Stobá (Dutch Antillean meat stew)

Stobá can be based on beef, but we opted for goat. You have to buy goat with lots of bones. Bones give flavor to a stew. I ended up buying 1,5 kilo goat, which seemed like a quarter of a goat. Chop the goat in pieces about 10 centimeters big.



Rub the meat with lime juice and dry the meat.



Fry the meat in oil until it browns.



Add: two chopped onions, 3 chopped cloves of garlic, 3 tomatoes (cubed), 1 big tablespoon tamarind juice, a little sugar, nutmeg and (don't leave this out!): 1 or 2 madame jeanette peppers.



Mix everything so the meat gets coated with all the spices.



Add enough water to cover the meat, add salt according to taste and simmer for at least 2 hours.



Add one green bell pepper cut in small chunks and one big sweet potato (cubed) and simmer for another half hour. At this point I added a small can of tomato paste for extra flavor.



Add a handful of pickled caper and simmer another 15 minutes.



When you're finished the meat should really fall off the bone. It's almost like a soup. Since the stew contains sweat potato you don't even have to cook rice. But it's good to serve with pickled red onion.



A rare photo of myself in my kitchen:

Pipe Rigate ai Piselli e Prosciutto

This recipe is both incredibly simple, tasty and rather laborious.

For the pasta I used rigatoni instead of pipe rigate.

Instead of piselli (peas) I used broad beans (Italian: fava, Dutch: tuinbonen). We spent the first half hour skinning the broad beans, first the pods, then the skin from each bean.



Next step: melt 1 tablespoon of butter with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 2 cloves crushed garlic and add the beans or peas.



Add 150 ml chicken stock, wine or water. I used chicken stock. It's salty so be careful not to add too much salt. Sprinkle chopped parsley, season with salt and pepper and simmer for 5 -8 minutes. In the meantime boil the pasta.



Shred 100 gram of prosciutto crudo (dry-cured ham). I used Parma ham. It's expensive (5 euro per 100 gram) but worth it.



Add 100 ml panna da cucina and boil on high heat until the sauce thickens while stirring.



Add the Parma ham and remove from fire.



When the pasta is cooked add 1 tablespoon of butter and 100 ml panna da cucina to the hot pan.



Add the drained pasta.



Finally, pour in the sauce and toss. Sprinkle with fresh herbs before serving.

Cumin rice

An easy way to spice up your plain rice.

1 cup Basmati rice
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
0.5 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
2 cups water
salt and a dash of lime juice to taste. add some turmeric for color.

Heat ghee in a large heavy-bottomed vessel for about 2 minutes.
Add the cumin seeds and fry for 2 minutes till the seeds splutter.
Add the rice, lime juice, water, turmeric and salt. Mix well. Bring to boil on high heat. Reduce heat and cook covered on low level for 15 minutes till all water evaporates.

Serve with dahl.

Garjarela (sweet carrot dessert)

I haven't cooked much in the previous months but during the Sikh Vaisakhi festival in Amsterdam I stumbled upon a great tasting desert. It turns out to be garjarela and it's really easy to make. I haven't tried it yet, but will soon.

Ingredients
10 large carrots, peeled and grated
7 tbsp butter
5 cloves
green cardamom, crushed
a small piece of cinnamon sticks
75 ml milk
115 g granulated sugar


Method
1. Bring a pan of water to the boil. Add in the grated carrots and simmer for 10 minutes. Drain into a colander.

2. Melt the butter in a pan with the cloves, cardamom and cinnamon on a very low heat.

3. Add the milk and stir well.

4. When you can smell the cardamom, add the sugar.

5. Stir until the sugar has dissolved and then add in the drained carrots.

6. Cook gently, stirring, until the liquid has cooked off, around 5 minutes.

7. Cover and cook on a very low heat for 15 minutes.

Cold beet salad

Cut/dice and mix:

Boiled beet root
Gherkins
Red onion
Sour cream
Dille
Apple
Pickled herring