Rhum punch

                                                                               Receta en Español

We cannot talk about Barbados without tasting one of its cocktails; Rhum punch.

The word punch comes from the indien word 'panch' that means five, it refers to the five ingredients of this drink: 

Sour,sweet,strong,weak and spicy.

In Barbados there is a poem that describes the recipe of this typical caribbean drink:

One of sour,                                                

two of sweet,                                               

three of strong                                             

and four of weak,                                 

a dash of bitters                                         

and a sprinkle of spice,                              

serves well chilled                                      

with plenty of ice.                                     

Ingredients:

•   Lime juice.
•   Brown sugar.
•   Rhum.
•   Water.
•   Ice cubes.
•   A splash of Angostura Bitters (aromatic version).
•   freshly grated nutmeg.

Method:

1-  We make a syrup , mix 50 grams brown sugar and 75 ml of water, bring to a boil until the sugar is well dissolved, (30 minutes) .

2-  Use a shaker to make this cocktail. Put inside some ice cubes, Echamos en la coctelera varios cubitos de hielo para tenerla bien now we add to the shake:

       1 measure of lime juice.

     2 measures of syrup.
     3 measures of rhum.
     4 measures of water.
     1 or 3 drops of Angostura Bitters.

3-  Close the shaker and shake for some minutes.

4-  Put two ice cubes into each cup and fill with the drink, now grate nutmeg over the cup.

  

My comments to the Recipe:

Angostura Bitters es a typical product for cocktails, it has a high alcohol content (44,7%), you should use only a few drops that provide a special taste.

This cocktail has a  wonderful taste , the mixture of the ingredients is perfect, it is not sweet, not acid, not bitter...it is perfect.

Where you can buy the ingredients:

It is difficult to find a place where you can buy Angostura Bitters in Madrid, at the end, I boght it on this web site http://www.comprar-ginebra.com/.




Barbados

Marshall islands

Recipes from Marshall islands that I have cooked:

Roasted fish with juk juk

Macadamia nuts pie

Islas Marshall

Macadamia nuts pie (Marshall islands)

                                                                               Receta en Español

Macadamia nuts are original from Australia nevertheless they are these days produced in Hawaii,California, Cuba , Costa Rica, Brasil, Kenya, Indonesia, Taiwán and  East Africa.

They are not produced in Marshall islands , however Macadamia nuts pie has become very famous in these islands, maybe because of the influence of the U.S.A.

It has a base of short pastry and it is normally accompanied by whipped cream.

Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry:

• 250 grams wheat flour.
• 5 grams salt.  
• 125 grams soft butter.
• 1 egg.
• 2 table spoons cold water.

Ingredients for the filling:

• 65 grams grated coconut.
• 220 grams macadamia nuts cut in half.
• 3 eggs.
• 180 grams brown sugar.
• 200 ml honey.
• 20 grams unsalted butter.
• 2 table spoons coconut milk.

Ingredients for the cream:

• 500 ml de cream at least 35.1% fat.
• 3 table spoons cold coconut milk. 
• 130 grams cold white sugar. 

How to prepare Short pastry:

1- Sieve flour and put it in a bowl.

2- Put  the flour in a mountain shape, make a hole in the middle , put inside sugar, salt, egg and cut butter as you see in the picture: 

3- Add water step by step and mix all the ingredients with the help of your hands until you have a dough, at this moment you should not knead the dough any more.

4- Make a ball with the dough and wrap it in cling film. Let it cool in the fridge for 1 hour.

5- Sprinkle some flour on a surface, stretch the dough with a rolling pin until you reach the shape of the baking mold as you see in the picture:



6- Roll the dough as you see in the picture, this way you can easily take it and put it on the baking mold:



7-  Prick the dough with a fork , this is to prevent the dough to swelling up once it is in the oven:



8-  Put some grated coconut over all the surface of the short pastry.

How to make the filling:

9-  Pour some honey, soft butter, coconut milk, sugar, eggs and mix well.

10-  Add macadamia nuts and stir.

11-  Pour the mixture over the short pastry.

12- Preheat oven at 190 º Celsius and cook 15 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 160 ºCelsius and cook for 25 or 35 minutes until it looks like this:

14- Let it cool.

 How to prepare the cream:

15- Follow the steps described in this article: Whipped cream with a difference , before whipping the cream add 3 tablespoons of coconut milk. It takes a little longer but the final taste is amazing.

16- Serve accompanied by the cream:

My Comments to the Recipe:

You should try this pie, the mixture of honey and sugar is not so sweet as you may think, the butter provides a wonderful taste and the coconut milk gives a tropical and soft taste.
If you let the pie stand for a while it gets better.

 

Marshall Islands

Roasted fish with juk juk

                                                                               Receta en Español

Roasted fish is very common at Marshall islands, they are used to accompany the fish with 'juk juk'  that are glutinous rice balls wrapped in grated coconut.

These balls provide the necessary hidrates to complete the dish, it is an equivalent to our bread.

In Japan and Korea you can find some dishes accompanied by rice balls very similar to 'juk juk' , here we can see the influence of these countries into the Marshall islands gastronomy.

You can use roosterfish or sole, these kind of fishes are similar to those you can find in this islands.

Ingredients:

• 1 roosterfish.
• 170 grams glutinous rice.  
• 60 grams white sugar.
• 275 ml water.
• Grated coconut.

Method

1- Don't forget we are using glutinous rice, you can see at the pictures the differences between normal and glutinous rice:

Glutinous rice

Normal rice

2-  Wash rice until you get a clean water, I had to wash it 10 times , we do this step to get rid of the starch.

3-  Pour 275 ml over the rice and let it stand for 1 hour, now the rice will absorb some water, this will make that the rice will be cooked in less time.

4-  Add sugar, stir and cook whithout a lid for 8 minutes at medium heat.

5-  Let the rice get cool, then make the rice balls with your hands , the size should be like golf balls.

6- Spread some grated coconut on a plate, roll the rice balls on the plate to wrap the balls with coconut.

8- Here you have juk juk:

9-  Now you can roast your fish. Add some salt and pepper. 
Pour some oil on an ovenproof dish.
Make 3 cuts along the surface of the fish and place it into the dish.

11-  Cook the fish in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes at 200 ºC.

12-  Cut the fish in pieces and accompany it by the juk juk.You already have this Marshall islands delicacy!.

 

Islas Marshall

Andorra

By Bromr (Self-photographed) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

«Location Andorra Europe» por Bosonic dressing - Trabajo propio. Disponible bajo la licencia CC BY-SA 3.0 vía Wikimedia Commons.

Recipes from Andorra that I cooked::

Trinxat

Andorran trout








Andorran Cream










Andorra

Andorran cream

                                                                               Receta en Español

Andorran cream has some similarities to catalan cream, the difference is that andorran cream has some whisked egg whites on top of it.



Ingredients (for 4 people):

• 1 liter milk.
• 250 grams de sugar.
• 25 grams cornstarch.
• 7 eggs.
• lemon zest.
• Water and 100 grams sugar.
• Haslf a stick cinnamon.

Method:

1-  Separate yolks from egg whites, whisk egg whites with a little sugar until you get stiff peaks:

 

2-  Mix 750 ml milk with 125 grams sugar , put into a boil and add the whisked egg whites, stir until you see that they are cooked (about 10 minutes).

 3-  Take out the cooked whisked egg whites.

4- Add the lemon zest, cinnamon and the remaining sugar to the milk , put it on a boil, once it has reached boiling point, turn off the heat and let the milk get cold.

5-  Put some sifted corn starch in a bowl.

6-  Add the remaining milk into the bowl with the corn starch.

7-  Mix well.

8-  Add egg yolks.

9-  whisk until everything is homogenous.

10-  Take the milk you have cooked at step number 4, take out the lemon zest and cinnamon. Pour inside the mix (milk, corn starh and eggs) mix well.

11-  Put on a low heat and stir constantly until you get a consistency like custard, then turn the heat off and let it get cold.

12-  Present the cream with the whisked egg whites and some liquid caramel, on top of it.



Andorra