Have you ever wondered what hobbits eat? This question never occurred to us until one Sunday night where we used left over boiled, mashed up tubers to cover a hard boiled egg. We took this concept from a Guyanese dish known as Egg Ball. Which really is a hard boiled egg covered in a single root called cassava. After we fried up these tuber balls and were sitting down to devour them Tony said, "Sara, you cook like a hobbit and it's awesome" which then turned these tuber balls into hobbit balls. This also got us thinking, "what else have we cooked that's been inspired through the use of local ingredients and cuisine?" From this our blog was born. But if you're actually looking for foods that hobbits eat you won't find them here. But we do hope you enjoy our creations!
In Guyana you are either a pepper or sour person (I’m talking sauces here). These sauces just add a little extra kick to foods. For me (Sara), I love sour (I’ll let someone else write about pepper sauce). I think it’s the combination of spicy and sour and the fact that it’s made from mangoes that does it for me.
When we first moved to Linden we were given a 2 liter bottle of sour and I think that got us through the first month or two...we tend to add sour and pepper to just about everything. Needless to say, we have been without sour for months…sigh.
It was a Friday and I knew we were going to have pizza for dinner and I was really craving some sour sauce to dip my pizza in so I decided to give it a shot and make my own. My first batch, which I used 3 really unripe mangoes, one whole cucumber and 2 hot peppers didn’t taste like I was hoping for so I tried again. I made some modifications and it was closer to how sour should taste (the end result is the ingredients below). It’s still not as perfect as I would like but it’s tasty. I’ll keep experimenting and if I get it just right I’ll re-post.
2 green mangoes 2 cloves garlic ½ cucumber (grated) 2-3 hot Guyanese peppers (depending how hot and spicy you want it) 3-4 finger pinches cumin ½ cap full vinegar (optional) 1 cup water
Peel and cut mangoes place in one cup water in a pan bring to a boil. Grate cucumber, dice garlic and peppers. Throw all ingredients in a blender with enough water to cover the blade and blend.
Curry used to be such a foreign concept to me. I mean, we had it on special occasions and what not, but not regularly. However, when we came here it seemed like everybody ate it! So much so that we were sick of it during our first two months here, which I didn’t think was possible.It’s not a regular staple on our Guyanese menu, but, from a cultural standpoint, it is a noteworthy one. It’s worth a shot if you feel like stepping out of your metaphorical, cuisineial, cultural box or you just want something different.
Diced and peeled potatoes
Garlic
Onion
(Sweet/Bell Peppers)
Curry Powder (you can make it from scratch, but we buy it pre-mixed)
Add water to the potatoes and company along with more curry and cumin powder
Heat until it boils, and then bring it down to a simmer.
Cover and let it “curry” for about 20 minutes or so (or until you think the potatoes are soft enough). (Add a bit more water if it seems to be reducing too much.)
Serve over/with rice or Roti.
That dish on the side is a stir-fry Sara concocted. It was pretty grand.
One of Guyana’s hidden gems is their Rum. We’ve been in country for little under 7 months, and the first time we had Guyanese Rum was our first night here. I fell in love. Several times I have said that I appreciate alcohol in all its forms. From the fermented goodness that is beer (so much so as to brew it back home) to the grape-wonders of wine (thinking of learning how to make it) to the warmth and fruity flavours of spiced spirits (or any spirits for that matter from Gin to Rum to Whiskey). However, there isn’t much variety here and one can only mix so many things with Rum, but on one blessed Friday night the Linden 4 were sitting around after a wondrous meal and a thought occurred: What’s in a Pina Colada? Being Bartender back home I said "Primarily coconut milk, pineapple juice and rum." Wait? What things does Guyana have no lack of? That’s right Pineapples, Coconuts, and Rum—let’s make some Pina Colada’s from scratch!
Pineapple Coconut Rum Sugar (Passion Fruit)
Peel and cube a pineapple and place in blender with some sugar. Blend it up until it has a liquid consistency. (if you have passion fruit, peel it, cut it and de-seed it and blend that too). Set aside.
Crack open a coconut and grate/cut out the “meat.” Place the meat in the blender with some water and blend it up fairly fine. Strain out the chunks of coconut from the blender set aside.
You can either put some rum in a glass with some ice and pour equal parts of the pineapple juice and coconut milk and stir.
Or you can place some coconut milk and pineapple juice in a blender with some rum and maybe some ice and blend it up.
To continue our Mexican food extravaganza I wanted to share with you our most recent concoction. We made these for Chelsea’s birthday, and I have to say it was quite impressive. However, we may have cheated a little bit because we had to use some enchilada mix from the States, but birthdays are special things, right?Happens only once a year or something. Well, this meal made me wish everyday was a birthday. Heck, maybe I will just make up celebrations like “Gooey-Melted Cheesy Day” or “Christopher Columbus Brought Pasta to South America Day” or “It’s Hot and Humid in Guyana Day” Let’s celebrate with some enchiladas! Just thinking about them makes me want to celebrate their existence with a Christmas tree. They were real good.
6 flour Roti (or tortillas if you got 'em)
Enchilada Mix(we used powder mixed w/ water, you can also use canned sauce)
Cheese
Chicken
Black eyed Beans
Corn (We got the canned stuff rinsed as to lower the sodium content)
Diced Onions.
First, you want to butcher your chicken. Unfortunately, we don’t have boneless breasts here so we have to cut it away from the bone. Once you have it off the bone (or if you’re a lucky individual who can get it boneless than by all means do it (and know my envy for you)), then dice up the chicken into cubes.
Mix the powder with water and boil it. Add the diced chicken into the Enchilada Broth. Continue boiling until chicken is cooked. (We had to add some water and more powder due to reduction. But we also didn’t know how much broth to make, the Mix came in an unmarked container…Thanks, Emily and crew J …so if you know the measurements it should be okay. Or if you have the canned sauce, cook the chicken in that.)
As the chicken is cooking you can make your “tortillas” or in our case Roti. With flour, water mixed together, folded into balls (with some margerine), and then rolled out and placed on the tawa to cook (more in-depth instruction to come). If have some pre-made tortillas you can skip this step.
Now here comes the fun part: putting the enchiladas together! If you have an oven you can probably use a pyrex type cassorole dish; however if you’re in Guyana without an oven you must be resourceful. We used two tawas and a cooking pan (see photo below)
Place an open tortilla in the dish or pan (perhaps a little butter or oil on the bottom of the pan/dish to prevent sticking).Add the cheese, chicken (covered in sauce), corn, and onions (also covered in sauce) into the tortilla and add a bit more Enchilada sauce. Roll the tortilla up with the open sides against the bottom of the pan, so it doesn’t roll open. Do the same procedure with all your Roti/Tortillas, organizing them so they all fit into your pan/dish. *
As you fill up your dish/pan pour the rest of the sauce on top of the enchiladas then cover with a copious amounts of cheese.
Place them in the oven (not too sure about temperature), or in your pan sitting on a tawa and covered with a tawa. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until you think they’re done. Serve.**
* to make it vegetarian you can leave out the chicken, add more cheese or whatev, it will still be good.
**try them with the salsa obsession or some rice on the side. It will melt your face off with flovour.
Here was our makeshift oven. My kingdom for an Oven!
The finished product all gooey and good. Happy B-day Chelsea! This was served with lots of love.
When Chelsea and I decided to join Peace Corps we imagined going to some Latin American country where cultural understanding would come from enticing cuisine.Visions of tantalizing Tortas, bristling with barbacoa and avaricious avocado, raced through our minds, while Mole, spicily simmering for days amidst cocoa and chilies, came in a close second. Beans and Rice would sit on the sidelines happily striving to add completion to this montage of Mexican food, and then Street Tacos would laugh, their limey, cilantro and onion filled laugh knowing they are just a snack. It was a grandiose vision, perhaps a mere dream, but the bottom line is we are obsessed with Mexican cuisine.We even miss the occasional southern California specialty of carne asada fries, or the simplistic, but completely filling rice, bean and cheese burrito. Even an enchilada would do nicely, lathered in cheese and Pico de Gallo salsa. Which brings me around to this next recipe. SALSA! We have been craving it for a long time. We have pepper sauce here, which we’ll add later, but it just isn’t the same.This next entry was thrown together with the inspiration of some tortilla chips (which don’t exist here) sent for Sara from the states. It was exactly what we needed.
-Tim
6 tomatoes
3 Sweet Peppers (bell peppers) with seeds.
3 or 4 cloves of garlic
Half a medium onion
1 hot pepper (I think its called Tigers Teeth or something…HOT HOT HOT! Deseeded)
1 Tbs (maybe more, not sure) of Apple Cider Vinegar
Toss it all in a blender and blend it up until it’s the consistency you want. We made more fine, but it’s up to you. Place it in the fridge to chill or simply enjoy right there.
Side note from Sara: I just had to post something on this Salsa Obsession. For those of you who already know me, you know I LOVE salsa, especially chips and salsa! Living in South America one would think chips and salsa would be a staple right? Well, not in Guyana. So, receiving a bag of tortilla chips was awesome and making homemade salsa and having a chip to dip into the spicy tub of love was heavenly!
French toast!? Aren’t we in Guyana? Shall we call it Guyanese Toast? Because French Guiana is on the other side of Suriname, right? Names and geography aside this here recipe is a house staple. It’s really easy and it doesn’t require many resources: bread, eggs, milk, and some spice, all things readily available here. I mean, how much easier can it get? When we’re cooking for Peace Corps friends from across the nation it’s always a fan fave.
Bread
Eggs
Milk
Cinnamon and nutmeg
Crack some eggs into a bowl. (Chels and I use about 2 or 3 for us two, but the more you add the more batter you’ll make) Pour a little milk in the mix. Then sprinkle in your cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir it all nice and right.
Place slices of bread in the batter, being sure to get both sides covered in eggy-nutmegy-cinnamony goodness. (Our buddy back home says the only way to go is stale bread, but fresh works just as well). Place on a Tawa or in a pan and get both sides cooked to a little browness.
We like to stack them like Jenga set, it makes it more interesting.
Just because this is my (Chelsea) first post on Hobbit Food does not mean I have not been contributing to the deliciousness that comes out of the Linden House kitchen. To prove this, I present to you one of my contributions to our culinary adventures. This recipe is not entirely our own, as Tim and I learned how to make it in San Diego. Back home we were avid Farmer’s Market shoppers and were inspired to look up fall veggie recipes. Here in Guyana, we found similar fall favorites, like pumpkin and carrot are available year-round (although carrots are imported from the U.S.A. which I find a bit ridiculous). When we make this dish for the whole household we make two versions of the frittata, one with carrots and one without. This is because Tony is violently averse to cooked carrots. If you ask him why you will hear a story about farts. But no matter how you mix it, with or without the difficult childhood memories of carrots, you will find this vegetarian dish delicious and nutritious.
Pumpkin Carrot Frittata Ingredients:
1 small pumpkin (in Guyana it comes in slices, so we buy about 1/4 of a mondo pumpkin)
1 small red onion
2 small carrots
Stale or toasted bread
4 eggs
Geera (Cumin in Guyana)
Salt
Cooking oil
Parmesan cheese
Grate pumpkin and carrots. Dice onion. Toast bread and smoosh into crumbs (I like to put the toasted bread into plastic bags and smash it against the wall). Scramble eggs. Add bread crumbs and parmesan cheese to whisked egg. It should be a thick, glue-like consistency as it is going to hold together your pumpkin and carrot patties. Mix the pumpkin, egg-bread mixture, onion, carrots, a pinch of salt, and a pinch of cumin. Form into patties. Lightly oil pan or tawa and cook until golden brown. Flip patties and brown other side. Serve with Spicy Apple Chutney and enjoy.
Spicy Apple Chutney Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. oil
1 small onion, diced
2 apples, diced
1 cup apple cider (or any other juice you have around)
1/4 cup honey
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper or 1/4 tsp. minced fresh chili pepper
Salt
Preheat a skillet over medium heat. Add oil and cook apples and onions for about 10 minutes. Add pumpkin pie spice, hot pepper and a pinch of salt and cook 1 minute. Add lemon juice, vinegar, sugar and cider and bring to a boil, scraping bits from bottom of pan, until cider is reduced and slightly thickened, about 4 minutes. If lemon juice is not available, use additional vinegar instead. We have often made this with other juices, since apple is sometimes hard to find. Don’t worry about precision in measurements here, since you really can’t go wrong with spicy apples. Serve atop pumpkin frittatas.
This blog is dedicated to the cooking adventures of 4 Guyana Peace Corps Volunteers who have gotten very creative and resourceful with the local foods and kitchen gadgets.
Top on any foods you desire!
