Here I am sitting in front of the television watching Wolf Blitzer and his fierce beard interrogating various political pundits. It’s a gorgeous sunny and quiet Sunday afternoon. The kind of weather that we call ‘beach weather’, but I’m indoors. I’ll be heading to the supermarket in a while though to buy some ingredients for my first full day of ‘raw eating’. You see I’ve decided to try and raise my consumption of raw food to at least 50% of my weekly consumption. I’m a little nervous and excited, and you can be sure that I will be sharing my culinary yays and nays as I explore this new form of cuisine that has been pretty much unknown to me.

Cooked food enthusiasts have no fear however, I have not abandoned ye Indeed these curried potato mini latkes that I whipped up especially for Stephanies 41st installment of Blog Party are probably as far from ‘raw’ cuisine as one can get! This time around Stephanie’s theme was Traditions. The holidays for me mean Hanukkah and Eight days of Candlelit Goodness so I thought what better than latkes? But I couldn’t just do generic latkes. No no no. Being Trini I figured where there’s fried potato, curry and chadon beni shouldn’t be too far behind. Did it work? Most definitely! In fact, since this is an original recipe, I liked it enough to also submit it to the Original Recipe Roundup. . To keep them bite-sized I fried the latkes one teaspoonful at a time, and then pierced them with toothpicks for mess-free consumption. Simply use a larger portion of batter to make the latkes more traditionally sized

With latkes like this, forget applesauce or sour cream and head for your favourite chutney. This time around I used tamarind. Yum!
To cool things down from all that spicy goodness a cool bubbly drink was in order. I decided to keep things ‘tropical’ by mixing up a Guava based non-alcoholic cooler.

It’s definitely starting to feel more festive now! Hope you are also starting to feel some seasonal cheer and, if you are looking for Traditional Trinidadian Christmas recipes, make sure to check out my post In Trinidad, Christmas is Parang!

Sarina’s Curried Potato ‘mini’ Latkes

INGREDIENTS:

5 potatoes, peeled and grated
1/4 cup onion grated
1 teaspoon ginger grated
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
1/4 teaspoon garam masala powder
1/2 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
olive oil

METHOD:

1. Combine grated potato with all the ingredients except the oil.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a nonstick pan.
3. Fry the potato latkes by dropping 1/4 cup measures of the mixture into the pan, and flattening them in the pan. (use 1 teaspoon if you are making ‘mini’ latkes as appetizers.)
4. Fry on each side for about five minutes till cooked. Add more oil as needed.

This recipe is an exclusive TriniGourmet original. Please do not share it or post it to your site without crediting TriniGourmet.com. A link back to our site is not necessary but always appreciated

Sarina’s Bubbly Guava-Ginger Ale

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups guava nectar
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt
20 oz. bottle ginger ale

METHOD:

1. Combine all ingredients.
2. Strain and chill thoroughly.
3. Just before serving, add ginger ale.

This recipe is an exclusive TriniGourmet original. Please do not share it or post it to your site without crediting TriniGourmet.com. A link back to our site is not necessary but always appreciated