GCC: Butternut Rice Laksa Soup

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This weeks Gutsy Cook selection was hard for me.  Especially since I was the one that picked all four choices.  And my pickings were based in how interesting they all sounded and the unusual way they were in using this month ingredient – Rice.

We had Horchata, which you all know I had in my kitchen bucket list for a while now.  Then a Persian recipe called Adas Polo, which appeal to my love of lentils. We had an Indian twist with the Rice Flour pancakes know as Kalappam which is the usual side dish to non-vegetarian curries.  And finally we had a twist to an Indonesian dish from the Peranakan culture – a Pumpkin Rice Laksa Soup.

I wanted to make all four of them.  But faith stepped in and gave us beautiful chilly weather this past weekend here in Florida.  Our temperatures dipped into the 50’s, which called for lots snuggling, lazy TV watching which just comfort food.  So the soup won this hands down.

Let’s start with a little classroom knowledge.

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GCC: Tamales filled with Carnitas in Pipian Sauce

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I have been itching to try my hand at making Tamales from scratch for a long time.  The reason is simple – I love eating them.  And like anything that I love, I like to learn to make it at home and teak it to my taste.

So, when we choose the Gutsy Menu up for September and Mexican ended as our theme, I could not help sneak in a Tamale recipe to finally force me to try this labor intensive recipe.

Dishes that take days to make, hours to compose and unifies family and friends together to create memories is the ultimate reason for why people cook in the first place. Tamales is a dishes that fulfill all of that.  Ask anyone in Mexico, and they will tell you that Tamale making is a labor of love.  They vary from region to region as does the process, ingredients and tools used. Almost as much as they do family to family.  Recipes (and ingredients) are protected and protocols are followed.  In many cases the person making the tamales keeps their secrets to themselves and those secrets are passed on from generations to generation. 

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GCC: Chicken-Filled Enchiladas with Tangy Crema Tomatillo Sauce

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And after a very hot summer, the Gutsy Cooks are back in action.  With a new format, new cooks and new visions we are ready to rock on in our kitches the rest of the year.

This time around we are using tons of different creative outlets to set our monthly menus.  Inspirations now can come from a cookbook, or a particular chef, or a theme, maybe a particular technique or even our own cookbooks/recipes – because after cooking with this group of gutsy home cooks, there is huge amount of talent there and I’m really excited to see what they come up with.

For the month of September I decided to go the Mexican route

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