Plantain Pancakes

Sundays are made for extravagant breakfasts. Having successfully made plantain crepes, I tried making plantain pancakes. I used the Barry Farms recipe I had found while researching plantain flour. I halved the recipe, since I was only making pancakes for two. I also substituted melted butter for the cooking oil, since, I do love the butter.

Ingredients
1 cup plantain flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
dash salt
1 ½ tbs sugar
1 egg
1 ½ tbs melted butter
½ cup milk

The batter is ashen in color, somewhat less appetizing than the creamy yellow color of a regular wheat flour batter. The recipe gives an incredibly thick batter. I ended up adding a few tablespoons more of milk just to thin the batter out. The pancakes turn out quite nicely, though, the ashen color turning golden brown in the pan. There is no perceptible difference in cooking time, and the edges crisp nicely in the butter. The texture is smooth, and dense, resembling bread. There are slight differences between the plantain pancakes and wheat flour pancakes, but I think the satisfaction is about the same.

My favorite type of pancakes are those made with buttermilk. I'm thinking about trying the recipe again, but replacing the milk with buttermilk. From the information I've found, plantain flour seems to rise less easily than wheat flour. I think the buttermilk might help to make the pancake fluffier, less bread-like. I just have to figure out how to make buttermilk, a product unknown in France, and certainly unknown in Guadeloupe.

Other Uses for Colombo Powder

When I first decided to make colombo six months ago, I had purchased a 250g bag of colombo powder at the supermarket. Two hundred and fifty grams of colombo powder is actually a lot, and certainly constitutes more dishes of colombo than I am ready to eat. So, what to do with all that powder? I had moment of food inspiration when I realized that I could use the colombo powder in Singapore Noodles.

Singapore Noodles is a fairly popular dish found on menus in almost all Chinese restaurants. It should be noted that the dish isn't actually from Singapore, but is rather an interpretation by (immigrant) Chinese cooks of the spicy noodle dishes common in Singapore. In any case, Singapore Noodles are usually made with vermicelli noodles, dyed a bright yellow by the turmeric in the curry powder, sauteed with peppers. The remaining ingredients - which can include shrimp, roast pork, strips of fried egg - depends largely on the cook. The recipe for BBC Good Food for Singapore noodles includes both a vegetarian and a meat version. Below is my recipe for Singapore Noodles. I change the quantities depending on what is available, whether or not the dish is supposed to be a stand alone dish, whimsy...

Ingredients:
Angel hair pasta
1 medium-sized onion, thinly sliced half moons
1 large bell pepper, julienned
3 - 4 piments vegetaliens (1), de-seeded, julienned
2 eggs, beaten
2 slices of ham, cut into strips
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp grated ginger
3/4 tsp colombo powder
green onion, chopped
soy sauce

1. Boil a pot of water, cook the angel hair pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

2. Heat some oil in a sauté pan. When the pan is hot, pour in the beaten egg.

3. Swish the beaten egg around to ensure an even layer over the bottom of the pan. Cook until the egg is set on the pan side, then flip the egg to cook the other side.

4. Remove the egg from the pan and cut the egg into thin strips.*

5. Heat some oil in a wok or sauté pan. When the oil is hot, throw in the garlic and turn down heat to medium. Cover and allow the garlic to cook for a minute. Then add the ginger.

4. Turn the heat back up to high. Throw in the onion, bell peppers, and piments. Stir the onions, bell peppers, and piments to make sure there is even cooking.

5. Once the onions and bell peppers have slightly softened, add the colombo powder. Stir to mix.

6. Turn the heat down to medium. Throw in ham strips, egg strips, green onion. Stir to mix.

7. Add angel hair pasta. Combine all ingredients. Add soy sauce and combine to coat.

* To save time, you do not have to cook the eggs separately. After sauteeing the onions and peppers, push them to the side, and pour in the beaten eggs. Stir the eggs. Once the eggs are scrambled, combine the egg with the onions and peppers. Add colombo powder and continue with the recipe as detailed above.

I like eating my noodles with Huy Fong sriracha, a veritable luxury given that a regular 17oz bottle costs almost 10€ (2). The noodles pictured above also have roast pork, but that is an additional step that requires a bit of planning. Sliced ham is a good stand in.

Singapore Noodles is something I would have never made before. My parents are from southern China, and this type of oil-heavy, spicy dish is not part of our cuisine. I don't associate it as food I would eat at home; It was always something we ate at canteens in Chinatown. But its been several years since I've moved out of my parents' home, and the food I cook is no longer defined solely by the ethnic background of my parents. Still, cooking Chinese food - and, in particular, Chinese food that I would have eaten at restaurants only - is challenging. I don't mean that technically, of course - any regular home cook with the right ingredients can manage Chinese food. I mean that it requires rearranging fixed ideas about my own abilities, and how I interact with my environment. Like learning to cook Korean food, daring to cook Chinese food is a definite gain.




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(2) I imagine that the price is high because the sauce is twice imported: imported first by Frères Tang in Paris, then on to Guadeloupe by local importers.

Mammee Apple and Almond Tart

Encouraged by a successful pineapple coconut tart, I thought I might try another recipe from Sophie's tarts book (1). With pineapple and coconut as its main ingredients, that recipe was rather tropical to begin with. This time, I thought would use one of Sophie's more traditional recipes, but with local fruit and local flavors.

From Marie Denise's stand at the market in Basse Terre, I purchased a large abricot pays, or mammee apple (2). Abricot pays translates simply as 'local apricot.' It is almost always comic when comparing the 'original' fruit and its local namesake since there never seems to be much in common - one characteristic at most. The mammee apple is round and somewhat larger than a grapefruit. The skin is tan to dark brown in color, dry and hard. It peels off easily with a knife to reveal a beautiful deep orange flesh.

The color is similar to an abricot...or to a mango, or to acorn squash. The flesh must be cut away from the large round pit, a wet and messy procedure that recalls emptying a pumpkin of its seeds. The pit fits nicely in the palm of the hand like a ball of thin string pressed tightly together with great force. Cut into small pieces, the glistening fruit resembles some unknown precious stone.


The fruit smells curiously like royal jelly. It has no particular taste. But it slides slippery soft and sweet down the throat.

I decided to use Sophie's recipe for pear and almond tart (tarte aux poires et aux amandes). Two mammee apples and rum replace the can of pears in syrup and the pear liqueur.

Ingredients:
1 shortcrust pastry
2 mammee apples
100g crushed almonds
100g softened salted butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg
20g slivered almonds
2cl rum

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Roll out the shortcrust pastry over the tart pan. Gently press the pastry into the bottom and sides of the tart pan. Set aside in the refrigerator.

2. Peel the mammee apples. Cut the flesh away from the pit. Cut the flesh into thin slices.

3. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the sugar, butter cubes, crushed almonds, egg and rum.

4. Spread the crushed almond mixture in the bottom of the tart. Lay the mammee apples slices over the mixture. Sprinkle the top with the slivered almonds

5. Bake for 30 minutes.

I hadn't realized how large the pit was, and had only purchased one mammee apple. So my tart was a bit lacking in fruit. The tart was still edible of course, but the small flavor of the fruit was a bit overwhelmed by the quantity of tart. I am certain that bigger taste could be achieved with more fruit.

When cooked, the fruit wrinkles a bit like a raisin. I didn't find the wrinkles incredibly attractive, and so I would recommend mixing the mammee apples into the almond paste before pouring the entire mixture into the tart pan. I don't believe there is a technical reason behind laying the pear slices on top of the almond paste. And since the deep orange color is quite strong, it would still show up nicely underneath the paste.



(1)
Dudemaine, Sophie. Tartes et Salades de Sophie. Geneva: Éditions Minerva, 2004.



(2) Mammee Apple

Plantain Flour

Recently, I discovered plantain flour in the supermarket. I wasn't looking for it, but the colorful label caught my eye. Even though plantains are a staple in Antillais cuisine, plantain flour doesn't seem to be. After turning it over a few times I added it to my grocery cart.

Mostly, I was thinking about my mother. After a lifetime of eating wheat and wheat products, my mother discovered that she was allergic to wheat about a year ago. Its not a serious allergy, she can allow herself to eat wheat occasionally, but its preferable for her to avoid it. Giving up pasta and bread was not easy, but it was certainly easier thanks to a wide range of rice- or soy-based products found in Asian food stores.

Could plantain flour provide another wheat flour alternative?

Somewhat surprisingly, I wasn't able to find much information online. With the seemingly exponential increase of wheat and gluten allergies, I simply assumed that plantain flour would be one of many proposed alternatives, along with chickpea flour, soybean flour, fava bean flour, etc. Still, I was able to find some interesting tidbits:

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The Post-Harvest Compendium, an initiative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, has an interesting page on post-harvest operations for the plantain, including the production of plantain flour. Here is a description of how plantain flour is made:

Unripe plantain is traditionally processed into flour in Nigeria and in other west and central African countries. This traditional technology is equally present in Amazonian Bolivia. The preparation method consists of peeling of the fruits with the hands, then cutting the pulp into small pieces, and air drying them for few days. The dried pulp is then ground in a wooden mortar or a corn grinder. The flour produced is mixed with boiling water to prepare an elastic pastry (alama in Nigeria and foufou or fufu in Cameroon) which is eaten with various sauces. The colour of the flour obtained is more or less dark due to the action of browning enzymes. Some improvement of this traditional method, by blanching the plantain pulp at 80°C for 5 minutes and cutting them into round pieces, [...] followed by draining and drying in a drying oven at 65°C for 48 hours or in the sun for some days resulted in the production of a more or less whitish flour. Plantain flour containing 10 percentage of residual humidity and hermetically packed in plastic sachets can be kept for many months without deterioration of its qualities.

The passage goes on to describe various end products, such as fritters and cakes.

Plantains may be staples in many African countries, transformation of plantains into other products seems relatively new. In an issue of African Journal of Biotechnology (1), Nigerian researchers report on the use of wheat and soybean/plantain composite flours. The purpose of the study is to find an alternative to wheat flour bread, whose consumption is steadily rising in the country. As an imported product, wheat is expensive, and so efforts are being made to find alternatives that utilize locally grown produce. The researchers found that plantain supplemented breads had "comparable sensory and nutritional qualities," but required a high proportion of wheat flour to be able to rise.

Another Nigerian study sheds light on the reasons why the use of plantain flour is not widespread (2). They conclude that plantain flour would have to sell for almost twice the price of imported wheat flour in order to be profitable. This clearly illustrates the challenges of introducing a product that competes with wheat. Because there would be both economic and social benefits to weaning Nigeria off imported wheat, the authors of the study recommend government subsidies to encourage the production of plantain flour and plantain four products.

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Anyway, I thought I would start with something simple: crêpes. I used my sister Js recipe for crêpes, which calls for regular wheat flour. I substituted the wheat flour with plantain flour 1 for 1.

3 tablespoons plantain flour
3 teaspoons sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
pinch of salt

The flour is somewhat ashen when compared to regular wheat flour. The seeds in the plantain are not removed and so add black specks to the flour. Plantain flour also has a different odor; it smells slightly sweet, oddly sour. Otherwise, it seems to look and feel quite the same.

The crepes turned out well. Crepes lend well to the substitution because there is no rising action required. There was no particular banana taste.

I'd like to try some other recipes, but I'm a bit reticent to find myself with some soggy, mushy mess. The packaging includes a recipe for a cake, but calls for a mixture of plantain and wheat flour. I also found a recipe for plantain flour pancakes on the website for Barry Farm, a producer in Ohio that carries a wide selection of wheat flour alternatives. Its been a long time since I had pancakes, my last box of pancake mix finished months ago. I think I'll give the plantain pancakes a go*. Its got a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

* I made plaintain pancakes two weeks later.


(1) Olaoye O. A., A. A. Onilude, O. A. Idowu. "Quality characteristics of bread produced from composite flours of wheat, plantain and soybeans."African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 5, No. 11, 2 June 2006, pp. 1102-1106 (here)

(2) Ogazi, P.O. and K.G. Vaidya. "The Place of Plaintain in Bakery Products Production - Economic Aspects." ISHS Acta Horticulturae 123: VI African Symposium on Horticultural Crops. (here)

Green Sauce

I had always considered parsley to be simply the decorative bit of green found on the meat-heavy plates of American cuisine. I did not think of it as a herb, at least not in the way I thought of sage in roast chicken, or cilantro in a Chinese stir-fry. And in any case, I found its taste soap-like.

But tastes change and mature. Otherwise, I would still think ketchup the ultimate condiment, and a great accompaniment to a bowl of white rice. M.'s mother uses parsley occasionally in her cooking, and the taste has grown on me. I found I rather liked the taste of parsley in an omlette, for example.

I do believe, however, that I am about to embark upon a love affair with parsley. Recently, I ate at the restaurant La Paillote du Pecheur, where I had an incredibly tasty parsley and green onion sauce. It was set on the table in a small bowl. I assumed it was for the salad and spooned some onto my tomatoes and lettuce. It seemed like it might have also been placed there for our fish, and so spooned some onto my grilled mahi-mahi steak. It worked equally well for both. Indeed, I liked it so much that I decided to try and make it at home. It seemed easy enough. La Paillote is a typical fisherman's restaurant in Guadeloupe where the food is simple but fresh and carefully prepared. There couldn't have possibly been any surprise ingredients.

I made a small bowl and kept it in the fridge. I used it first as a salad dressing. Over the coarse of the week, I found other opportunities: as a dressing for some boiled pasta, then topped with Romano cheese; a spoonful in a creamy baked pasta for some extra flavor; the remainder used to sauté green beans. I was really pleased by its versatility, and its ability to add some extra flavor. Instead of adding a tablespoon of olive oil, I would add two tablespoons of the sauce.

There is nothing particularly Caribbean about the sauce, but since I had it first at a local restaurant, I thought it could still make the recipe list.

Ingredients:
onion
green onion
parsley (flat or curly leaf)
olive oil
salt

1. Finely mince onion, green onion, and parsley.

2. In a small bowl, combine onion, green onion and parsley.

3. Add enough olive oil to submerge mixture.

4. Add salt.

I'm fairly certain you could keep the sauce in the fridge for at least two weeks, but we've always finished each batch within the week, so I cannot say. There aren't any quantities, because its really a matter of taste. I make it with about equal parts onion, green onion, and parsley. M. likes onions a bit less than I do, otherwise I might increase the quantity of onions. I've been using regular yellow onions because that is what is available here, but I think red onions would work really well.

*ADDENDUM* (April 7, 2009) Works really well in chicken salad too. One part green sauce to one part mustard to two parts mayonnaise.

Fiesta Rice

I am a great fan of rice dishes. Culturally, that make sense, as rice is a staple in Chinese cuisine. More importantly though, I like rice because it is amazingly versatile. It can be made in a variety of ways, from simple steamed white rice to more complex risottos. And, of course, because rice is a staple of many cultures, there is an endless array of dishes that features rice, with very different tastes and flavors.

I must have first come across 'fiesta rice' on some Food Network program years ago. There is a strong urge to disdain a dish that promises a party - and an ethnic party at that. But, who can say no to rice? Besides, I find the name amusing and have taken to naming any sort of colorful rice dish 'fiesta rice' (at least in my head). I used to make a pseudo-Mexican inspired fiesta rice, with corn and jalapeno peppers.

Here in Guadeloupe, I've come up with a new version of fiesta rice, somewhat by accident. I started making a rice dish, flavoring it with local hot peppers, and threw in some leftover shredded carrots. The end result has all the typical Antillais flavors, and is, of course, a fiesta in a bowl.

The ingredients are listed below, though the quantities vary depending on what I have on hand. Unfortunately, I have not been able to positively identify the chili peppers that are widely found and used in Guadeloupe (Here, all chili peppers are universally called piment). I've narrowed down the second piment listed as either habernero or scotch bonnet. For both, I've provided an image; perhaps you would know better than me. If I figure out what the first piment is, I will amend this post.

I've I've written the basic instructions, though new cooks and follow-the-book cooks may find it incredibly vague.

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked rice
1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
4 piment, de-seeded, coarsely chopped (1)
1 piment (habernero or scotch bonnet), de-seeded, finely chopped (2) (3)
2 carrots, shredded (4)
3 or 4 green onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
shredded emmental cheese
herbes de provence (a combination of dried thyme and rosemary) (5)
olive oil
butter
salt

1. Sweat the chopped onions and crushed garlic in a pan with some olive oil.

2. Add a thickish pat of butter (or more olive oil) to the pan, then add the uncooked rice. Make sure the rice is evenly coated with oil. Cook over low heat for a few minutes.

3. Add enough water to cover rice entirely. Add both types of hot peppers, carrots, green onions, herbes de provence. Cover and turn the heat up to medium. Add water as needed until rice is cooked thoroughly.

4. Add emmental before serving.

Its not a revolution of a recipe. And precisely because it is easy to make, its not very special. But its extremely flavorful and satisfying. A definite 'go-to' recipe. I often serve the rice as an accompaniment to a portion of meat, usually chicken. If I serve the rice as a main dish, I usually add meat to it. I've tried adding diots, a type of sausage from Savoy, but it was too sweet. Ground beef worked well. For guests, I've used the rice to stuff sweet peppers to rave reviews.

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(3) You could probably replace these hot peppers with any other kind. Of course, it won't taste exactly the same, but would probably work just as well.

(4) The carrots don't have to be shredded. I've made the rice with chopped carrots when I was feeling too lazy to shred them. It works just as well.

(5) There is a huge local thyme plant in a flower box in front of my house, and I've used the leaves in this recipe before, but amazingly, it was not as flavorful as using the dried flakes.