Safari
So when we started on this journey of preparing, cooking and enjoying foods from around the world, we gave Miss E the responsibility of picking our next country for the following weekend. And after a very successful Heritage Weekend, where we celebrated South Africa and Germany, she went to her world map and pick.......Brazil!!!
Oh my goodness! What a choice! Bom Dia! At first, I knew this was going to be a very flavourful journey indeed. But as I started looking at recipes, I realised this was also going to be a very sweet ride. When I searched for desserts, I came across many that made use of either sweetened condensed milk or Dulce de Leche - the latter being made from the former.
I went to three different grocery stores and eventually asked my neighbour (who is from Brazil) if she had had any luck, but Dulce de Leche is not available here. So what is a girl to do? Make her own, of course. It was super easy: just put a can or two of sweetened condensed milk on their sides in my slow cooker and pour enough hot water to cover the tins. Then cook on slow for 8-10 hours. I did that on the Friday, then took the tins out and allowed to completely cool overnight. The next morning I opened the tins, scraped all that delicious Dulce de Leche into a bowl and gave it a quick beat with my electric mixer until smooth. It was good to go. There is still a mason jar half-full with yummy goodness in my fridge - I really should use it in something soon.
A jar full of delicious yummyness
Anyone who has ever been to a Brazilian wedding (or had Brazilian guests at their own wedding - Bettina) would know what these are. In English, it is literally called 'Wedding Cookies'. Sponge Cookies soaked in simple syrups, sandwiched together by Dulce de Leche. It doesn't get sweeter than this. They were yummy, even though the consistency was not that good - owing to the fact that I had to make do with Potato Starch Flour and the recipe called for Potato Starch. I had never used either for baking before and so wasn't sure how different the end product would be. My neighbour was kind enough to say that they were nice.
These were very sweet, I could only eat one...every hour 🙂
Oh. My. Goodness. This One-Pot-Shrimp-in-Coconut-Sauce was a freaking bomb!!! I love shrimp in general, but this dish knocked it out of the park for me. It was a huge it with the family, even though Miss E doesn't eat shrimp, she enjoyed the sauce very much. I highly recommend this dish. It was super easy to make and I used an immersion blender instead of a regular blender, simply because that's what I had on hand. This is the recipe I used.
This was so good. It's gone into my recipe book for regular meals
I had one more treat up my sleeve, since the Bem Casados had turned out to be too sweet for me. These Bolinhos de Chuva is sort of like a beignet. And they are supposed to be shaped like raindrops, but I couldn't get the dough consistency just right. They tasted yummy though, so the shape I am not complaining too much about.
Nomnomnom
All in all, I really enjoyed cooking over our Brazilian weekend. Our tastebuds were definitely put on a rollercoaster ride. And even now, weeks later we are all still talking about that Shrimp.
Have you ever been to Brazil? Are you from Brazil? What id your favourite Brazilian dish or dessert? Tell me in the comment section below.
Catch you on the next post! Stay safe and keep cooking,
Zee
At the time of my blog launch, this post was already a few weeks old, but I wanted to post it anyway as it still forms part of my Around the World through Food series. Enjoy!
This past weekend, we celebrated our heritage through food. I was born in South Africa and if you'd like to read about what I cooked and prepared from my birthplace, click here. Now, for those of you who do not know, my husband is German and I lived in Germany for six years. As part of our Around the World through Food series, hubby was in charge of preparing some German dishes...
This was quite funny - we hadn't actually spoken with each other about what we had planned for our respective menus, so he didn't know my South African breakfast was a sort of Crepe / Pancake. So his breakfast was a German Pfannkuchen. And it was delicious!
This was delicious!!!
On my very first visit to Germany 11 years ago, hubby took me into the 'Innenstadt" of the town where his parents live. And he bought me a Currywurst. It was so yummy. And I would request to eat it every time we visited Germany. When we moved there in 2013, I would often eat this at Kirmes (carnival) and at Christmas Markets. So I was very excited when hubby served this for lunch. The sauce he made was amazing!!!
This is how Miss E wanted hers
Now this might not be a very German Dish, but it is something that reminded hubby of his childhood. He served up a delicious Pork Fillet and Vegetable Bake (Auflauf). I love a good vegetable bake as much as the next person, but that pork fillet was soooo good - super tender and melt-in-your-mouth perfection. My tummy could not have been happier!
Pork Fillet and Veg Bake with a glass of White Wine. Perfect Combination
Did any of his choices surprise you? Were you expecting a Crispy Pork Knuckle and roasted potatoes? Or perhaps a bowl of 'Grünkohl' with meat? When you think of Germany, what food first comes to mind?
I know my hubby would be interested to hear your answers. So comment below.
Till next time, Miss E gets to choose our next country...
Zee
I wrote this up in Week 8 of our Lockdown...Enjoy!
We have entered into Week 8 of our lockdown. And I think my family and I could do with a little shake up. Normally, we would go somewhere, we've never gone before. Or we would hop in the car and go explore our city as tourists. Well, of course this isn't possible. So I came up with something we could do inside and still keep it interesting during this period. "A Trip around the World - through food" then became our thing to do on weekends.
In my new kitchen, I wanted to enjoy cooking again...
When I thought of how to get things started, I came up with us celebrating where we come from. So our first weekend we will be venturing into cuisine from South African and Germany. I'm looking forward to it very much. I haven't cooked a South African meal in a very long time. Not even a good curry. And I could do with a bit of German flavours too.
Miss E has been charged with picking a new country for every weekend after we celebrate our Heritage this weekend. She has a large map on the wall outside her bedroom and I will post a video on my Instagram account every Monday morning of her picking the next country. This should get very interesting, because her map has pictures that is associated with the country or city, so we will probably be getting lots of countries with 'fun' pictures.
We enjoy food, and especially tasting dishes from all over the world.
What have you guys been doing to keep things a little interesting during your lockdown? How long have you been under lockdown?
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