The Hungary Buddha Eats the World

Shell Shocked: Singapore Oyster Omelet

I was reminded as I saw that today is National Fluffernutter day that my one year blog anniversary has come and gone without notice! A few days over one year ago I started my culinary journey around the world with meatloaf, and today I’m cooking…

Appliciousness: Apfelstrude, or Apple Strudel

Due to an unexpected day of fun in South Bend to watch some college football, my weekend got cut a bit short. Unfortunately, my to-do list did not, and I spent most of yesterday cooking, cleaning, and laundry-ing. Mostly cooking. On that to-do list was…

Simple Cream Scones

Next Up on the “Return to Vacation” culinary tour: England and these simple cream scones.

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Hungarian Cabbage Rolls (Töltöt Káposzta)

Hungarian Cabbage Rolls (Töltöt Káposzta) uses a filling of ground pork, beef and bacon mixed with rice and a thick tomato sauce flavored with sauerkraut and slow cooked.

Malaysian Kaya and Roti

Malaysian kaya and roti is a version of caramel jam and fresh, homemade roti in this country’s version of bread and jam.

Onde Onde: Pastry Redefined

Not surprisingly, Malaysia has some pretty interesting sweets. Today’s dessert, onde onde, is a sweet pastry type cookie and a popular snack in Malaysia and Indonesia. However, unlike those French concoctions of buttery goodness that may come to mind, these little nuggets are made of glutinous rice flour. So, not your typical pastry.

I’m usually not a pastry fiend, but I’ve seen these onde onde since I was a wee tot going to the Asian market with mom. Now having the resources and opportunity to make them, I figured why not.

These do require some odd ingredients and thanks to my Asian grocer, I was able to find all of them: Pandan leaves, palm sugar and glutinous rice flour.

I had used glutinous rice flour around the holidays last year, and I’ve been looking for a reason to try again after being pleasantly surprised. I was again quite pleased, and really need to make an effort to try this in some westernized baked goods. Just for the sake of experimentation.

Thanks, Rasa Malaysia for the recipe and guidance

Ingredients

1 cup glutinous rice flour

1 cup pandan juice (see note below)

2/3 cup palm sugar

1/3 grated coconut

1/3 toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the glutinous rice flour with Pandan juice and knead lightly to form smooth dough. Cover the dough and set aside for about 15 minutes. You made need to add more flour to get the consistency to be not too sticky.

2. Bring a pot of water to boil. Pinch a small piece of dough (about 2 TB) and flatten lightly. Fill the center of the dough with palm sugar. Roll them in your palm to form a smooth ball and cook the glutinous rice balls in the boiling water.

3. When the rice balls float to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon and shake off the excess water.

4. Coat the rice balls with grated coconut or sesame seeds and serve immediately.

**Note: to make the Pandan Juice. Blend 10 Pandan leaves with 1 cup water.**

You really do have to serve immediately. When I came home from work to take a bite of one, I found the outside dry and was squirted by the sugary inside. Definitely not as good, and I’m not sure worth all the work. Sometimes, it’s better just to buy it…

Dang, This Stew is Good: Beef Rendang

In the hopes that my exploits in the kitchen would have some sort of cosmic power over the temperature gods (and armed with the foresight knowing that my wishes for fall weather would come through by the end of the week), I made beef stew. …

Nicely Dressed Fish: Malaysian Fish and Herb Salad

Man, today was hot. So hot. So hot that I had sweat dripping down my legs while riding in an un-airconditioned EL car on my way home. It definitely looked like I was peeing. Sexy. I was crabby. What’s taking so long, fall??? ANYWAY, moving…

Batar Da’an Expected: Squash, Bean and Corn Stew

Okay, so with this one, I can’t offer you any historical facts or profound tidbits. All I can say is that when I searched for popular East Timor dishes, this came up first each time.

Admittedly the thought of making Batar Da’an, a stew, with the weather being what it has been the last week was less than appealing. In between blog meals, it’s been salads all the way. Hey, boring, but at least I’m not subsisting on just ice cream like I was doing back in June. That was poor use of my adult discretion. Anyway, we had an unexpected dip in temps, so turning on the stove and throwing this together was less painful than expected.

This Batar Da’an couldn’t really be easier. As for ingredients, I’ve seen a few variations; pumpkin rather than squash, mung beans rather than kidney beans. I opted for butternut squash because pumpkin isn’t quite as prominent in the market right now the way I’m sure it will be in a few weeks, and kidney rather than mung beans because, frankly, I’m not a fan of mungs, despite the fact that they taste pretty much like nothing. Maybe that’s the cause of the dislike. Plus, mom used to make us eat them all the time as kids, and I never seemed to acquire a taste for them. In any case, those are two more options for you.

Another note: I used white beans rather than red. Why? Not sure, but I accidentally bought the white.

The verdict on this dish is that it packs a surprisingly pleasing flavor despite the seemingly blah ingredients and very little spice in the way of seasonings; it really has none aside from salt and pepper. I made one personal addition that I think made all the difference- chopped cilantro. I’m a big believer that a bland dish can become infinitely more flavorful by using fresh herbs, and this is just one example of that. Without would be more authentic, I suppose, but I do suggest my Buddha addition. I also think this will be more suitable and therefore more enjoyable in a few weeks, so into the freezer it goes until then.

Serves 4-6

Recipe adapted from Catholic Relief Services

Ingredients

1 small-ish butternut squash, peeled and diced.

1 can kidney beans

1 large onion, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups vegetable or chicken stock

2 cups frozen corn

handful chopped cilantro

salt and pepper, to taste

Tabasco sauce, a few shakes to taste

Quinoa, for serving*

*While rice is the traditional accompaniment, I had a lot of quinoa, so I just ate mine with that*

Directions

1. Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until tender.

2. Add stock and squash, and increase heat until water is simmering. Add corn and kidney beans, reduce to medium heat, and cook (stirring occasionally) until squash is tender (15-20 minutes).

3. Add salt and pepper to taste.Mix in cilantro. Serve with rice or quinoa.

That’s it. SUPER easy.

Admittedly, that is the saddest looking parsley garnish ever.

Portuguese Pao

Portuguese Pao are tasty, gluten-free breakfast rolls made with tapioca flour, sweet or savory, for a great start to the morning.

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