First Real Food I had in Colombia

Yes, the first thing I had in Colombia was a Coffee from the Juan Valdez Café at the airport in Bogota. But once we scrambled around all morning and ended up on a six hour bus ride to Barranquilla, I was definitely getting hungry. I needed a snack.

Indian and Coco Bread hang from sticks wrapped in plastic bags.

Man selling Coco Bread on the bus in Colombia

Delicious Coco Bread in Colombia, the first thing I ate.

Fortunately at all the toll booths, there are men and women selling all sorts of things. There are armfuls of fried savory snacks with cheese, plain and bacon flavors. There are sweets and breads, popsicles and soda pops. Often people board the bus selling these delicious treats when you stop in village or at one of the local toll booths where they walk up and down between the cars and hop on buses for a short ride. I was very grateful for this service.

Stuffing my face with Coco Bread

At one point a man boarded the bus with several sticks loaded with bread hanging. What he described as "Indian bread" was apparently naan. I love naan - it's one of my favorite breads. Luckily for me he also had a "coco bread" which was naan laced with coconut. I went for that and it was incredible at the first bite. The bread was moist and slightly oily from the coconut. The inside was flecked with coconut shavings. Sweet and simple - I couldn't have asked for a better snack.

Slightly oily, but full of flavor - Coco Bread

Coconut flakes inside the wonderful Coco Bread

Recipe: Potato Carrot Yellow Curry

Though I love my meat, I can always go for a super tasty vegetarian dish. I made this simple and delicious curry over the weekend and posted it on my Facebook. My friend, Xyla, saw it and requested the recipe. I don't really have a recipe (as usual) but here's how you do it. Remember you can always add more or less of the flavors you like and especially the chili to get the amount of spice you like.

Curry might seem like an exotic dish to many people, but it's super simple. It's a Pan-Asian stew like dish popular in India, Thailand and Japan among other countries. There are many variations of curry and it's hard to put a thumb on what makes a curry. There are curry leaves used for spice as well as many forms of curry pastes and powders in many wonderful colors. This curry I'm making is more of a Thai variation of yellow curry.

You probably have everything you need except for a few ingredients that you can find at your local supermarket or speciality Asian market. You will need a can of coconut milk and yellow curry powder. Other unique spices you can add are turmeric and coriander.

Ingredients:

1 White Onion
3-4 Medium Size Carrots
6 medium size Red Potatoes (any potatoes will work)
3-4 cloves of garlic
1-2 Thai bird chilies (you can use any type of pepper, jalapeño works fine too)
1 can coconut milk (look by Asian food, Thai brand, low fat is cool too)
3 tbsp Yellow Curry Powder
2 tbsp Tomato Paste
1 cup stock (vegetable or chicken)
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
squeeze of lemon or lime
add more salt to taste

Optional Ingredients, if you want to add some more twists:

1 Tomato cut into wedges
Add some Mushrooms
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin


Directions:

Over medium heat, add butter and olive oil in med sauce pan until butter in melted. Add onions chopped in large pieces. I usually cut onion in half first, then cut into sixths. Saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook for about a minute, until you can smell it. Add carrot, potatoes chopped in large 1 inch pieces. Also add chilies. Saute for about 4-5 minutes. Add stock and stir tomato paste until dissolved. Add coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Stir in curry, salt, pepper, paprika and any other spices. Add squeeze of lime. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 35-45 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Enjoy alone or serve over rice. Trader Joe's also sells a great naan bread you can find in the frozen food section. You heat for a minute in the oven. It's great to sop up the curry.

Not-So-Brittle Brittle

My grandma makes the best peanut brittle. I love it. I made it on occasion with her while I was growing up. And by "made it", I mean followed her around the kitchen and watched everything she was doing. I decided this year to make some brittle myself. How hard could it be? One pot, three ingredients, twelve minutes. Well, unless you've been doing this 70 years, it's not as easy as it seems. You see my grandma had learned this recipe when she was a kid from her aunt "Pud". My grandma is an expert at this by now. I am not.

Not like grandma used to make.

As soon as I poured my first batch of peanut brittle, I knew from the color, something was wrong. I called my grandma to find out what it could be. She acted in disbelief as if something could go wrong, because I don't think it ever does for her. Then she assured me that the last batch she made she over cooked a little. This batch happens to be en route to me. She then told me I probably under cooked it. I realized I did. A combination of undercooking and the wet air from the rainy weather didn't allow the first batch to set. I ended up with a cross between a caramel and a nougat.

My "brittle" was so pliable, I could roll it. NOT, the texture I was going for.

All rolled up...

The moldable candy provided some interesting textures.

I set out for batch two. This time cooking it a bit longer and higher temperature. It totally worked. I didn't use peanuts this time around, I made a Sunflower Seed - Cacao Nib - Coconut brittle. It was airy, crackly and crisp. 

The final brittle turned out splendid. Sunflower Seed, Cacao Nibs, Coconut Brittle.