Negro y Amarillo.

I bounced out abroad in early March and returned about a month ago. I like to say I didn't take a trip, I had a journey. One of my first dishes I made when I returned, after battling a few days of intense indigestion, brought some of the overseas flavors home. Above is cumin swai fish with black beans and corn over brown rice. 

Jasmine Rice.Coco Black Beans.Curried Cabbage.

121st & Manhattan Ave

{Photo of Last Week.}

Collards & Black Beans 2.0

Hey now! So the first post was probably my second or third time ever cooking collards {I know, I'm surprised my black card wasn't revoked earlier.} and I cooked canned black beans. Last Friday I made collards again {they came out brilliantly}, black beans from scratch {also brilliant}, and I sauteed some shrimp in butter and tumeric {so f'n good!}. I've been eating this meal everyday for about a week now and I still love every bite of it. 

Collards & Black Beans over Basmati Rice

Yeah you're going to be seeing these ingredients a lot over the next few weeks. I'm on a mission to make wicked collards & dry beans instead of canned. I've already made some progress, but wish me luck!

Shrimp & Strings in Black Bean Sauce.

So you may remember I made a huge batch of black beans a few weeks back. I used most in a veggie chili and had a hankering to make an Asian black bean sauce with the rest. Funny enough, there aren't many recipes for it online. I whipped together a pretty good one on the fly. I warmed the black beans with fish sauce and roasted red chili paste. The sauce & paste are rather salty so be gentle with them. I let the ingredients simmer and mashed the beans up once they became softer. Add water the mix becomes more of a paste than a sauce. So once it was all good & wicked, I threw in the shrimp and string beans. Very delicious & not too backbreaking. 

Veggie Chili & Plaintain Chips Revisited . . .

This is a much simpler and cheaper veggie chili. I've had a can of small red beans in a cabinet for way too long and it was about time to bust them out. And it goes a little something like this: first I cooked a big pot of dry black beans. Then I removed about 2 cups of them, added the red beans, corn, tomato sauce, cumin, pimenton, and cayenne pepper. Wicked. Now why that was simmering I got out my new mandolin, which certainly makes life easier, and sliced up some green plantains, fried them in peanut oil, and hit them with some salt & garlic powder. Fab. 

Dark & Lovely!

Mmmm, sweet lusciousness! Sometimes I like my beans how I like my men, dark & delicious. This was my first attempt at making black beans from scratch. I must admit, it started out as a bit of a disaster. I used maggi cubes which gave them a strange taste. But this bitch can cook her way out of most situations. I had a friend over so I was a tad distracted, but I think it went something like this: chopped garlic, olive oil, kosher salt, maggi cubes {would not necessarily suggest, but a veggie bouillon cube does the trick for my friend Camilla.}, cream of coconut, fresh carrots, and I feel like I threw in some coriander. They grew more and more delicious as the spices settled. Then I paired the beans with some maduros {sweet fried plantains}, pan seared shrimp, and basmati rice. It was heavenly!