Semiserious Chefs

In the short, Lumpia is the Filipino version of pork egg rolls. The cuisine of the Philippines is actually quite an intriguing one. Obviously they are an Asian nation, and they have an abundant supply of such fresh ingredients as rice, bananas, citrus, fish, and other uniquely Asian fruits and vegetables, but they have also […]

Ceviche is a traditional dish made using an acid, typically a citrus juice, to marinade raw fish. It is believed to date back to the Incan Empire, but with so much immigrating in and out of the area, and the basic-ness of the idea, it’s pretty unrealistic to allow one civilization full credit. There were […]

These beer battered onion rings are light and airy. They don’t have any sort of breading, making the whole process a little quicker. To begin with, onion slices get soaked for about 10 minutes in a bath of ice water. This process mellows out the taste of the onion and removes the harshness from it.

This dish came about after my week-long exploration of Latin American mashed plantain breakfasts. Finally, after plenty of savory, I created a sweet dish. For my own tastes I like just a dash of cayenne pepper included in the dough, but you can always leave it out. This is an especially fun and easy dish […]

Apparently there is no question about the fact that Tiger Nut Sweets are pretty much as ancient as it comes. I just wish I could find a picture of this Egyptian clay or broke pot on which the possibly 6,000 year old recipe was found. The name has me a little dumbfounded, though. Tiger Nut […]

This recipe’s great because it’s quick and there’s very little mess; mainly because there’s no eggs or milk to worry about. You’ll find lots of other onion ring recipes however, that do call for those ingredients. In fact, I have other recipes right here on this sight that use eggs and milk.

Samboosa are Arabic fried triangle pastries. They are most often savory, so the title word here, halwah or ‘sweets’ gives us a clue that this is a fried triangular pastry sweet snack. The original recipe I played off called for cashews and walnuts, but I am really not a fan of walnuts. For my rendition […]

Kelewele (pronounced kay-lay-way-lay) is a West African street food that is particularly popular in Ghana. Commonly sold as cubed bits, people also like to slice them more like fries or potato wedges, and sometimes as medallions. These spicy seasoned and fried treats are great for parties, hors d’oeuvres, side dishes, and even tossed on salad. […]

Yes, that is a spoof off barbecue, but no, I did not make it up. It is indeed a real thing, and a really popular thing! Also known as banana-Q, it’s actually quite funny in that these simple sweet treats are not actually barbecued, but rather fried and then served on barbecue skewers. This faux […]

This recipe takes its roots from Ghana. The southern states in particular lean heavily on cassava and plantain as major staples, but the common culture throughout the country is to serve a meal centered around the starch of choice with a soup or stew, most often tomato based, and added protein, very often fish. Like […]