Tags
cooking with hibiscus, Cooking with Starfruit Carambola, green papaya salad, Pitalla Dragonfruit, quinoa, Skillet Brownies, Where's my backpack: Food
Ten dollars = lot of potential for creative cooking!
Having two days’ vacation from the Museo Portoviejo Exhibition, I have enjoyed exploring the possibilities for this week’s photo challenges. Where’s My Backpack presented one that triggered a grand creative impulse: Food! In Latin America, just-picked fruits and vegetables all but quarrel with one another to star in the special of the day! Here’s an eclectic assortment of “What’s Cooking” in Z’s kitchen for this week’s challenge of “FOOD.”
Vegetable Market, Cuenca, Ecuador
Stuffed achojcha with green mango & camote salad
Pitalla (Dragonfruit) – Rivas Market, Nicaragua
Pitalla Salad- so great and comforting with only lemon and garlic!
Pitalla-tomato sauce over chicken & pasta- A little queso fresco added to the top would be perfect!
Quinoa Crisps with Braised Tomatoes
Hibiscus isn’t JUST for tea!
Hibiscus Gumbo over Corvina (left) or traditional style (right)
- Starfruit (Carambola) and Hibiscus make a beautiful, fragrant and delicious tea, though carambola also marries well with pork!
Careful! The juice from the Carambola/Starfruit will stain your clothes!
It’s also a great mystery flavor for Green Papaya Salad!
Green Papaya Salad
Green Papaya Salad
With all of these choices, we surely need a dessert for the finale! (…But what’s for dessert when one doesn’t have an oven?)
A creative mind improvises: Brownies in a Skillet!!!
Thanks, Where’s My Backpack, for a great challenge… but for some reason, I’m ravenous! What’s cooking, by the way?!!! 🙂 Z
Zeebra Designs & Destinations 
Hibiscus? Really? Just the plain old tropical hibiscus? We have the flowers everywhere, but I can’t remember ever hearing of them used in cuisine. The one mention I’ve seen was a rhubarb/hibiscus comport made by a company in Michigan. Interesting!
And now I’m hungry for real papaya!
Si! Hibiscus is in the same family as okra, and I had noted that it has the same (slimy) effect, so I pondered… “Hmmm, Why wouldn’t it work as a substitute for okra?”
It is really nice in salads, opened flowers or buds.. the buds are nice sauteed with onions and other vegetables (add the buds last).. Hibiscus is an amazing food; it has lots of health benefits as well, including lowering blood pressure! I pick the flowers each morning and make a tea then drink it throughout the day when I’m home!’
Z
Yum…you certainly made my stomach growl… thanks to an earlier blog we make stuffed achojcha once a week..just varying the stuffing mixture. We’ve planted it twice with the seeds from the achojchas you gave us…first time the grubs destroyed them and the second time the lizards had a feast..lol. Just planted a hibiscus..looking forward to using it in the kitchen. Another great blog..thanks!
Hey! The two attempts I made at growing achojcha ended in failure as well. The iguanas were the first obstacles, then later disease during the rainy season. Of course my absence might have played a role.
The hibiscus will give you much pleasure; from the hummingbirds that visit to the culinary options! Since the flowers drop every night, I sometimes wait until the end of the day so that they contribute to joy of the garden before sacrificing them to the culinary world!
Have a great Sunday in sweet San Clemente!
Z
Wonderful assortment of flavors – and colors!!
Muchas grrrrracias! Looking at all of the wonderful posts about food has left me hungry! I’m going to venture out for a late-morning brunch of encebollado here in Cruzita, where the encebollado and other entrees can get no fresher than straight from the sea to the table!
😉
Gorgeous. Latin American food is so full of color, it begs you to take a photo!! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! You are so right! After reading “Five Reflections” comment, I checked the spam box, and yours was one of two comments that went to spam. Your other comment made it to the post. Thanks again for your comment! Z
I can taste it all now. Green papaya salad was a favorite of ours while in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos and the carambola and hibiscus tea sounds refreshing. I feel inspired to try these recipes. Photographing food is an art in itself. Lovely!
I am surprised at how few people use green papaya in Latin America. They look at me funny when I ask for a green papaya! Thanks for your comments, oh cheerful one!
Z
Mmmm, my mouth is watering, especially over that Stuffed achojcha!! 🙂
Thanks! The achojcha is so versatile and easy to stuff, and as Mary pointed out, just change what goes inside! Z
Brilliant post, Z, I want to try every single thing you cook! I’m inspired to try cooking with starfruit and dragonfruit now – it never even crossed my mind. And hibiscus too – I love the tea, but never thought of using it in food. Hitting you up for recipes if you don’t mind. 🙂 xxx Ailsa
QUINOA CRISPS:
These are so great!
Z
Lisa, I was going to ask you for this recipe… thanks! 😉
~ Lynda
You are welcome; here’s another that is my favorite, especially when I want a comforting breakfast/brunch:
z
Wow! Amazing, colourful and exotic. Will HAVE to try starfruit with meat. And that brownie looks pretty good!
Many of my friends have starfruit trees and never use the fruit. Whenever I visit, I raid the trees and usually cook something on the spot, and of course take them home to enjoy later. Just the aroma of them alone is incredible and fills the home with a unique essence.
thanks, as always, for your tireless and positive comments!
z
I think that post like these are what I love about these themes. You see foods used that you would never know about…wow
There was one problem for me with the food’ theme – seeing the images in the morning made me hungry for everything that I saw! Yes, you are so right, and there are so many new foods waiting to be discovered in those posts!
Z
It’s not easy taking photos of food. Yours are great. Are those bananas in the top photo? sheesh!
You use such interesting ingredients I wish I could pop in for a nibble. I didn’t realize that Central American cooking included a green papaya salad. I just know the Thai version.
Most people don’t use green papayas in Latin America, so they look at me strange when I request green papayas. They’re always open to new suggestions, so hopefully they’re learning how to enjoy the green ones. One lady in Costa Rica showed me how to make green papaya ‘patties’ which were really nice.
there are many many sizes of bananas, and of course the ripe plantains. Some of the papayas are quite yellow as well. The variety and abundance of produce amazes me!
Z
The fresh picked papaya you’ve photographed and the “version” we get here, are two very different fruits.
Beautiful entry! You mde me hungry!
Si! That happened to me as well when I looked at many other posts! One should eat before admiring images of food! Z
Such a great post! Love the images, very colorful! 🙂
Muchas gracias! This was a great challenge! Z