spam. Just a couple grades above Fancy Feist.

Switzerland: 40/52

Spitzbuben

E is on a business trip this week, so S decided to try his hand at baking. As E is the former professional baker of the household, S was a little nervous baking for the first time without her help, but the recipe for Spitzbuben (Swiss butter cookies with jam) seemed simple enough to give it a shot!

The Dish

The recipe comes courtesy of Platter Talk. As a first time baker, S was a little surprised by the amount of butter and sugar that goes into a cookie but had no problem ignoring that fact after they came out of the oven.

The Verdict

Let’s just say, it’s going to be a struggle for S to save some for E until she gets back. A cookie sandwich of sorts, these Spitzbuben are the perfect dessert to have with some hot tea or coffee on a cold fall/winter day. We may have to whip these up again around Christmas time to really get into the holiday spirit.