By the way: brush for roots and vegetables.

(Em português)

You might have noticed before that I really like to cook using the oven.

Breads, tarts, baked omelette, all kinds of oven roasted vegetable, fruits, chimia...

Particularly in the case of roots, I find it interesting to roast them with the peels on. Think beets, carrots, ginger, fresh turmeric, all kinds of potatoes, even some other foods that have slightly hard peels (squashes? apples?).

Baking/ roasting food with their peel helps preserve their nutritional value, even if you take it off later.

But for that, of course, the peels must be perfectly clean - after all, it's not pleasant at all to eat food with dirt.

My best friend in this task is a small nail brush. It's obvious that you need to buy a new one to use exclusively in the kitchen. The good thing about them is they fit nicely in your hand, and these ones that come with a handle don't slip away.

All you have to do is leave a string of running water and kindly brush each vegetable until you remove all of the dirt. Then you cut off the damaged parts, if there are any, and after rinsing you can proceed with the preparation of your food.

Rinse the brush as well, let it dry well hanging on a hook or on the dish drainer before storing (I keep mine on a hook by the tap.

It's always good to remember it is not interesting to eat with peel vegetables that are grown with pesticides, because most of them get stuck in the peels. In this case, you can stills wash them with the brush, but then cut peels off before cooking.

Now, some news: I've created a page on facebook for the blog, it's only in Portuguese, though.
Anyway, there I will publish the new posts & links I find interestig (it's quite possible they won't always be food-related).
If you feel like searching it, look for Blog É o que tem pra hoje.

Black-eyed peas curry: an attempt of Indian food.

(Em português)

I have been following Enjoy Indian Food for quite a while now, and everytime I go to an Indian restaurant I enjoy it indeed. But I had never made the move  to prepare it myself.
Silly me! I think it's because the logic of Indian food is quite different from everything I usually prepare, so I didn't really now where to start.
So, one day, I come across this recipe, which takes black-eyed peas.
And guess what? I had cooked and and frozen black-eyed peas, which I hadn't figured how to prepare.
By the way, I have quite a few kinds of beans at home, and I have been trying to think of new ways to prepare them besides the everyday rice-and-beans.
After all, I thought this recipe - Teriwale Lobiya - was a great way to approach Indian cuisine.

Dona Lisete's soft white bread.

 

(em português)

Last Winter I made a tour walking by the borders of the canyons between Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, do you remember? I'm sure I have talked about it in some post.
In the daytime we walked and saw pretty things, and each night we slept in one different farm-hostel.
It was pretty cold, something around 6oC, and very humid. But with the constant movement of walking  we didn't even get to feel cold. And the air was delicious, so fresh and clean.
The last place we slept at before going back home was Pousada do Morro da Cruizinha.
Like the other hostels, this one was very simple, and the people who received us were very welcoming.
In the morning, before leaving, we had a breakfast all based in wheat flour:
there were several kinds of cookies, cake, cuca (or kuchen, if you will. A kind of sweet bread, heritage from the German immigrants in Southern Brazil), and a bread you can only eat in Rio Grande do Sul.
At first sight, there's nothing extraordinary about it - it's just a white sandwich bread.
But it is so homey! It's a very soft white sandwich bread, with this nice brown top, delicate flavor, and a delicious texture.
It would win anybody's heart. Then I, a sucker for breads, was definitely in love.

There was no way out: I asked for the recipe.
People told me that this bread is prepared by Lisete who, by the way, prepares other titbits that were around, all of them baked in the wood oven.
I felt shy, so I didn't take pictures of her nor of the bread. I was sure they would think it was some sort of weirdness that attacks girls living in big cities.

But if any of you feel like taking a look in person, at the end of the post I will leave the link to the website of the company which guided us in the tour.