Jungle Book – Bare Necessity Fruit Salad, Pawpaw BBQ Sauce and ants

Quick links: Bare Necessity Fruit Salad | Pawpaw BBQ Sauce | Ants | Verdict

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Baloo is one of the greatest Disney characters in my opinion. He’s just so chill. And boy, he knows how to eat. Almost all of the food mentioned in the movie comes from one song, Bare Necessities. There isn’t really a recipe, just lots of different fruits. So I did some fun things with them.

Bare Necessity Fruit Salad

I put all of the food mentioned and shown into one fruit salad.

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

(Credit: Disney)

They actually blended well. One thing I found out is that a Pawpaw is actually another word for papaya. One sad thing, I wasn’t able to find a prickly pear. I went to 5 different places and couldn’t find any. 😦 Instead I used an Asian Pear, because Jungle Book takes place in India, India is in Asia, same thing right?

Bare Necessity Fruit Salad

• Servings: 6
• Time: 15 min (1-2 hr chill time)
• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients:

1	small papaya
2	large bananas
4	black plums
2	prickly pears sliced (cactus pears)
1	coconut with water
1-2 tablespoon	lemon juice

1. Cut all fruit except coconut and put in a bowl
2. Sprinkle with lemon juice.
3. Crack the coconut, sprinkle coconut water over fruit.
4. With a spoon, scrape some coconut shavings and place on top (to your liking).
5. Chill 1-2 hrs before serving.

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Pawpaw BawBawQuaw

You guys are so lucky, you get a BONUS RECIPE! I had so much left over papaya,

I had to use it all for something. I made some Filipino Adobo chicken the same night I was making the fruit salad, so I decided to make a sauce to go with the chicken. So I found a base for a sweet fruit bbq sauce and altered it to make Pawpaw BBQ sauce. Its a great blend of sweet and spicy!

Pawpaw BBQ

• Servings: 5.5 cups
• Time: 1 hr 15 min
• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients:

1 tablespoon	vegetable oil
1	sweet onion finely diced
3/4 cup	sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons	crushed red pepper
1/2 teaspoon	chili powder
1/2 cup	lemon juice
1/4 cup	rum
1 cup	water
1/2 cup	seasoned rice vinegar
5 cups	large, diced papayas
2 teaspoons	kosher salt

1. Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat, and add in the onion.
2. Cook, until the onions are translucent, stirring continuously to ensure the pieces do not brown.
3. Sprinkle the sugar, peppers, chili powder, and lemon juice over the onions, and stir until the sugar dissolves.
4. Pour in the rum, water, and vinegar.
5. Bring the ingredients to a boil.
6. Add in the diced papaya, and adjust the seasonings with the salt, if desired.
7. Bring the mixture to a boil again, reduce the heat to med-low and simmer covered for 45 minutes.
8. Take the pan off the heat, and let the mixture cool slightly.
9. Mash with potato masher for a courser sauce or  transfer the mixture to a blender, and puree the sauce until smooth.
10. Transfer the BBQ sauce to a bowl, and set aside until ready to serve.

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You Eat Ants?

During Bare Necessities, Baloo talks about eating ants and tell Mowgli that he’ll love the way they tickle.

(Credit: Disney)

And yes, despite the disappointment from last week, this week I actually ate a bug. I ate a few ants that I found crawling on the sidewalk. I was going to try and get more, but birds kept on eating the ant food I laid out!

Here’s the proof.

Will you Love the Way they Tickle?

The fruit salad was alright. I actually found out I don’t really love pawpaw. Its ok, but not great. Maybe the papaya I got wasn’t the best. I know the large one wasn’t super ripe, but the small one I got was ripe enough. I LOVED the bbq sauce though. It was DELICIOUS. And the ants, well in such low quantity, they didn’t have much of a taste, but they were slightly tart.

Verdict:

Fruit Salad – 6.5/10

BBQ sauce – 9.5/10

Ants – meh, alright/10

Snow White – Fish Stew and Gooseberry Pie

Quick links: Fish Stew Recipe | Gooseberry Pie Recipe | Verdict
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There is a full recipe given in this movie, but since I’m not in the market for eating a poisoned apple, I decided to opt for the other foods featured in the movie.

MMM….SOUP!

The first food shown in the movie was right after the dwarves discovered the not-so-monsterous Snow White hogging up three of the dwarves’ beds. She goes down the stairs and checks the giant cauldron.

(credit: Disney)

The dwarves rush to the edge of the steps and say in unison “MMM…SOUP!” Then rush down and start fighting over hard-rolls.

(credit: Disney)

Now, there aren’t many hints to what kind of soup this is. We do know that the dwarves have potatoes in their house that we see when Grumpy hides in the sack.

(credit: Disney)

But that is the only real visual hint. However, after the meal and festivities of the night, the dwarves retire to bed and grumpy is sent to sleep in the cauldron. He pulls a ladle from behind his back and says “A fine kettle of fish this is.”  Now, the saying, “a fine kettle of fish” is used to express an awkward situation, but we took this to be a double entendre.  That it was an awkward situation, and the soup they had was indeed fish soup.  That would make sense given the rivers nearby. Also, I have a hard time imagining sweet little Snow butchering one of her cute animal friends and boiling them in the soup.

I did some research into the story of Snow White and found that it took place in Germany. I also found that perch is a common fish in Germany, and my local grocery store had perch, so I went with that fish. I couldn’t find a recipe that I liked, so I kinda shot from the hip when making this. It was a little harder than I expected, but you can learn from my mistakes.

Snow White Fish Soup

• Servings: 4-6
• Time: 1hr 45mins
• Difficulty: Medium
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Ingredients:

1 pound	Perch (or about 5 filets)
3 tablespoons	Lemon juice divided
3 tablespoons	Butter divided
2 tablespoons	Flour
1	Chopped onion yellow
1/4 to 1/3	Chopped fennel bulb
8 ounces	German-brewed beer
2 teaspoons	Salt
1 1/2 cup	Seafood stock
1 1/2 cup	Vegetable stock
1/2 cup	Heavy cream
2	Chopped carrots
2	Chopped celery stalks
1 bunch	Chopped green onions
3	Small to medium russet potatoes
1/2 teaspoon	Bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon	Fennel
1/4 teaspoon	Dill weed
1/2 teaspoon	Paprika
2 cloves	Garlic
1 teaspoon	Honey
6 slices	Bacon cooked
	Salt and pepper to taste

1. Start by scoring perch and soaking in 2 Tbsp lemon juice, set aside for later.
2. In a large soup pot melt 2 Tbsp butter on med-hi heat and mix in 2 Tbsp flour, creating roux.
3. Add 1 Tbsp butter with onions and fennel bulb. Sautee until onions are clear.
4. Add beer, reduce heat to medium and let simmer (about 10 mins).
5. Next add salt, seafood stock, vegetable stock, and heavy cream. Stir well,
6. Add carrots, potatoes, and green onions. Turn heat to high.
7. Add spices: bay leaves, fennel, dill weed, paprika, and garlic, with the honey and 1 Tbsp lemon juice.Add salt and pepper to taste.
8. Leave soup on high heat until boiling, mixing well. Once at a boil, reduce heat to medium low and cover. Let simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
9. Crumble cooked bacon into soup, chop perch into cubes and add to pot.
10. Cook 30 more minutes (partly uncovered) or until fish becomes flakey.

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Grumpy Gooseberry Pie

Right before the evil queen, finds Snow in the woods, we see Snow lovingly baking a pie for the down-in-the-dumps Grumpy. She even has a little bird write his name on it.

(credit: Disney)

She had mentioned making a gooseberry pie earlier in the film, and we can assume that the pie she is making in this seen is indeed a gooseberry pie, judging by the green berries shown inside the pie.

(credit: Disney)

I had never seen a gooseberry in my life. I didn’t have a clue where to buy them. They aren’t a common berry you see at the market. I looked online and saw that a company called Oregon Fruit sells canned gooseberries. You can buy them on amazon, but I didn’t want to pay over $30 for a pack of 8 cans. I looked at my local grocery store, but they didn’t carry them. Luckily, on their site, they have a little map icon that allows you to see what local store sell them. I was lucky enough to have a Whole Foods nearby that carried them, so I went and bought a couple cans at around $5/can. Expensive.

My wife is the baking master in our relationship so I let her handle the gooseberry pie. We kinda skimped on making the pie from scratch though. We bought a premade chilled pie crust and some pie dough mix for the top. But if you desire to make your own pie dough, you can follow the dough recipe below.

Grumpy's Gooseberry Pie

• Servings: 8-10
• Time: 1hr 15mins
• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients:

Crust

2 1/2 cups	Flour
1/2 teaspoon	Salt
1 cup	Butter chilled and diced
1/2 cup	Ice water

Filling

2 cans	gooseberries
1 cup	sugar
3 tablespoons	cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon	salt
1/4 teaspoon	cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon	nutmeg

Glaze

1 tablespoon	heavy cream
1	large egg yolk

Crust

1. Combine flour, 1/2 tsp salt, and butter.
2. Mix ingredients with pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Slowly add water and mix until mixture forms a ball. You might not need the whole 1/2 cup. Split into two balls.
4. Optional: refrigerate balls wrapped in plastic overnight.
5. On floured surface roll out each ball to fit 9 inch pie plate.
6. Press one crust into pie plate evenly, reserve the other for pie top.

Filling

1. In saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt.
2. Strain gooseberries and pour syrup into saucepan.
3. Turn on medium heat and stir for 5-6 minutes, until mixture starts to thicken.
4. Turn off heat and add gooseberries, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
5. Gently mix together then pour into pie plate.

Final steps and Glaze

1. Top with second crust and press top and bottom crusts together.
2. Poke holes to vent top crust.
3. Optional: Use overlaying crust from the topper to spell “Grumpy” like in Snow White.
4. For a nice pie coating, beat heavy cream and egg yolk together then brush onto pie top.
5. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then at 375 for another 20-30 minutes, until pie crust is golden brown.
6. Let cool before serving.

 

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Good enough to wake a sleeping princess?

It was definitely a nice meal. The fish stew was yummy and filling, but it wasn’t amazing. The gooseberry pie on the other hand, WOW. I now know why the dwarves were so excited. That stuff was DELICIOUS. It was sweet, yet tart. I hadn’t had a pie quite like it. It went well with a little bit of ice cream too.

Verdict:

Fish Stew – 6/10

Gooseberry Pie – 10/10

Poison Apple – 0/10*  

* May cause eternal sleeping