Recipes

Southern-Style Pork Vindaloo and Green Bean Verakka with Cardamom Cornbread

If you've never had vindaloo, you don't know what you're missing. From My Two Souths and Chef Asha Gomez, we get this recipe for a Southern-Style Pork Vindaloo and Green Bean Verakka with Cardamom Cornbread. Tangy, spicy, garlicky pork goes perfectly with the Cardamom Cornbread. The Green Bean Verakka is the perfect flavorful complement to both dishes. If you're not one to eat pork, lamb will also work perfectly as a substitute. Here's one dish that you'll make over and over again. From the author: "Vindaloo is a recipe that best represents Kerala's diverse culinary influences, and it also reflects many of my own. My first encounter with tongue-searing pork vindaloo served in many Indian restaurants in the US was a bit jarring. I remember thinking how vastly different it was from the pork vindaloo I grew up eating in Kerala. Like many dishes traveling across the seas amid many interpretations, I feel vindaloo got lost in translation. Vindaloo was originally inspired by a Portuguese dish, carne de vinha d'alhos (meat with wine and garlic), with the wine substituted with palm wine vinegar. This dish was introduced to Kerala and Goa by Portuguese who stored chunks of meat in wine barrels on the ship; the wine would turn to vinegar and thus preserve the meat for long journeys. When they got to shore, the sailors would add local spices to the meat and cook a stew. This dish has many nuances: your palate experiences the tang from the vinegar, sweetness from the sugar, heat generated more from garlic than chiles, and a touch of bitterness from ground mustard seeds. Here, sugar, hot paprika, and a generous amount of garlic transport the pork roast to a faraway land. Choose a nice fatty pork shoulder, or Boston butt, to ensure lusciousness. I particularly enjoy the flavor of the rich sauce once it seeps down into the Cardamom Cornbread. Serving it this way brings to the plate a little something extra; my Louisiana friends refer to this as lagniappe."

Learn more

Shawarma Chicken Salad

Shawarma Chicken Salad brings exotic taste to a familiar recipe. Our Shawarma Spice boasts powerful flavor that mimics spit roasted goodness at its best, and grilled chicken is a delicious way to enjoy it. We've been grilling so much I found myself with leftovers and this happy accident was born. The shawarma chicken salad combines all the great flavors of a sandwich, but without the bread. For this salad we chose to keep it light, but add hot sauce and olives if you like those, or a side car of hummus to round out the meal.

Learn more

Curried Beef and Tendon with Turnip

We love the use of spice and combining of textures in this curry dish from fascinating Macau cookbook, The Adventures of Fat Rice by Abraham Conlon, Adrienne Lo, and Hugh Amano.From the Author: "In Macau “turnip” usually means daikon, or another large radish, so technically, there’s no turnip in the original version of this dish. At Fat Rice, we mostly follow tradition, but run with the turnip thing and garnish with crunchy raw turnips, radishes, and their greens. Don’t be scared to work with the tendons—they do require long cooking, but add great texture. Try grilling the rubbed beef; it adds a great smoky dimension."

Learn more

Havanese Pork Loin (with White Rice)

Cuba is a vibrant, bold and colorful country that is full of life. Fascinated by its people and their endlessly delicious home-cooked cuisine, friends Dan Goldberg and Andrea Kuhn have been visiting this hypnotic country for the past five years. Dan, an award-winning photographer and Andrea, an acclaimed prop stylist and art director, along with renowned food writer Jody Eddy, bring the best of Cuban food to home kitchens. Trying any of these delicious dishes will make any meal a memorable one, especially if you make this Havanese Pork Loin.From the Author: "This recipe sounds complicated and luxurious but it's actually a breeze to prepare. It's one to keep in mind when you want to impress your guests without having to fret over a complicated recipe. Consider it the grown-up version of pork and beans, Cuban style, with a little Chinese influence thrown in for good measure. The secret is to keep spooning the marinade over the pork as it cooks, allowing it to absorb until it finally transforms into a sticky glaze--a "can't get enough of it" kind of finish."

Learn more

Chimichurri Flank Steak

2 hrs, 10 min

Our Chimichurri Spice combines a whole lot of flavors: the almost apricot flavor of aji mirasol chiles, the peppery sweetness of guajillo and New Mexico chiles, and the earthiness of oregano, cumin and bay. Together, they're an ideal flavor base to make Chimichurri sauce. Just mix it with lots of fresh herbs, citrus, plenty of garlic, vinegar and oil. You'll have a sassy sauce that begs to be put on.....everything!When used as a marinade, the grill fire tames the acidity of the vinegar, enhances the sweetness of the citrus, and intensifies the heat of the chiles. Use another drizzle of sauce to make any cut of meat, beef especially, perfectly balanced. Chimichurri gives that sweet-tart-spicy-meaty union that screams "summer food" the world over. The flavors of this sauce meld together over time, so keep some in the fridge all summer long.You can vary the selection and proportion of herbs in this recipe in so many fun and tasty ways. Increase the herbs for a thicker consistency to use for dipping and topping or play with oregano, marjoram or whatever is fresh in your market or garden.

Learn more

Shawarma Spice Marinade

2 hrs, 5 min

Our Shawarma Spice is the not-so-secret ingredient in this simple marinade for chicken shawarma. Use it on on chicken, lamb, beef or even cauliflower to infuse the meat (or veggie) with incredible flavors. Serve for an easy weeknight supper with a simple salad or as the star of a Middle Eastern feast with all the trimmings from hummus to saffron rice.

Learn more

Big Love Buttermilk Fried Chicken

When Heather Earnhardt opened her tiny cafe, The Wandering Goose, in Seattle, she added a little bit of Southern charm and comfort to the city. From her childhood in the South with her close-knit family comes this collection of traditional Southern favorites that makes use of all of the delicious food ingredients available here in the Pacific Northwest. Her specialty is her biscuits - both sweet and savory - as well as traditional Southern fare such as pickles, pies, cakes, grits and this Big Love Buttermilk Fried Chicken. This delicious recipe comes from Heather L. Earnhardt's Big Food Big Love: Down Home Southern Cooking Full of Heart of Seattle's Wandering Goose.From the Author: "Fried chicken is an emblem of the South and loved the world over: there are as many styles and flavors as there are ways of eating it. Whether it's served hot over a buttermilk biscuit or eaten cold as a midnight snack standing in front of the refrigerator, fried chicken is good any time of the day or night. And it's good for you! If your oil is at the correct temperature, the chicken won't absorb any excess and will come out with a crackling skin and hot, juicy interior. My hope is that you fry enough of this chicken so that there are one or two pieces left for a midnight snack."

Learn more

Thackeray Ethiopian-Spiced Fried Chicken and Za'atar-Spiced Kale Slaw

A while back, we stopped for lunch at Thackeray restaurant and had a meal that totally blew us away. The lamb shawarma and Spanish prawn bowl were both fantastic, but the highlight for us was the Ethiopian-spiced fried chicken, served with a side of some simply amazing slaw.After our food coma faded, we reached out to Jon and Micah, to see if they'd share some of their secrets. They happily obliged, and we are happy to present the recipes for their fried chicken and side slaw, featuring Berbere and Green Za'atar to great success. Check out the recipe to try it at home and see for yourself what we are raving about.

Learn more

Kung Pao Chicken

Many Americans would be surprised to learn that their favorite Chinese dishes are either not Chinese at all, or greatly altered from the original. One of our favorite Chinese cookbooks, Phoenix Claws and Jade Trees by Kian Lam Kho, helps cut through the confusion with dozens of authentic recipes of Chinese classics such as this traditional version of Kung Pao Chicken. It may not be the Kung Pao Chicken you are used to, but it will quickly become a new favorite.From the Author: "Kung Pao Chicken is one of those takeout dishes that is usually covered by a landslide of sickeningly sweet brown sauce. It would not be recognized by anyone arriving in the United States from China. Kung Pao Chicken is in fact a dry stir-fry dish. The spicy sauce should only lightly coat the chicken pieces, giving them enough flavor to delight the palate and provide subtle contrast to the crunchy peanuts."

Learn more