NEW ZEALAND: THE FOOD

February in Indiana this week has proved to be bipolar. On Tuesday the high was 61ºF, then on Thursday the high was 26ºF, and yesterday it was 65ºF. My poor nose can’t keep up with all of that nonsense. It feels more like mid-April than it does mid-February. I’m not complaining. My lungs and throat, on the other hand, have a differing opinion on the matter. But like Elizabeth Warren this week, nonetheless, I will persist in doing what I do. 

I would've never thought to bake kiwis but this wasn't so bad.

Today, I’m making New Zealand Kiwi Bread. I cut 6 kiwis in half and scooped out the middle, chopping it up as well as I could. Hopefully, this makes about 1 ½ c of kiwi. Then I placed the kiwi in a pot and added in a cup of brown sugar and a tsp of grated lemon zest. I brought this to a boil, stirring it until the fruit lost some of its color, and then took it off the heat to cool. In a separate bowl, I beat together an egg and a ½ c of vegetable oil before adding in 1 ½ c of all purpose flour, ½ tsp baking powder, and ½ tsp salt. I took ½ tsp of baking soda and stirred it into the kiwi mixture until bubbles started to form. Then I poured my kiwi mixture into my bowl with the flour mixture in it and stirred until everything was consistent. After this, I poured the batter into a greased loaf pan and baked it at 350ºF for about 50-55 minutes. After it comes out and is cooling, I topped the loaf with a mixture of 1 c powdered sugar and 8 tsp of lemon juice that I spooned over the top. It didn’t quite have the flavor I was expecting, and I think it was the combination of the kiwi and the lemon. I mean, it wasn’t horrible by any means. My husband had two pieces. I think I might try vanilla extract in the sugar drizzle instead of lemon juice. Of course, my nose is stuffed up, so my sense of taste might be off.

I bet this would be pretty good if it weren't burnt and I could taste it.

The main dish I made today is New Zealand Mince Stew. I sautéed my onions in oil first and removed them before browning my ground beef in the same pot. Then I added in garlic and let cook for a minute before adding back in my onions for a few minutes before pouring in ½ c of water. After letting it simmer on reduced heat for about 15-20 minutes, I added in some ketchup, beef stock, teriyaki sauce, pepper, curry powder, garlic powder, and onion powder. Covering it again, I let this simmer for about an hour. It didn’t even get 45-50 minutes in before it scorched on the bottom. By the time my nose could smell it, it was a little too late. I scraped off what I could salvage and served it on top of toasted wheat bread. It was almost like an open face Sloppy Joe sandwich. Despite the slightly burnt taste, I thought it was pretty good. 

I thought this was a pretty good recipe. I bet it'll be even better when it's been properly chilled.

To go with this, I also made Corn Relish. In a pot, I heated some butter and sautéed some onion and garlic until it was soft. Then I threw in some corn, chopped cucumbers, and red bell pepper (leaving out the hot peppers and zucchini because I didn’t want to hear my husband whine) and let it simmer for a few minutes. After this, I added in some apple cider vinegar, spicy mustard, curry powder, dill seed, and cumin and stirred it all together. In a small bowl, I stirred together a little flour and water to make a paste and poured the paste and some sugar into the corn mixture. After stirring this together for another 5 minutes and salting to taste, I transferred this to a different bowl to let cool. I didn’t let it cool long enough, but the flavor was good. I definitely didn’t use quite as much vinegar as it called for, and I was grateful I didn’t. It was good the way it was.

Overall, I thought this was a pretty good meal that I amazingly made while being sick.

I also pulled a recipe for a famous whipped dessert called Pavlova. I was going to make this, even though in the past I have not had very good luck when it came to whipping egg whites. But you know, eighty-ninth time a charm, right? However, the recipe also said that if it looks like it’s going to rain, then it won’t set up right. So, I skipped it for today since it was humid and rained last night. I didn’t want to waste the eggs if it wasn’t going to work. I might try it at a later time when it looks like both the weather and my nose clears up.

Up next: Nicaragua