Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Uzbek Food

Uzbek Cuisine
enticing with rich exotic flavors
Uzbek cuisine is one of the most colourful of Oriental Cuisines. You will get astounded to find some of Uzbek recipes to be centuries-old. They even have different traditional rituals and ways of cooking. There are about 1,000 different dishes including national drinks, cakes and confectionary products.

Uzbek "Pilaf" is a very solemn food. It can be considered as an everyday dish as well as a dish for solemn and great events like weddings, parties and holidays. Rice is the most important ingredient of pilaf and special spices, raisins, or peas will be added to give it extra flavour. However, locals believe that the best pilaf is always prepared by a man! Salads are also served along with pilaf.

Bread is holy for Uzbek people. This traditional belief started with a legend. As it goes, each new Governor would mint his own coins but the payment for local people who minted new coins were not the coins that were minted but…bread!
Traditionally Uzbek breads are baked inside the stoves made of clay called "Tandyr". These fragrant breads are known to be crispy and tasty. Even the greatest scientist of medicine, Avicenna used Uzbek bread to cure people of diseases.

A special importance is placed on soups. Uzbek soup is rich in vegetables and seasonings and contains lots of carrots, turnips, onions and greens. Two popular soups are Mastava and Shurpa.

Make sure that you try Uzbek dishes so that you can ask your host for a recipe if you fancy a particular dish.


Yemeni Food

Grape Leaves (stuffed)

Description:


Well, the smell is not great while cooking it, but once the cooking is over, you are in for a finger licking, delicious meal that is befitting of royalty. So treat yourself. We know you will be addicted to this healthy, flavorful and uniquely Mediterranean meal..


Ingredients:

1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
70 leaves grape leaves
1 pound ground lamb
1/8 cup parsley finely chopped fresh
1 cup rice


Instructions:


Rinse rice in cold water, drain. Add all ingredients except lemon juice and grape leaves, mix well.Wilt leaves a few at a time by rinsing in hot water (a few at a time), be sure to cut off thick stems. Place a heaping teaspoon of lamb/rice mixture on edge of dull side of leaf. Begin rolling from stem end, after the first roll fold ends in to close and finish rolling. Place a few leaves in bottom of pan. Arrange rolls in compact rows, seam side down Cover with water about 1/2 inch over the top. Sprinkle 1 T salt over rolls. Place a pottery plate on top of rolls to hold in place. Cover pan, cook on medium 20 minutes. reduce heat, add lemon juice cook 10 more minutes. Drain most of the juice before serving.

Best way to eat: buy soft pita bread (preferably thin, from Middle Eastern bakery/shop). Buy plain yogurt/nonfat. Cut a piece of bread from the pita so that you can roll the bread around the grape leaf (as in a blanket). Dip the grape leaf (and bread) in a generous helping of yogurt bowl and eat all together like you would eat a very small size soft tortilla shell.

Zambian Food

Eating The Zambian Way(Nshima & Ndiwo)

Nshima and Ndiwo are two of the most important staple foods among Zambians in Southern Africa. Nshima is the fufu-like staple food eaten by not only Zambians but Malawians and many other African neighbours and it is known by other names in the various countries. Infact, a similar staple meal called fufu is eaten in West Africa and in countries like Ghana and Nigeria it is a very popular staple food among the Akans. Among the Akyems and Asantes, if one does not eat fufu in a day, they say you have not eaten. Literally translating “wo bua da” (you’re starved) But what exactly is this staple food eaten by perhaps an estimated 14-18 million people in southern Africa alone? What is Nshima and who eats it? It is a food cooked from plain maize or corn meal or maize flour known as mealie-meal among Zambians. Nshima has always been the basis of life in Zambia for as far back in history as people can remember. During the best times the Nshima meal is always eaten for lunch and dinner. This is the case during and after the harvest season in the villages in rural Zambia. Zambians like the Akans and fufu, are generally raised to believe that only Nshima constitutes a full and complete meal. Any other foods eaten in-between are regarded either as snacks or a temporary less filling or inadequate substitute or a mere appetizer. Lets say you meet a Zambian late in the afternoon and ask him if he has eaten. It is most likely, he will tell you that they haven’t eaten all day although they might have eaten a sandwich, peanuts, milk and a few other non -Nshima foods. Nshima is such a key factor loaded with such emotional investments in the diet that many rituals, expectations, expressions, customs, beliefs, and songs have developed in the culture around for cooking and eating Nshima. Nshima is also best eaten hot unlike fufu which is cold but eaten with hot soup. Nshima is eaten with a second dish known as NDIWO or relish. NDIWO, a relish is always a deliciously cooked vegetable, meat, fish, or poultry dish. By comparison to other cultures, Zambian recipes tend to be bland and hardly use any hot spices at all. However, they use other traditional ingredients and spices that give Zambian foods that distinctive unique taste and flavour. The meats used in this relish includes beef, goat, mutton, dear, buffalo, elephant, warthog, wild pig, mice, rabbits, or hare, antelope, turtle, alligator or crocodile or monkey and chicken eggs. They add various green vegetables.

Recipe

Nshima

4 cups water
2 cups of plain corn meal.

Method


Pour 4 cups of water into a medium sized cooking pot. Heat the water for 3-4mins or until luke warm-using one table spoon at a time, slowly sprinkle _ cup of the corn meal into the pot while stirring continuously with a cooking stick. Keep stirring slowly until the mixture begins to thicken and boil. Turn the heat to medium, cover the pot, and let simmer for 3-5mins. Cautiously remove the top. Slowly, a little at a time, pour into pot and a quarter cups of corn meal and briskly stir with the cooking stick until smooth and thick. Stir vigorously. Sprinkle a little more corn meal and stir if you desire the Nshima to be thicker or less if you want softer Nshima. Cover, turn the heat off and let Nshima sit on the store for another 2-3mins. Serves 4 people.

Ndiwo

Ingredients
2 bunches fresh collard greens (or spinach) washed and chopped
1 cup raw peanuts ground
Salt to taste
1 onion, sliced
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
Water

Preparation

In a medium sized saucepan, boil the onion and tomatoes with the ground peanuts, adding salt to taste and water as needed. After a few minutes, add the chopped greens. Stirring occasionally, continue cooking until the peanuts are soft and the mixture has become a fairly thick buttery sauce (15-20mins). You can add any fried meats of your choice to this sauce.Tip: I would add some hot spice to it as it might taste bland.

Cook’s Notes

Splendid GarlicThere are several ways to crush garlic. Some chef’s advice against a garlic press because the garlic can react with the metal and produce a sharp flavour. Instead peel, roughly chop, and sprinkle with a tinny bit of salt and crush with the point of a knife held flat. Alternatively, use a pestle and mortar to grind it. To add flavour to a recipe, it’s best to fry the garlic first. But don’t let it burn or even get brown as that makes it taste bitter.Garlic butter is easy to make- simply add crushed garlic to softened butter, then cover with cling film and keep in the fridge.If you have an old garlic clove it will probably have a green shoot sprouting from it which is better. The garlic can still be used, but cut the clove in half and remove the shoot first.

Zimbabwean Food


Zimbabwean Food
Zimbabwean
Chicken Stew with Sadza
Dumplings

Ingredients
(Serves 4, 1,099 kcals, 54.5g protein)
Stew
2 onions, finely chopped
50g butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 finely chopped chilli pepper
8 pieces of chicken, approx 675g (4 thighs and 4 drumsticks) skin removed
2 red peppers, roughly chopped
2 x 400g cans of chopped tomatoes
200ml water
200g smooth peanut butter

Dumplings
1.25 litres water
500g white cornmeal (maize meal)

Method
• Fry onions in large sauté pan with butter, add garlic and chilli pepper.
• Add chicken pieces and brown, add red pepper.
• Combine tomatoes and chicken mixture with 125ml of cold water, simmer for 10mins.
• Add remaining hot water to peanut butter to thin and add to chicken. Simmer for 15 minutes.
• Bring 750ml of water to the boil.
• Mix the remaining 500ml of cold water with 250g of the cornmeal.
• Add cornmeal paste to the boiling water and stir constantly to avoid lumps. Cook for 3 minutes.
• Stir in remaining 250g of dry cornmeal, a little at a time, over heat.
• Cool slightly, with wet hands shape dumplings into balls and serve with stew.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Belizean Food

Belize Cuisine:
Sere, Hudut, Creole Bread

The 3Com Global modem will allow you Internet access anywhere in the world - even from foreign telephones that will fry an ordinary laptop modem.

Ingredients

2 pounds sweet potato 1 tsp. nutmeg
2-4 ozs root ginger (grated) 1 cup raisin
2 cups brown sugar 2 tsps. vanilla
4 cups milk (evaporated or coconut) 2 tbsps. margarine (melted)

Method

  1. Grease baking tins or Pyrex dishes.
  2. Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit
  3. Wash, peel and grate potato
  4. If using coconut milk not canned or from powdered mix, then grate your coconut and squeeze with water to get four cups milk (or use the evaporated milk)
  5. In a large bowl, add the grated potato, sugar,vanilla, nutmeg and ginger. Mix well.
  6. Add the milk and margarine. Mix well. Put in baking pans or Pyrex dishes.
  7. Put on bottom shelf of oven for 35 -40 minutes. Then remove to top shelf, lowering oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  8. Cook for about 80 minutes until brown or check with a knife, which should come out clean. The top should have a jelly, sticky look.

The potato pound is similar to another all-Belizean quick and easy dessert – bread pudding – and yes, you got it – basically you substitute the grated potato in the above recipe for mashed up bread and bake for less time!

The ginger used in the above recipe and the aforementioned tablata is not only used in desserts, but is also a key ingredient in some East Indian dishes, especially those made by the descendants of the original East Indians, many of whom have intermarried with Kriol families. In particular, the yellow ginger is a delicacy used in the distinctive cohune cabbage dish.


Garnachas beliceñas

Tiempo de preparación: 10 min Tiempo total para la receta: 25 min Sirve: 10
Ingredientes
2 tazas de aceite de cacahuate (maní) PLANTERS Peanut Oil
10 tortillas de maíz pequeñas (4 pulgadas)
1/2 taza de aderezo italiano fuerte KRAFT Zesty Italian Dressing, cantidad dividida
1/2 libra de col (repollo) morada, desmenuzado (aproximadamente 2-1/2 tazas)
2 zanahorias medianas, ralladas (aproximadamente 1 taza)
2 cucharadas de vinagre de sidra
1 lata (19 onzas) de habichuelas rojas (frijoles colorados), enjuagadas y escurridas
4 onzas (1/2 paquete de 8 onzas) de queso crema PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, en cubos
3 cucharadas de queso rallado 100% parmesano KRAFT 100% Grated Parmesan Cheese


Barbadian Food

Coconut Chips

by Steven Raichlen

I first encountered these chips at a colorful restaurant in Barbados called Raffles. I can't think of a better accompaniment to a planter's punch or other rum drink.
When buying coconuts, look for ones that feel heavy in your hand. Shake the nut: you should be able to hear the liquid slosh around inside. A dry coconut is past its prime.

Yield: 2 to 3 cups

Ingredients:
  • 1 Ripe (hard) Coconut
  • Salt

Coconut Chips

Method:
To open the coconut, punch out the eyes with a screwdriver and hammer. Invert the coconut over a glass and drain out the clearish liquid inside, the water. Coconut water makes a refreshing beverage in its own right (serve over ice) and is great mixed with rum and Falernum.

Wrap the drained coconut in a towel and smash it into five or six pieces with a hammer. (The towel prevents shards of the shell from flying.) Using a short, stiff-bladed knife, pry the coconut meat away from the shell. It's a good idea to wear heavy gloves when working with coconut to protect your hands. (To make the meat easier to remove from the shell, you can bake coconut pieces for about 20 minutes in a 400 degree F. oven. This will help loosen the meat from the shell.)

Trim the brown skin off the white meat with a paring knife. The coconut is now ready for slicing.

Drain, open, shell, and peel the coconut as described above. Cut the coconut pieces into paper-thin chips, using a mandoline, vegetable peeler, or food processor fitted with a slicing blade. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Arrange the strips on a baking sheet and lightly sprinkle with salt. Bake the chips until crisp and golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes, turning with a spatula to ensure even cooking. Transfer the chips to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store the chips in an airtight container away from heat or light. The chips will keep for up to a week, although they seldom survive the afternoon at our house. If they should become soft or soggy, you can rebake them until crisp.


Coo-Coo - Fungi

by Anne-Marie Whittaker

Coo-Coo and Flying Fish is the national dish of Barbados. In Dominica, Antigua and the Virgin Islands it is know as 'Fungi'. The Italians make a similar dish called 'Polenta'.

Plain Fungi is made by omitting the okras.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:
  • 15 okras soaked in 4 cups water
  • 1 lb cornmeal
  • 6 cups water
  • 1 tsp salt or to taste
  • 3 Tbs margarine
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 5 cloves garlic minced

Steamed Flying Fish and Coo-Coo picture
Click to View

Method:
Wash the okras and cut off the heads and tails. Cut into cartwheels and place in a pot with 2 cups water and all the other ingredients except the cornmeal. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes.
In the meantime, place the cornmeal in a bowl and pour over 4 cups water to saturate the meal. Stir to make sure it is wet throughout.
After the 15 minutes pour out about three quarters of the okras and the cooking liquid and set aside.
Return the pot to a very low heat and pour in the wet cornmeal. Stir constantly to break up any lumps. Add the reserved okras and liquid a little at a time ... stirring to make sure the mixture is smooth. A coo-coo stick is normally used for this purpose - it resembles a small cricket bat. However, a wooden spoon also does the job quite well.
Continue to stir and cook on very low heat for about 10 minutes. When finished the Coo-Coo should be smooth and stiff. Transfer to a buttered dish.

Bahamian Food

Lime Mustard Sauce

fish with sauce

This lime mustard sauce is very easy to make and very good. You can use it to accompany fish or seafood, though it was too strong for the coconut lime fish fillets I served with it. I think it would be ideal for fried fish, crab cakes or other types of fritters.



Lime Mustard Sauce

Ingredients

  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 5 tbsp. Dijon mustard
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1/3 cup lime juice
  • Salt and pepper to taste

    Instructions

    Combine mayo, mustard and lime juice. Add salt & pepper. Serve.

    Adapted from a recipe at Kelyen's Place.





  • Mango Salsa

    by Lady Darling

    Servings: 1

    Ingredients:
    • 1 cup diced ripe mango
    • 2 Tbsp. minced scallions
    • 1½ Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
    • 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
    • 2 Tbsp. chopped green or red pepper
    • Crushed hot peppers to taste

    mango salsa
    Mango Salsa with Breadfruit Chips

    Method:
    Combine the ingredients in a small bowl and mix thoroughly.
    Cover; chill for 2-hours and serve.