Brazilian Miniature Savory Pies (Empadinhas)

It’s been another crazy week, starting with me getting really sick and ending with my eldest suffering a fractured ankle. But, as they say, if you have time to whine then you have the time to do something about it.  So I decided to say Alhamdulillah and make some empadinhas!

I am truly thankful for my wonderful children, for my wonderful parents, husband, family, friends and you that come here to check my recipes.

Colombian Empanadas and “Aji”

I picked up my kids at Sunday school and my 7-year-old asks me what is for lunch. I told him I was tired and asked him how pizza or nuggets sounded. He got really upset and told me he wanted real food. My children are like that. Junk, frozen food is not something they really enjoy and I am proud of them for that. But sometimes I wish they did like this because even a Halal mama doesn’t feel like cooking sometimes.

I am still craving Colombian food. These empanadas are a bit different than the most traditional empanadas made in Argentina and Chile as they are made with Precooked Yellow Corn Meal instead of regular flour. Don’t be intimidated as these are so easy to make, even my 4-year-old can do it (see video). These empanadas are usually served with Aji, a Colombian spicy sauce usually made with jalepeno. I didn’t have any so I made a sauce I usually make to eat with steak and added some crushed red pepper flakes.

Colombian Cornmeal Cakes with Cheese (Arepas de Queso)

What I remember best about a trip to Colombia many years back was the arepas, especially those bought from street vendors. In my view, arepa is to Colombia what pão de queijo is to Brazil. Great for breakfast or for a snack, arepas are made of precooked cornmeal and can be eaten plain, with cheese or many other variety of toppings.

Brazilian Cheese Puffs (Pão de Queijo)

If you have ever been to Brazil you know that there is nothing better than a cup of coffee and a pão de queijo in the afternoon.

The other day I was reading the latest Saveur and saw an article on Cassava (we call it Yuca in my house), a root that I really enjoy and use at home. I think it is worth a read and you can find it here. I was a bit disconcerted by the corresponding recipe for the famous Brazilian cheese puffs, pão de queijo. I’ve seen many recipes for pão de queijo and I myself make at home a non-conventional recipe without eggs, as you know one of my twins has egg allergies. However I had never seen a recipe asking for yeast and flour. But, I decided to keep an open mind and give it a try. It was a disaster. The dough was not thick enough to roll and the end result was cheesy cookies as my children called them.

Champiñones Al Ajillo (Garlic Mushroom Tapa)

Spanish cuisine is one of my favorites mainly for all its tapas and seafood dishes. And, what I like about Spain is that you don’t have to spend much to eat well. In fact, I studied in Spain during a summer season which seems a lifetime ago and while there I ate very well on a paltry student budget. I would have my main meal of the day as lunch where I would go to a neighborhood restaurant or cafes and order the "menú del día," a fixed price lunch option with a couple of choices of dishes that changed daily, all with drink and bread included. Then, at night I would share tapas with friends.

Coquilles St. Jacques (Scallops in Creamy Sauce)

This is one of the dishes from my childhood. My mother had a friend who was a fabulous cook and every year our families traveled together and she would make this dish as an appetizer, served in a shell.

At home, I usually serve this as a main dish with a green salad and plain rice. So, I prefer to use large sea scallops. But if you are going to use the scallop shells, then you are better off using the smaller bay scallops. If you still want to serve as an appetizer in individual portions, serve in small ramekins which will hold the sea scallops very well.

Onion Quiche with Cottage Cheese

Making this quiche was a true soap opera. I planned on doing it for about 2 weeks and never found the time. Remember, I've recently lamented about the busy schedule of a halal mama of four. Then one day I thought, "This is it, I'm going to do it!" I thought I had enough time before picking up the twins at preschool but I couldn’t have been more wrong and had to leave with my dough resting in the fridge, the onions just caramelized and the egg/cream filling in a measuring cup. I made sure everything was well-covered with plastic and left, not being able to get back to the quiche until the next morning! I had to take the dough out of the fridge for a few minutes before I was able to roll it out and I had to mix the cream filling again. But, to my surprise, it turned out just fine and it tasted even better reheated the next day. So, my point here in sharing this drama is to tell you that you can feel free to make each individual part of the quiche ahead and bake when you are ready to serve. I like these kind of recipes!

Brazilian Shredded Chicken Croquettes (Coxinhas) and Padarias (Bakeries)

As I've mentioned before, Brazilians are very fond of snacking. Perhaps because dinner is traditionally eaten late, people always grab a bite in the afternoon. You can always find a bakery that sells not only breads, pastries and sweets, but which also includes a café selection of sandwiches, snack and good drinks. These are also popular places for breakfast on the go.

These bakeries/cafes also serve traditional savory snacks called “salgadinhos," which are very popular among Brazilians and include pão de queijo (bite-size cheese puffs made with tapioca starch), rissoles, empadinhas (bite-size pies made of buttery crust) and even snacks of Lebanese origin that have become very traditional in Brazilian cuisine, quibes and esfihas (kibbeh abd sfiha).

But the queen of salgadinhos, very popular among Brazilians of all ages is coxinha, shredded chicken enclosed in dough shaped to resemble a chicken drumstick (coxa, and from there coxinhas or small coxa) and deep fried.

Gougères (Cheese Puffs)

Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not, having the day off is a great excuse to get friends and family together. We had a very ethnic potluck at my house that included dishes from Spain, India, France and even traditional American fare, albeit no turkey.

I greeted my guests with fresh, out of the oven cheese puffs, not the Brazilian pão de queijo which one of these days I will post a recipe, but the French kind, gougères. 

Mango Guacamole

I found these Brazilian mangos at the market the other day and bought them thinking of this Mango Guacamole recipe I’d seen in Rick Bayless’ book. Since I haven’t been lucky buying mangos here in Chicago in the past, I didn’t buy many. Surprisingly, these were the best mangos I had since moving here from Brazil many years ago. Tomorrow I’ll be running back to the market for more.

Shrimp Tacos

Eid al-Adha Mubarak! Hope you had a blessed and joyous one!

Now that the day has become shorter, I really feel like I don’t have enough time to get everything done. And with the kids being off school for a week, I really have to think of dishes that will save me time in the kitchen so that I have more time to spend with them.

Bosnian American Croissants

When people think of fusion food a likely first thought is of elaborate, exotic main dishes. However, this next recipe, the third in our series on celebrating the diversity of our Muslim American community, surprisingly melds two very different traditions in the form of a wonderful baked good.

Bosnian Muslim cuisine exudes hearty warmth and comfort. While the flavors are subtle, the ingredient combinations fill you with down-home goodness. Some of the staples of Bosnian recipes are potatoes, traditional cuts of meat, peppers and hearty beans. But a Bosnian meal is never complete without the addition of a lovely home-baked good of some sort.

Moroccan Spanakopita (Moroccan - Greek Spinach Pie)

Hajj is a time of coming together for Muslims from around the world. The dutiful gather in Mecca as equals in worship of Allah. Their congregation is a beautiful representation of assimilation and acceptance of one another for the sake of Allah. Amazingly, here in America, Muslims reflect this divergence in that we hail from an astonishing 80 different countries from all corners of the world. The great diversity among American Muslims is a pure reflection of the ideals of equality at the core of our American identity - this is both fascinating and quite worthy of celebration. The following dishes are a small display of and tribute to this diversity. The fact that our food can fuse together so beautifully reflects our connection as humans. These dishes combine elements of celebrated ethnic traditions in such a way that can only be inspired by Allah's awesome palette of world cultures.

Batbout (Moroccan small pita bread)

Batbout is a small, Moroccan pita bread that is great for small sandwiches when entertaining. They are also great for an afternoon snack for your kids - mine love these filled with cream cheese. Unlike other breads this is made on top of the stove instead of baked.

Brazilian Eggplant Salad

As Eid quickly approaches I'm forced to think of what to serve to family and friends. One of the first things that came to mind is this eggplant dish because it is simple yet impressive, and very versatile. You can make it an antipasto for a sit-down dinner served with crunchy Italian bread or serve at an informal lunch with friends as a sandwich filling on batbout (Moroccan Pita Bread – recipe to follow).

 

Afghan Eggplant (Buranee Banjan) with Mint and Garlic Yogurt Sauce

I know so many people who just won't share their recipes. While they won't admit to this crime, the email they promised with the prized recipe simply never reaches your inbox. Well, enough about these people.

I wanted to share something today about the opposite kind of people, those who are always happy to share a good recipe. I've never understood why someone wouldn't want to share such a thing unless of course they were making a living off of it. After all, it is always interesting to try a friend’s take on your recipe as often the dish never tastes quite the same as yours and it's both fun and interesting to note the differences. With that said, at times I have a hard time sharing recipes but not because I don’t want to (or I wouldn’t have a recipe blog), but because many times I simply don’t have an actual recipe to share - a lot of what I cook is simply in my head and not on paper. In fact, one of the hardest things for me with this blog is trying to slow down my cooking to measure stuff so that I can post here. At the end of the day, I'm a full-time Halal Mama of four kiddos and don't cook exclusively for the blog but rather include in the blog what I am feeding my family and friends.

Cranberry Orange Scones

I don’t think I ever seem scones until I was an undergrad at Urbana-Champaign. I honestly don't recall ever having seen scones in Brazil. However, upon stumbling across these delectable treats, I came to really enjoy them. My first encounter with these lovely sweet treats was at a cafe near where my children began attending a preschool co-op in the Edgewater neighborhood of Chicago. Nearby there was a coffee shop that sold delicious orange and cranberry scones which soon became my breakfast of choice accompanied by a latte.

Tunisian Tuna Pastry (Brik)

This Tunisian recipe comes from a fellow Brazilian food blogger, Fabricia. Fabricia is married to a Tunisian and lives in Canada with her husband and adorable daughter.

Spring Rolls with Sweet and Sour Sauce

I really like Chinese food, but not your average American version of this wonderful cuisine. I love the Chinese food I used to eat in Brazil which I'm sure was adapted to appeal to the local palette. I've tried some Chinese places here in Chicago and suburbs but these days I prefer to avoid the restaurants as three of my kids have food allergies and of course there's always the halal factor to consider.

Zaalouk (Eggplant Salad)

I love Morrocan tagines as much as a full-blooded local, but I must confess what I most enjoy during my meals in Morocco are the salads and side dishes. I've posted before about how much I like eggplant so naturally, Morrocan zalouk (eggplant salad) is one of my favorite salads/side dishes. This recipe comes directly from my mother-in-law’s kitchen and all measurements are approximate according to my observation. When my husband makes zalouk he roasts the eggplant, but I know some people who boil it in water. My mother-in-law steams hers and it turns out great. Zaalouk can be served warm or cold - I prefer mine at room temperature.