Bandeja Paisa (Colombian Mountain Platter)

This week the group had to decide on what food they wanted to cook. One member suggested that as one of our members is Colombian that we should cook something from Columbia.

After going through lots of different recipes everyone agreed that the Bandeja Paisa looked the most interesting and included a good mix of different food to try.

Bandeja Paisa is a platter made up of carne picada(spicy beef), beans, avacado, plaintain, chorizo and rice. Some people put a fried egg with it but the group decided to leave this out.

To make the Carne Picada:

All you need is Minced beef, Diced onion, Jalapeno Chilli peppers (finely chopped), Fresh tomatoes (chopped), Crushed Garlic, Beef Stock and salt and pepper. Put all the ingredients in a pot like we have above and cook until all the beef is cooked through. Then let it simmer.

To make the beans:

For the beans you will need Diced Onion, Chopped Green Peppers, Crushed Garlic, Red Kidney Beans, Oregano, A Teaspoon of Sugar, chicken stock, A splash of Cider Vinegar and a Cup of Water. Put all these ingredients into a pan like the one above and cook down until all the ingredients are soft and the water has gone.

Then cut the Chorizo into thick slices and fry in a pan. The group found that we did not need to add oil to fry the Chorizo as it has fat in it which comes out as oil when you cook it.

With the Avocado just cut them in half, remove the stone and skin and cut the Avocado into slices: 



Preparing the Avocado.

 With the Plantain cut into slices and either fry in some oil or bake until golden brown. We chose to bake our plantain as none of us had ever tried baking it, plus its the healthier option.

We also boiled some plain white rice to have with the dish.

Then put a bit of everything on a plate and there you have Bandeja Paisa!

The group said they really enjoyed all the flavours of this dish. They liked that there were lots of different things to try on one plate.

Morocan Lamb Meatballs with a Yoghurt and cucumber dip

Come Dine With Us are trying to explore the foods from different cultures to experience different flavours from around the world. The group think this is good as we have a lot of diversity within our group.

The group decided to try these Moroccan meatballs as an alternative to the Italian style meatballs we have made before.

The group were impressed by the recipe as it includes lots of different ingredients and flavours that they were excited to try.

The recipe for Meatballs:

Lamb Mince

Garlic

Onion

Fresh Chilli

Cumin seeds

Coriander Seeds

Cinnamon

Feta Cheese

Lemon Juice

Fresh Parsley

Salt and Pepper

One Egg

First crush the coriander and cumin seeds in a pestle and mortar and very finely chop the onion, garlic and chilli and put in a bowl.

Crumble the feta cheese into the bowl.

Add in all the other ingredients and using your hands thoroughly mix up the ingredients.

Then roll a small amount of the mixture between the palms of your hands until they make a rough ball. Then place on baking trays and bake in the oven.

The yoghurt and cucumber dip recipe:

Low fat yoghurt

Cucumber

Fresh Mint

Fresh Coriander

Lime juice

Salt and pepper

Chop parsley, mint and cucumber and mix all the ingredients in a bowl and that's it! A very simple dip which compliments the spices in the meatballs perfectly.

We served the meatballs with the yoghurt dip and some boiled rice rice with vegetables.

Everyone enjoyed the flavours of the dish! 

The group liked that we baked the meatballs instead of frying them, as this made it a healthier dish. The yoghurt dip was fresh and was really nice with the meatballs.