Working from home:

Working from home has given me the opportunity to be more active in my apartment. Initially I found myself eager to tackle large home projects like emptying out my kitchen to repaint everything. It gave me feelings of excitement connected to when I first moved into my apartment. You know the feeling you get when its a new place, everything smells fresh and your interior decorate spirit is alive and present as you look to every corner of you’re space as ideas of rugs, furniture and color scheme runs through you’re mind. Yep, I was in that mental space. However this past year it just felt like I didn’t have much time to do the things I wanted. Welp, considering I’m currently not working my part time job due to state of emergency I decided to lean into these goals of mine of cooking more.

Okay, so for the past year or so, I’ve been asking my mom consistently to teach me how to make more Haitian dishes. Yep, I’m 31 years old and I don’t know how to cook half of our traditional dishes. Listen! it wasn’t always like that. When I was younger I was in the kitchen with my mom making epis (Haitian seasoning), frying plantains, cleaning fish, chicken and making sure the rice was properly cooked. However cooking for me, isn’t like riding a bike… considering I learned how to ride as an adult I think its safe to say I’d be better at cooking right?! :). I decided to ease into it again and make a dish I use to assist with when I was younger. Nothing to big and fancy, nonetheless I did it and I’m excited to share.

During this time of work from home and recovery, I’m in the kitchen with my mom to work on this goal of mine . Every dish was not a success however, I did want to share a quick go to meal that me and my sisters always enjoyed growing up. It’s a finger food and it doesn’t take much to make or prep. What we were able to cook was Boulette or also known as Haitian meatballs. Boulette is usually serve with white rices, Sos Pwa (bean sauces) or some other bites size foods like green or yellow plantains. I also like to add pikliz (Haitian spicy pickled veggies) and have my plantains (green) as my first layer, place a boulette on top and sprinkle some of that pikliz on it. However, this time around I went for more of a Haitian and Thai food spin for this recipe for simplicity.

Instead of having plantains on the side I decided to increase my meat and have veggies. Make sure the meat is completely thawed out. I seasoned using Haitian epis and more garlic (because I love garlic). Get your flour, I used wheat and start creating your balls while the oil on the stove gets hot. I like them to be bite size but some people make them a bit larger. It all depends on what you prefer. Once it’s all a bit dark brown its cooked. You don’t want them burned or crunchy, so pay attention to them while in the pot and thats it. Since we used ground turkey, it was flavorful, juicy and light in texture. To top it off I added a shot of Thai Chili sauce from Aldi’s as my dip to infuse both flavors. It was a really good combination of savory, spice and sweetness.

I’m excited to try out some other cooking recipes or even baking. This is definitely a dish that can be a family affair for prep and cooking with adult supervision of course.

Share if you’ve ever tried this or have your own version of boulette (Haitian meatballs). I hope you’re all doing well during this time. Until next time, Ill be #ActivelyLiving and #LivingActively.