Solomon Islands
Every once in a while you come across an ingredient that you are not comfortable using. In the Solomon Islands cassava is a staple ingredient. Cassava is also eaten daily by around 1 billion people and is the 3rd most used starch after wheat and rice. Rich in nutrients and carbs its a staple in Africa, South America and Oceana. So why was I so apprehensive, well quite frankly I was worried about cyanide poisoning. There are two types of cassava sweet and bitter and both of them contain cyanide with the bitter ones having considerably more then the sweet variety. I googled tons of recipes and methods of preparation and found just basic cooking instructions like peel, grate, chop and cook etc. However no real instructions on how to detoxify this ingredient. Then you come across articles about these poor children in the Philippines who ate cassava cake and ended up dying really heartbreaking along with articles about how its banned in Japan and how people in Africa were getting paralyzed from cassava. But a billion people eat cassava daily.
However nearly all grocery stores carry cassava either frozen, grated or in its natural root state. While shopping for green papaya for another dish we were making for the Solomon Islands we passed by some cassava. I looked hesitated and decided not to buy it, sometimes its just stuck in your head a paranoia that is unbeatable. This store did however have frozen grated cassava on sale for $ 0.99 . I decided to buy it with some reservations and give it a wait and see attitude on how risky I felt. After giving it some thought and much more research I justified using it in a recipe I found, comparing it to the like of eating raw chicken or raw ground beef from a supermarket. Simply put anything not prepared right will make you sick and in the case of cassava kill you maybe.
The Menu
Green Papaya Chicken with Rice
Chicken is a staple in many countries as its cheap and economical to produce. In the Solomon Islands papaya shares a similar trait. There is so much abundance of papaya there that they use it in different states from raw to ripe. This recipe was also easy to put together with some boneless chicken thighs that I browned first and then deglazed with onions. This is one of my new tricks that I have learnt, instead of using broth, water, wine etc to deglaze what you can do is use onions with a little salt on it. The salt draws out the moisture and naturally deglazes the pan while not thinning out the flavour. Add some garlic, papaya and coconut milk back in and Sol's your uncle.
Cassava Cake-Pudding
After finally overcoming my initial trepidation I followed a recipe to make cassava cake. However I tweaked it a little by increasing the cooking time from 45 Mins to about 3 hrs you know.... just to be sure. But to be honest I actually had added a touch more liquid in this cake then the recipe called for as I knew I would be cooking it longer. But more importantly my research said that this recipe was usually wrapped in banana leaves and left to cook over coals for several hours. Which got me thinking that cassava could be treated similar to a yam or potato. The end result was quite nice with a jello like texture but much more dense.
Next week we are off to Turkey. I really look forward to Turkey as there is an abundance of treats and some culinary delights from this country.
The Menu
Green Papaya Chicken with Rice
Chicken is a staple in many countries as its cheap and economical to produce. In the Solomon Islands papaya shares a similar trait. There is so much abundance of papaya there that they use it in different states from raw to ripe. This recipe was also easy to put together with some boneless chicken thighs that I browned first and then deglazed with onions. This is one of my new tricks that I have learnt, instead of using broth, water, wine etc to deglaze what you can do is use onions with a little salt on it. The salt draws out the moisture and naturally deglazes the pan while not thinning out the flavour. Add some garlic, papaya and coconut milk back in and Sol's your uncle.
After finally overcoming my initial trepidation I followed a recipe to make cassava cake. However I tweaked it a little by increasing the cooking time from 45 Mins to about 3 hrs you know.... just to be sure. But to be honest I actually had added a touch more liquid in this cake then the recipe called for as I knew I would be cooking it longer. But more importantly my research said that this recipe was usually wrapped in banana leaves and left to cook over coals for several hours. Which got me thinking that cassava could be treated similar to a yam or potato. The end result was quite nice with a jello like texture but much more dense. Next week we are off to Turkey. I really look forward to Turkey as there is an abundance of treats and some culinary delights from this country.
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