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Kicked-Up Brown Rice

Posted on January 12, 2014 by AnniesChamorroKitchen Leave a comment

I was never a huge fan of brown rice, but in my quest to create healthier meals for my family, we’ve switched from our favorite white rice to the healthier brown.

I wanted to create a tasty version, and not the tough, seemingly undercooked variety you get at most restaurants that kind of tastes like cardboard.

Equipped with only a rice cooker and four ingredients, you’ll have a delicious and healthy side dish for your next meal.

Give my recipe a try. I think you’ll like it. 🙂

Kicked-Up Brown Rice

Ingredients:

3 cups brown rice
6 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons Dashida beef seasoning
2 tablespoons garlic-flavored olive oil

(Thanks to my friend, Yvonne M., for the delicious olive oil!)

Directions:

1. Rinse the rice then place in your rice cooker pot. Add the water to the pot — it may seem like way too much water, but brown rice needs a LOT of water to cook properly.

2. Add the Dashida and olive oil; stir until the Dashida is dissolved.

3. Set your rice cooker to the “cook” mode then let it do its magic.

4. When the rice cooker switch turns from “cook” to “warm” (or the equivalent for your rice cooker model), gently fluff the rice with a fork, then let it sit (covered) for another 10 minutes or so.

Serve with your favorite meat dish and ENJOY!

Posted in Healthy Alternatives ~ Recipes, SIDES

Chamorro Cucumber Salad

Posted on December 29, 2013 by AnniesChamorroKitchen 4 comments

Chamorro Cucumber Salad is a staple on most fiesta tables. With just a few ingredients, you can whip it up and have it on your dinner table in minutes.

I love serving this cucumber salad with fried chicken and red rice, but it’s delicious served alongside most meat dishes.

Give my recipe a try. I think you’ll like it.

Chamorro Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

2 large cucumbers
2 tablespoons salt
1 small onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white vinegar

Directions:

1. Slice the cucumbers about 1/4 inch thick. Place the cucumber slices into a plastic colander then place the colander into a large bowl. Sprinkle the salt over the cucumbers; stir to combine. Let the salted cucumber slices sit for about 15 minutes to allow excess water to drain out. After 15 minutes, pour out any water that drained into the bowl. Rinse the salt off the cucumbers; drain.

2. Place the rinsed and drained cucumbers into the large bowl. Add the onion, garlic, soy sauce and vinegar. Stir to combine.

3. Let the cucumbers sit for several minutes to allow the cucumbers to soak up all of the flavors. Serve with your favorite meat dish and enjoy!

Posted in CHAMORRO DISHES, Chamorro Sides, SIDES, VEGETABLES

Riyenu ~ Chamorro Stuffing

Posted on October 14, 2013 by AnniesChamorroKitchen 41 comments

Chamorro stuffing, or Riyenu, is a delicious side dish usually served during special holiday meals, alongside baked turkey, ham, or roast pig.

My mom taught me how to make this a very long time ago, when I was a very young girl. In fact, this recipe is one of the few I added to a recipe book that I made when I was perhaps 8 or 9 years old. I remember stacking small pieces of paper and gluing one side to make a spine, then creating a cover out of stiff cardboard and gluing a piece of scrap fabric with blue polka dots on it to make the cover soft and pretty. Even at that young age, I loved to cook, and I made my very own recipe book, which I still have to this day.

I’ve been asked what makes this a Chamorro stuffing. Well, I guess it’s the addition of potatoes, pimento and olives, kind of like our Chamorro Potato Salad.

A few optional ingredients that my mom sometimes puts in her Riyenu are finely diced celery and a small jar of sweet pickle relish. I prefer my stuffing without those two ingredients, so I leave them out.

You don’t need to wait for a holiday to make this yummy stuffing. Give my recipe a try. I think you’ll like it. 🙂

Riyenu ~ Chamorro Stuffing

Ingredients:

2 medium potatoes
1 cup vegetable oil, for frying
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 box Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Turkey
2 small jars diced pimento, drained
1 small can chopped black olives, drained
1 cup raisins
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Peel and dice the potatoes into small pieces, about 1/4 inch square.

Place the vegetable oil in a shallow frying pan over medium heat.

Fry the diced potatoes in batches; cook until the potatoes are a very light golden brown and cooked through (use a fork to test for doneness).

Drain the cooked potatoes on a paper towel-lined plate. Set aside.

Brown the ground beef in a medium sized pot.

Add the contents of the stuffing mix (dried bread pieces and seasoning), the cooked potatoes and onions to the pot. Stir to combine. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Add the pimentos and olives to the pot.

Stir to combine. Continue to cook over medium heat for a minute or so, stirring occasionally.

Add the raisins. I actually like lots of raisins in my stuffing so I tend to add more than a cup.

Pour in the evaporated milk. You can also use vegetable or chicken stock instead of milk.

Add the melted butter. Cook for another minute or two. Taste, then add salt and pepper if needed (the seasoning packet from the stuffing is already quite salty, so you might not need to add more salt).

Place the stuffing into an oven-safe baking dish.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Serve and ENJOY!

This makes a wonderful side dish, served alongside my smoked/grilled turkey and brown sugar glazed ham.

ENJOY!

Posted in Åggon (Starch), CHAMORRO DISHES, Chamorro Sides, SIDES, Thanksgiving, Uncategorized

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Posted on October 5, 2013 by AnniesChamorroKitchen 2 comments

Mashed potatoes aren’t traditionally found on a Chamorro menu, but there are times when my family craves something other than rice with a meal.

We like mashed potatoes–GARLIC mashed potatoes, that is–with the “classics” like fried or baked chicken, baked turkey, ham steaks, and meatloaf. If it’s prepared right, you don’t even need gravy. Oh, I just cringed–me, who LOVES to drown my food in lots and lots of gravy! Well, my mashed potatoes are delicious with our without gravy. It’s light, creamy, and garlicky…it’s just plain YUMMY!

I made this with russet potatoes, but it’s also fantastic with red potatoes (leave some of the skin on if you use red potatoes).

Give my mashed potatoes a try. It’ll go great with your next meal. 🙂

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

4 medium russet or baking potatoes
1 stick unsalted butter
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cups fat-free half and half
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut into evenly sized pieces.

2. Place the potatoes into a medium sized pot then cover with cold water. I also salt the water, about a teaspoon of salt will do. Bring the water to a boil, keeping the pot uncovered.

3. When the potatoes are done, turn off the heat and pour out the water. Keep the potatoes in the pot. Why dirty another bowl? Everything gets mixed in the same pot. 🙂

Slice the butter into small pieces then add it to the pot of potatoes. Stir gently; the heat from the pot and potatoes will melt the butter.

4. Add the garlic powder and cheese to the pot; stir to combine.

5. Place the half and half in a microwave-safe measuring cup or bowl. Heat for about 90 seconds. Pour the hot liquid into the pot of potatoes. This may appear to be too much liquid, but trust me…it’s just the right amount.

In case you’re wondering, those green flecks in the photo below are dried parsley (I used garlic powder with dried parsley in it). 😉

6. Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes. Mash only to the point when you don’t have any large chunks of potatoes anymore. A few small chunks are okay.

This is IMPORTANT: DO NOT over mash, and by all means, DO NOT use a hand mixer to mix your potatoes. Over-mixing or over-mashing potatoes turns the whole thing into a sticky, gummy mess. If you stop mashing–as I stated above–when there aren’t anymore large chunks, I guarantee you’ll have light, fluffy, tasty mashed potatoes your family will love.

7. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Stir (no more mashing), then taste again. Adjust seasonings if required.

Serve and ENJOY!

Posted in SIDES, Thanksgiving tagged with Potatoes

Shrimp Patties

Posted on August 18, 2013 by AnniesChamorroKitchen 65 comments

Hi everyone! This is Hannah, Annie’s daughter.

I made some delicious shrimp patties for lunch one day. My version is somewhat different from the “regular” recipe most people have.

What’s different about my version? I don’t use any eggs. It started out as a mistake one time when I was making shrimp patties and forgot to put eggs in the batter. However, I liked how it turned out. The inside was nice and fluffy, and my shrimp patties were nice and round (my neighbor called them “shrimp balls”) and not flat.

Give my recipe a try. Let me know how you like them. My family loves them; I hope you do too!

SHRIMP PATTIES

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup thinly sliced fresh green beans
2 cups peas
1 cup chopped onions (about 1/2 a medium onion)
3 cups corn kernels (I love lots of corn in my shrimp patties)
4 cups shrimp, chopped
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 cans evaporated milk
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
5 tablespoons Dashida seasoning (the seafood flavored kind)
1 teaspoon Accent
1 teaspoon black pepper
Oil, for frying

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Do you know how to tell if the oil is hot enough and ready? My mom taught me a great trick. Use the tip of a wooden spoon (I used a wooden chopstick) and dip it into the oil. If little bubbles start to form around the wood, then the oil is hot and ready. Make sure the wood is clean and dry first; you don’t want hot oil to splatter and burn you.

Here is a short video clip. You can see all of the little bubbles form around the tip of the wooden chopstick. This tells you that the oil is hot and ready for frying.

2. While you’re waiting for the oil to heat up, mix all of the ingredients (except for the oil, of course) in a large bowl.

3. Drop spoonfuls of batter into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. Note: I used a small ice cream scoop that holds 1 1/2 tablespoons. This is also what makes the shrimp patties nice and round like doughnuts. (Maybe that’s why my neighbor calls them shrimp balls, LOL.)

I added a lot of photos below to show you the process.

Enjoy, and I hope you like them!

~ Hannah

Place the shrimp and vegetables in a large mixing bowl.

Place the flour and other dry ingredients in a smaller bowl.

Add all of the dry ingredients to the bowl of shrimp and veggies.

Pour the evaporated milk into the mixing bowl.

Mix, mix, mix! 🙂

Check to see if the oil is hot. Scroll up and watch my video that shows what to look for.

When the oil is ready, use a small cookie scoop to drop the batter into the oil. This makes the shrimp patties nice and round.

Don’t put too much into the oil. You want to leave enough room to allow the shrimp patties to cook evenly, plus overcrowding might make them stick together when you drop the batter into the oil.

The shrimp patties usually turn on their own, but if they don’t, turn them occasionally to ensure even browning.

Fry until nicely browned.

Place in a colander or strainer to drain the excess oil.

The small cookie scoop I use makes shrimp patties that are a little bit bigger than the size of a ping pong ball. I think it’s the perfect size — not too big, not too small.

The inside is nice and fluffy.

Pile on the goodness! 🙂

Posted in APPETIZERS, CHAMORRO DISHES, Chamorro Sides, Christmas, Easter, Hannah's Recipes, SEAFOOD, SIDES, Thanksgiving

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