Cranberry Orange Relish

The original recipe combined grapefruit and orange zest but I think that cranberries are tangy enough. This still have the cranberry kick but the sugar and orange sweetness tasted great with turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes. And leftover chicken from the back of the fridge. And right off the spoon.

Easily the prettiest thing cooked all morning, not that surprising when the other food was a turkey cake meatloaf. And look at the stuffing! Hogging all the photo ops.

Recipe Time: Cranberry Orange Relish
adapted from Chow site
serves 8ish

1 (12-ounce bag) frozen or fresh cranberries
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1/2 cup orange segments, medium dice

1. Combine cranberries, sugar, orange juice and zest in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes.
2. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then reduce heat to medium low and add orange segments.
3. Simmer until thickened and cranberries are beginning to fall apart, about 20 to 25 minutes.
4. Spoon into a heatproof serving bowl.
5. Cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Spicy Anchovies and Fried Plantains

Spicy anchovies (or sprats as they are called by the coworker who provided this recipe) with a mix of wild and jasmine rice and a side of fried plantains. Because the Little Apple "bleeds purple" the rice magically turned a light violet hue in the rice cooker (though I suspect it was the wild and jasmine rice getting a little too familiar with each other). Anchovies are umami.

All of the fishy ingredients, in no particular order: various types of cherry-size homegrown tomatoes, vegetable oil, red onion, jalapeno, dried and frozen anchovies (with heads removed), garlic, rampe, curry leaves, red pepper flakes, turmeric, and cinnamon.

Dried rampe and curry leaves were provided by aforementioned coworker, but check your local international market or spice seller. The rampe are like bay leaves in that you should remove them after cooking. Rampe is also called pandan, it is nice in sweet dishes too. Turmeric and cinnamon add more sweetness. The recipe called for 2 Tbs of crushed dried chili (which I assumed was red pepper flakes because that's what I had available) but you can see that there is only 1 Tbs on the plate.

Just about time to plate. On a side note, I regret not wearing gloves to cut the jalapeno. And I had to tie a towel around my face to retain some semblance of breathing after putting the spices and veggies in the hot oil.

Plantains!! Not your old bananas that you refuse to make me banana bread with. This stage of ripeness worked well for shallow pan frying slices.

Mmmm. Can we just take moment to look longingly at these plantains. I just ate them and yet....mmmmm


Recipe Time: Spicy Anchovies
this is pretty much the recipe as given, with some clarification

250grams Sprat (anchovies)
1 red onion, diced fine
3 cloves of garlic chopped
4 tablespoons oil
Turmeric ¼  tsp
Cinnamon ¼  tsp
Rampe (unknown amount, gaahhh)
Curry leaves (again, unknown!)
1 small jalapeno, diced fine
2 Tbs of crushed dried chili
Salt to taste

1. Add 4-5 Tbs of vegetable oil and fry the sprats until they turn slightly brown and crispy. (If the oil dries out add more oil). If the sprats are fried too much they will taste bitter.
2. Then add rest of the incredients and stir until the onions are cooked. Don’t over cook the onion. If you like, add a small sliced tomato at the end.
3. These are all rough measurements. So you may need to add more chili.

A special treat for you. Anchovies before cooking and before I ripped their heads off. Arghbraaiins!