Food recipe database api

Food recipe database api

Food recipe api for developers

Food recipe api for developers

Best RecipesEsi Fafao - Stuffed Papayas News Recipes

To be honest, this recipe almost didn't make it to the blog. After hollowing out the papaya, I thought, "Stuff the blog. I'm just going to eat this papaya right here, right now." But thanks to my incredible powers of self-control, I managed to get these into the oven and even hold off eating them until I had taken the photos. 

Which is a lie. 
I ate one papaya, and stuffed the other.
Pfft! You wouldn't have known.


Now, you can make this with green papaya, but I like the taste of almost ripe papaya better. It adds a sweetness to the dish, much like pumpkin or carrots. 


Serve this hot out of the oven with rice and a salad. 


Esi Fafao (serves 4)
2 papaya
1 small onion
1 red pepper
4 cloves garlic
½ cup fresh parsley
½ cup fresh basil
1 tablespoon oil
½ pound (250 grams) ground beef
1 cup grated cheese 
¼ cup breadcrumbs
1 egg
2 tomatoes
salt and pepper
extra grated cheese for topping (optional)


Preheat the oven to 350°F(180°C).


Halve the papayas. Spoon out the seeds and discard. Scoop out some papaya flesh and put that aside (it will be added to the meat mixture). Be sure to leave enough flesh all around the inside of the skin to hold the filling. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet (use foil wedges to keep them from rolling around, if necessary).


Dice the onion and pepper. Finely chop the garlic, and roughly chop the parsley and basil. 


Heat the oil in a frypan and brown the beef. Drain off the fat, then return to the heat, adding the onions, peppers and garlic. Cook until fragrant then turn the heat off. Cool slightly, then throw in the rest of the ingredients, including the reserved papaya flesh. Season the mixture to taste. 


Divide evenly between the papaya shells, top with a little more grated cheese if desired, and bake for 50-60 minutes. 

Best RecipesMasi Samoa – Samoan coconut cookies News Recipes

By panipopos

In Samoa, these are usually sold in neatly piled-up stacks which are wrapped in unmarked plastic bags. They look very plain, and on looks alone, you wouldn’t expect much flavour from the masi samoa.

But don't let their bland golden surfaces deceive you.

Just one bite of this buttery, flaky, not-too-sweet, shortbreadish cookie will have you going back for more.

Which is probably why they're sold in stacks and not one by one.

And a word of warning. When masi samoa are baking, the whole house will smell like Willy Wonka's cookie factory (if Willy Wonka had a cookie factory). You cannot hide these from those you live with.

Masi Samoa (makes 24)

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a cookie sheet or, for easy clean-up, line a cookie sheet with baking paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the coconut milk and vanilla and beat some more. Add the flour and baking powder and mix until it forms a dough.

Knead lightly then roll the dough out thinly (less than ¼ inch; 6mm thick) on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 3 x 3” (7.5 x 7.5 cm) squares. Transfer to the cookie sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from oven and cool completely.

These are rich enough that they don’t need any spread, but I know people who like masi samoa with a thin pat of butter and strawberry jam.

Enjoy masi samoa with a piping hot cup of – you guessed it! – kokosamoa (Samoan cocoa).

http://panipopos.blogspot.com/

Best RecipesAlaisa fa’apopo – Coconut rice News Recipes

By panipopos


If you ever have leftover rice, and you can’t make fried rice (like me), this simple Samoan recipe is a nice way to give it new life. I use the term “Samoan recipe” loosely though because wherever there are coconuts, there is a version of this dish. Thailand, India, the Carribbean - they even eat this in East Africa! There it’s known as wali wa nazi (wali = rice, nazi – coconut). Ours is called alaisa (= rice) fa’apopo (= coconuttified).

OK, I’m no linguist.

I’ll just stick to cooking.

Alaisa fa’apopo (serves 4)

2 cups (400-450g*) long-grain rice

water to wash the rice

2 cups (480ml) water
1 cup (240ml) coconut milk
½ - 1 tsp salt 

* Weight varies depending on type of rice.

Wash the rice well. Put the rice and measured water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Once it boils, turn the heat down as low as it’ll go, and leave to cook, tightly covered, for about 20 minutes until the rice is has absorbed all the water and the grains are cooked through. Turn off the heat. Add the coconut milk and salt to the cooked rice and combine well. Leave for about 10 minutes for the rice to absorb some coconutty flavour.

If you’re using leftover rice, omit the water. Simply mix the coconut milk with the salt in a saucepan, then add the rice. Cook over gentle heat until the rice is heated through, stirring frequently so it doesn’t burn.

Serve hot or at room temperature. 

In Samoan cuisine, this is not a side-dish, more like a savoury snack.

Wash it down with a hot cup of kokosamoa (Samoan cocoa), or a strong cup of coffee.

And the chopsticks are for display purposes only. Samoans eat this with a spoon.



http://www.samoafood.com

Best RecipesSuafa’i – Banana soup News Recipes

By panipopos

This Samoan dish wouldn’t win any beauty contests. In fact, as a child, I used to think that suafa’i looked like brain matter, but that didn’t stop me from going back for seconds and thirds.

Suafa’I is a dessert/breakfast soup which can be eaten hot or cold. Versions of this soup can be found across Southeast Asia, but as far as I know, Samoans are they only ones to boil the heck out of the ripened bananas.

Use bananas that are past their prime and too mushy to eat, preferably covered in black spots, because these are sweeter and softer than perfectly ripe ones.

Tapioca pearls come in different sizes. Use the smaller ones because they cook faster. You can also use sago if tapioca is unavailable.

Suafa’i (serves 6)
8 medium overripe bananas
4 cups (1 litre) water
½ cup (100g) small tapioca pearls
1 cup (240ml) coconut milk
¼ - ½ cup (50-100g) sugar (optional)

Peel the bananas and place in a medium saucepan. You can roughly chop the bananas if you like, but it isn’t necessary as the boiling will soften them to the right consistency.

Add the water and then bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Break the bananas up with a wooden spoon, fork or masher.

Sprinkle the tapioca into the saucepan while stirring. Don’t add the tapioca all at once or it might clump, and keep stirring to separate the pearls and to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.

Add the coconut milk and then simmer over low/medium heat until the tapioca is cooked, about 15 minutes. Stir frequently. You’ll know the pearls are done when they turn translucent (no frogspawn/white eyeballs looking at you). 

Finally, taste the suafa’i. Sometimes your bananas will be sweet enough that you don’t need to add any sugar. If you like a little more sweetness, then add sugar to taste. 

Remove from the heat, leave for about 30 minutes to cool and then serve in a bowl or cup. You can also cool suafa’i completely, and refrigerate it. Once cooled, serve it as a snack or dessert.
 

* When the tapioca is mostly done, you can turn off the heat and the tapioca will cook through with the residual heat.
* Don’t leave the tapioca to simmer unchecked or the suafa’i might burn onto the bottom of your saucepan. 

http://www.samoafood.com

Best RecipesVaifala Recipe Video News Recipes

By panipopos


So I'm drinking the vaifala I made as I'm writing this and, believe it or not, this drink is even better the next day. Just posted up a video for the vaifala recipe, so you can see how simple it is to make.





See, told you it was easy!
Enjoy!


http://panipopos.blogspot.com

Best RecipesPanipopo - Sweet coconut buns News Recipes

By panipopos


pani = buns
popo = coconut
pagipopo in the vernacular

My aunt makes amazing panipopo, massive trays of them, and sells them from her shop in Samoa. Unfortunately the only clear recipe I've ever been able to get out of her is for the panipopo sauce ("equal parts coconut milk and water, then sugar to taste"). So here is my version which pairs a simple bread bun with Aunty's coconut sauce. These were usually eaten after the evening prayer, with a steaming hot cup of kokosamoa (Samoan cocoa), but I have been known to eat them as a midnight snack and then again for breakfast the next morning.

Panipopo (makes 12)


1 package (or 2 and ¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 cup (240ml) warm water
¼ cup (50g) sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons (30ml) vegetable oil
2½ - 3 cups (313-475g) all-purpose flour or bread flour


Put the yeast and water in a large bowl and leave for 10 minutes.
What you're doing here is giving the yeast a headstart before everyone else jumps in the bowl. You should see your yeast froth to the surface of the water. If you don't see any froth then a) your yeast is old or dead and you need to get some fresh stuff, b) your water was too hot and you burned them to death or c) did you wait 10 minutes? did you really? i mean, like really REALLY?


Add all the rest of the ingredients and mix to form a soft dough.
It's difficult to give an exact flour measurement because flours differ from place to place. What you're looking for is a cohesive mass of dough, so add the first two cups of flour, mixing after each addition, and then add the last cup in bit by bit until you see your dough come together.


Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 to 20 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic.
This is the most work you'll have to do for these buns, I promise. You can add a little bit of flour from time to time to keep the dough from sticking to the surface or to your hands, but don't add too much or you'll end up with tough dough (tough dough = tough buns).


Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and leave to double in volume. (Optional step: Punch down and leave to double in volume again.)
In my 30°C/86°F kitchen, my dough took about 1 hour to double in size. The dough will prove (rise) at almost any temperature except freezing, it just depends on how hot/cold your kitchen is. Better to go by volume here, and not by time.


Punch the dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Shape the buns and place in an ungreased baking tin. Cover and leave to rise until almost doubled.
So there are two common ways to shape the buns:

• Roll into a long rectangle, and then roll it up. Slice into 2.5 cm (1 inch) or any even-sized rounds.
• Pinch off balls of dough and roll into balls.

Some say that the jellyroll-style buns soak up more of the coconut sauce, but I've made them both ways and they're pretty much the same.

Because of the size of my oven, I used two 20 cm round aluminium tins, but I think the buns look better in rectangular or square pans. There's something about seeing all these uniformly shaped buns lined up in a row. The important thing about your baking pan is that it is deep enough to hold the buns and sauce without it bubbling over. Oven cleaning - not fun.


While the buns are rising, preheat your oven to 190°C/375°F, and make your coconut sauce.


Coconut sauce:
½ can (200ml) canned or fresh coconut milk
½ can (200ml) water
½ cup (100g) sugar
Combine all ingredients well.
If your coconut milk is a little coagulated, just give it a stir and it'll be right as rain. Try to use a good quality canned coconut milk (my mother thought the thicker, the better) but as always, fresh is best.
If you taste the sauce as it is now, you might find it almost sickeningly sweet, but don't worry, because during baking, some of the sugar is absorbed by the buns.


When the buns have doubled in size, pour the sauce over them. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and the sauce is bubbling up around the edges.
Let them cool at least a half hour before cutting into them. This gives the buns time to set up, and also gives the sauce a chance to thicken slightly.


* Recipe can be doubled.
* Buns can be frozen in baking pans immediately after shaping and then baked the following day. After you take it out of the freezer, just leave it to double in size (will take 2-3 hours to defreeze and then rise), pour on your sauce, then bake.
* Keep leftovers (ha! what leftovers?) in the refrigerator.

Usually served upside down (sauce-side up) with generous helpings of sauce, but I like to eat them right side up, so I can grab the dry part with my hands, eat off the coconut-soaked part, and then redip the drier bread in the sauce as I work my way up the bun.


Good luck guys. I hope you try these because although the recipe seems long, if you cut out all my commentary, it's actually very short. And yes, these do take some time, but remember it's the pani's time, not yours.


http://panipopos.blogspot.com/