Cooking According to Peace Corps

I've let it be known on numerous occasions I'm in no way a master chef. At home PPC (Pre-Peace Corps) I had moments of excellence but those were mostly in part to Trader Joe's doing most of the leg work for me. Also the amount of kitchen tools I had at my disposal made cooking less of a culinary art and more of a paint by numbers activity. Here, I am equipped with an oven that looks like a Hasbro on steroids Easy Bake Oven

Measuring cups are also something I lack here. So I do a lot of eye balling and guess work which usually manages fine except for the Snickerdoodle Thanksgiving fiasco of 2009. "No they aren't chocolate cookies, that's just a lot of cinnamon....and banana"


I keep telling myself that I'm going to buy a blender. I always say next month when I get paid. Seriously NEXT MONTH...wait I'm going home, maybe July?

Another problem is that I hate doing dishes. In the winter it was out of survival as I didn't have heat or hot water in my kitchen. I could barely wash a glass without my fingers going miserably numb running into my room and hiding in my sleeping bag for the rest of the night.  

Today though I managed to make dinner and dessert successfully, and by successfully I mean I made dinner, ate dinner, and then didn't have to eat pepto tablets for dessert. I've decided to share these recipes with you, and how I've adapted to my Peace Corps lifestyle.

Main Course: Roasted Eggplant and Zucchini. 

Ingredients:

Eggplant or Aubergine depending on how long you've been teaching British English in your classroom.

Zucchini

Olive oil or the cheap mix of olive oil and "clean oil" that I got from the CBA

Salt

Lemon Juice

Pre-Heat your oven to around 230 C. Also if you have the capability heat from both top and bottom.

Cut Eggplant length wise and score it. Meaning I kind of cut it with my dull knife but not all the way through. Sprinkle some salt on it and let it sit there until Megavideo has told you have watched 72 minutes of video today. 

Wring out eggplant or blot with paper towel. Cut up zucchini then coat both of them in olive oil.

Line a pan with tin foil! This is key as you won't have to wash the pan when you're done. 

Put in the oven checking on them after about 15 minutes to stir.  Roast until desired consistency I like my food practically charred. 

Sprinkle with salt and lemon juice to taste. 

Dessert: Vegan Chocolate Cake.

Ingredients:

Cocoa Powder

Flour

Sugar

Oil

Warm Water

Salt

Baking Soda

Vinegar

Vanilla

Pre-oven to about 170-180 C. I'm still working on which temperature is the best for this. 

This is where it gets tricky since I don't have measure cups, so I work more with proportions.

Take standard glass and fill it 1/3 with cocoa powder. Then add 1 1/4 flour, 1 cup sugar. 1/3 cup oil. 1 cup warm water. Again since I don't get warm water in my kitchen I get it from the bathroom. A little salt and a little baking soda. A couple of splashes of vinegar...trust me you won't taste it later. Then one of those  of the butter/vanilla flavoring that come in the tubes. 

Put in oven. Go take a shower until your hot water runs out, then get dressed. By the time you're finished doing that the cake should be done. (Approximately 15 minutes)

Let cool or burn your fingers while snagging a bite.

Enjoy!