February 2018

Dominican Style Spicy Rice with Sardines

Passover, Recipes, Sides / By

Sometimes you just need that sort of “comfort food” at hand, and for me “un locrio de pica pica”, a spicy rice with sardines, with some beans do the trick. If you have avocado on the side is even better! 😀

 

Budget friendly with great flavor

This is one humble dish and for me has always been a favorite, maybe because I have always loved strong flavors (aka sardines, herring, cod fish and weird veggies like “molondrón” (okra) lol) but also because it is highly nutritious and cheap. Win-Win all the way.

In Dominican Republic some people argue if locrio (rice mixed with either meat, fish or veggies) should be eaten with beans on the side or not (Get the recipe for Stewed Kidney Beans). I like it with beans, but also an avocado, some fresh salad and fried ripe plantains are enough Ha! Yes! We dominicans love carbs 😛

Typically in DR this rice is prepared with sardines in spicy tomato sauce (which is an horrendous spicy tomato sauce by the way) but I am not a fan of that awful tomato sauce (yuck!) so I use sardines in oil, discard the oil and add paprika for color and taste.

For this recipe you’ll need

This is how we eat it at home…

If you enjoy these recipes we share and want to see more Kasher caribbean style recipes, let us know in the comment section below and don’t forget to say hi on instagram and pinterest. We always love to hear from you!

Until next time!

 

 

I Struggle… + A Ripe Plantains & Eggplant Casserole {Vegan, GF}

Recipes, Sides / By

A few weeks have passed without posting as I was feeling a little bit “weird” (don’t even know how to describe my own emotions) but hopefully those days are coming to an end, so today, I am coming out of my shell and I want to share with you a yummy casserole I prepared for shabbath.

UPDATE: Photos for this posts have been updated so they are not “ugly” anymore, but still I am letting the blog post intact in terms of the writing, except for an update for what you can use instead of ripe plantains. Thank you to all of you who reached out to see how I am doing. I am doing much better now 🙂 

When things go wrong

This is not the best picture on earth [Photos updated March, 9] but I will go out of my comfort zone here by publishing this far from perfect post. I want to share with you my passion for cooking even though I am not “perfect”, I don’t have the perfect tools and I don’t take the perfect pictures, and sometimes things simply go wrong.

For some reason I lost all the step by step and final pictures for this recipe and to be honest, I feel like losing all motivation to continue, BUT, I have decided to publish no matter what, because I am not going to let any of that refrain me from sharing my recipes with you, even though it is so hard at times.

Dealing with my emotions

Yesterday I got to the point where I just needed to vent and I opened up about my emotional struggles and depression with a dear friend. I have being ignoring my feelings for months, and those feelings mixed with a “perfectionism syndrome” let me totally paralyzed and full of anxiety. And, all those feelings doubled when I realized all of the pictures for this recipe were lost.

Thanks to her words and the support of my family and my dearest friends I finally opened my eyes and understood I don’t have to feel guilty when I feel sad, and I don’t have to fear accepting my own emotions. I understand that it is OK to feel sad sometimes, it is OK to be vulnerable and it is OK to not be where you want to be yet as long as you don’t let that stop you from become a better version of yourself. After all, we are humans, we are all on a journey. We are suggested to change. We evolve.

(And, this is the very moment is when I think: “Why are you writing all this for all to read?” but I am going to continue… I want to share my recipes, and I also want to be me and show you the person, the human being, behind those recipes…)

What is happiness for real?

I realize that happiness doesn’t necessarily equals a smiley face all of the time and that you can be happy and grateful and still don’t feel “euphoric” or “elated”… It is so unfortunate that nowadays a lot of people think they need to be in a constant euphoric state and if you don’t feel that way you are immediately labeled as “ungrateful” and “unhappy”.

No wonders why many people think that this is how happiness “feels”. I am not doing the same mistake anymore. Even when I don’t feel euphoric I make the decision to be happy everyday, and grateful for everything that I’ve got.

Today I appreciate more my friends who ask me: “How are you feeling?” and “what can I do for you?”. It really means a lot to have such friends and it is a relief to know that you all have my back. Thank you so much for your support. You know who you are.

…

Phew! That was long!

… Now that this is out of my chest, let’s go to the beautiful-dish-with-ugly-picture recipe, inspired by the flavors of Dominican Republic. You won’t believe how easy it is! but it is not just easy, it is also free from gluten, dairy, nuts, eggs or grains!

The plantains – Eggplant Combo

To make this dish you will need a mandoline or at least a potato peeler in order to make the slices super thin.

UPDATE: Alternatively, you can use sweet potato instead of ripe plantains (I know it may be difficult to find in some places and can get a bit pricey). The flavor will be still very similar because the sweet potatoes are also naturally sweet. 

For this casserole you’ll need:

Let us know when you try this humble recipe. Hopefully you’ll try it soon despite the ugly picture, lol. You won’t be disappointed. If you try it, don’t forget to tag us #kasheribbean on instagram. We will love to see your pictures. And, don’t forget to get social on instagram and pinterest.

Until next time!
Hannah

Vegan Chocolate Chunks Cookies

Recipes, Sweet Treats / By

Hello, dears! Today we share a super easy Vegan Chocolate Chips (or Chunks!) Cookies made with flax egg and coconut oil.

I found this recipe for vegan chocolate chips cookies while I was scrolling down Pinterest looking for vegan sweet treats and desserts for a small wedding.  I love Pinterest because it is an endless source of inspiration and ideas but haven’t actually tried many recipes I’ve liked. This time I was willing to try and I was surprised by the simplicity of these little goodies and the result.  You never know what little gem you can find on Pinterest!!

These Vegan chocolate chips cookies couldn’t be easier! – Not that traditional cookies are so difficult to make anyways, but what I love the most is that you don’t have to use tons of butter!. With just a handful of ingredients is needless to say, you will have cookies ready in no time.

When I tried this recipe for the first time, I used my handheld mixer as stated in the original recipe but this can be easily made by hand with a whisk and rubber spatula. I tried both ways and honestly I cannot see a difference in the results.

I also tried this recipe with the whole lot of sugar as stated in the original recipe (it uses both brown and white) and it was incredibly sweet for my taste so, second time I reduced the sugar and third time I used just white sugar because I was out of brown. Ops! (Next time I want to try with maple!)

These cookies spread a little in the oven and after baking for the whole 10 minutes they are more on the crunchy side, but if you want them softer I guess you can bake for 8 minutes and then let rest on the baking tray, out of the oven until they have cooled down and are completely set. I haven’t tried this myself because I love crunchy stuff, but I guess you can do this to get softer-chewy cookies.

Few adjustments

Flours can differ in quality depending where you are and how the flour was made so that can be a reason why I had to adjust the flour. Another factor may be also that the recipe is in cups and I weighted in grams (this is what ensures you get the same results each time).

The original recipe asks for 1 ¼ cups or as stated in grams 156.25 – I used 157 grams- and when I baked 2 for test purposes, they resembled more tuiles than actual cookies so I ended up using 210 grams for my second and third.

I have linked the original recipe so that you can have it for future reference if you want to try for yourself (There you will find a link for an aquafaba version of the cookies. Let us know if you try it first!) and, if you want to make tuiles like cookies you can stick to the 157grs of flour. 😀

Super Easy Vegan Chocolate Chips Cookies 

The process to make this cookies is pretty simple, you start by “creaming” fat and sugar (in this case coconut oil) and mix in flax egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. Then, add the flour in few additions (I integrated a bit with the handheld mixer and then I used my spatula). Finally, you mix in the chocolate chunks or chips.

You can make this recipe in advance, wrap in clear film and store in the fridge until ready to use. When you are ready to bake, just take spoonfuls of dough and bake as directed (180ºC or 350ºF for around 10 minutes or until they have a light golden color on the edges).

You can also scoop the cookie dough on your baking tray covered with baking paper, freeze and then store in a freezer bag. Thaw and bake as directed.

I have tried to bake the cookies without thawing but they take a little longer to bake. Also, I noticed the coconut oil was melting away from the cookie dough while baking, when I placed directly from the freezer into the oven. Not sure why, so I personally won’t risk to freeze the dough again, but you can try it if you want.

The author recommends to slam the baking tray on a heat proof surface to give the cookies a wrinkled look. I didn’t do this because I forgot. Big Oops!! But will keep in mind for the next time and make sure you do it!

Now, let’s jump to the recipe

{NOW IMAGINE A PLATE FULL OF COOKIES! THEY JUST DISAPPEARED BEFORE I COULD TAKE PICTURES!)

Did you realize how easy is to make vegan chocolate chips cookies? Hope you try them soon and let us know when you try it. Don’t forget to follow on instagram and pinterest to keep up with our latest posts. We love to hear from you!

Until next time!