piri piri summer vegetables with jollof rice

Tuesday nights are Asian/African nights

...or anything that is nice with rice. Tonight I made an African meal complete with red palm oil, a distinctive African flavor. Piri Piri means 'hot chilis' in Swahili and so the name of the marinade echoes the content of it. Unfortunately, I could not find any thai bird's eye chili, so I made my piri piri marinade with Fresno and serrano peppers - less spicy. It seems to be a chili week, here at my house! After the vegetables - eggplant, green beans, zucchini and yellow squash - were marinated for 20 minutes, I grilled them on the griddle I still had out (but cleaned, of course :) from lunch. I served it in butter lettuce to cut the heat and provide a vessel to the mouth. Yum!

The rice is cooked with tomatoes, onions, cinnamon sticks, fenugreek seeds, coriander and cumin, and the ubiquitous African red palm oil. I love African food. The family is still getting used to the unique flavor - especially of the palm oil (which you can skip and just spice your neutral oil by simmer it with onions, garlic and the spices for 15 minutes, straining it and using it as the cooking base). The flavor of the vegetables - spicy and sweet with a little tang from the lemon in the marinade - were well received, though.

Cost Breakdown:

vegetables: $5

peppers: $1

rice: $.50

tomatoes: $2.50

red palm oil : $1

lettuce: $2

spices: $.50

Total to feed a family of 5:

$12.50

panini burritos with roasted corn and chili cream sauce

I am pretty sure kids don't really care that they have the same type of meal right after another, because Mikel chose to make bean burritos for lunch. He grilled the burritos like a quesadilla, so we decided to call it a 'panini.' Yes, we pressed it down to make it official, even though we have no panini press.

He roasted some corn on the griddle, added that to the refried beans he made, some Daiya cheese and a bit of sour cream and avocado and the meal was complete. I, however, wanted to make a sauce for it and even Mikel liked it. I just rehydrated some 2 chilis and blended them with some almond milk, a few cashews, a dash of salt and sugar, strained it and heated it to meld the flavors. Oh my! The humble burrito, as fabulous as Mikel made it, was flown to even more glorious heights.

Cost Breakdown:

tortilla: $2

beans: $4
corn: $1
avocado: $3
sauce: $1.50
Daiya: $2
Total to make 10 burritos:
$13.50