Ole’ and Welcome to Mexico.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to travel the world at your leisure? To be able to visit whatevery country you wanted any time you wanted?? Most of us cannot afford to do that. Our dreams are big. But life… it is smaller.

What’s the answer to the delimma? To travel by cuisine. Cooking items from different countries. And that is exactly what My Kitchen My World is all about. Each month the members ‘visit’ a different country by trying something new in the Kitchen.

This month

MEXICO

Mexican food is very popular in this household. Enchiladas, tacos, tortillas are often on the menu. In fact, last year we started a new tradition – on Christmas Eve we eat Tacos. Easy!!

Earlier this month we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with the Daring Kitchen by making Stacked Enciladas.

If you visit that post you will see that I made my own sauce and my own tortillas.

So Much Fun!!

We needed an appropriate dessert so Flan was also on the menu.

I used Dorie Greenspan’s recipe from Baking From My Home to Yours. { It was the pick of the week for TWD in March of 2008.} You can find the recipe for it on Bridget’s site – The Way the Cookie Crumbles.

Altogether a fantastic feast.

The Hubs is a huge Tamale fan. Those are next on my list to learn to make.

Ole’

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Daring Cooks – Stacked Chicken Enchiladas

I found the perfect way to mess up my kitchen and use almost every skillet I own – Enchiladas. And not just any Enchilada – Stacked Enchiladas.

Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on http://www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.

There was only one real requirment – we had to make our own enchilada sauce. Okay, I can do that. That was it, that was all. Everything else was basically optional. Barbara suggersted a green sauce made with Tomatillas, but I am not a fan so I made a red enchilada sauce instead. And I created my own, which I am beginning to do more and more as I learn to cook and create.

~Enchilada Sauce.~
3 Tbl oil
1 small onion, diced
3/4 cloves garlic, diced
1 heaping tsp ground cumin
1 heaping tsp red chili powder
2 tsp dried oregano or 1 fresh (large) leaf oregano
Salt/pepper to taste
1.5 – 2 cups tomato sauce

Saute onion, garlic, and spices in oil until onions and garlic are tender. (I have discovered if you include the spices while sauteeing, the flavor is enhanced.)

Add tomato sauce and simmer covered 20 – 25 minutes.

This was the first time I have made enchiladas with home made ~

~Tortillas.~

1 cup Masa ( I used Maseca)
2/3 cup water
Pinch salt

Mix ingredients well. Divide into 8 equal balls. Cover with damp cloth to keep dough moist. Flatten using a tortilla press or by hand. Cook tortillas on a hot griddle for about 50 seconds. Flip and cook another 50 seconds. Cover with a cloth to keep soft and warm.

I made some with shredded chicken (rubbed with chili powder, poached, and then mixed with some of the sauce) and some with just cheese. Garnished with black olives.

How do you put them together?? Very easily.

Sauce on plate.
Tortilla (fried to soften and then dipped in sauce) on sauce.
Chicken (and olives) on tortilla.
Cheese on Chicken (or just cheese).
Repeat.
Tortilla.
Cheese.
Done!!

So this is supper tonight. (Already made, so easy Friday…) But we did sample a little one I made. We both think they are good. Not bad for my own sauce (based on about 6 different recipes).

Think I’ll make them again – soon.

After I clean up the mess from these……

Thanks Barbara and Bunnee for a fun challenge.

And if you want to join in the challenges (baking or cooking or both) you can visit The Daring Kitchen and join in.

 

Daring Cooks – Little Mezze.

Pita Bread and Hummus. I have discovered that they make a great snack and are nutritious enough not to feel guilty about eating it often. But these are just two of the componants of this

February Daring Cooks Challenge hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums. Michele chose to challenge everyone to make mezze (pronounced ‘mez-ay’) based on various recipes from Claudia Roden, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Dugid.

“If you’re not familiar with mezze, it’s more of a style of eating than a specific recipe or recipes. Mezze is a bunch of small dishes served all at once—sort of like the Middle Eastern version of Spanish Tapas. It can be served as appetizers before a meal, or as the meal itself. ” (Michele from Veggie Num Nums)

I have made pita bread before, and Hummus, but not using the recipes listed for the challenge. We had to make those two items, but then the rest of the Mezze was left up to us.

Hummus

is made typically with chick peas, garlic, Tahini Paste (Recipe Here if you cannot find any) and various flavorings. I made Roasted Red Pepper/Garlic by adding about 1/2 jar of roasted red pepper and doubling the garlic called for in the recipe. (Hint: mine was a little runny, so I would suggest adding all the ingredients and THEN adding enough liquid to make it smooth.)

The rest of the mezze was more Indian than Middle Eastern.

Gobhi ki Sabzi (or Subzi)

Curried Cauliflower was pretty easy to make. the recipe I have linked to is very similar to the one I used.

Alu (Aloo) Mattar

And the Curried Potatoes and Peas was really good. The curry added spice and the peas added sweet.

Fun Challenge. The Pita and Hummus recipes worked out well and I like that I now have two new sides to go with everyday meals. Thanks, Michele, for this challenge.

 

Daring Cooks – Vietnamese Chicken Pho Ga

This is what I am eating right now. It is Pho, Chicken Pho to be exact and it is FANTASTIC!!!

Before I go any further let me say one thing – “THANK YOU, JADEN!!” Oh, and one more thing:

The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.

I am slowly adding the flavors and foods of Asia to my mental cook book. A few challenges ago I added dumplings or pot stickers. I’ve made egg drop soup (but not posted yet) I’ve learned to make some American Asian dishes like General Tso’s Chicken (yes, I know NOT Asian, but still good.)But this is the Vietnamese dish. Oh, the flavors – star anise, coriander, cloves, fish sauce. The flavors mixed together created the most wonderful aroma. And the taste – the best I have ever had in any type of soup.

Admittedly I did not have any whole coriander, but I did have ground and I did not have the star anise (but I tweeted {new verb} Jaden and she said I could leave it out) but the flavor was still amazing – especially the second day. The broth is supposed to be clear but no matter how much I strained it it was still a little milky. I think it was because I used the ground coriander rather than the whole. Still good.

I did have the rice noodles (sometimes my brain does remember to buy ahead) and they added a different texture than the noodles I am used to.

All in all, this is definitely a keeper. Even if I am the only one who eats it, it is on my repeat list. Thanks again, Jaden. Loved it.

P.S. I didn’t get to the dessert wontons yet, but planning to. Just did not have the time.

Please go visit the other members of The Daring Kitchen and look at their lovely variations. And the recipe is available on Jaden’s site – Steamy Kitchen.

 

September Daring Kitchen – Dosas.

Ethnic cuisine is so much more available in the US today. And much of it has become an integral part of American Cusine – which is made up of food from everywhere anyway. Every city practically has Chinese Restaurants, Mexican Restaurants, Greek, Lebanese, Caribbean, etc. etc. etc. And even tho many of them are not what you might call authentic, they do at least give us an introduction to new tastes. One of my favorites is Indian food. Not American Indian, East Indian. Unfortunately, there is not an Indian restaurant for 150 miles. So I have to make my own and obtaining a new recipe is always a good thing. That is why I was excited about this months Daring Cooks Challenge – Dosas.

This month’s Daring Cook hostess – Debyi of The Healthy Vegan Kitchen. Debyi decided on Indian Dosas from the cookbook “Refresh” by Ruth Tal. You can find the recipe on her site.

Dosas are the Indian answer to French Crepes and Mexican Tortillas and just as versatile. They can literally be filled with anything. The suggested filling was a Curried Garbanzo Filling, but since I am not a big fan of Garbanzo I used a Curried Potato and Pea filling instead.

To make the Curried Potato/Pea filling simply crumble cooked potato (boiled or baked) with diced onions and curry seasoning (to taste) in a skillet and saute in a little oil until the potatoes are light brown. Add in the peas and cook until cooked but not soft.

And since we could choose another sauce, I served it with a

Cold Cucumber Raita

2 slicing cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and grated or chopped
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1 teaspoon choipped fresh mint leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Press the cucumbers through a strainer to remove some of the water.
Combine with other ingredients

I really liked these. There is an art to getting the Dosas just right, but eventually I think I got them thin enough. I have only had Dosas one time out and they were good. Now I can serve them with my Curry for a little extra punch.

Thanks, Debyi, for this challenge. Please visit the other Daring Cooks for their take on this recipe.