of red bean recipes, flights to beijing, and dreaming of the future

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Okay, so I called my titan last night with my extra minutes, and I realized that the red beans and rice HERE do not compare to the red beans and rice in the Bayou. And I want to figure out why. And by that, I mean...

Nicaraguans do not use spices. There is absolutely no creativity with the food here whatsoever.

A friend from Beijing, who has been living in Saudi Arabia, just emailed me and said she´s going back to the Jing. And that makes me so jealous I am ready to go look at plane ticket prices from Managua to Beijing. ($750 rt from StL to Beijing.... last summer I paid $1200. That would be half price.)

Also, though, I was just thinking that there are a million awesome sweet red bean paste buns and fried donuts and whatnot in the China, and there are a million red beans down here but absolutely nothing sweet made out of any of them.

What follows are two recipes, one for red bean pancakes, and one for red beans and rice. The only things I am missing are sesame oil and cayenne pepper, and the parsley will be fresh, not flakes. But I bet I can find them in the more creative grocery stores in the Nica. These are so damn easy.

This month, February, I am going to make red bean pancakes. It just needs to happen down here.

Also, clandrus&creiter, your Navidad package rocks my world, especially the hot chocolate! I am putting half a package in every cup of coffee I have - instant mocha!

In other news, The Boy and I are doing well. My carpintero man´s man uncle is going to build me another shelf. His son, my 16 year old cousin, made me a mini shelf for my toiletries - he was so proud of it and I love it. Now I just need a big one. Also, my same cousin whipped out a couple of baseball gloves the other day and I spent a couple of hours playing catch in the road with The Boy last night. We had quite the crowd on the porch of the Casa Comunal - bunch of Nicaraguan guys watching the gringa actually catch and throw a baseball. I tried to ignore them. It´s hard to play catch in flip flops on gravel road when your jeans keep sliding further and further down and you keep having to hike them up and try not to think about all the men right behind you talking....

Mmhmmm

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Okay, looks like the only difference between making red beans and red bean paste is that you add sugar.

red bean pancakes...
http://chinesefood.about.com/od/desserts/r/redbeanpancakes.htm

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup boiling water, or as needed
3 tablespoons sesame oil, or as needed
1 cup sweet red bean paste, canned or homemade
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, for frying, or as needed
2 tablespoons confectioner's (icing) sugar, optional
Preparation:
Sift the flour into a bowl. Add 1/2 cup boiling water to the flour and begin stirring immediately. Knead the warm dough until it is smooth dough, adding as much of the remaining 1/4 cup of water as is necessary. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Turn the rested dough out onto a floured surface. Cut in half. Use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll each half out until it is 1/4-inch thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out 3-inch circles of dough.

Brush 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil over the top of 2 dough circles. Lay one on top of each other, so that the oiled sides are together. (Don't worry if one of the edges hangs over the other). Roll out the dough to form 1 6-inch pancake. Repeat this process with the remainder of the 3-inch dough circles. Use a damp towel to cover the prepared pancakes and keep them from drying out while preparing the remainder.

Heat a heavy frying pan over low heat. Add one of the paired pancakes and cook until browned on both sides (about 3 minutes altogether; the second side will cook more quickly than the first side). Remove from the pan and pull the pancakes apart. Continue with the remainder of the pancakes. Cool.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Spread 2 to 3 teaspoons of red bean paste over the white (unbrowned) surface of the pancakes, staying away from the edges. Gently roll the pancake over loosely 2 to 3 times, and flatten to form a flattened roll. (A quick and easy alternative is to fold the pancake in half, so that it forms a half-moon shape). Brown the pancakes in the pan, on both sides. Dust with the confectioner's sugar if using. The pancake can either be eaten whole or cut into 3 - 4 slices for serving.

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A typical red beans and rice combination, with smoked sausage.
http://southernfood.about.com/od/redbeansrice/r/bl00123h.htm

Ingredients:
1 lb red beans, soaked in about 2 quarts water overnight
3 ribs celery, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
dash of ground cayenne pepper, or to taste
12 to 16 ounces smoked sausage, sliced
Preparation:
Rinse and drain soaked beans; place in a 5 to 6-quart Dutch oven and add about 6 cups of fresh water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours, or until beans are tender. Stir occasionally. Add remaining ingredients and salt to taste; simmer for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add water as necessary. Serve over hot rice.
Serves 6.

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Comments

[Cassi]

Some More Recipes
I looked some of these up just in case you wanted some other options or choices. Some are similar to yours though. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Easy-Red-Beans-and-Rice/Detail.aspx http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Red-Bean-Vegetable-Soup/Detail.aspx http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Authentic-Louisiana-Red-Beans-and-Rice/Detail.aspx http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spicy-Red-Bean-Soup/Detail.aspx Obviously ingredients are limiting, but you might get some ideas.

[GERALD]

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