I am very excited to share this new recipe with you tonight. I just tried it and it is succulent. Let me first give you a little background story to it.
One day on Twitter, I asked if anyone can suggest to me an "un-bland" vegetarian recipe. A gentleman by the name of @KurtCoolBlue gave me this recipe from Bahia Brazil. That was over 15 days ago. I kept stalling because I couldn't find all the ingredients in the original recipe. I finally came round to it, and said to myself, I shall give the recipe my own twist and let's see what happens.
I was most pleased with the results. It is not exactly as the original Brazilian Moqueca but close enough. That same gentleman named it Arabeca - so the credit for original recipe and new name goes to him and the cooking goes to me.
But before I share my recipe with you...you know what to do. If you are new to my blog, these are my only conditions. Every time you try out one of my recipes, you are to feed one (or more) hungry person. I leave it to you how you wish to do that - you can either cook for them, offer them a meal or give them money for a meal.
So let's start with Arabeca - the Arabian Moqueca. The link for the original recipe will be at the end of this post.
For two people you will need the following :
- about 250 ml or half a can of coconut milk.
- half a can of red kidney beans, rinsed.
- half an index finger of grated fresh ginger
- 1 onion spring minced
- 1/2 an onion chopped
- 1/2 red pepper bell chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 medium size tomato chopped
- 1 medium size potato cut in chunks
- 1 medium size carrot cut in round slices
- 3 full tbs of frozen peas rinsed
- 3 full tbs of frozen green/french beans rinsed
- 2 full tbs of frozen okras - rinsed
- 3 to 4 smallish fresh cauliflower florets
- half a (small) cup of minced parsley
- half a (small) cup of minced cilantro /fresh coriander
- 2 dried limes (smash the limes and soak them in half of a (small) cup of boiling water- throw away the coarse skin and keep the rest with the water
- freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 lemon or 1 lime - better if you can find green lime but lemon will do.
- 1/4 (small) tsp of ground nutmeg
- a dash of turmeric
- a dash of ground red chili
- 1 and half tbs of olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste.
Preparation :
- In a deep non stick pan, mix the coconut milk + parsley + cilantro + red pepper + ginger + tomato + garlic + spring onion + onion + nutmeg + chili+ turmeric + dried limes soaked in water + half of the lemon/lime juice. Bring to boil once then lower heat and leave to simmer for about 3 mn.
- To make sure that my vegetables are all fairly cooked since am using different kinds, I opted for the easy way out. I HALF boiled in slightly salted water the following first: potato + carrot + green beans + peas + cauliflower.
- Drain the above vegetables and add them to coconut mix plus the kidney beans THEN add your okra.
( okras cook very quickly you don't want them mushy) plus salt and pepper to taste, mix well but gently and let it cook for another 10 mn or so on a medium heat or until your vegetables are tender ( not mushy but tender). Make sure the heat is not too high because you don't want the coconut sauce to dry- (if it does, add a little more).
- once cooked pour the olive oil and the rest of the lemon juice on top and give it a last stir.
- Serve hot.
I prepared Saffron rice to accompany the Arabeca and the aroma of Saffron and vegetables in coconut sauce was simply delicious.
And as promised this is the original Moqueca recipe
Bon appétit.
