Chapati... in The Bahamas?

I was first introduced to Chapati in Africa. I was out with some friends in Kigali, Rwanda when I tasted this simple yet delicious, flour tortilla like food. I asked what is was and a friend of mine said, "You don't know Chapati?" Chapati, I'd never heard of it. It looked similar to a flour tortilla, but it was more delicious. You could eat it alone if you wanted to. I did some research and found out that it is an Indian dish. It was so popular in Rwanda though, I think they've adopted it to be one of their own.

While in Rwanda I would walk quite a distance to the market to buy Chapati, which was sold 6 for about $1. It was great alone, but I decided I wanted to "take it up a notch". So I got together with two friends and we made a curry cabbage filling for the Chapati and called it a wrap. It was great.

I've been back in The Bahamas for a while now, but the taste of the Chapati is on my taste buds. I didn't have to make the Chapati in Rwanda because it was readily available already prepared everywhere. I decided I would take a stab at it and make Chapati at home and instead of a cabbage curry I made a chicken curry for the filling.

So here it goes:

Chapati Recipe

2 cups        All purpose flour
3/4 cup      Hot water
1 tsp          Salt
3 tsp          Olive Oil
8 tsp          Butter

In a bowl combine the flour, salt, hot water and olive oil with a wooden spoon. As it comes together begin kneading the dough with hands until smooth. Set aside. Flour a clean surface and divide dough in 8-10 pieces on the floured surface. Allow dough pieces to rest briefly. Set medium skillet on high heat. Allow pan to get extremely hot, almost to smoking point. While pan is heating, flour rolling pin and begin to roll out pieces very thinly. (See photo below.) Spoon 1 teaspoon of butter into hot skillet. Once butter has melted add 1 rolled dough to heat. Cook for 30 seconds on each side. Remove from heat and set aside. Repeat with 1 teaspoon of butter and then 1 rolled dough. Continue to repeat until 8-10 chapatis are completed. Set aside.

Curry Chicken Recipe

2 lg        Cooked Chicken Breast (shredded)
2 tbs       Curry Powder
1 tsp       Chili Powder
1/2 stick  Butter
2 cups     Shredded Cabbage
1 sm       Onion (chopped)
2 clove   Garlic (minced)
3 tbs       Flour
2 cups    Water
              Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large skillet melt butter. Once butter is melted reduce heat to medium and add chopped onions. Sweat onions for one minute and then add curry powder, chili powder and garlic. Mix ingredients together and then add water to mixture along with the cabbage. Cover and allow mixture to come to a boil. Season to taste. In a small bowl add 3 tablespoons of flour and 3 tablespoons of cold water. Mix with fork into a paste. Spoon 6 tablespoons of hot curry mixture (no cabbage) into paste. Make sure no lumps are in the mixture. (Spooning the hot curry liquid brings the paste to the temperature of the curry mixture before adding it the sauce to thicken it). Stir mixture into curry sauce to thicken it. Reduce heat and add cooked chicken. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning as needed. Serve hot with Chapati.

Chapati Rolled Thin

Cooking Chapati in Hot Skillet

Completed Chapati

Curry Chicken

Curry Chicken

Curry Chicken and Chapati

"All American Breakfast" Steak and Potato Omelet

This morning after a 1 hour workout I was extremely hungry. I wanted something different for breakfast. I looked in the refrigerator to see what was available.  I glanced over the items in the fridge and what caught my eyes were left over steak, potatoes, onions, garlic, eggs, and milk. I decided to cook an omelet. What I consider an "All American Breakfast" Steak and Potatoes Omelet. I came up with the name because I feel that steak and potatoes is so American. Here's the recipe.


Ingredients:

4 oz               Left over Steak (thinly sliced)
1 medium      Raw Potato (cut like French fries)
2 oz               Sliced Onions
1 clove          Minced Garlic
3 large           Eggs
2 tbs              Milk
1 tsp              Olive Oil
2 tsp              Butter

Steps:

First add olive oil to a hot saute pan. Pan fry sliced potatoes, cooking for approximately 3 minutes on each side.  Test potatoes with a fork to see if they are cooked. Once cooked, add sliced onion to the potatoes. Saute for approximately 1 minute allowing onions to soften. Then add the minced garlic. Saute all the ingredients for a few seconds to allow garlic to be incorporated (do not burn garlic) and set it aside.

In a small bowl crack 3 eggs and add 2 tablespoons of milk. Beat the eggs and milk together. In a hot skillet add 2 tsp of butter. Once melted coat the bottom of the pan with the egg mixture. Allow the eggs to cook for about 30 seconds. Once thickened at the bottom, lift the egg and allow raw eggs to drain underneath the cooked eggs. Shape eggs with plastic spatula as eggs begin to form into an omelet. Once the eggs are cooked, add the steak mixture on to half of the omelet. Flip other side of omelet over the steak mixture. Remove from pan and serve immediately.

Here's to my "All American Breakfast", Steak and Potato Omelet.

Truckin'

I've heard the saying for years, "When America sneezes the Bahamas catches a cold!" It's definitely true when it comes to our eating habits. You'd be surprise to know how many fast food restaurants are in Nassau, the capital city of The Bahamas. They're a number of Wendy's, Mc Donald's, KFC, Burger Kings, Domino Pizzas and countless Chinese take-aways, just to name a few.  You can visit a different one each day of the week. My grandmother called going out to buy fast food "truckin". Growing up we'd do a lot of "truckin" because my mother worked full-time. So we'd eat out almost every evening.

Now a days I don't care for fast food as much, but I do get the occasional cravings. Today was no exception. I just had to visit one of my favorite Chinese restaurants for fried rice and honey garlic chicken wings. As I was thoroughly enjoying my meal I began to think about the food I ate on my trip to China. I was amazed that there wasn't any pork fried rice, kingdom ribs or fortune cookies. Then the thought came to mind, "Does anyone really know what Chinese food is?" because the food I grew up eating and loving wasn't real Chinese food. That made me realize something else my grandmother said about "truckin". She said we should stop "truckin" and start eating "real food". Fast food to her wasn't real food. She preferred cooking and eating at home, and would always cook special dishes for us. Our favorite was her Peas Soup and Dumplings. I didn't want to accept it, but what she was saying was true. As years went by there were rumors that KFC didn't serve real chicken and Mc Donald's chicken nuggets were ground chicken feet. "Real food" I think not! I keep these things in mind when I encourage myself to eat "real food", home cooked food and stop "truckin". I give in to the temptation less as time goes by and I truly enjoy the creations that are manufactured in my kitchen. I encourage you to do the same.

Guava Cupcakes

Baking is so much fun. I wanted to do something a little different today so here's what I came up with. Guava Cupcakes with a Rum Butter Glaze. 

Guava Cupcake with Rum Butter Glaze

Guava Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups      Flour

1/8 tsp            Nutmeg

1/8 tsp            Cinnamon

1/8 tsp            Cloves

1/2 tsp            Baking Soda

1/2 cup          Butter or Margarine (softened)

1 cup             Sugar

2                    Eggs

3/4 cup         Guava Puree

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with cupcake liners and set aside.

Combine flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside. In another bowl cream butter and sugar. Once light and fluffy add eggs one at a time. Alternately between flour mixture and guava puree, combine with butter and sugar mixture. 

Spoon cupcake batter into cupcake liners until it is 2/3 filled. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. 

Cool 5 minutes in pans then remove and place on wire racks to cool completely. Once cupcakes are completely cooled, frost with Rum Butter Glaze. 

Rum Butter Glaze:

2 cups        Powdered Sugar

1/4 cup       Butter

1 tbs           Nassau Royale (or whatever rum available)

1 tbs           Vanilla

1 tbs           Guava Puree

In a mixing bowl mix all ingredients until smooth. 

Cinnamon & Raisin Pancakes

Cinnamon & Raisin Pancakes

1 cup   Flour
3 tsp    Baking Powder
1 tsp    Cinnamon
3 tbs    White Sugar
1          Egg
3 tbs    Vegetable Oil
1 cup   Milk (approximately)
.5 cup  Raisins
3 tbs    Powdered Sugar


In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar. Set aside. In a 1 cup measure cup add egg, vegetable oil and milk, filling it to 1 cup measure. Add to another mixing bowl and beat lightly. Combine with flour mixture mixing lightly with spoon. Set aside. Heat non-stick skillet to medium heat. Using a tablespoon cookie scoop spoon mixture into skillet. Once bubbles start to form in pancake sprinkle a few raisins on pancake and then flip pancake over with spatula. Cook for about one minute or until done completely. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Repeat the process until all pancake mix is completed. Adjust temperature as needed. Makes approximately 6 large pancakes.

Potato Salad?

I spent a lovely afternoon on the beach today with two of my best friends. Salt water, in my opinion, makes you hungry, so I couldn't wait to get home to get dinner started. Keeping with the sea theme, whole fried fish was on the menu. I accompanied that with potato salad and mixed green salad. For dessert, banana donuts dusted with powdered sugar.

After dinner we always get together to watch our daily fix of local and international news. Then it's time for the food network. As I was watching "Sweet Genius" I started thinking about one of my visits to Africa, Rwanda to be exact, where I introduced potato salad to some of my friends. I couldn't believe that they had never heard of it. My friends would prepare French fries and boiled potatoes, but that's as far as their cooking with potatoes went. The thought of mayonnaise with boiled potatoes was foreign to them, but they would only eat fried potatoes with mayonnaise, no ketchup. So I proudly taught them Bahamian potato salad which has finely diced onions and bell peppers, chopped hard boiled eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, salt and pepper, and of course boiled potatoes. For them I even added a diced cucumber. That gave it an additional cool crunch. It became a new phenomenon, but then they wanted me to cook it all the time. LOL!


Recipe:

4 medium    Potatoes
2                  Eggs
1/4 cup        Onion (finely diced)
1/4 cup        Red, Green, Yellow or Orange Bell Pepper (finely diced)
4 tbs            Mayonnaise
1 tsp            Mustard
                    Salt and Pepper to taste
                    Paprika

Wash, peel and dice potatoes. Add to pot along with eggs and fill with water until it covers potatoes and eggs. Set range on high under potatoes and allow potatoes to come to a boil. While potatoes and eggs are cooking dice onions and bell peppers. Set aside. Cook potatoes until tender. Check by cutting into potato with a fork. This takes about 10-15. Eggs usually boil in about 12 minutes. Immediately remove from heat, drain water and add potatoes into a bowl and place in freezer for approximately ten minutes allowing potatoes to cool. Put eggs in small bowl of cold water and put in freezer for ten minutes allowing eggs to cool and stop the cooking process. Once potatoes and eggs have cooled remove from freezer. Peel and slice eggs. Set aside. In a mixing bowl combine potatoes, onions, peppers, mayonnaise and mustard. Season with salt and pepper. Adjust to taste. Remove from mixing bowl and add to serving bowl. Decorate the top with sliced boiled eggs. Dust with paprika.

Sweet Treats!

I absolutely love desserts. I believe you should have one everyday. Making desserts are fun to me and I can dabble in flour all day. Here are a couple of desserts I made last week. Enjoy!

Bread Pudding with Raisins

Bread Pudding with Raisins

 Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies

Guava Duff

Guava Duff

Guava Duff with Rum Butter Sauce

Guava Duff with Rum Butter Sauce