Cape Verdean Calamari

Guisado de Lula

(Stew of Squid)

As Clarice Pinto and Lucy Pires, from Santiago, Cape Verde, taught Lindsay Sterling in Brockton Massachusetts. Photos by Lindsay Sterling.

Cooking time: 45 minutes
Serves: 10
Notes: I adapted this recipe slightly to avoid MSG which was in many of the pre-prepared spice mixtures they used. You may use squid or calamari in this recipe; both taste great.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs cleaned squid (a mixture of whole bodies about 4" long and legs is ideal; sliced bodies or rounds would also work)
• 3-inch-piece of yuca root, also known as cassava (optional)
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup red cooking wine
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup beer
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 small bunch fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
• 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" chunks
• 1/2 orange bell pepper, sliced
• 1 tomato, sliced
• 1 onion, sliced into triangular chunks
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp annatto or achiote powder (optional)
• 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
• 1/2 tsp chili powder (adjust to your preferred spice level)
• 1 tsp Old Bay (optional)
• 1/2 tsp chicken bouillon

Instructions

1. Cook calamari covered with water in pressure cooker under pressure for 30 minutes. If you don't have a pressure cooker, don't worry about it. Just boil it for twenty minutes in a regular pot. Your calamari won't be super duper tender like hers was, but it'll still taste great.

2. Cut/pry the thick brown skin off the yuca. Slice lengthwise through the middle and carve out the fiber that runs through the middle. It's about the size of embroidery thread. If you can't find it, don't worry about it, it may become apparent as you cut the yuca into pieces. Cut the yuca into 1/2 inch thick triangles.

3. Strain calamari and add back to the pressure cooker pot or large pot with all other ingredients, including the yuca. Cook on medium high heat, boiling for about 20 minutes until the potatoes and yuca are soft and some of the liquid has evaporated.

Tanzanian Green Bananas and Beef

Ndizi Na Mkia Wa Ngombe

As cooked with Iman Lipumba from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in Portland, Maine. Adapted from A Taste of Tanzania, by Miriam R. Kinunda.

Cooking Time: 2 1/2 hours

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1 lb. oxtail or beef with bones
• 1 lb. stew beef
• 1 1/2 lb. green bananas
• 1/2 yellow onion, medium dice
• 1 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups beef broth (from oxtail)
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 Tbsp cumin
• 1/2 inch fresh ginger, peeled and minced or grated
• 1/4 tsp turmeric
• 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro
• 3 cloves garlic, minced

Instructions

1. Simmer the the oxtail or bone-in beef in water, along with the stew beef. Once the broth gets cooking, with a large, flat spoon skim oil and foam off the top of the broth repeatedly. 

2. While the broth is cooking, peel the green bananas by slicing the skin length wise with a knife, prying your fingers between the peel and the flesh, and popping the peel off the round banana inside. Slice the banana flesh lengthwise in half, and then crosswise so you have segments. Cover the peeled banana pieces in water in a bowl until use so they don't turn brown.

3. When stew beef is tender (about an hour and a half, depending on the cut of beef you're using), remove the beef from the broth. Keep the oxtail cooking in the water longer if you would like for even more flavor in the broth. When the oxtail is tender (or you've run out of time!) remove it from the broth. 

4. In another large pot, add the oil and saute the stew beef pieces on high so they're nicely browned. Remove the meat from the pan. 

5. Turn the heat to medium, and add the onions to the pan and saute until soft. Add black pepper, cumin, fresh ginger, turmeric and chopped cilantro and garlic and stir for one minute. 

6. Mix in the tomato paste and let cook for three minutes, stirring. Then mix in tomatoes. Lower the heat to medium-low and cover the pot. Simmer until the tomatoes soften. Use a cooking spoon to press the tomatoes to help them disappear faster.

7. Once tomatoes have blended in, add coconut milk and about 2 cups of broth and stir. Once the liquid is boiling, strain the banana pieces and add them to the liquid along with the oxtail (if your diners don't mind gnawing beef right off the bone), and the cooked stew beef. The liquid should be level with the beef and bananas. Cook until bananas are soft like cooked potato. Garnish with cilantro if you like.

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Indian Creamy Spinach with Cheese Cubes

Palak Paneer

As Shweta Galway from Umreth, Gujarat State, India, taught Lindsay Sterling in Freeport, Maine.

Notes: Palak paneer is a spinach dish cooked with paneer cheese and spices. She served it with a kind of flatbread called roti. This is her quick weeknight recipe. For a more involved recipe, I enjoyed this one: www.vegrecipesofindia.com/palak-paneer. 

Click here to find Indian markets in your area. In Maine, I go to Masala Mahal, 798 Main St., South Portland, ME, 207-699-5555. 

Makes: 6 servings
Cooking time: 30 minutes (it's helpful to thaw the frozen spinach the night before) 

Ingredients

• 8-10 oz. store bought or homemade paneer
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, medium dice
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 boxes frozen creamed spinach, thawed
• 2 tsp garam masala powder
• 1/2 tsp chili powder (optional)
• 2 pounds frozen chopped spinach
• 1 tomato (optional)
• 1 inch ginger (optional), peeled
• 1/2 tsp salt
• flatbread (for gluten-free meal, serve with rice)

Instructions

1. Cut paneer cheese into 1/2-inch cubes. Fry paneer pieces in 1 Tbsp oil on medium heat in a saute pan. Turn cubes every so often. You want them to turn golden brown on many sides of the cubes. Dry the fried cheese on paper towels.

2. Add another Tbsp oil to pan and fry onions and garlic until soft. Mix in creamed spinach and chopped spinach. Mix in garam masala, chili powder, and salt. If you like you can blend a tomato and the ginger in a blender and mix that into the spinach. Mix in the fried paneer pieces to the spinach and simmer for 10-20 minutes. 

3. Eat palak paneer by breaking off a piece of flatbread and scooping up a bite of spinach and cheese with it. Repeat.

Nicaraguan Beans and Rice

Gallo Pinto

As Jenny Sanchez, from Leon, Nicaragua, taught Lindsay Sterling in Freeport, Maine. Photo by Lindsay Sterling.

Note: "Gallo" means "rooster" in Spanish; "pinto" means "spotted." The rice and beans cooked this way look mottled like a rooster's feathers.
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Makes: 4-6 servings

Ingredients 

• 1 can pinto beans, strained and rinsed
• 1 cup medium or long grain white rice (preferably not parboiled)
• 1/4 green pepper, medium dice
• 1/4 red pepper, medium dice
• ½ small yellow onion, medium dice
• 1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp salt
• about 16 cilantro leaves
• 4 ripe bananas or plantains (yellow with black spots)
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 8 oz. salsa
• 1/2 small cabbage
• 2 tomatoes, large dice
• 1 1/3 limes
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, cut in ½ inch cubes (Jenny couldn’t find the Nicaraguan cheese in the States and found that cheddar tastes great here)

Instructions

1. In a small pot with a lid, bring 1 cup rice and 2 cups water to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover, and let cook for 20 minutes.

2. While the rice is cooking, in ¼ cup olive oil in large sauté pan, saute yellow onion, red and green peppers until soft. Mix in beans and let cook for 5 minutes on medium high so beans are sizzling in the oil and beginning to brown. Turn over sections of the beans gently with spatula to brown the other sides of the beans. Once beans are slightly browned, scoot the beans into a ring around the outer edge of the pan so the center of the pan is empty.

3. Pile the cooked rice into the center of the pan. Sprinkle 1/4 tsp salt onto the beans around the rice. Mix the beans and rice together so that the beans are evenly distributed in the rice. Add cilantro leaves, cover and turn off heat.

4. Peel bananas or plantains and slice each lengthwise, then across so that you have 2.5-inch long segments. In 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large sautee pan (preferably nonstick) on medium-low heat, saute bananas or plantains in a single layer until golden brown. (If not using non-stick pan you may use more oil). You may use two pans at once or fry the plantains batches. Because the fruit is so sweet, the natural sugars can burn easily, so keep an eye on your heat and if they’re getting too dark too fast, turn the heat down. Flip each piece so both sides become golden brown.

5. While the bananas are cooking, shave the cabbage on a large cutting board into lacy thin shavings with a paring knife. Cut limes in half and squeeze lime juice directly onto the cabbage. Sprinkle cabbage with ¼ tsp salt. Toss the cabbage so that the lime and salt are evenly distributed.  Sprinkle the diced tomato on top of the cabbage.

6. Get ready to assemble each person’s plate by putting all the components of the dish next to your stack of serving plates: the rice and beans, sour cream, salsa, fried plantains, and cabbage salad.

7. Now fill a cup-sized small bowl or measuring cup with rice and beans and press down as if packing sand into a mold for a sand castle. Flip over the cup of packed rice and beans onto the center of the first plate, releasing an unusually orderly mound of rice and beans. Now make an “X” out of two banana or plantain segments on one side of the beans and repeat with two more segments on the other side. Decorate the empty parts of the plate surrounding the beans and plantains with a generous dollop of sour cream, a couple spoonfuls of salsa, and the cabbage salad. Sprinkle cubes of cheese on top of the rice and beans. Continue assembling the rest of the plates. Enjoy this fine meal!