Every country that I have visited has at least one food that I just cannot get out of my head. I may have some luke-warm memories about the food overall (cough cough Peru), but man oh man, there has to be at least one gooey or glorious concoction that haunts my dreams. Picarones are that Peruvian perfection. Granted, there is no way I could ever live up to the sizzling standard of that little old woman, sitting on a stool next to a giant pot of boiling oil, poking at the dough with her wooden stick and letting those babies float in the oil till they turn golden brown. But, I just had to try. So onto the baking. Picarones are essentially squash donuts, and the recipe is not that complicated (especially when you make it tesla-style). I cubed one of those squash
crescents that you can get at the market for a buck (easier than splitting one yourself) and boiled it in water with a bunch of cinnamon for 10min. Then I mashed it together with a couple of eggs and some salt. I let 2 cups of the water cool down to yeasting temperature and proceeded to mix it with one of those packages of yeast. After the yeasting, I added the water to the squash and eggs, and then slowly added flour until it was a good, sort of post-pancake/pre-bread texture. Oh, and you probably want some sugar to sweeten things up a bit. Let it sit for an hour and shazam! you're ready for frying. The best part about these donuts (ok, one of the best parts) is that they fit perfectly into the toaster for days to come! The other best part is that they have squash in them so I can pretend like they're h
ealthy! Really, you can't go wrong. Mmmm.....Picarones. Oh, and I threw in this picture of well-executed picarones so you can see how the tesla-substitute compares. All of my food may look wonky on the outside, but on one hand, I haven't been frying picarones by the side of the road for the last 40 years, and on the other hand, it tastes good and that's what counts? Right? At least when I'm cooking....I think I probably should have cut down the recipe a
bunch and gone for a thicker texture, but damn! it was calling for a friggin' pound of flour!
So yes. Add more yeast and flour for fluffier picarones. Top with honey, jam, peanut butter, nutella, cinnamon and sugar....or all of the above concurrently. Here's an
official recipe if you are interested.
So I was gifted with a Crockpot a ways back, and I was a little unsure how to make best use of this crafty culinary machine. It kinda of seems like something that can only be used to create a stew of some kind. Lo-and-behold, my first attempt of Crockpot cooking was none other than the legendary vegetarian chili. Scrumdidiliumptious. This is when I realized that the gift of the Crockpot is that you can make something delicious for $10 and then eat it for a week straight! A metaphorical Jesus figure for the 
monetarily disadvantaged! And Crockpot cooking can really be extended to really any sort of saucy dish. And so my curry was birthed. I based this beauty on a Burmese egg and okra curry from one of my new favorite restaurants, Burma Superstar. Of course, my idea of referencing a dish is having at least 45% of the same ingredients (omg, it's almost like Taco Bell....). Basically, I fried up a bunch of onions, garlic, carrots, jalapenos and other assorted peppers, fresh ginger and spices and then pureed it and threw in the Crockpot with bell peppers, tomatoes, a bunch of coconut milk, more spices (mostly cayenne, tumeric, chili powder, pepper and salt) and some okra. Apparently the key to o
kra is laying it out to dry on paper towel for 30 minutes to avoid sliminess. It's my new goal to try and use as many of the vegetables at my local markets as possible. And it might be a lofty one since I have zero idea what to do with a durian or a bitter melon! Oooh. And I also cracked two eggs right into the Crockpot and let the
m cook with the curry = delish! Finally, I sauteed some mushrooms with butter and threw that in towards the end. All in all, a very successful dish. And perfect for the wonders of the Crockpot! Who knows what else I'll cook up.....literally!
