Yesterday was a day of marketing. This is always a time of enjoyment for me because I like to see what is there, what looks somewhat fresh, how can I cook this? and then bringing the purchases home to start the process of cleaning to prevent illness. Yesterday I got cabbage and it is sometimes difficult to find one that is not terribly mildewed so that the removal of several of the outside leaves will bring me to good and eatable leaves below.....then I soak it in vinegar water for 30 min and rinse it and we are ready to go. We also found apples, canned tomatoes and on the non edible side, q tips, a colander, and notebooks for the English language students. Some of the ladies bought onions, eggplant and custard apple fruit. I didn't because I have onions and custard apple at home. I don't know how to cook eggplant so there isn't reason to buy it. Perhaps someone has a good recipe for it.
The time at the market was about 2 hours and in the very hot sun. This is the hot season here so you can easily become dehydrated and exhausted. My friend Jan and I met our husbands at a hotel near the office and had lunch. Hamburgers.....with a fried egg on it and mystery greens for lettuce. Pretty tasty.
In the afternoon I met with Mary Ann, another wife here, who is teaching English to high school students and we went over some of the ways she has found effective to teach English here. Since today is class two at the new location outside, it is helpful to see what others have done to make this as beneficial as possible to the attendees.
When Bryan came home and since we had a large lunch, we just had "Papa's hotcakes" for dinner. These are pancakes my dad made that are healthy. Here is the recipe:
1cup oatmeal
1cup cornmeal
1tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk or yogart
1 egg
3 tbs oil
honey (optional)
These are best when made, as he did, as small pancakes. I also added Flax seed since I have it and it makes things even more healthy. It is funny.....when we make these....we remember fondly when my Mom and Dad came to visit us in Indonesia so many years ago. What a wonderful memory. They came when our eldest son, Jeremy, was born.
Well, it is time to tiptoe through the raindrops to Jan's house for the English class. I wonder how many will come today at the new place and in the rain.
My grandmother used to make an amazing eggplant spread called ikra. She never wrote down her recipe, but I found a couple on the internet that I've been meaning to make. You should try it too. It is good hot or cold, and you usually eat with really hearty bread or pita, but we also used to put a little bit on rice or a dollop on green beans.
ReplyDeleteEggplant dip
or Ikra ovoshchnaia:
Ingredients:
* 1 medium sized eggplant (leave skin on)
* 1 large carrot (peeled)
* 1 large yellow onion (peeled)
* 1 celery stick
* 1 lb. fresh tomatoes (peeled)
* 2 cloves finely chopped fresh garlic
* 1/4 cup chopped parsley
* 1/4 cup chopped dill
* 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 tablespoon soy-sauce
* 2 bay leaves
* cooking / fry oil
Cooking:
1. Fresh tomatoes should be peeled, chopped and stewed for 30-40
minutes on low heat (after bringing to boil) to make a tomato sauce.
2. Chop eggplant into cubes, salt and put into well-oiled frying pan.
Stew on low for 30 minutes, mix frequently, add more oil if pan gets
too dry. Avoid burning the peel.
3. When the eggplant in the skillet gets soft and mushy. Then add into
the same skillet – finely ground carrot, finely ground celery, chopped
onion, chopped garlic, the previously prepared tomato sauce, black
pepper and bay leaves. Mix cook for 20 minutes…
4. Then add the chopped dill, soy sauce, chopped cilantro and chopped
parsley. Then cook for another 10-15 minutes. Stir frequently.
5. Careful not to burn the veggies. That will impart an undesirable flavor…
If you don't have all the ingredients, the essentials are onion, eggplant, parsley, pepper, and you can use canned tomatoes. My grandmother used to roast, not fry, and if you'd rather do that, here is another version:
2 Sm. eggplants
4 lge. onions, sliced
2 carrots, grated
5-6 tbsps. olive oil
salt, pepper to taste
½ cup parsley, chopped
2 8-oz. cans tomato sauce
1 tsp. fresh or dried dill
Bake eggplant in oven or cook on fire. Peel and mash well. Brown
onions in oil in skillet and add all ingredients. Cook one hour over
low heat until smooth, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.
This is SO good. You must give it a try!
-Sophie
oh, and if you've never roasted eggplant before, here are some instructions:
ReplyDeleteIn order to bake your eggplant, slice your eggplant in half. Score across the interior of each half. Add tiny slices of garlic to go into each score. Salt each half, and bake in a 400-degree oven for 30 minutes. The eggplant is done when it is nicely browned and tender when pierced. If you have young eggplants you can eat the skin, but grandmother would peel off the skin. For the older bigger eggplants you take the skin of because it is a little inedible.
-Sophie
If you are worried about the color of the eggplants, the tomatoes make them a nice reddish color.
ReplyDelete-Sophie