Day 1 - China - World Cup Eating Challenge 2015

IT'S BACK!!!

The World Cup Eating Challenge has probably been one of the most fun and challenging things I've done to push my creativity in the kitchen. It started on kind of a whim and I really ran with it by the end of the challenge last year. This year, I decided to try again with a little more planning.

Here are the rules:
- Every day of the World Cup, eat something from a country playing that day.
- Try to cook for as many of these as possible (in a pinch, eating out is ok - the eating is the main goal here)
- Stay as paleo/primal as possible. This is mostly so I don't have to buy sugars and flours that I won't ever use again but it's also nice to push my creativity.
- While there are choices (e.g. group stage, early rounds), pick countries that you aren't familiar with or aren't as likely to proceed.

The goal here is try new food and do new things in the kitchen. I'm not going to lie, this doesn't always work well. You'll get a glimpse of that soon enough. However, when it does work and a paleo substitution comes out good, it's really good kitchen education for me.

So let's get rolling. Day 1 was Chinese food! Even though they were projected to move on when I looked at predictions, Paleo Chinese food has been something I've really been wanting to try to do and it's a country that wasn't in the World Cup last year.


I decided to start on the ambition end. I had a recipe for paleo beef and broccoli. I'd done some testing with walnut shrimp and wanted to take that all the way as well. I also thought a rice dish would be important so paleo fried rice was a no brainer for me.

Beef and Broccoli

So, I have just realized that the ratios on my photos are kind of odd. I'm going to adjust my phone settings so that they look better later. I guess I could edit them but that seems like a lot of work.

Anyways, beef. I used the PaleOMG beef and broccoli recipe. I normally like to adapt my own recipes but it was nice that it was done for me, especially since the magical flavor of beef and broccoli has always been a mystery to me. The first step was to cut up the beef and then make a marinade. I left out the red pepper flakes because Dan doesn't like spicy food (and then I just added them on to my bit later). I straight up forgot the arrowroot powder. This would come back to haunt me.

While the beef marinated, I worked on some of the other dishes and also started on my broccoli. The recipe suggested adding a little bit of water to the pan so that the broccoli steams. Normally my broccoli gets a little charred (which I like) but I didn't think that was right for this dish so I went with the steaming option. This worked like a charm... maybe too well because my broccoli was a little softer than I would have liked. Oops.

Around this time, I realized I missed the arrowroot powder. For those who aren't familiar with it - it works instead of flour as a thickening agent for sauces. It was going to be what transformed the marinade into a thicker sauce for the beef and broccoli.

I cooked my meat and as expected, the sauce didn't thicken. I kind of ended up with a beef and mushy broccoli soup. It still tasted good but it's always a little sad when you work hard and something doesn't come out how you expected... and it's totally your fault.

"Walnut" Shrimp

This was really my biggest goal. I love walnut shrimp but hate how sticky sweet it can be. I also used an already established recipe for this with the intention of making a lot of adjustments to tone down the sweetness. However, as I was going through, I loved so much of it that I stuck pretty close to the recipe.

This was a great recipe to work on while I let my beef marinade. I was able to peel and start frying my shrimp all while the beef prepped itself. I love when recipes work out that way. For change number one - I decided to not egg my shrimp before putting the tapioca starch on them. I didn't want the batter to be as thick on it and I figured the shrimps natural wetness would stick the starch good enough. This has worked well for me before and did again this time. This is just a personal preference. I figured since it's already fried and sweet, I didn't need so much batter on it.

My oil was avocado oil. This is my go to for frying as it's got a high heat and imparts little to no flavor. It's just further proof that avocados are perfect.

Next, I prepped my walnuts. I have a pretty big pantry of nuts and paleo flours and things. I knew I had a big bag of walnuts so I wasn't worried about buying them at the store. Except I didn't have walnuts at all. They were pecans and I'm dumb. However, I don't love walnuts and wasn't going to do the (excessive) three cups of nuts that the recipe called for. I ended up doing about 3/4 cup of chopped pecans. I let those roast and then made the sauce.

At first I was going to tone down the sweetness of the sauce.. and then I realized it wasn't really that much sweetness. I mixed it all up (maybe with a bit more lemon) and loved the flavor. It had a hint of sweetness but was more tangy and creamy and just wonderful.

I originally wasn't going to candy my "walnuts" either but I was so impressed with the sauce I decided to just go with it. In the end, I was licking my fingers. My candied pecans tasted like toffee and gave me lots of ideas for future paleo treats. 

Mixing it all together was just perfect. I don't know where three cups of walnuts would have gone so I'm happy I toned down the nuts and really happy with how it all came together.

Cauliflower Fried Rice

At this point, I was multi-tasking like crazy and didn't get too many pictures. Cauliflower rice is really easy. Fried cauliflower rice is more steps yet somehow seems easier.

I started with frying some chopped up bacon. I let that get crispy while I prepped the other ingredients. I chopped up some carrots and green onions and added that to my bacon grease. Meanwhile, I had a bag of peas steaming in the microwave.

Next came the star - cauliflower. I was going to get the frozen cauliflower rice from Trader Joe's but apparently everyone else had this idea and they were super sold out. It's probably better that way since the ice would add too much liquid and not fry the rice as well. Instead I bought some cauliflower florets. TJs also has little bags of florets. I bought two bags but only used one. I tossed it into the food processor and just pulsed until the cauliflower was in little rice sized grains. I added this and the peas into my pan and let that cook. 

From here on out it was very typical fried rice. I cracked a couple of eggs into it and added some gluten free soy sauce. Coconut aminos are also a great option if you are strict paleo but I love the Tamari gluten free soy sauce as it tastes the most like traditional soy sauce. 

It definitely was the easiest of all the dishes. I really wish I'd made more as I was craving it really badly early the next morning and there was just a tiny little bit left over. It was so easy, I know I need to make some more to enjoy in a pinch.

All in all, I'd mark this one as a success. There were some missteps with the beef and broccoli but it still tasted good. The shrimp and rice turned out better than my highest exceptions though and that's always really rewarding. 

These were really involved recipes. I'd like to say the challenge will continue in this vein but it's a little draining on me and our fridge is already over flowing with leftovers so I think I'm going to to tone it down to 1-2 dishes for some of the upcoming countries.