X for Xīn Xīlán / New Zealand ~ Hokey Pokey Ice Cream

Event: BM #44, Around the world (A - Z Series)      
Choice of Country: Xīn Xīlán / New Zealand
Capital City: Wellington
Official Language: English, Māori and NZ sign language

People who follow my blog regularly might have noticed that I have been on a blogging this marathon with the theme 'Around the World in 30 Days' - cooking from 26 countries around the world, going in an alphabetical order. Today it is the turn of letter 'X' and since there is no country starting with that letter we had a choice to cook from any city in the world that started with the alphabet 'X'. 
My planning for the marathon started with this letter and without putting much thought into it, I settled on a Mexican city called 'Xalapa' in the first five minutes of my research since the city and the state that it comes from had some dishes of their own. However recently I had a Eureka moment when my daughter who was going through a story book connected to the old silk route innocently mentioned to me that Persia is present day Iran pointing to a map. I got the idea for checking out the alternative names for the countries and luckily landed here. I found 15 countries that had alternative names starting with 'X' in other languages. Valli gave a green signal that I could go with alternative names and so my pick for today is going to be Xīn Xīlán which is a Mandarin Chinese name for New Zealand.
New Zealand is an island country in the southwestern Pacific ocean. It has a diverse British-based cuisine and largely driven by local ingredients and seasonal variations. The main meal of the day when families gather is dinner which is also known as 'tea'. Lolly cake, Hangi food, Pavlova, Anzac biscuits and Hokey Pokey ice cream are some of the dishes that developed in New Zealand.
 
The recipe I had bookmarked earlier came handy earlier for today's post. Hokey pokey ice cream is a flavor of ice cream in New Zealand, consisting of plain vanilla ice cream with small, solid lumps of honeycomb toffee and is the most popular one after vanilla ice cream there. Hokey pokey is a New Zealand term for honeycomb toffee where as in the 19th and the early 20th centuries, it was a slang term for ice cream in several parts of the world. I had used honey instead of the golden syrup and these crispy bites add a nice twist to already yummy vanilla ice cream.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup golden syrup / honey
1 tsp baking soda
Vanilla ice cream to serve 

Method:
* Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil / parchment paper or a silicon mat and keep it handy.
* Add sugar and honey to a medium sized saucepan and stir constantly on low heat until it starts to boil. 

* Boil for 5 minutes more on a very gentle heat taking care not to burn the mixture. (I had checked another recipe which gave a helpful hint in avoiding this turning into a chewing mess. Cook until it reaches a hard ball consistency.)
* Remove the mixture from heat and add baking soda to the pan and whisk vigorously until the mixture starts to froth. You would notice the mixture ballooning up and once it stops, immediately pour the mixture onto the prepare sheet.

* Let the mixture cool down and once when it is solid, break it into chunks. Store them in an airtight container.

* If you are preparing your own ice cream then you can stir it into the ice cream mixture before freezing it. Or add some chunks to your vanilla ice cream.


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An InLinkz Link-up

Falafel

Falafel ~ National food of Israel & Egypt

This is going to be a part of BM # 37 under the theme of "National Foods". I am in a hurry and will update the post later. I have just given the ingredients and method as I had to update for the blogging marathon. 

Ingredients: (Make a dozen.)
2 cups soaked and coarsely ground chickpeas (and/or fava beans)
1 cup packed parsley and/or cilantro leaves
1 - 2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 big onion, finely minced
1 tsp. cumin powder
1 tsp.coriander powder
1/2 tsp chili powder / 1 -2 green chilies, minced
Salt to taste
3 -4 tbsp. all purpose flour to bind
1 tsp. baking soda
Oil to fry falafel (I used canola oil.)

Method:

* Soak chickpeas overnight in water such that they are immersed well in water. Drain them in the morning and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Or leave it to air dry. This tip really helps to keep the mixture dry. Do not cook them.

* Pulse chickpeas in a food processor to grind them coarsely. Pulse garlic, onion, parsley and chilies if using just at the end to combine. Add salt, chili powder, flour, cumin powder, coriander powder to the mixture and combine well.
Do not grind the mixture into a paste. It should be granular. I like it a bit on the coarser side and just kept it that way.

 

* I have noticed that Middle eastern bloggers or the natives who make falafels recommending to refrigerate this mixture anywhere from 30 minutes to overnight. Also some don't add any binding mixtures like the flour. I didn't refrigerate it. 
* Falafels can be deep fried, shallow fried or even baked. I chose to go with deep frying this time. Heat a pan with oil. When you drop a pea sized mixture into the hot oil, if it sizzles and comes to surface then it is ready for frying. 
* Add baking soda to the mixture just before frying. Take a lemon sized mixture and gently pat it into a disc. 

* Gently drop this into the hot oil. Repeat the step and fry as many discs as your pan can hold. Fry on low medium flame until they turn brown through out. Keep flipping in between with a spatula.

* Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain them on absorbent towels. Repeat the steps with the remaining mixture. Serve them warm.

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Fasolada

I had no idea that there were national foods until I saw it as a theme during this blogging marathon. Back in India, it was norm during our school days to learn about our national animal, bird, flower and so on but I had never come across this "national food" thing. I wondered why and it turns out that India has no national food after all. It is not surprising considering the fact that the food varies vastly from state to state there. 
When I went through the wiki list of national foods, most of the names seemed alien to me at first glance and I started wondering whether I would be able to find vegetarian recipes at all that suit my taste. A little time spent on researching those names lead to not only interesting vegetarian recipes but also this vegan recipe called fasolada from traditional Greek kitchen.
Fasolada / Fasoulada / Fasolia literally means beans. Fasolada pronounced fasolatha is a hearty, bean based soup. This healthy, filling soup is one of the national foods of Greece. White beans are slowly simmered along with the other vegetables such as onion, carrot, celery, tomato and parsley until they are softly cooked and seasoned. Olive oil is generously used in the traditional recipe but I used it sparingly.

Ingredients: (2 Servings)
1/2 cup white beans (I used navy beans.)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 big onion, finely minced
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 big carrot, peeled and cubed
1/4 cup celery cubes
Puree from 1 tomato
Few sprigs of parsley
Salt & pepper to taste

Method:
* I pressure cooked the navy beans ahead. If you don't have a pressure cooker, soak the beans overnight to cook them fast. The soaked beans then can be cooked in a sauce pan along with the vegetables.
* Heat oil in a pan and add onion and garlic. Fry until they turn pinkish.
* Add carrot, celery, tomato puree, parsley and about a cup of water. Cook until vegetables are tender. If navy beans have not been cooked earlier, they can be added as well along with the veggies. Add enough water so that the beans are immersed in water through out the cooking process. Simmer until beans are soft.
* Add the seasonings at the end of cooking, simmer for few minutes and turn off the stove.
* It is served with crusty bread and olive oil. I served it warm with bread croutons.

This is going to be a part of BM # 37 under the theme of "National Foods".

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Baleadas

I was attracted to this recipe since it was on the lines of a bean burrito. Baleadas come from Honduras and this healthy, filling meal is in fact that country's national food. It is one of the popular and original dishes of the region and is eaten as a breakfast, lunch or a light snack. When kept to the basic version, this hearty meal has only 4 ingredients - wheat tortilla, refried beans, crema / fresh cream and crumbled cheese. Going by the recipes online, cooked red / black beans, fresh cream, thick wheat tortillas and crumbly dry version of queso fresco are the ones specifically used.  However there are other variations adding extra ingredients like a mixture of onion, tomato and bell peppers, hot sauce, plantain, avocado, scrambled eggs or meat.
I went with a recipe I saw on Kraft's website and they had substitutions with sour cream and feta cheese. Just going by the ingredients in a baleada, one can guess that it would be a substantial meal and I knew that my daughter would love it. I wasn't wrong and she liked it so much that she had it both for her lunch and dinner yesterday. If your palate is like mine and prefers spicy stuff, drizzle some sauce over it.
 
Ingredients:
8 -10 wheat tortillas
1 & 1/2 cups refried red / black beans
1/2 cup sour cream
4 oz crumbled feta cheese

Method:
* I made my own tortillas with a pliable dough made out of 2 cups wheat flour, 1/8 tsp. salt, 2 tbsp. oil, milk and water. If using store bought ones, just warm them before assembling.
* You can use the store bought refried beans but I chose to cook them from scratch. I pressure cooked the black beans and just  pulsed them coarsely in a food processor adding some salt. If you prefer, mash the cooked bans to mushy, add salt and fry the paste in 3 to 4 tsp. oil for a couple of minutes.
* Spoon the warm beans evenly on the tortillas and top with the remaining ingredients you have chosen to use. Fold the tortilla in half and serve immediately.

This is going to be a part of BM # 37 under the theme of "National Foods".

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