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Tamåles Gisu

Posted on May 31, 2014 by AnniesChamorroKitchen 37 comments

Tamåles Gisu is a Chamorro tamales with one red side and a non-spicy white side.

I make my tamåles by making the red side corn flour or cornmeal-based (I prefer cornmeal) and the white side rice-based. I also add hot peppers to the red side and leave the white side non-spicy. I add cooked bacon to both the red and white mixtures, but if that weren’t enough, I also top the tamåles gisu with a slice of delicious bacon.

This is an easy recipe to make. The time-consuming part is wrapping the tamåles in individual packets. The traditional tamåles gisu is wrapped in banana leaves. Living in the mainland U.S., however, I rarely find fresh banana leaves (I prefer using fresh over frozen leaves), so I wrap the tamåles in aluminum foil and place a strip of banana leaf in each packet to give it a little bit of flavor of the “real thing.”

If you’re really pressed for time, forego wrapping individual tamåles. Instead, use a large dish and place the red side in half of the dish, the white in the other half. Add slices of cooked bacon on top and let your guests scoop out the tamales.

Give my recipe a try. I think you’ll like it. 🙂

Tamåles Gisu

Ingredients:

Red Portion:

4 teaspoons chopped garlic
1/2 medium onion, chopped
4 slices bacon, chopped
4 cups water
2 packages achote powder
2 tablespoons powdered chicken bouillon
1/2 to 1 cup white cornmeal or masa harina (corn flour) (Note: start with 1/2 cup first; if you want it thicker, add more)
Black pepper, to taste
Hot pepper, to taste
1/2 cup reserved bacon fat

White Portion:

4 teaspoons chopped garlic
1/2 medium onion, chopped
4 slices bacon, chopped
4 cups water
2 tablespoons powdered chicken bouillon
1 cup cream of rice
Black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup reserved bacon fat

Directions:

In two separate pots, sauté the garlic, onion, and bacon over medium heat; reserve about 1/2 cup of melted bacon fat from each pot (or a total of 1 cup of bacon fat), drain remaining fat.

One pot is for the red portion, the other is for the white portion

For the Red Portion:

Add the water, achote powder, and chicken bouillon to the bacon mixture; return to a boil. Slowly whisk the cornmeal into the bacon mixture; the mixture should start to thicken.

Add black pepper and hot pepper to taste.

Continue to cook over low heat until the mixture thickens. Add some of the reserved bacon fat if the mixture is too thick to stir; the consistency should be like thick oatmeal.

For the White Portion:

Add the water and chicken bouillon to the bacon mixture; return to a boil. Slowly whisk the cream of rice into the bacon mixture; the mixture should start to thicken.

Note: If you don’t have cream of rice, toast 1 cup of uncooked rice in a shallow pan. Let the toasted rice cool then use a blender to grind the rice into a fine powder. Use this in place of the cream of rice.

Add black pepper to taste. Continue to cook over low heat until the mixture thickens. Add some of the reserved bacon fat if mixture is too thick to stir; the consistency should be like thick oatmeal.

Cut the aluminum foil into 8-inch squares. Top each piece of foil with both mixtures (red and white portions side by side) then place one strip of bacon on top of the red and white filling before sealing the foil. For those of you worried about placing uncooked bacon in the tamales, the bacon will cook as it steams. Or, you can pre-cook the bacon before adding it to the tamåles.

Fold the sides of the foil over the tamales then fold together to seal.

Steam the freshly wrapped tamåles for 15-20 minutes (steam frozen tamåles for 30-40 minutes).

Unwrap and ENJOY!

Posted in CHAMORRO DISHES, Chamorro Sides tagged with Bacon

Spinach with Coconut Milk

Posted on April 22, 2014 by AnniesChamorroKitchen 30 comments

This is a classic Chamorro dish that is a staple on most fiesta menus.

The traditional dish is called Gollai Hågun Suni, made with taro leaves rather than spinach. I still remember watching my mom make this dish the traditional way. She’d use a machete to cut a huge stack of taro leaves growing in our back yard. After rinsing each leaf, mom would stack then roll them up, cigar-like, then cut the leaves into thin ribbons. Mom then placed the taro leaves into a large pot filled with some water, cooking them long and over low heat so that the leaves can cook down and tenderize before adding freshly pounded orange ginger or turmeric (we used a hammer back in the day to pulverize the ginger root), freshly squeezed coconut milk, the juice of lemons picked from mom’s tree, and diced hot peppers from the plants growing by the door to the outside kitchen.

In this day and age, convenience (and making necessary substitutions due to not having traditional ingredients readily available) dictates using spinach leaves rather than traditional taro in this recipe. I buy frozen spinach that’s cooked and chopped — it saves so much time. Just defrost and drain the spinach leaves, add the rest of the ingredients, heat, and serve! What normally takes several hours if prepared the old Chamorro way now takes minutes.

Give my recipe a try. It’s a great addition to your Chamorro fiesta menu. 🙂

Spinach with Coconut Milk

Ingredients:

3 (10-oz.) packages frozen, cooked, and chopped spinach
3 cans coconut milk
2 tablespoons ground turmeric
2 teaspoons sea salt, more or less, to taste
2 teaspoons onion powder (you can use fresh onions, just saute them until the onions are softened)
2 teaspoons lemon powder (or use freshly squeezed lemon juice), more or less, to taste
1 teaspoon hot pepper paste or diced hot peppers, optional (add more or less, to taste)

Directions:

1. Place the frozen spinach in a colander (then place the colander inside a larger bowl) to thaw the spinach and allow any water to drain. After the spinach is completely thawed, squeeze the spinach to get rid of as much water as you can. Place the fully drained/squeezed spinach into a medium-sized pot.

2. Add the coconut milk, turmeric, salt, onion powder, lemon powder, and hot pepper to the pot. Stir to combine the ingredients.

3. Cook the spinach over low heat, just until heated through. Do NOT bring the mixture to a boil or the coconut milk will start to separate.

4. Taste and add adjust the amount of salt, lemon power or juice, and hot pepper to your liking. Serve and ENJOY!

Posted in CHAMORRO DISHES, Chamorro Sides, SIDES, VEGETABLES tagged with Coconut Milk, Gollai Hagun Suni, Taro

Chamorro Cucumber Salad

Posted on December 29, 2013 by AnniesChamorroKitchen 4 comments

Chamorro Cucumber Salad is a staple on most fiesta tables. With just a few ingredients, you can whip it up and have it on your dinner table in minutes.

I love serving this cucumber salad with fried chicken and red rice, but it’s delicious served alongside most meat dishes.

Give my recipe a try. I think you’ll like it.

Chamorro Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

2 large cucumbers
2 tablespoons salt
1 small onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white vinegar

Directions:

1. Slice the cucumbers about 1/4 inch thick. Place the cucumber slices into a plastic colander then place the colander into a large bowl. Sprinkle the salt over the cucumbers; stir to combine. Let the salted cucumber slices sit for about 15 minutes to allow excess water to drain out. After 15 minutes, pour out any water that drained into the bowl. Rinse the salt off the cucumbers; drain.

2. Place the rinsed and drained cucumbers into the large bowl. Add the onion, garlic, soy sauce and vinegar. Stir to combine.

3. Let the cucumbers sit for several minutes to allow the cucumbers to soak up all of the flavors. Serve with your favorite meat dish and enjoy!

Posted in CHAMORRO DISHES, Chamorro Sides, SIDES, VEGETABLES

Fina’dene’ ~ Chamorro ‘Special Sauce’

Posted on October 28, 2013 by AnniesChamorroKitchen 17 comments

Chamorro Special Sauce — that’s what my non-Chamorro friends call fina’denne’, the literal translation of which means made with pepper or donne’, the Chamorro word for hot chili pepper.

Fina’denne’ is a staple in most Chamorro homes. It’s served with most meals. Pour it over your freshly steamed rice or over your meat of choice. It’s sure to enhance your dining pleasure. 🙂

There are many, many ways to prepare fina’denne’. Soy sauce is usually the main ingredient; however, depending on the type of dish being served, you may choose to use salt instead. For instance, I prefer a salt-based fina’denne’ over grilled fish, but I love a soy sauce-based fina’denne’ over fried fish.

The acidic ingredient is all up to you as well. You can use white vinegar, cider vinegar, coconut vinegar, lemon juice or lime juice…it’s all up to you. My brother, for example, likes only lemon or lime juice in his fina’denne’. I, on the other hand, like to vary the acid I use depending on what I’m eating. I mentioned fish above…I like a soy-lemon fina’denne’ with fried fish, and either a salt-lemon or salt-white vinegar fina’denne’ with grilled fish.

I also like using white vinegar when I add tomatoes to my fina’denne. Tomatoes and vinegar pair really well, you know, like how a vinaigrette dressing goes great with a tomato salad.

Be sure to taste as you go…you might like your fina’denne’ more on the salty side, or you might prefer it a bit more sour (which is how I like it).

I like a 1:1 ratio of soy sauce to vinegar. My husband prefers his fina’denne’ on the salty side, so when he makes it, he uses a 2:1 ratio of soy sauce to vinegar. In other words, if I were to make a cup of fina’denne, I’ll use 1/2 cup soy sauce and 1/2 cup vinegar. My husband, on the other hand, will make his using 1/2 cup soy sauce and 1/4 cup vinegar.

Try making different varieties of fina’denne’ and decide for yourself your personal preference. But by all means, give it a try. I’m sure you too will love it. 🙂

Fina’denne’

Ingredients:

Soy sauce, to taste (you can substitute the soy sauce with salt)
Vinegar, to taste (you can use any type of vinegar, or you can use lemon or lime juice)

Optional ingredients:

Green onions, as much as you like
White onions, diced, as much as you like
Hot chili peppers, as much as you can stand
Cherry tomatoes, diced or sliced

For this batch of fina’denne’, I used:

1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup vinegar
1 jalapeño pepper
2 Serrano chili peppers
4 stalks green onions
1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together the soy sauce and vinegar (or lemon juice if you prefer).

I like adding hot green chili peppers to my fina’denne’, charring them slightly. You don’t have to char the peppers, but doing so brings out so much more of the pepper’s flavor. I grilled these peppers over the flame of my gas stove. Use a metal skewer to keep the peppers together; it also makes it easier to turn the peppers over to ensure even grilling.

My mom and one of my sisters loves using the red, super-hot Thai peppers in their fina’denne’. Those are great too, but beware! Those suckers are MOUTH-ON-FIRE H-O-T!!!

Slice the peppers then add them to the bowl.

Add the onions. I used green onions here, but you can use white or yellow onions too.

Add the tomatoes.

Stir to combine.

Pour over your rice and meat and dig in! ENJOY! 🙂

Here’s a great tip: for fina’denne’ at your fingertips and ready when you want it, buy a plastic squeeze bottle and fill it with fina’denne’, the liquid mixture only. Squeeze bottles are sold at most grocery stores, but I bought this one at our local Korean store. Add onions, tomatoes and peppers on the side when you’re ready to serve up your meal.

Posted in CHAMORRO DISHES, Chamorro Sides, Dipping Sauces, SAUCES & SEASONINGS tagged with Finadenne

Riyenu ~ Chamorro Stuffing

Posted on October 14, 2013 by AnniesChamorroKitchen 41 comments

Chamorro stuffing, or Riyenu, is a delicious side dish usually served during special holiday meals, alongside baked turkey, ham, or roast pig.

My mom taught me how to make this a very long time ago, when I was a very young girl. In fact, this recipe is one of the few I added to a recipe book that I made when I was perhaps 8 or 9 years old. I remember stacking small pieces of paper and gluing one side to make a spine, then creating a cover out of stiff cardboard and gluing a piece of scrap fabric with blue polka dots on it to make the cover soft and pretty. Even at that young age, I loved to cook, and I made my very own recipe book, which I still have to this day.

I’ve been asked what makes this a Chamorro stuffing. Well, I guess it’s the addition of potatoes, pimento and olives, kind of like our Chamorro Potato Salad.

A few optional ingredients that my mom sometimes puts in her Riyenu are finely diced celery and a small jar of sweet pickle relish. I prefer my stuffing without those two ingredients, so I leave them out.

You don’t need to wait for a holiday to make this yummy stuffing. Give my recipe a try. I think you’ll like it. 🙂

Riyenu ~ Chamorro Stuffing

Ingredients:

2 medium potatoes
1 cup vegetable oil, for frying
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 box Stove Top Stuffing Mix for Turkey
2 small jars diced pimento, drained
1 small can chopped black olives, drained
1 cup raisins
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Peel and dice the potatoes into small pieces, about 1/4 inch square.

Place the vegetable oil in a shallow frying pan over medium heat.

Fry the diced potatoes in batches; cook until the potatoes are a very light golden brown and cooked through (use a fork to test for doneness).

Drain the cooked potatoes on a paper towel-lined plate. Set aside.

Brown the ground beef in a medium sized pot.

Add the contents of the stuffing mix (dried bread pieces and seasoning), the cooked potatoes and onions to the pot. Stir to combine. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

Add the pimentos and olives to the pot.

Stir to combine. Continue to cook over medium heat for a minute or so, stirring occasionally.

Add the raisins. I actually like lots of raisins in my stuffing so I tend to add more than a cup.

Pour in the evaporated milk. You can also use vegetable or chicken stock instead of milk.

Add the melted butter. Cook for another minute or two. Taste, then add salt and pepper if needed (the seasoning packet from the stuffing is already quite salty, so you might not need to add more salt).