[chrislehrer]

Very nice! I take it this was pretty spicy; did you serve rice with it or just as-is?

 

[butzy]

The original recipe might be spicy, but I had no fresh scotch bonnet or madam Jeanet. My smoked one wasn't potent enough, so I spiced it up.
I ate it with some freshly baked flat bread. Original idea was rice, but I had a sudden craving for bread
I'll be making this again. Most likely with added bacon

 

[chrislehrer]

I just looked up this madame Jeanet pepper. Eek! But I now have a pretty good sense of what this dish must've been like. Yum!

 

[butzy]

I was told that the chili was called after a hot lady in Parimaribo
I've since heard a similar story, but now she comes from Haiti
It's a hot but very tasty chili. I know it as madam Jeanette, or Surinam yellow

 

[cheflayne]

Bombing dish butzy. Bread sounds like a great call, wouldn't have thought of it; but yeah you nailed it. Haven't worked with madam Jeanette but looks and reads like scotch bonnet which I am very familiar with. Does it have floral taste aspect to it?

 

[chrislehrer]

It should: it's the same species as scotch bonnet and habanero, capsicum sinensis.

 

[butzy]

It is, but it is different as well. The smell is just amazing. I don't know how to describe it. Floral, fruity?

One way of using it without too much heat is to put it whole in the pot of rice and leave it in while cooking/steaming the rice.
The hot food eaters can then eat Madam, the others still have a great smelling rice.

I would typically use 1 madam in a dish for 4 to 6...

 

[cheflayne]

One way of using it without too much heat is to put it whole in the pot of rice and leave it in while cooking/steaming the rice.

I had a Trini cook show me that when making what she called shadow benny rice, it is slang for chadon beni, also known as culantro (not to be confused with cilantro).

 

[butzy]

When did she put the culantro? During cooking or after?

I know culantro as sawtooth herb, or pak chi farang. I got 1 little plant in the garden, hoping it goes to seed so I can grow more. Advantage over coriander is that it doesn't bolt in the heat

 

[cheflayne]

After. She sauteed celery, garlic, culantro, chives, thyme, and parsley and then mixed into the cooked rice.

 

[chrislehrer]

Time's running out, folks! Let's see some more of the three sisters, ok?

 

[teamfat]

I actually made this a couple of weeks ago, finally getting around to posting it. Stuffed squash, pretty basic stuff.

The Players

First off, the Three Sisters:

Acorn squash, some dried black beans, and two kinds of corn. First is the familiar corn on the cob, second is huitlacoche, a Mexican specialty also know as corn mushroom or corn smut. It is basically corn that has been attacked by fungus. Interesting stuff, tastes like corn flavored mushrooms, or mushroom flavored corn, however you want to look at it.

And the supporting cast, salt pork, quesadilla cheese, garlic, onion and cilantro.

The Process

First off was to soak the beans.

They soaked for about 12 hours.

The squash was cut in half, seeds cleaned out, and baked for a while.

While it was in the oven, sliced some salt pork, rendered out the fat. Diced the onion, sweated it in the pork fat, added some salt, black pepper, chili powder and several cloves of minced garlic

Cut the kernels off the sweet corn.

The sweet corn, the drained beans and the huitlacoche went into the pot with the onion. Added a bit of chicken stock to get a nice consistency.

Simmered for about half an hour. The mixture was then put into the squash halves.

Smothered with grated cheese, then into the oven until cheese was bubbly and delicious looking.

The Product

Thought I had a picture of one of the squash halves cut in half, seem to have lost it. So I guess this is all you get.

Sprinkled some fresh cilantro on this, and had a tasty dinner. Very good! The mushroom flavor of the corn smut was an interesting addition to the mix.

mjb.

 

[cheflayne]

Way cool dish teamfat!!! I have yet to work with huitlacoche, but it has been on my radar screen and to do list for a while now. This will probably be just the push I need to get some and play! Thanks!!

 

[koukouvagia]

Wow all these dishes look amazing, @butzy so impressed.

 

[butzy]

I had to start googling as my brain said something about huitlacoche and fungal diseases.
Seems I was not too far off

I hope I have enough time to make and post a final dish.
Chana dal has been soaked and I'll start cooking after I finish my coffee

Good to see you again @koukouvagia !

 

[teamfat]

Way cool dish teamfat!!! I have yet to work with huitlacoche, but it has been on my radar screen and to do list for a while now. This will probably be just the push I need to get some and play! Thanks!!

If memory serves me correctly, I used it before in a filling for arepas, possibly for another challenge a few years back. The filling was good, the arepas, uh, well, they were not perfect. I'll leave it at that.

mjb.

 

[butzy]

Last one for me.
I call it "Butzy's messed up.mezze starter platter"

Chana dal got soaked and boiled and made into hummus (chana dal & boiling liquid, tahini, garlic, chili powder, paprika powder, cumin, olive oil & lime juice)

Next was a tzatziki inspired dip. Yoghurt, cumin, cucumber, garlic, salt, white pepper & fresh coriander

Then pumpkin- sweet corn fritters

Sweetcorn, pumpkin, onion, garlic, chili

Fresh coriander, salt, egg, lime juice and flour

And the whole platter together
Very tasty and very nice with our high temperatures

 

[cheflayne]

Nobody has made a dessert this month, so I decided to do one. The base idea was Moldovan Chickpea Pudding. I stuck pretty close to it except I sweetened it with maple syrup instead of honey and I expanded the concept into a trifle. So I give you…

A trifle of Moldovan Chickpea Pudding, Pumpkin Pudding, and a candied trio of Corn, Butternut Squash, and Pumpkinseeds

For the original pudding, I blended cooked chickpeas with yogurt, maple syrup, and cinnamon.
I used the same idea for the pumpkin pudding. I blended cooked pumpkin with yogurt, ginger syrup, and cardamom.
The trio was candied using maple syrup.

 

[butzy]

Wow!
I would never have thought of a chickpeas & pudding in the same sentence
Let alone, the same dish!

 

[cheflayne]

Yeah pretty crazy but actually good (not cloyingly sweet) and old school and fairly healthy and fast and stupidly simple, not only that but easily converted to vegan by using a vegan yogurt. Has really gotten my wheels to spinning thinking of other variations/uses like mousse, semifreddo (also unfrozen), ice cream?, etc. definitely going to do some more playing around with the idea.