Global Gastronomy (original) (raw)

This week's recipes were kindly brought to you almost entirely by Boliviaweb. Like the Internet, but Bolivian. Important lessons from Boliviaweb?

1.) There is never enough Paprika.
2.) If you think there's enough paprika but it's -still not spicy enough-, just add a tonne of chilli!
3.) Omlettes and Aliens are not as far apart as you think.
4.) Trust the Bolivians. They know what they're doing, even if seems insane and may kill your face.
5.) Pasties are not Cornish. They're Bolivian.

And after that brief preamble- it's on with the show!

Salsa Cruda

Firstly- Salsa. Or 'Sauce', which is what the word means. It's a staple the world over, but no-one makes it quite like the Bolivians. Why? You may ask. Well...

½ cup white onion, finely chopped
½ cup tomato, peeled and finely chopped
1 locoto or chili pepper, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
Preparation:

Mix all the ingredients. Add drops of olive oil if desired.

Note that the chilli is not deseeded. Also note that 'Cruda' means uncooked. Yes. That's right, uncooked chilli seeds. As capsicum, the active ingredient in chilli peppers is heat activated, the short version is that none of the capsicum/heat is lost during preperation. So it goes straight to your face. Having said that, the olive oil helps (somehow, you'll get used to this), so that it doesn't actually melt your lips. Although the combination of foods shown here will give the larger part of your digestive tract a fairly good work out.

Mighty Empanadas!

For the pastry-
6 cups flour
3 eggs
1 dash salt
2/3 cup melted butter
1 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons sugar
1 cup warm water

for the filling:

1/2 cup of butter
½ tablespoon ground cumin
½ tablespoon black ground pepper
½ tablespoon crumbled oregano
1½ tablespoon salt
½ cup cooked green peas
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ tablespoon vinegar
½ cup parsley, finely chopped
2 cups white onion, cut into small cubes
1½ cups green onion, finely chopped
1-1 1/2 lb ground beef (or about 700g mince)
as much cayenne pepper as you can manage. The original recipe asks for 1 cup of the stuff mixed with water. It doesn't specify how much water but it still seems like a terrifying idea! I just put a lot in. And then some more. And then a bit more. Just to make sure.

Brown the onions in the butter, then add the rest of the filling except the beef. This should look thick and spicey and brown, and smell very much like your local mexican restaurant, and if you're foolish enough to try it before adding the sugar and vinegar it'll wait a few seconds before casually blowing your teeth back through your spine. Some how, they really do help. Brown the beef seperately, drain it, and then add it in. Set aside this lot and make sure the cat can't get anywhere near it.

Next-

1. Place flour in a large bowl and add the melted butter; mix well.
2. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each.
3. Dissolve the salt and sugar in the warm water; add to the flour mixture and stir until everything sticks together.
4. Turn the dough out onto a floured cutting board and knead, adding flour as needed.
5. When the dough is"dried" with the flour you've added, separate it into 20 small balls of dough.
6. Using a rolling pin, roll out each ball on a lightly floured surface, creating a small tortilla. There's a fine art to getting the right amount of pastry for each, not too thick, not too thin. After about 5 or 6 of them you'll probably get it right. And yes, they are -supposed- to look a lot like cornish pasties.
7. "Add 1-2 heaping tablespoons beef to each tortilla.
8. Lightly moisten the outer rim of the tortilla with water, fold dough over and, using a fork, crimp edges.
9. Heat oil in a deep pan and fry saltenas in oil until lightly browned.
10. Remove from oil, place on paper towels, and brush each with melted butter if you like (or want a heart attack).

Serve with salsa.

Picante de Pollo yes, spicy chicken. there's a surprise

3 pounds chicken, divided into parts. One large chicken boned seems to do the job.
¼ cup ground cayenne pepper
2 cups of white onion, cut into small strips
1 cup tomato, peeled and finely chopped
½ cup fresh locoto or chili pepper, finely chopped
1 cup green peas (frozen will do)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon crumbled oregano
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon salt
3 garlic cloves, peeled, chopped and roasted (or not roasted if you can't be arsed).
3 cups broth or water
2 spoonfuls oil
½ cup parsley, finely chopped
Preparation:

Again, you might choose to downscale the paprika / chilli element. I did, which lead to a dish that's very subtly spicy and waits a little while before the burn. If you want you can just go for it, but don't say I didn't warn you.

Dump all the above (except the parsley) in a biiig pan/casserole. Make sure the water/broth just covers the ingredients, if there's not enough, just add a little more. Turn up the heat so that it boils, and then turn it down to a simmer. Cover the pan and pretty much just leave it for an hour and a half. When you come to serving it (with the salsa, empanadas and chuño), take a little of the goo from the broth, and arrange that with some parsely to make it look all pretty like.

Chuño Phuti

This is a dehydrated-frozen potato side dish. I have no idea what chuño actually looks or tastes like. But trust me when I say that it works fine with normal potato. If you see some -actual- chuño, let me know what it's like. Cam suggested from the description that it might be a little like Smash. So I mocked him. This whole recipe is basically a Bolivian version of a Spanish omlette. I think.

Ingredients:

½ pound dried chuño
2 teaspoon salt to cook chuño
¼ cup oil
½ cup white onion, finely chopped
¼ cup tomato, peeled and finely chopped
1 fresh cheese, crumbled
3 whole eggs
1 teaspoon salt
Preparation:

1. One night before preparing, put chuño to soak in lukewarm water.
2. On the following day, peel chuño, removing all its rind. Cut chuño into four parts and rinse with water several times until the bitter flavor disappears.
3. Put chuño to cook with enough water and the two teaspoon of salt. Once cooked drain all of its water.

Alternatively- peel and boil some potatoes.

From here, stir fry the onion until it's browned nicely. Add the tomato and salt, mix and let cook for about five minutes. Add the eggs and mix again. Add chuño / potatoes, mix well and let cook for about five more minutes.

Just before serving, add 1 fresh cheese and mix very well over a low heat. I'm not entirely sure what 1 fresh cheese is. However, one recipe I saw suggested that you could use mozarella, and another had a photo of one that looked like mozarella. So... we used 1 fresh mozarella. The result tastes -great-, but does look a little like something from John Carpenter's The Thing. I may well cook it again at halloween.

With all the above I can happily recommend Cusqueña, a very nice Peruvian beer. It's as close as we could get.