Around the World through Food - Netherlands Antilles

The other evening I cooked a rather bizarre dish involving shredded chicken, green peppers, dill pickles, capers, green olives, tomatoes, golden raisins, a Scotch bonnet, ketchup, and tomato paste (some recipes include eggs and/or cashews)—which combination is interesting enough on its own, but what was really different was the fact that the entire mélange is baked within a shell of thinly sliced Edam cheese. It's called Keshi Yena, and it is known as the national dish of Aruba (formerly part of Netherlands Antilles). Traditionally, the meat mixture (which might be ground beef instead of or in addition to chicken) would be baked or steamed within the rind of an empty 2-kilo wheel of Edam cheese, topped with more grated or sliced cheese, but since wheels of used-up Edam are hard to come by, layered slices do the trick.

It may have been bizarre, but it sure was tasty.

Me, I like cooking from recipes, and the more involved or exotic, the better. So Keshi Yena was just the ticket. Nothing like anything I would ever just throw together. Despite the fact that it is, essentially, a little bit of everything, thrown together. I also like researching international recipes, dishes that use interesting spices or combinations of ingredients. I have had it in mind, for example, to do a "project" of savory pastries from around the world: empanadas, pirogi and piirakka, Cornish pasties and scones, hortopita and bučnica, huzzah!

So I'm thinking of adding a thread to this blog, of dishes from around the world that I grapple with myself. And if I end up going nowhere with this idea, at least I have now saluted Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, and Sint Willem for their endemic and delicious cheesy chicken dish.