Reibekuchen

I am always looking for new ways to use up potatoes.  Usually I will just boil them in salt water (Salzkartoffeln), which is surprisingly good.  I also mash them up to make mashed potatoes or fry them up with some sausage and onions.  Nothing particularly creative.  Today, though, I thought I would make Reibekuchen.  Reiben means "to rub", so the potatoes are grated (along with the onions), and Kuchen means cakes.  They have a lot of names in different cultures, like "latkes" in Jewish culture.  They are quite common in the Rheinland region where my family comes from.

I wanted to find the best way to make them and didn't want to do a research project.  I looked at a few recipes on a German recipe app and went from there.  I knew that a big decision was going to be how to handle the moisture.  Too moist and the oil cools and you end up with fried, oily mush.  Too dry and the pancakes come out, well, dry.

I ended up with the last of the potatoes putting them in a sieve.  The excess liquid drained away, but the mix still had enough liquid to keep the pancakes moist.

I oversalted a bit, but they still came out fine.  I get confused sometimes between an EL (eating spoon or tablespoon) and TL (teaspoon)

A quart cup of sour cream is a nice addition

Don't use extra virgin olive oil.  Extra virgin olive oil is lousy for stir frying, as it has a low smoke point and all the nice aroma and flavor components boil away.  Stick with basic olive oil or some other veggie oil.

Reibekuchen

2 lb potatoes (I used Yukon Gold).
1 onion
3 tablespoons AP flour
2 eggs
1.5 Tbs salt
white pepper to taste
olive oil, non-EVOO

1) Grate potatoes and onions
2) Add the rest of the ingredient except the oil and mix
3) Allow to sit 15 minutes
4) Add to a sieve for a couple of minutes
5) Add oil to cover the bottom of the pan and heat over medium high.  Adjust heat as necessary to brown the pancakes relatively quickly without blackening them.
6)  Drain on paper towels.  They should be nicely browned on the outside and gooey in the middle.

Trini Cincinnati Chili

I've joked around with my wife about how I was going to open a food cart devoted to vegetarian Cincinnati chili and I would make a whole range of varieties, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, etc.  Well, I thought I'd start with Trini style.  I think this cuisine can provide some great, unique flavors.

The first ingredient has to be green seasoning (Green Seasoning).  This is classic Trini ingredient, a lot like herbal curry.  I have a ton in my freezer, so I am ready to go.

One trick that I use over and over with Trini cooking is caramelizing some sugar.  It takes some patience and skill, but it is cool and adds some nice flavor.  You could probably replace with brown sugar if you aren't adventurous.

Trini food tends to be really hot and I'd love to toss in a bunch of scotch bonnets, but my wife would kill me.  My chili powder is already hot, so I just left it out.

In Trinidad they tend to use pigeon peas instead of lentils, so I made this switch.

I switched out some coconut milk for broth.  One can might be too much, but might as well use it all up.  I thought this would be a good Caribbean touch for extra creaminess.

The vinegar switched out with lime juice and hot sauce

I was vacillating about adding the tomato sauce, but ended up it in.  The flavor was a bit flat without it.

 The final dish was good, but very different from Cincinnati chili.  It was sweeter from the sugar and the coconut milk which I tried to balance with salt, acid, and Pickapeppa sauce.  Cincinnati chili is fairly sweet as well.  The chili powder was pretty mild, but the green seasoning came through nicely.  The pigeon peas had a nice crunch to them.

I'll have to spend some time thinking about what improvements I might make.  I might try a Jamaican version next with jerk seasoning and calalloo and use that result to reflect back on this recipe.

Here is the recipe::


Trini Cincinnati Chili

1.5 Tbsp Pickapeppa sauce or Worchestershire sauce
1.5 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 cup green seasoning
1/2 tsp thyme
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp white sugar
1 lb dried pigeon peas (toovar or toor dal)
1 Tbsp salt
1 1/2 cups veggie broth
1 can coconut milk (about 1 3/4 cups)
8 oz tomato sauce
1 Tbsp hot sauce

1)  Rinse the pigeon peas with water to remove any dust.  I will fill a pan with peas and water, rub the peas with my fingers, drain, and repeat until the water stays relatively clear.
2) Mix sugar with teaspoon of water and add to a pan
3) Heat until the sugar melts.  The water will evaporate and the sugar will melt and start to turn brown.  You don't want it black.
4) Quickly add the broth and dissolve the sugar.
5) Add the rest of the ingredients except for the hot sauce and lime juice
6) Simmer unit the peas are soft
7) Mix in the hot sauce and lime juice.
8) Served over pasta with shredded cheese, red beans, and onions.