.: evil jungle prince :.

When I was at Trader Joe's last week, I noticed (to my delight) that they have begun selling their own BGH-free Greek yogurt at about half the price of Fage-brand yogurt. This slashes my Greek yogurt addiction bill in half -- thank you, Trader Joe's! Subsequently I immediately broke out my Turkish cookbook and prepared this meal, which is grilled eggplant with yogurt and tomato sauces.

This photo, which isn't very good, just doesn't do this meal justice. Amazing how such a simple recipe can turn out so deliciously! Summarized, the grilled eggplants are grilled until slightly soft and topped with a simple yogurt sauce as well as a simple tomato sauce. Here's how to make it. It's quick and easy.

1. To make the tomato sauce, start by frying some onion or shallots in olive oil. Add 2-3 cloves garlic and fresh diced tomatoes. Add salt and sugar to taste. Remove from from stove before the sauce becomes too liquid.

2. The yogurt sauce is made by mixing Greek style (strained) yogurt with 1 clove garlic and salt to taste. (Though not true to the recipe, I couldn't help but add some lemon juice to Greekify this recipe a bit. Yogurt sauce without the tang of lemon juice just seems like a sin to me.)

3. Now you have only to grill the eggplants. Begin by soaking the sliced eggplants in water (mixed with a little salt) for about twenty minutes. Pat dry. Place a grill with just a little olive olive and grill until the center of the eggplant begins to be soft. Remove.

4. Serve the eggplant slices topped with both the tomato sauce, yogurt sauce, and some pita bread to the side.

For fun here's another Bülent Ersoy video. The sound is a little off from the video but the performance is outstanding!

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I've been enjoying my own take on Cuban black beans for many years now, so when the craving struck me again today, I thought I might make an entry out of it. Cuban black beans are simple, easy, cheap, and quick to make and make a hearty meal when combined with a big bowl of white rice.

My version of Cuban black beans is a spin off of a recipe I found long ago; I no longer remember the original source. I'm not sure how much it has changed from the original, but as I look at other Cuban black bean recipes I feel that this one is probably a bit more complex in terms of ingredients. But it remains a simple and quick meal.

1. Start by pouring some extra virigin olive oil, preferably Greek, in a pot until the base is coated. Now fry 2-3 cloves of garlic, sliced. To this add 2-3 shallots or 1/2 white onion and 2-3 chopped jalapenos. Fry until fragrant.

2. Add one can of black beans with the clear liquid from the top removed. Do not add additional water.

3. Add the following spices to the beans: black pepper (to taste), 2-3 tsp salt (to taste), 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1.5 tsp paprika, 2 bay leaves, 2-3 dashes balsamic vinegar, 2-3 dashes white wine.

4. Cook the beans until the spices are integrated and the bay leaves have been allowed to release their flavors. Remove from stove before the beans become too dry and serve.

Paprika, in my opinion, is what makes the dish special, mellowing the flavors and make for a deep, rich, hue. This dish can be made as spicy as you like it by adding (or leaving out) jalapeno peppers. Adjust salt to taste if need be and serve with white rice or as part of a larger meal. This also goes great with cornbread.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 02:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I took so many pictures in Hawaii that I barely know where to begin in terms of posting them, but my photos from the Kona coffee farms mom and I visited seem like a good starting point. Hawaiian coffee, the only commercial coffee crops raised in the United States, grows in rich volcanic soil and is raised in optimal growing conditions on the Kona Coast of the Big Island. Coffee trees lovingly raised in this exotic environment result in the best cup of coffee you've ever tasted.

Mom and I, completely without planning it, arrived in Kona during the few days in the year when the coffee trees were blooming. Imagine our surprise to see rows upon rows of coffee trees in full flower, their gardenia-like scent mixing in the air with the smell of coffee beans being roasted: it was really quite magical. I'll hold on to this special memory for a long time to come.

Here is a typical vantage point from a coffee farm, with rows of coffee trees planted on the slopes of the Kona Coast. It is the slightly higher altitude which allows the crops to flourish. Down below near the coast, the conditions are too dry. (But perfect for going to the beach.) This view is from Kona Joe's coffee farm, specifically.

Kona Joe's farm is unique among coffee farms because they trellise their coffee trees, in the style of a grape vine.

After the coffee blossoms open for only a few days, an additional six months is required for the coffee "cherry" to form. Each cherry ripens at a different pace, requiring continual picking and selecting of ripe cherries throughout the harvesting season. Inside are two kernels, with the exception of the "peaberry" which is an accidental fusion of two kernels together. These are sold as a super-premium novelty for those with money to burn.

Here you can see some of the cherries starting to develop, still in their early stages.

Mom and I also visited a historic coffee farm -- here is a "hoshidana" or coffee-bean drying roof. After being husked , the coffee beans were set out to dry in the sun. In bad weather, the roof rolls back and forth and protect the beans from rain and humidity.

Although coffee beans must still be dried in the sun using this method, roasting facilities today are modern. Here is a view of the modern equipment used at Kona Joe's.

At the historic coffee farm, volunteers demonstrate how the coffee farm laborers used sticks to bend the trees so that beans could be picked from their upper extremities. The stick itself is made from a felled coffee tree.

Here is an actual home of Japanese coffee laborers brought to Hawaii to harvest coffee beans, preserved now by the Kona Historical Society. They demonstrated types of activities which would have taken place in the home, such as creating clothing from rice sacks and roasting coffee beans in butter, in an iron frying pan.

Visiting a coffee farm in Kona was amazing enough but accidentally arriving just in time to see (and smell) the trees blooming was really a wonderful experience. I feel so fortunate to have experienced it once in my lifetime.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Aloha everyone, I will be back from Hawaii in two days. In the meantime, happy eating!

All the best,
Evil Jonny

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Since returning from Las Vegas, my mind has been preoccupied with the delicious Malaysian food I had there. My taste buds as a result have been pleading for me to make something that will satisfy, or partially satisfy anyway, my never-ending cravings for coconut and chili peppers. Fortunately my garden came to the rescue with some fresh lemongrass, chillies, and cilantro.

This dish, Curry Kapitan Shrimp, actually began as "Curry Kapitan Prawns" but due to our lack of fresh seafood here in the desert, I've substituted with some large sized shrimp. It is essentially a coconut-curry curry with fresh tomato and lemongrass, and is big on flavor. If you're aiming for something hearty and flavorful in which the heat can be ratcheted up when one wills it, this one is a good bet.

1. First I began by making a bumbu spice mix by grinding 3 cloves garlic, 10 shallots, 1 tsp belacan, 3 candlenuts (I used almonds), and turmeric (I used powdered but the original recipe calls for a fresh piece). All these were added to a food processor and ground.

2. Next I fried (in peanut oil) half an onion, crushed lemongrass stalk, curry leaves, adding the bumbu spice mix after a minute or two. Coconut milk and 1 tsp curry powder was added and the mixture cooked for 6-7 minutes.

3. Finally I added prawns, fresh tomato, and fresh green chillies. This, with a little more coconut milk and salt/sugar to taste, was cooked for an additional 4-5 minutes. Fresh lime juice was squeezed on top after the curry was served.

I loved this dish and it was so easy to make. How lucky people in Southeast Asia are to have grown up with such a rich culinary culture. As I often tell people, I feel somewhat slighted by having been raised in a such a boring culinary tradition. No wonder I was never excited much about food until much later in my life.

Well I am off again for more travels in the coming weeks. Next week I will be in Hawaii (Big Island), and following this I'll spend a week in Portland, Oregon -- a city I frankly don't know much about, with the exception of their famous used bookstore. If anybody has any culinary or activity tips for me, please share them!

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)