Day 64 Never Before Seen Tanzanian Movie Fritters

At this very moment, there is a miracle taking place in my kitchen, the vegetable fritters are in the making and I am muy emocionado, that means I'm flipping ecstatic...I think. This recipe is a rework of the Tanzanian potato balls, I've never made veggie fritters before and I'm making up the ingredients, but I think they will be fabulous. The potato balls didn't work as well as they would have, if I had flattened them out and added something to firm them up, so I'm starting with potatoes again and adding fresh corn, onions, and zucchini, as well as corn meal, eggs, and a tiny bit of red curry and coconut. I was feeling a little unoriginal today, until I  returned to the bankrupt Border's store to find some more closeout swag and I found two Saveur cooking magazines for 50% off. One of the articles was about the world's most original chefs and I found myself daydreaming of a midlife career change from social worker to world famous food artist. So, I'm trying out the fritters, hoping that they live up to my lofty expectations of completely original recipe and career changing inspiration. They're also my movie snack food for later, as I'm going to see The Black Swan with friends....that's kind of original, I bet no one else will have movie fritters.
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Day 42 Tanzanian Potato Balls or Little Bites Of Sunshine

Today, by a stroke of pure luck, I discovered Tanzanian food and thus my culinary salvation all in one fell swoop.  Thanks to a co-worker, who answered the call, when I wondered out loud, "what will I make for dinner?" Somewhere deep in the heart of cyberspace, there was an East African treasure, and I was smitten  by the ingredients, even before my trip to the market. Tonight I made Coconut bean soup and Tanzanian potato balls, which will now be the stars of my recipe box. I'm adding the recipes, from www.celtnet.org.uk with a few variations and tweaks from me.

Tanzanian Potato Balls
3 C. of potatoes
1/4 C. lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 C. chickpea flour
1 C. Coconut milk
3 C. Water
1/4 cup of fresh grated coconut
Oil for frying
Cut, cube and boil potatoes in water and coconut milk, until soft. Cool the potatoes and mix with lime juice, cayenne, coconut, and salt, form into balls. Roll the balls into flour and fry in oil until brown.

Coconut Bean Soup
1/2 C. of onion (chopped)
1/2 C. Green Peppers (chopped)
1 tsp. curry paste (I used red)
1 tsp salt
3 Tbs. butter
1 C tomato (diced)
2 1/2 C. Kidney beans
2 C. Coconut milk
1/3 C. grated coconut (not the sweetened kind)
3 C. Water
1/2 C. cooked rice
Brown the onions in butter, add green peppers, curry, salt, butter, and tomatoes, when brown. Add beans, coconut milk, water, and rice and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add grated coconut to the top of the soup.

I was so impressed with these two dishes that my interest has been piqued as far as other African recipes and I think I've found what I'm bringing for our office potluck in a couple of weeks. So, here's to whomever is bringing the lil' smokies and  the generic cookies......I win.
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Day 29 A Little Bit of Russia On The Prairie

The day has come to meet the beet, as I write, I am in fact, eating the Borscht. It's actually pretty good, but I think the thing I'm most stoked about is the fact that I'm eating several very colorful vegetables at one time. Well, they're all kind of reddish, but when it's all mixed together, it looks kind of like a sunset stew. The beets of course are purpleish, red cabbage, orangey looking tomatoes, very pretty! The sauteed red onions and garlic, give the sweetness of the beets a little punch. All in all, It's a  warm, filling, fragrant, and healthy soup! I have made amends with the beet, here's to trying dirty things and liking them! On the potato front, I have contacted the Washington Potato Commission to bum some Blue potato seed samples for planting! Hopefully we will embark on adventures in Blue potato salad sometime in the future. Part of my mission, aside from the elimination of fake food, is to ingest as many different varieties of vegetables as I can in the next year, a veritable sea of colors and nutrients that I would never encounter in fast food world.
OK, so I don't generally keep track of my weight with scales, I prefer to wait until a button pops off of my jeans to know that I'm fat or I require a safety pin and some twine to hold them up when I'm skinny. I broke my scale rule out of curiosity and it seems as though, I have lost about 7 pounds this month, that's like a sack of potatoes and a bag of sugar! My little plan is working.....down with the clown.
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