Malu Paan

Malu Paan is an appetizer commonly found in Sri Lanka and similar versions of it are also popular in India as well.

This recipe takes a little short-cut in that it uses roll mix that is readily available in most grocery stores. I used Pillsbury Roll Mix (see photo below).



In addition to making the Malu Paan, you will also want to have at least one type of sauce for dipping. I have included the recipe for the sauce that is pictured here which is a sweet and spicy chili sauce.

Recommended Equipment:
deep fryer

Malu Paan Ingredients:
1 package roll mix
12 ounce can of tuna fish
1 small yellow onion, diced
3 green onions, diced
1 serrano chili, diced
1 medium potato boiled, skinned, and chopped
1 tspn curry powder
1 tspn cumin, ground
1 tspn cinnamon
1/2 inch pice of ginger, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg yolk
salt, pepper, and cardamom powder to taste

Malu Paan Preparation:

1. Prepare the roll mix dough (according to the instructions on the box) and leave dough to rise in a warm place.
2. Boil potato over medium high heat until potato will start to fall apart when you put a fork in it. Then turn of heat and drain the water.
   
3. Drain the can of tuna and save juice for later.
4. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
5. Add diced ginger and garlic.
6. Stir and add onions, serrano chili, curry powder and cinnamon.
7. Cook until the onions turn clear / translucent.
8. Add the tuna and stir.
9. Cook for about 3 minutes then add the liquid that you drained from the can of tuna.
10. Stir and cook until liquid has reduced and mixture is thick.
11. Add salt, pepper, and cardamom.
12. Stir well then remove from heat.
13. Add potatoes and mix well.
14. Punch down the roll dough and divide into 25 to 30 rolls.
15. Roll out each roll on a floured surface so the roll is circular and flat.
16. Add the tuna filling to the center of each roll (about 2 tbsp) and pull dough around filling to form a ball.
17. Place on a greased baking pan.
18. Cover rolls with a damp towel and let them rise for about 15 minutes.
19. Remove towel and brush rolls with egg yolk.
    
20. Bake the malu paan rolls at 375 degrees fahrenheit for about 20 to 25 minutes until they start to turn golden brown.
21. Serve with chili sauce (see below).
    

Sri Lankan Chili Sauce Ingredients:
12 ounce can tomato sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch piece of ginger, diced
1 tbsp chili powder
1 cup sugar
1/8 cup vinegar
salt to taste

Sri Lankan Chili Sauce Preparation:

1. Mix together all ingredients.
2. Heat mixture over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes until it starts to boil then remove from heat.
   

Sri Lanka

Ni Su Mien Bao (Milk Crispy Bread)

My in-laws are in town for the weekend so we wanted to make something special for them for breakfast. We chose this recipe which comes from Taiwan. It looks and tastes great and is very easy to make. My friend Chwen-Li taught me how to make Ni Su Mien Bao during one of our many study breaks in graduate school.

Breads like this are apparently common in Taiwan. Ni Su Mien Bao is an extremely versatile recipe and you can substitute your own favorite fillings and toppings and achieve great results. Here's how you do it.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, cut into pads
1/2 cup milk powder
2 loaves of frozen white bread dough
3/4 cup raisins
1 egg
almonds, shaved or walnuts, crushed

Preparation:

1. Thaw 2 loaves of the bread dough in the refrigerator over night. This is how a loaf will look when thawed:
   
2. Mix sugar, butter, and milk powder in a bowl using a wooden spoon. Continue mixing until the pads of butter are broken up into small pieces.
3. Preheat oven to 180 degrees fahrenheit.
4. Cut each loaf of dough into 3 equal sized, long pieces. These will eventually be used to form a braid and form the shape of the bread.
   
   
5. Flatten each of the long pieces by hand or you can use a rolling pin.
   
6. Make a small mound of the sugar, butter, milk powder mixture along the length of the strips of dough.
   
7. Sprinkle raisins along the length of each strip of dough.
   
8. Enclose the powder and raisins within the dough by pulling the edges of the dough together.
   
   
   
9. After the filling has been added to each strip of dough, braid 3 strips together to form a loaf of bread.
   
10. Place on a greased baking pan.
11. Brush the top of the bread with egg yolk and sprinkle crushed walnuts or shaved almonds on top. The yolk will adhere the nuts to the top of the bread and also give the bread a glazed, golden brown presentation.
    
    
12. Bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees fahrenheit.
13. Bake the Ni Su Mien Bao at 350 degrees fahrenheit for am additional 15 minutes.
    
14. The finished product.
    

Related Posts / Recipes:
Bacon Asiago Bread Recipe

Taiwan

Irish Nachos

Irish Nachos is associated with Ireland in name only but was invented in one of the Emerald Isle's colonies, Chicago, Illinois at a pub called McGee's at 950 West Webster Street.

I've always considered McGee's to be the Valhalla of bar food. Their burgers and wings are worthy of the gods. However, it wasn't until my friend George told me about his annual pilgrimage from Houston to Chicago just to visit McGee's, that I learned about Irish Nachos. Since then, I've been making the same pilgrimage and you should too.

Ingredients:
Waffle fries (I used 22 ounce bag of Ore-Ida frozen)
Chili (I use 1 can of Hormel with beans and meat)
1 and 3/4 cups of sharp cheddar cheese (about 7 ounces)
1/2 cup of jalapenos from a jar
1/2 cup green onions, diced
1/4 cup black olive slices
2 roma tomatoes, diced
3/4 cup guacamole
3/4 cup sour cream

Preparation:

1. Heat chili over low heat.
2. Bake waffle fries on a baking pan according to directions on bag (usually about 20 minutes at 450 degrees) .
3. Remove pan of fries from the oven and cover them with the chili, cheddar cheese, and jalapenos. Return pan to the oven.
4. After cheese has completely melted (about 5 minutes), remove pan from oven and top nachos with guacamole, sour cream, black olives, tomatoes, and green onions.
5. Serve the Irish Nachos hot.

Ireland

Guacamole

OK, this one is pretty basic but spring is in the air and you should always have a bowl of guacamole or salsa in the fridge for a quick snack. You will also need some guacamole to use in the recipe that I'll try to post tomorrow.

PS: Only 27 days until Cinco de Mayo!!

Ingredients:
3 avocados, peeled, pits removed
1 lime
1 tspn salt
1 tspn pepper
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
3 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
2 roma tomatoes, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced

Preparation:

1. Mash the avocados up in a large bowl.
2. Add the salt and pepper to the bowl.
3. Squeeze the juice of the lime into the bowl and stir into the avocado mixture.
4. Dice 1/2 cup of onion and rinse onions with cold water in a strainer.
5. Add onions, cilantro, tomatoes, and garlic to the avocado mixture.
6. Stir all of these ingredients together and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Mexico

Caipiroska de Kiwi

One of the great things about visiting Brazil is going out to restaurants and bars with friends. The Brazilians have it down to a science and as a result, you can find a seemingly endless supply of new cocktails to try. Brazil also benefits from a wide array of indigenous fruits to incorporate into these drinks.

Caipiroska is a type of cocktail prepared with vodka instead of the ubiquitous cachaça (sugar cane rum). It is also called Caipivodka. Here is how you make Caipiroska de Kiwi:

Ingredients:
1 shot glass filled with vodka
1 kiwi
1 lime
2 tspn sugar
3/4 glass of crushed ice

Preparation:

1. Skin 1 kiwi and slice into thin slices across the core of the fruit.
2. Cut lime into thirds. Squeeze the juice of one of these pieces into a martini shaker.
   
3. Add kiwi slices, sugar, vodka, and ice to the shaker and shake well.
4. Pour and serve.
   

Related Posts / Recipes:
Caipirinha Recipe
Batida de Maça

Brasil [ print this recipe for Caipiroska de Kiwi ]

Cinghiale Recipe

I first came to know about cinghiale while watching an episode of Rachel Ray's $40/day show. She visited an Italian restaurant in Chicago and ordered it off of the menu. I searched around and found a couple of recipes for cinghiale and through trial and error put together the one listed below.

Cinghiale is a simple, rustic dish that has been popular in Italy for centuries. Originally it featured wild boar but a simple pork shoulder works great. It takes at least 3 hours of slow cooking to break down and tenderize the meat so that it falls off of the bone. As such, you may want to save this for the weekend as it takes about 4 hours to prepare.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 pound pork shoulder
1 tspn salt
1 tspn pepper
2 medium yellow onions, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 pieces of celery, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 oz can tomato paste
1 tbsp flour
2 cups red wine (I usually use Cabernet)
1 bay leaf
1 tspn rosemary
1 tspn thyme
1 tspn sage
1 box of pasta (I usually use rigatoni or farfalle)

Preparation:

1. Trim 3 to 4 inch pieces of pork that are about 1 to 2 inches thick from the shoulder. Save the pieces that you have cut and also save the central piece containing the bone.
   
2. Heat olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat.
3. Put the piece of pork containing the bone in the center of the pot with the other pieces of pork surrounding it.
4. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the pork. Brown the pork on both sides. There should be a dark brown layer of pork residue cooked to the bottom of the pot.
   
5. After pork has browned, add the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook off most of the moisture. This should take about 5 to 7 minutes.
6. Add tomato paste and flour. Stir until flour and tomato paste have combined with vegetables.
7. Add red wine, bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, and sage.
8. Cook over low heat for 3 hours.
9. Remove pork pieces from mixture. Shred the meat and add it back to the pot with the vegetables.
10. Stir pork and vegetable mixture together and serve the cinghiale over pasta.
    

Italy

Dutch Babies Recipe

The Dutch Baby was originally derived from the German pancake, Apfelpfannkuchen. It is said that it was slightly modified and given the name "Dutch Baby" in the 1930s by Manca's Cafe, a family owned restaurant in Seattle Washington.

If you don't feel like attempting to bake one of these Dutch Babies up in your own kitchen, the Oregon based, Original Pancake House chain serves up a pretty good one. If you get the chance, give it a try. It could change your life.

Recommended Equipment:
Mixer
Cast-iron skillet

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 cup flour, sifted
1 cup milk
1/2 tspn vanilla
5 tbspn butter, melted
1/2 tspn cinnamon
confection sugar

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Put cast iron skillet in oven until hot
3. Mix together eggs, flour, milk, vanilla, butter, and cinnamon.
4. Pour mixture into skillet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown on top.
5. Remove from oven and sprinkle with confection sugar.
6. Optional toppings: maple syrup or fruit such as strawberries, blue berries, etc.

Recommended sides:
Apple Sauce

Germany