Stuffed Peppers and a New Seed Bread

Long, long ago, I made a recipe for the filling for Stuffed Peppers, and have been using that recipe ever since. I make them at least once a year, because we love them, and they are a tried and true recipe. While there is nothing inherently wrong with the recipe as it stands, I chose to make them one day recently but did not consult my old recipe at all.

Over these many years since I started making Stuffed Peppers, I have become more conscious of what I am using in a recipe, and more recently still, I have tried to lessen, if not eliminate ketchup. You see, my husband has a true ketchup addiction. Since I have known him, it is a rare meal where most everything is not literally covered in ketchup. When we would order fast food (only on road trips to somewhere), he would get at minimum 15 to 20 packets of ketchup to use on both burger and fries. It was not uncommon for him to use at least a half cup worth per meal. That is excessive, in my book.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

So last year when he had some serious health issues centering on digestion, I offered to cook healthy foods, if he was willing to eat them, and forego ketchup on every single food. He has done excellently. Only recently, more than a year later, has he crept back, now and again, mostly while we are traveling, to using it at all. At home, no. So, with all that in mind, I hate like anything to re-introduce too much ketchup into his daily regimen, for fear that the "taste" for it will return. I have revised so many recipes, using tomato sauce, sometimes adding a little stevia for sweetness, vinegar for tartness. I knew that my recipe for Stuffed Peppers called for ketchup, but couldn't recall how much. So, when I started assembling things for the recipe, I did not consult my old recipe at all. It was interesting to see that I went for the same general flavors, but in differing amounts. This time, I used more rice, but a whole grain red rice, and less ketchup. There are a couple of other differences. Altogether, these were excellent, and not so different in flavor.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Makes 4

2 cups cooked brown or red rice (about ¾ cup dry)
8 ounces Portobello Mushrooms, chopped finely
1 tablespoon olive oil, more if needed
½ teaspoon salt
1 pound lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 - 4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
⅔ cup finely shredded carrot
⅔ cup finely chopped celery
⅔ cup minced green pepper (use pepper tops)
½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves
¾ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce 
½ cup ketchup
4 bell peppers
Sweet Sour Sauce, such as LaChoy's

Cook the rice ahead of time. Brown rice or red rice generally follows similar rules of thumb for cooking: twice the volume of water to rice and about 50 minutes to cook. Add in ¾ teaspoon salt while cooking. Once cooked through, if there is remaining water, drain it off and let the rice cool.

Heat a large skillet and add in the oil. Add the chopped mushrooms and the ½ teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are definitely browned. Turn out to a plate and set aside.

While the mushrooms are cooking, work with the peppers. Select peppers that have four lumps at the bottom, so they will stand up on their own. Cut off the tops of the bell peppers and separate any usable bits of the bell pepper from the tops and chop. Discard stems. Remove any membranes and seeds inside the pepper cups. Heat a large saucepan of water to boil and place the pepper cups in the water to cook, just until they start going an olive color, then remove quickly. Set them into a casserole.

Add in the hamburger meat to the skillet, with more oil only if needed, and cook, breaking apart to very small bits. Add in the onion and garlic and cook until they are softened. Add in the chopped bell pepper bits from the tops, with the carrot and celery, thyme and ¾ teaspoon salt. Add the Worcestershire, ketchup, rice and mushrooms and stir well. Pack this mixture very tightly into the bell pepper cups. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Top the pepper filling with 1 - 2 tablespoons of Sweet Sour Sauce and bake them for about 30 to 40 minutes, until well heated through. 

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On to the Bread!

Five Seed Malted Bread

A little over a week ago, I finally got a Five-Seed No-Knead Bread perfected. I was so pleased, since it took me four separate tries to get it just right.

Similarly, I have been making seeded loaves of bread from Paul Hollywood's cookbooks (bought after watching the Great British Baking Show). They have all turned out nicely and taste absolutely wonderful. So I went on to try some revisions and make a loaf of my own. Well, while the bread came out absolutely beautiful, it was dense and very hard. Dense is okay, up to a point. Though I love chewy bread, this was a bit over the top, and hard to chew! So, back to the drawing board with that one, also. But then I got thinking. In truth, I had already changed the recipe I was basing my bread on. Since Paul's recipe calls for "granary flour," and that is not locally available, I had created my own mixture to approximate granary flour or malt flour, based solely on his description of:

". . . a nutty taste and . . . slightly darker in colour. It is essentially a white flour with added flakes of malted wheat."

Five Seed Malted Bread

In approximating this flour, I used bread flour, plus a smaller amount of whole grain flour and an even smaller amount of lighter colored malted grain. Found whole anywhere there are beer-making supplies, or already ground in such places as King Arthur Flour site, this malted grain is called diastatic malt, and helps (in bread making) to give a boost to rising and also giving color to the baking loaf, if used in small amounts. To be safe, I also added a small amount of gluten for added structure.

Aside from this change to the recipe, while I really loved the beautiful way he created a sticky paste of soaked flax and sesame seeds to coat the outside of the bread, it was an added step that (IMHO) didn't help, particularly while toasting, as the whole coating would tend to lift off. Instead, I added the sesame seeds with the rest of the seeds into the loaf. And that is another change. While Paul's' loaf called for adding all those seeds into the loaf AFTER the first rise, it was nearly impossible to incorporate them without re-kneading the loaf. I chose to add them in at the end of the original kneading process. I added just a bit more water to the recipe, to accommodate a longer period with the thirsty seeds in contact with the dough. It made kneading a little more challenging. Probably would have been easier in the stand mixer, but I had chosen to knead by hand. 

Ultimately, this time I am extremely happy with the outcome of my bread. It may not be as pretty without that coating, but it is dense with seeds, though not hard. It tastes wonderful, and all those seeds (a whole lot more than what went into the Five-Seed No-Knead Bread!) are beautifully incorporated. 

You will need a kitchen scale for this recipe. I did measure out the seed quantities in cup measures, but the flour is easier to weigh out in grams.

Five Seed Malted Bread

Makes one loaf

Five Seed Malted Bread

335 grams bread flour

135 grams whole wheat flour
15 grams diastatic malt powder
13 grams (2 tablespoons) gluten
5 grams instant yeast
10 grams fine salt
40 grams lard
350 milliliters (1½ cups) water, plus or minus 2 tablespoons as needed

SEED MIX:
70 grams (½ cup) raw pumpkin seed kernels
70 grams (½ cup) raw sunflower kernels
50 grams (⅓ cup) sesame seeds
50 grams (⅓ cup) flax seeds
50 grams (⅓ cup) poppy seeds

Combine the seeds together in a bowl and stir to distribute evenly. Set aside.

In a large bowl, or bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer with dough hook, place the first 4 ingredients and stir briefly. Add the yeast to one side and the salt to the other side, and add in the (slightly softened) lard. Pour in most of the water and mix until all ingredients are well moistened. If this does not happen, add in a bit of the remaining water until you have a soft dough. Grease a clean surface and turn the bread out to knead by hand for 8 to 10 minutes. If kneading in the mixer, knead for 6 to 8 minutes. At the end of the kneading time, add in the seeds all at once and continue to knead until incorporated evenly. Place the dough into a greased bowl, turning once so that a greased surface is on top and cover with plastic wrap. Set the bowl in a 70 - 75 degree area and allow to rise until doubled, 1 - 3 hours. Temperature is better on the cool side, as it allows for development of more flavor, but will take longer.

Once risen, where a light finger press will puff right back up easily, turn out again to a clean, oiled surface. Flatten slightly into an approximate square and roll the dough tightly, tucking in the ends as needed, to make a nice tight loaf. Set the loaf, seam side down, onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Coat the loaf with a fine sheen of oil and cover with the plastic film. Set to rise again until doubled in size.

Set one oven rack at second to bottom shelf and one rack in the topmost position. Set a wide, oven safe pan (fry pan or cake pan) on the top rack. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Have one cup of boiling water at hand. Slash the top of the loaf three times diagonally, using a very sharp knife or bakers lame. Place the baking sheet with the bread in the lower oven rack, then carefully pour the boiling water into the pan on the top shelf. Time the loaf for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and bake for another 25 to 35 minutes, or until the internal temperature is at least 200 degrees F. Remove from oven to a rack to cool completely before slicing.

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Revisions as of February 2020:

I love this bread. Truly, it is one of the best, ever. But.

I often had a hard time getting it to truly rise. We live in a hot climate now, so there should be no excuse; at least I cannot blame the temperature. I wondered about the seeds. Are they possibly cutting gluten strands and making it more difficult to rise? 

Then one evening I was watching some short YouTube shows on making bread, and one of the many I watched was making a bread with seeds in it. Instead of leaving them all whole, he pureed half the seeds to be used along with the full amount of water the recipe called for. This liquid was added to the dry ingredients and his bread rose beautifully. I opted to try this out. I have now been mixing up all the seeds called for in the recipe, then pouring half of them in the blender along with most of the water called for. The resultant slurry goes into the dry ingredients and I proceed to the kneading. The remaining seeds are still kneaded in for the last two minutes of kneading - - - which is another thing . . .

Kneading and the "Windowpane Test"

Recipes often say to knead until the dough passes the windowpane test, "about 10 minutes," or "around 12 minutes." And whether the dough passed the windowpane test or not (usually not, particularly with dense, whole grain breads), I would proceed with the recipe. And usually, the bread would not rise properly and would instead bake to a nice, flat, loaf.

The Windowpane Test

"What is the "windowpane test?" you might ask. The "windowpane happens when the dough has been kneaded sufficiently for the gluten strands to fully develop. To check for this windowpane, pull off a small amount of dough and begin stretching it between both hands. The dough should hold, without tearing, to stretch to a thin area about 3 to 4 inches square, thin enough to be able to see light through it. With white breads, this is easily accomplished in the generally stated 10 to 12 minutes. With heavy, whole grain breads, or with this bread with a lot of heavy seeds to support, it can take longer. A lot longer in some cases.

So, about the time when I started making the seed slurry to make this bread, I also decided one day to knead the dough until I could see that it passed the windowpane test. This took (kneading by hand) TWENTY MINUTES! I kept kneading, kept checking and it took a full 20 minutes. Wow. And with that, I got the most lovely rise and the biggest loaf I had ever gotten, and believe me, I have made this bread more times than I can say, at this point, as we really love it. 

Use these two new methods to make this bread and I am pretty sure you'll be happier with the results.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Make Hamburger Buns at Home

Sloppy Joe, Fried Potatoes and Coleslaw

There are times when I get the urge to make something like hamburgers or Sloppy Joes and have no buns. Since I always make our bread, this is no big deal; I just make my own. I had used an old recipe from Better Homes and Gardens for a long time, no matter what I needed in the "roll" department. Once you have a basic recipe, it is very versatile. Make the dough into any shape you please, to fit the occasion. A simple roll dough can be formed into cloverleaf rolls for a nice dinner, buns for a barbecue, or even doughnuts.

Making Cloverleaf Rolls is just a matter of forming a whole lot of tiny dough balls. Fit three little balls of dough into one cup of a greased muffin pan and continue till all the little wells are filled with three dough balls. They bake in no time, being so small. Usually 12 to 15 minutes is enough. To make them extra pretty, brush them with an egg wash before baking. An egg wash can be a whole egg mixed with a couple of tablespoons of water, or an egg yolk with one tablespoon of water. 


To make buns, Use about the same amount of dough as would have been made into three of the little balls, or slightly more. I was uncertain yesterday of how much exactly was needed for each bun, having just invented the recipe. I also weighed the dough. I used just about 3 ounces per bun; this was a little bit too much. The buns turned out great, but a bit larger than usual. I got 16 buns from this recipe, but I believe it would have been better to make 20 or even 24. If you have a scale, try making the balls about 2 to 2.5 ounces each.

Cloverleaf Rolls

My background is Slovak / Serbian. All my grandparents came from "the Old Country". From my Mom's Slovak side, she taught us about "Doughnut Day." Once we knew about it, every year we clamored for doughnuts. Doughnut Day is the Slovak equivalent of Mardi Gras, the day before Lent starts; the last of sweets and other excesses until Easter. And, who can resist a doughnut, hot from frying, dipped in a glaze or rolled in sugar? I mean, REALLY! 

Though my kids were born in Guatemala, where Mardi Gras was an exceedingly pale thing in comparison to, say, the wild excess of Rio, or New Orleans - I taught my kids about Doughnut Day and made doughnuts with a basic roll dough. I also, on occasion have made doughnuts or buns or cloverleaf rolls from my version of my Mom's and Grandma's Pascha. I call my version "My Kitchen Aid Mixer Bread". In essence, similar, in some exchanges of ingredients (honey for sugar, dry milk for regular milk), and the use of my Kitchen Aid Mixer to do the work. It would work with pizza dough, in a pinch. The only real difference is in the shaping. And last evening I was going to make Sloppy Joes, so I needed buns.

Hamburger Buns, ready for dinner

The other day I made Cinnamon Rolls, and had created a dough I felt would be good for that application. I am sure it would be good as a basic roll dough for any of the already mentioned uses, but yesterday I needed hamburger buns and was thinking of how tender Potato Buns can be. So I altered amounts of some ingredients and added others, using a little potato flour and made a new recipe. It has been exceptionally cold of late. All right, who am I kidding - it has been totally frigid practically since Thanksgiving, with temps soaring down to 24 below and wind chills of -50. When it is that cold, sometimes a yeast dough has a little difficulty rising as quickly as I would like, even with the use of "instant rise" yeast. In mid summer, it is a different story. Yeast dough rises like magic in summer. It took a little longer to get the buns to rise than sometimes, but they turned out most amazingly tender and moist. We had some really fabulous Sloppy Joes! Usually I use the oven with the light on, creating a nice, warm ambient temperature for the dough to proof. However, I had just made my Green Tea Lime Sables, and the oven was just plain HOT, so I couldn't set the dough there to rise. It took about 1½ hours for the dough to rise in the cool kitchen, and at least another 45 minutes for the formed buns to rise. They baked in about 15 minutes. Here is the recipe: 

Basic Potato Roll Dough

Makes 20 - 24 buns

2 cups warm water, not hot
¼ cup honey
1¼ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons olive oil, or use melted butter or other oil of choice
4 cups Bread Flour, divided
1 packet Instant Rise/Rapid Rise Yeast
½ cup potato flour
¼ cup dry milk powder
1 egg

Heat the water and pour into a large bowl or heavy duty stand mixer, such as Kitchen Aid. Add in the honey, salt and oil. Mix together 2 cups of the bread flour, the packet of yeast, potato flour and dry milk powder. Whisk together well, then add to the warm liquid. Start the mixer, or stir together with a spoon. Once there is a soft batter, add in the egg and beat well. Add in the remaining 2 cups of flour gradually, while either kneading with the mixer's dough hook, or by hand for at least 10 to 12 minutes. The dough may seem very stiff at first. The use of potato flour seems to start this way, but softens later in the kneading process. Set the dough into a greased bowl, turning once to allow all sides to be well oiled. Set in a warm place to rise until doubled in size.
 
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Punch down the dough and divide into 4 sections, as equally as possible (or weigh the dough). To make hamburger buns, further divide each section into at least 5 pieces. Form a smooth ball from each piece, then use a rolling pin to roll into a fairly flat disc about 6 inches across. The dough will shrink back on itself. Set each piece onto a greased baking sheet, with at least 3 inches between them (usually about 6 per sheet). I have large "muffin-top" pans, and use those, also. The piece of dough should overlap the little shallow well, but shrink back and fit inside.
 
Set the buns to rise until about double. The centers may not look completely puffed yet, but while baking they will grow. Before baking, if desired, brush the buns with an egg wash and sprinkle on sesame seeds or poppy seeds. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (325 on Convection). Bake the buns for about 15 minutes, or until puffed and brown.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Easy Stir-Fry

Vegetable Stir-Fry, closeup

I have been making a stir-fry of sorts for a lot of years. It changes with vegetable availability; both seasonal and just what I have on hand at any given moment. It can be as simple as onion, garlic, ginger, celery, carrot, green pepper and peas - to the additions of bok choy, bean sprouts, frozen peas, snow or sugar snap peas, cabbage or Napa cabbage, squash, green beans, lemongrass, and the list continues. One of the reasons I love to make this stir fry is that I love vegetables. Another reason is that, for whatever reason, though my husband dislikes things like cabbages, carrot or squash, I can put them in this stir-fry and he loves it. I have even sneaked a little broccoli (a true hatred, alongside fresh tomato or large chunks of tomato in anything). When I use bok choy, I slice the white parts on an angle, similarly to the celery. I finely chiffonade the greens and add them at the end. 

What I love best is that there are a lot of vegetables with little calorie count, so I get the bulk that  makes me feel full, with a lot less calories than in most normal meals.

You may wonder about meat. I usually do add meat - either chicken or pork. The way I make it is to use either a pork tenderloin or pork chops, meat cut off of any bone or fat, or chicken breasts. It is best if the meat is only partially thawed, as it makes cutting into thin strips far easier. I slice the meat across the grain, thinly, and then again, into thin strips a little wider than matchsticks. It's hard to get the meat quite that small, and it isn't necessary. Once I have the thin pieces of meat, I prep some fresh garlic and ginger by mincing very finely. I set a nonstick fry pan on relatively high heat, add in some olive oil or coconut oil and add the meat. I stir-fry the meat tossing quickly, until it starts to brown. I toss in the ginger and garlic (about 2 - 3 tablespoons, minced all together). This gets tossed quickly until very fragrant, and then I sprinkle on some soy sauce or Shoyu. Once the soy sauce is evaporated (doesn't take long), I remove the pan from the heat and drizzle on a little Asian dark sesame oil. Once the vegetable part of the stir fry is done, I add the meat and mix it in. Easy. 

Vegetable Stir-Fry

This method of preparing the meat is also something I do when making a more substantial luncheon salad, usually for guests. I love salad, and prefer to toss in just about anything I can find. The meat just makes it heartier. Another thing I have done is to use a rotisserie chicken from the store - just shred and add to the vegetable part of the stir fry.

This is a basic recipe. Feel free to embellish however you might prefer.

Vegetable Stir-Fry

Asian (Dark) Sesame Oil

1 tablespoon oil or coconut oil
1 - 2 large onions, sliced in wedges
1 juicy lemon or lime, or 2 tablespoons vinegar
1 bell pepper, cut in long strips
2 - 3 large stalks celery, cut thinly at an angle
2 cups very thinly sliced cabbage
1 large carrot, grated (large holed grater - or julienne)
3 - 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 chunk of fresh ginger, about equal to the amount of garlic, minced
1 cup frozen peas, OR
1½ cups sugar snap peas or snow peas
3 - 4 tablespoons soy sauce or Shoyu
3 tablespoons sesame seeds, preferably unhulled, raw
2 tablespoons Asian Dark Sesame Oil
¾ cup cashews of choice (I use raw), optional
cilantro, for garnish
cooked rice, for serving

Heat to medium high a very large skillet. Add in the oil or coconut oil, then add the onions. Toss the onions frequently, until they begin to just barely turn color. Add in some vinegar or the juice of one juicy lemon or lime. This seems to help the onions taste better and gives a little zip to the flavor. Continue cooking until the juice or vinegar evaporates. Add in the bell pepper, celery and cabbage and toss for a few minutes until wilted. [In general, add any vegetables that take longer to cook to your desired doneness, first.]

Now add in the garlic and ginger and toss well, until it becomes fragrant. Add in the shredded carrot, sesame seeds and cashews. Drizzle on the Asian dark sesame oil and toss to combine.

Serve over a bed of white or brown rice, rice noodles, or other oriental style noodle.

This makes 4 very hefty portions. It takes about 1 hour, start to finish, if making the meat to add in; otherwise about 45 minutes.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Pollo en Jocon; a Gutemalan Dish Using Green Sauce

Pollo en Jocon is basically a cooked chicken in green sauce. The dish can as easily be made with a beef roast (making it "Carne en Jocon") as with chicken, and I can tell you from experience that green sauce is truly excellent paired with pork also.

A few days back I wrote about making green sauce, or Salsa Verde. The recipe is absolutely delightful, and I really need to make more to keep around. I also promised a picture, which I have here, for this post. Though my husband is mostly unfamiliar with green sauce, being an upper Midwest guy (I am an Ohio gal myself, but got where I am via Guatemala for 12 years), he really liked the flavors of the chicken in the green sauce, so I took that as a big coup; winning his approval.

Pollo en Jocon

Guatemalan sauces very often contain sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds, called "pepitoria". These are in most of the sauces, whether sweet or savory. Things like mole, whether a savory mole over chicken, or a sweet mole over plantains, contain these seeds, toasted and ground. Guatemalan tamales have these seeds in the sauce that is made to go over top of the tamal. Again, the tamales there have 2 versions, a sweet and a savory, and the sauce starts out the same for either one, with the same seeds involved in the recipe. These are a couple of examples, but the use is widespread. 

A word about the sesame seeds: they need to still have the hull intact, which means they are not the kind found in the little jars in the spice section of the grocery. Unhulled sesame seeds are a dull, flat tan color, and not the pretty, shiny, polished little things in the jars. The shiny ones in the jars will not brown properly in the dry skillet. Look for unhulled sesame seed a at your local health food store. 

With that in mind then, I was quite surprised to find that in the two recipes I had found

Carne en Jocon

for Jocon, somewhere in Guatemala (one was a newspaper clipping), neither one had used sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds. Hmmm. One of the two recipes did not even mention using day old tortillas in the sauce, which is a very common thickening agent. Instead of thickening a sauce with flour or cornstarch, in Guatemala they will use cookie crumbs to thicken a sweet mole sauce, or bread, soaked and stirred into a sauce as for Hilachas (or Ropa Vieja), or tortillas, soaked and blended up into a sauce like Jocon. So, in one of the recipes they suggested thickening the sauce If it is too thin, with tortillas. Corn tortillas here in the U.S., made with a lot of additives and preservatives, pressed and sold in packages that seem to be able to last forever - these really will not easily soften and dissolve. To make this easier, keep a small package of Masa harina for corn tortillas in your freezer and pull it out for times like this. It thickens beautifully and gives the authentic flavor needed. Just moisten some corn masa flour with water and stir into the stew and cook until it thickens to your desired stew consistency.

Understand that this dish is supposed to be a stew of a sort. Once the green sauce is made, the rest of the recipe (as I made it) is just cooking the cut up chicken in the green sauce, and then put to cook for a while in this sauce to infuse flavors. 

Pollo en Jocon or Carne en Jocon

Serves about 6

Pollo en Jocon

1 whole chicken, cut up,  (for Pollo en Jocon)
OR 
2 lbs beef stew meat (for Carne en Jocon)
olive oil, for browning
1½ cups (more if desired) Salsa Verde / Green Sauce
1½ teaspoons salt
1 - 2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon unhulled sesame seeds
1½ tablespoons raw, green pumpkin seeds

2 tablespoons corn tortilla flour (Masa Harina or Torti-ya)

Heat a dry skillet over medium heat until very hot, then add in the sesame seeds. Stir constantly, and they will begin to pop and snap. Once they turn a light brown, turn them out immediately to a plate to cool. Add in the green pumpkin seeds and stitrring constantly, toast them until they begin to get browned spots but do not let them burn! Once browned a bit, turn out to the plate with the sesame seeds. Once cooled, place the toasted seeds into a spice grinder or coffee grinder used only for grinding spices and grind fine.
Have the recipe for green sauce already made, either fresh or frozen. Heat some olive oil in a heavy duty oven safe enameled cast iron stew pot or Dutch oven and brown the chicken pieces or stew meat. Pour the green sauce over the meat and add in the salt, bay leaves and oregano. Stir in the toasted and ground seeds. Bring to a boil and cover with tight fitting lid. Place covered pot in a preheated 300 degree oven for 1½ to 2 hours for chicken and about 2 to 2½ hours for beef. Ensure that there is plenty of liquid in the pot, adding water if it gets low during cooking.

Once the meat is cooked through, Stir together the Corn Tortilla Masa flour with a little water to dissolve, then stir into the pot and allow to cook for about 15 minutes more, to thicken. Serve with rice.
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If you would like to thicken your sauce with a corn tortilla or two, soak it in hot water until very soft and then blend or just crumble before adding to the sauce.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.