Brazilian Chocolate Balls "Brigadeiro"

Debora from Brazil taught us how to prepare Brigadeiros. Here is a brief explanation by her:

Brigadier is a Brazilian typical birthday parties' food made of condensed milk and chocolate. It is called Brigadier because of a Military who was running the presidency election in the early nineteen's. In his campaign he served this chocolate balls to people on the streets to catch attention. People gave the name Brigadier to the little sweets because it was the only thing they remembered from the presidency candidate.

Ingredients:

1 can of sweetened condensed milk (preference "La lechera" because it is more consistent)

1 tablespoon of butter

3 tablespoons of chocolate powder

Chocolate sprinkles

Small baking cups

Preparation:

In a pot mix all the ingredients and cook it in medium-low temperature until it is a little firm. (it will take approximately 10min).

You can also cook it into the microwave. Mix all the ingredients inside a glass bowl and cook it in the high temperature for 12-15min. (Mix each 4 minutes to avoid burning the cream).

 After that pour the firm cream on a plate and wait a few minutes to it cool down. Spread butter on hands and make little balls. Roll the balls on a bowl filled with chocolate sprinkles. Place the balls inside small baking cups.

Serve.

Indian Cooking

Gobi Manchurian

Ingredients:

1 lb cauliflower
4 tbsp corn flour

4 tbsp Maida (white refined wheat)

1 tbsp coriander powder

4-5 minced green chili

½ tsp ginger paste

½ tsp minced garlic

1 chopped onion (medium)

1 chopped green capsicum

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp Garam marsala

1 tbsp red chili powder

Salt + pepper

Oil (to deep fry)

Water (to make batter)

For the batter mix corn flour, Maida, water and spices (Garam marsala, red chili powder, salt + pepper, ginger, garlic). Dip the cauliflower florets in the batter and deep fry then until they are crispy brown.

Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan. Fry onion and chili until they are light brown. Then add vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, coriander and capsicum. At the end add the fried cauliflower and the left over batter (to thicken the gravy).

German Soft Pretzels

Recipe for Soft Pretzels (“Laugenbretzeln”)
adapted from Alton Brown's recipe for soft pretzels.

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

• 1 1/2 cup of lukewarm water
• 1 package dry or fresh yeast
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 oz melted butter
• 22 oz flour (about 4 1/2 cups)
• 2tsp salt

For the Lye bath and decoration:

• 40g (~1 1/3 oz.) food level Sodium lye (NaOH) in powder or pearls (in the US buy at Essential Depot)
• 1 l (ca. 4 cups) water
• Kosher salt or Pretzel salt for sprinkling

Preparation:

Dough:

1. In a bowl, mix the lukewarm water, yeast, and sugar/honey, and let it rest for ~5mins until the mixture  looks foamy on top. Melt the butter.
2. In a large bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer if you own one), mix the flour and the salt, add the yest mix and the melted butter (make sure it has cooled down a little so it doesn't kill off the yeast bacteria).
3. Knead the dough and, if not using a machine, beat it with a wooden spoon against the side of the bowl until it is smooth “like a baby's bottom”. (This will take at least 5mins – preferably 10 by hand, about 5 with a mixer).
4. Cover the dough with Ceran wrap and let it rest in a warm spot (no warmer the 120F, ideally above 80F) for about 45mins-1h until it has doubled in size.

Forming the Pretzels

1. Divide the dough into eight even portions
2. Roll each of the eight portions into a string, about 16 inch in length and about twice as thick in the middle as at the ends
3. Hold the string on both ends, twist it twice and affix the ends to either side of the center of the string to form a pretzel shape. If needed use a little water to make the ends stick.

Working with the Lye

Note: Be careful when using lye. Especially the pure lye is highly corrosive. Only use it in plastic containers and with plastic or wooden tools.
You should always wear rubber gloves, consider wearing protective goggles and avoid breathing in lye dust. Once the lye is diluted in the water, the solution is much less aggressive so you don't need to be paranoid about it, but treat it with respect...
If you can't get or don't want to use lye, you can use baking soda (Sodium carbonate – NaCO3) dissolved in hot water instead, but the result will be less exciting pretzels which lack the crisp crust and the characteristic brown color of original pretzels.

1. In a plastic bowl, mix the lye and the water (you can vary the amounts as long as you keep the ratio – 100 water to 4 lye – constant – e.g. 500ml water 20g lye; 2l water, 80g lye etc.
2. Using rubber gloves and a plastic spatula, carefully put the pretzels in the lye solution, one or two at a time, let them sit for about 1min, remove, let excess lye solution drip, and place them on a baking tray, readjusting the shape as needed. The pretzels will rise a good bit still, so leave some space between them.
3. Sprinkle the pretzels with kosher salt (this is customary and tastes good, but the pretzels will bake just as well without, so if you mind the extra salt feel free to leave it away) and let them rise again for about 10-15mins at a moderate temperature. 
4. Preheat the oven to 425F
5. Bake the pretzels in the oven for about 12 mins until they have a rich brown color. 
6. Let the pretzels cool for about 30mins before eating. Germans will typically eat pretzels with butter, cheese, or sausage, not with mustard. 

Peruvian Food

Ceviche

Ingredients

4 pounds of white fish (mahi mahi is an excellent choice)
juice from about 30 key limes (or enough to cover the fish)
1 annheim pepper, diced
salt and pepper to taste
3 large onion, sliced into half-rings
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon of ginger (powder or paste)
 
Sides

3 lettuce leaves per plate
16 to 24 corn cobs cut into 2 inch pieces, cooked as usual or four tablespoons of white homini
5 or 6 sweet potatoes, boiled and peeled


Procedure

Wash and de-bone the fish and cut them into ½ inch x ½ inch chunks.
Season the fish with salt, pepper, annheim pepper. Marinate the fish for 5 minutes after mixing well.
You should have enough lime juice to completely cover the fish.
Add onion. Mix gently. Marinate for 3 more minutes.
Serve on a bed of lettuce and add two pieces of corn on the cob and a portion of sweet potato.

Spanish Food

Gazpacho and Tortilla



Gazpacho
-serve 8

ingredients
4 tomatoes
3/4 clove garlic
1/2 cucumber
1 Tbsp onion or green onion
1 slice white bread, without the crust
1Tbsp red wine vinegar(this is a kind that Sara used. You could find this at World Market)

1/4 cup olive oil
water to cover
salt to taste

direction
1. Peel the tomatoes' skin. Do not biol them! (Sara's trick: rub the skin with side of a spoon to make it easier for the skin to come off)
2. Soak the bread in water
3. Put everything in a blender
4. Garnish with some left over vegetables. i.e. tomatoes, cucumber or green onion

Tortilla
-serve 4

ingredients

2 potatoes
1 onion
4 eggs
a lot of olive oil
salt to taste

direction
1.Cut potatoes and onion in small pieces
2.Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add 1.


3.Cook the vegetables until they are soft and the potatoes are easy to break
4.In a medium bowl, beat 4 eggs and add some salt
5.Scoop the cooked vegetables out from the pan and add them to 4.
6.Add some more oil to the pan
7.Pour the egg mixture back in to the pan
8.Cook for a while until you can see the bottom is browned
9. Flip the tortilla (put a plate that can cover the frying pan, then "flip" the whole thing!)
10. Slide the tortilla back in to the pan to cook the other side
11. Cut in to squares and serve!



We had some slices of bread to go with tortilla this time.
They toasted the bread and rub fresh tomatoes and some olive oil.
Top with Prosciutto.

Brazilian Cooking

Baião de Dois (Rice and Beans)

-3 cups rice
-2 cloves garlic minced
-1/2 yellow onion

-1lb dried pinto beans
-3 cloves garlic minced
-1/2 yellow onion
-6 bay leaves
-1lb pork sausage(you can also use chicken, beef jerky, flied fish)
-1bunch parsley chopped
-1 lb queso fresco(Mexican cheese-you can get this at AB Mart in Boulder) cubed

Direction
1. Rinse the rice and set aside.
2. In a frying pan, put a little bit of oil and add garlic. Add onion and cook until it's translucent.
3. Add rice to the pan and water(double the amount of rice). Put salt to taste. Bring it to high heat until the water in the pan get dissolved.
4. In another pan, cut sausages in pieces and cook them and set aside.
5. In a big pot, cook garlic and onion until translucent.
6. Add *cooked beans(take out the bay leaves), the rice, sausages, parsley, queso fresco.

*cooked beans
There are a few different options:pressure cooker, normal pot, slow cooker.
This time, the chef used a pressure cooker since it's the fastest way to cook the dried beans.
You can always find how to cook in each method online. Just don't forget to cook the beans with bay leaves!!

Doce de leite
The chef found a pre-made can here but in Brazil, people make this out of sweeten condenced milk. And this is how you make your own if you can't find "doce de leite" in a can.
In Brazil, people dip apples etc in this and have it as a dessert! yum!!

Ingredients
-pressure cooker
-water
-1 can sweeten condenced milk(not the easy open lid one!)

Direction
1. In a pressure cooker, place the can and fill up with water until it reaches 1/2 inch above the top of the can.
2. Put the lid on and turn on the heat.
3. Once the pressure is on, keep it that way for 30mins.
4. Turn off the heat and wait until the pressure is off.
5. Cool the can until it's cool enough that you can handle it.
6. Open the can and finish!