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Squash and Spinach (and feta optional) Homemade WholeWheat Ravioli

2012-02-16T11:59:00.001+02:00

I forgot that I made this until I was going through photos on my camera. At the time of making this (3 weeks ago), I forgot that I even had a blog. Work has been busy. Life has been busy. Cooking is wonderful, but then I forget about taking photos and putting on here. Until yesterday, when I was gchatting with Roddy, in Berlin, and he told me what he was having for dinner tonight. It was horrid (1/2 can of leftover beans on bread). He said it was cheap and easy. I was making spinach and yogurt daal, also cheap and easy. He said, well, if you put recipes on your blog again, I would make them. I said fine, I will. How ridiculous is it that after over 4 years together, we are communicating on gchat and through a blog. and skype. But tonight we're going to Thailand, for 2 WEEKS!!! and I'm just bursting with excitement.

So, anyway, flash back to 3 weeks ago, when I thought about making homemade whole wheat ravioli. It was squash season. Or some kind of mutantly large squash/pumpkin hybrid season. I had made my way around Soliman Gohar Street, my favorite produce market, and been seeing a tonne of these things. Large, squash shaped, light orange, the size of the watermelons that Baby carried in Dirty Dancing. I came into work and asked Maha, how do I say squash in Arabic, or pumpkin. She was a little unclear, so I described what I was talking about, and she said "OHHHHH, the big juicy fruit, kind of like a watermelon or canteloupe", Me, "Nooo, it's a vegetable, like a pumpkin". Her, "No, I know what you are talking about. It's a fruit, we bake it with cinnamon and brown sugar", Me, "ummm, okay. no, it's a vegetable, but thanks". I walked away feeling confused and unsure of what I was buying. And okay, I get it. First, I could have just bought it, brought it home and opened it up. But they are HUGE and it's a 20 min walk from my house. Second, I really should have just trusted Maha. I mean, she's Egyptian. We work for an agricultural organization. Come on Lori.

So, I found a guy who sold them AND chopped those big honkin things into cubes. Amazing.

I took them home, and roasted them. After a few minutes, I checked on them... "Heather, these smell like canteloupe...". Okay, so in the end Maha was right. They were a fruit. I'm not vegetabley knowledgable. I get it, how am I working at an agricultural organization??? I WORK IN FISHERIES!!!! give me a break already.

Anyway. Here is the only photo of the process of making these bad boys. When we were on the homestretch:

Can you get the idea of how beautiful these would become? Particularly beautiful on the tastebuds??? Maybe not. BUT THEY WERE. If I ever told Heather the webaddress of this blog, I would get her to vouch for me. Instead, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Overall this was relatively easy. Considering my mood. In my opinion, there are two types of times when one eats pasta. 1) When you are CRAVING warm, lovely, comforting pasta. 2) When you are starving and tired and don't give a crap what you put in your mouth.

Homemade pasta should only be attempted in scenario 1. Trying it in scenario 2 could result in shoving raw pasta dough in your mouth and chasing it with sauce and a glass of wine. Or consuming an entire bag of chocolate chips.

My Tuscan boss would not likely approve of this recipe. He says ravioli should have meat or potatoes in it. In my head, that's a pierogi. Or with some different spices, a samosa. But hey, I wanted wholewheat pasta (available in grocery stores here in Cairo at an exorbitant price), and I wanted to try those Giant squash things. The result was tastebud bliss.

Pasta Recipe

2 cups wholewheat flour (plus more for rolling)

2 eggs

1 tbsp olive oil

Few tbsp water

Mix these together. Let sit for 15 min.

Break dough into two, form into rectangles and get rolling. Have plenty of flour on hand for rolling pin and counter. Roll out one rectangle until very thin. The recommendation is 1/8 inch. But I don't know what that is so I guessed at what pasta should be. Set one rolled out sheet aside and roll the other. Cut into squares, I made them about 5cm by 5cm. But the size is up to you.

Filling Recipe

2 cups roasted squash/pumpkin

2 handfuls of spinach

Pinches of nutmeg and cinnamon

1 clove garlic

Put all ingredients in blender and blend.

Spoon on filling onto each square. Then: take and egg and mix it into a cup. Spread it on the edges of the squares and put the squares from one rolled out sheet onto the other. Use a fork to seal the sides.

Throw in some boiling water for about 3 minutes and you're done!!

For the sauce, I cooked up some butter and thyme. Also, I sprinkled feta on top. Heather did not. It's just a matter of how much of a feta cheese addict you are. I love feta and could not imagine not having it on this meal, but Heather really liked hers without feta. I don't believe her.

Health in a Glass: Beet, Spinach and Fruit Smoothie

2012-02-16T10:45:00.000+02:00

I have become a fan of the green smoothie. The smoothie with some kind of green in it. I think I made my first one about one year ago. It was magical. I drank them in the pretty standard way (1 green, plus 2 fruits) blended together, for a good amount of time. I used whatever fruits I could find in the food markets here in Cairo, so whatever was in season (Guava season was a delicious painstaking nightmare), the only small challenge was the lack of variety of greens. I would bring my smoothie into work, sit it at my desk and sip on it for the morning. It made me feel very good.

Then. I moved in with Heather, just after Christmas. Heather was a fan of the green smoothie that I made, but was like "Why do you have so much fruit, and so little vegetables?" to which I put on a thoughtful, look, like I was taking her suggestion into consideration, but thinking "because putting spinach in my smoothie was a challenge, and more vegetables in it will be gross". So, I went to work and then I thought about it. Okay, maybe I could throw some carrots in. Or beets? (I've NEVER been a fan of beets. Which I get is difficult because it seems like people who like beets, LIKE BEETS.) Anyway, I thought about it and googled. But it seemed you needed a juicer to put carrots and beets in it. And we don't have a juicer. So I put it on the back burner, as they say. Then I thought, okay, if we grate them first, we could put them in the blender.

We have to be gentle with the blender because past experience with blenders purchased in Cairo shows that they will smoke and catch on fire the second you turn your back. So. we grated and blended. And for some safety, I added a bit of yogurt. and strawberries, 1 banana, and one orange. We blended them all. And let me tell you, the result was HEAVEN.

We don't have the exact same thing every day. We have about 1/2 of one beet grated into it every day. (I've never eaten beets before coming to Cairo and the vegetable sizes can sometimes be different. One beet is about the size of 3/4 of a tennis ball.) We have been having strawberries and orange because they are in season. One day instead of green leaves we put in broccoli. Sometimes radish leaves. Sometimes greens I find on the street that I can't find the translation for. Sometimes a bit of ginger. Once, Heather bought a bunch of lemons instead of grapefruits by accident, so we used those. That was a sour week.

Also, I'm aware that putting too many fruits and vegetables in one smoothie can be hard on your digestion. But, if you want to get into it, my digestion have improved so much. In retrospect, I would have eased into increasing my fiber like that. But now I feel really great. And regular, IF you know what I'm saying.

Here is the one we had this morning. It is not green. And as long as you put beets in it, it never will be. :)

Do you want the recipe?

Chop up whatever fruit you desire that you have in your fridge. Add a handful of roughly chopped spinach, grated 1/2 beet, grated 1/2 carrot. Maybe even some grated ginger if you're feeling particularly sassy that day.

I put in yogurt. The equivalent of one of those individual sized ones. Add a bit of water, and then hit blend. Blend it well. We can't all afford an awesome blender, and for those of us that can't...blend it well and long.

Spinach and Yogurt Daal...so warm and yummy

2012-02-16T10:13:00.001+02:00

Now it's February 2012. And I'm still in Cairo, although I've moved neighborhoods. The end of February to March is my favorite time of year in Cairo. The weather is beautiful, meaning you can really explore the city. I recently moved from Garden City to Mohandiseen, because my dear friend Maya moved back to London. So now it's me, Heather and Biniam in our little flat, which is so cozy and warm, it got us through the hard January winter.... jajajajaaa, just kidding. Obviously I can't complain because the weather never dropped to below 12 degrees celsius... but I pretended I understood the pain when Biniam (from Eritrea) and Heather (from L.A.), complained about the cold.

So, I have some new markets to explore, but I pretty much go to the same ones, my favorite is the vegetable market on Soliman Gohar Street. It's really full of life and the produce has such amazing colour!! I think I'm at the point where I don't get ripped off?? I don't know, but these days with the economy taking a pretty hard hit here in Egypt, it's definitely not a big deal to pay a little more for my fruits and vegetables, considering even if I pay double the price, it's nothing compared to what I'd pay in Nova Scotia.

Anyway. Daal. Lentils are prolific here. I never make lentil soup here because Egyptian lentil soup is undoubtedly the best in the world, in my humble opinion (IMHO in cool kids speak these days), so I only eat it in restaurants or in somebody else's house. Lentils are cheap and have sooooooo many good things about them!!! I've been making a pretty strong effort to take my health into account lately, for a number of reasons. Number 1, a few of my friends' moms (I don't know where the apostrophes go there, help me out) have been diagnosed with some serious illness, and despite the fact that they are EXTREMELY health conscious, it makes you think right? Second, I'm going to Thailand (TONIGHT!!!) and I'm already tall, but I don't want people poking at my belly like the Pillsbury dough boy. Because they might. Finally, Heather loves vegetables and whole grains, so it's actually pretty easy!

Last night I decided to make lentils with spinach and yogurt, and I think I just ended up making a daal. We served it over a little bit of Egyptian rice (short grain) and some aish baladi (Egyptian pita bread. awesome.)

This is what it looked like. My camera is not for food photography. Let's be honest. But the question is, is it better to post a poor quality photo of food, or no photo at all? I'm struggling with this question.

I put yogurt in it, which is actually optional, but also awesome. So it's your choice. Otherwise this is vegan. And lactose intolerant friendly. And it's always nice to be both of those things, if you can. It's just that I love yogurt so much. SO MUCH.

Here is when I realized it might be nice to put a photo in for the step-by-step. Alot of steps had been completed at this point. But this was the point Heather came home and made the suggestion.

Do you like our rustic pots? Our kitchen is pretty rustic on the whole. This photo pretty much captures 1/5 of it.

Next, when we add the beautiful green spinach.

Recipe!

Spinach and Yogurt Daal

1 tbsp oil. Plus that spray oil. I'm trying to calorie reduce here.
1.5 cups red lentils (I'm sure you can use different lentils as well, I just like how fast these cook and how mushy they get)
3.5 cups vegetable broth (plus some water to add if this is not enough)
1 red onion (I actually used 1.5 onions because I needed to use a sad little half sitting in our fridge)
2 cloves garlic
1 small green chilli pepper
3 tomatoes
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tbsp ground turmeric
pinch cinnamon and nutmeg if you have either or both
1.5 cups fresh spinach, drained and roughly chopped
2 tbsp plain yogurt, plus extra for dollops on the plate when serving

Soooo!

1) Chop up the onions, garlic, chili, tomatoes and add, in that order, giving about 2 mins time to get to know the pot.
2) Add spices. I think if you have whole cumin seeds, it would be good to put these in. At the beginning. But I didn't have those on hand. Simmer for a few mins.
3) Add lentils, which have been rinsed well. Give it all a good stir, and then go ahead and add the stock. Cover and cook, about 15 min. But check on it occasionally, they might need more water.
4) Add yogurt and spinach and cook for about 5 mins. Until you can't wait anymore and you need to throw it over some rice, with some broccoli steamed by Heather.

I ate this with baladi bread instead of a fork or spoon. This makes it more delicious, but I can understand that some people (Roddy and Heather) prefer utensils, so really, it's just your personal preference.

City Chicken - Berlin

2011-07-21T12:11:00.000+02:00

Even though I'm not in Berlin right now, sometimes I can't help but think about my beautiful around the corner Sunday night takeaway: City Chicken.

Look at it:

It doesn't look like much, does it?

But it's awesome. An entire rotisserie chicken, FULL OF FLAVOUR for only 5 euros. And they have amazing hummous, pita bread, chips, garlic mayo, should you be so inclined. I have to admit, part of the allure is that this place is within approximately 2 minutes from my flat in Neukolln. But... there are 3 others like it, and yet Rodders and I just keep coming back to this one special place. Now, as a foreigner who lives in Berlin part-time, or full-time but on a short-term basis? I can honestly say that when you are going to City Chicken, you're not just going for the food, but for the experience. Now, maybe living in Cairo has made me crave crowds and chaos while in orderly Germany, but Roddy loves it just as much, if not more so, than I do.

We often get it to take away, but in the summer they have outdoor seating which is quite lovely as well. But when you walk in, it's so crowded, everybody's speaking arabic, you don't know where to go. You find the back of the line which feels like it doesn't move, but suddenly you're near the front. People push through to pick up orders they probably called in, but you feel territorial, 'is that guy cutting the line? who does he think he is?'. Actually, the first few times you go, you think you're going to be forgotten, especially when you have a language barrier and are not used to being aggressive with people, but the next thing you know, there's a big sweaty man is yelling at you (maybe in german, maybe arabic, i don't speak either so it doesn't matter?) asking what you want. And there's a sense of relief that you're getting your food.

R-man and I take it home, savor it, plan on making sandwiches the next day with it but it really never lasts until the next day, and then I make a delicious stock with it. Everytime people have come to visit us, we've gone to City Chicken, and they adored it.

If you're in Berlin...go there.

City Chicken

Sonnenallee 59, 12045

Berlin, Germany+49 30/6248600

Wekalet Fabric Market - Cairo

2011-07-21T11:32:00.002+02:00

What a trip to the fabric market I had last night!! My dear dear bff Jenn is getting married in October. While I'm in Cairo, we thought it would be an exciting and economically advantageous idea for me to get the fabrics to decorate the barn in which they're getting married at a market here! And it is!

My friend Heather generously decided to accompany me on this adventure. Partly due to curiosity, partly due to concern for Jenn as Heather thinks I have a mild case of color blindness..I really don't know what she's talking about!

Anyway. It was beautiful! This market is full of life, yet not nearly as chaotic as Attaba market, which is basically like 50 large department stores exploded in the center of Cairo and landed in this compressed space with like, 10 000 employees. But this post is not about Attaba, it's about Wekalet!!

It's located in Boulak, just north of the 15th of May/ 26th of July bridge, with 26th of July forming its southern border and the Corniche forming it's western border. Link to a map of approximately where it is.

The colours of all the fabrics are beautiful, and I think it must be where a ton of people get their wedding dresses made, they have so many beautiful sparkly, sequinned fabrics. In itself, this market would be great to just go to and have a little walk, like if you went to Khan el Khalili market, then wanted some "real" cairo, but Attaba was a bit too... "real", is one way to put it. Also, it's super cheap, cheaper than Attaba. On that note, I was looking for cheap fabrics, and they basically ranged from 10 LE per meter (USD 1.75), to 200, depending on what you wanted. I took some photos to send to Jenn:

It was a good time, and I'm going back tonight to purchase!

Also, I bought a pair of white linen pants for 30 LE (USD 5.00), and 2 sports bras for 15LE each (USD 2.50).

Not bad for a Wednesday night, eh???

Zucchini and Feta SOUP

2011-07-21T09:59:00.000+02:00

So, living in Cairo right now, I eat a lot of zucchini. Don't get me wrong, I loves me a good zucchini, but, much to Rodney's chagrin, I need a lot of variety in my meals. Although strangely I could eat tacos, lasagne, pizza, enchiladas and a good indian curry in a rotation by themselves for all 3 meals for.. I don't even know how long. I would guess 8 weeks, but really, I've never tried. For fear of becoming obese mainly. If I had superb metabolism? Well, it would become a whole different ballgame.

Anyway. The other night I decided I needed to turn those zucchinis into something a bit different, a bit zippier. So that even though you KNOW you're eating zucchini, you don't really feel like it... you feel me?

The result was this scrumptious looking photo:

whooooops. I didn't take a photo. Do you want to know the reason I haven't taken photos? Really? Because I haven't told Maya and Biniam that I'm blogging because I'm scared that that means I think I'm so awesome that I have so much to share with the world. SO. If they don't know I'm blogging, then how do I take photos of the food we're eating without being noticed? This is a challenge that I will tackle.

Here is the recipe for the soup:

4 zucchinis (the ones I used were about 12cm long?)
1 med-large potato
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 small personal sized container of plain yogurt
1/2 cup feta cheese crumbled
2 cups soup stock (I used vegetable stock, but to each his/her own!)
salt and pepper! (I LOVE salt and pepper. I want to make salt and pepper soup or something)

SOOOOOOOOOO.

you just chop up those onions, it doesn't matter if they're roughly chopped because it's all getting blended! Heat a little bit of EVOO as Rachel Ray says, and toss the onions into the saucepan. Stir and cook, add chopped garlic. same thing, then chopped zucchini and potato...and salt and pepper!! Saute that around for a few minutes. Add the stock and let it all just cook and come together in the pot, like a magical stew.

After a long time, check to see that the potatoes and zucchini are soft, then blend it all up into a beautifully smooth puree type thing. Mine was a bit thick so I added more stock.(water actually, but that sounds bad so let's say I added stock.

Then put it back in the pot, add the feta and yogurt and there you have this beautifully photographed soup!!

Cold rice noodle vegetable salad with tangy Gado Gado sauce

2011-07-20T09:49:00.001+02:00

Well! Last night I made it to the gym!! hooray. well, at least it was hooray until 1) the gym guy tells me i really need to be coming everyday and 2) I ran into a friend JUST as i stepped off the treadmill and she asked me why I sweat so much and get so red in the face. ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. anyway.

I got home and heated up some zucchini feta soup I had made the day before, just for this very occasion of arriving home at 9pm and starving. It was really good, maybe I'll post the recipe!! Anyway, determined not to have to get street foul for lunch again, I decided to make a beautiful little noodle salad with a peanut sauce for all of the family to take to work for lunch. AGAIN... I have no photos. Why? because it was so late at night and I was tooooooooooooooooooooo tired. But I will likely be making this very thing again next week, so...I will post then.

Anyway, here I am at work, sipping on my grape-mango-orange smoothie typing up this blog again, so I better hurry before I miss a deadline or something.

Also, can I just say that although this summer has been VERY kind in terms of heat compared to last summer in Cairo...it's just too sweaty here these days. Which makes cooking hard. We have air conditioning in our living room and Maya and Bini's bedroom only, so you can imagine how hot the kitchen gets. Although I don't think people usually have air conditioning in their kitchens, do they? I'm not sure. Anyway. THE RECIPE!! Also, if anyone in the world anywhere ever comes across this blog, can you tell me if it's basically useless to write a recipe post with no photo? does anyone try recipes anymore unless there's a mouthwatering photo? i mean, it doesn't really matter, this blog is more for me than anyone else, (which is good considering i'm the only one that accesses it!) I was just a-wonderin!

Oh, and note I made this for 3 hungry peoples lunch... so just adjust as necessary!!

Cold Rice Noodle Vegetable Salad with TANGY Gado-Gado sauce

1/2 head of beautiful romaine lettuce
1/2 red pepper, sliced
3 hard boiled eggs
1 carrot, julienned (julienning carrot is dangerous for my thumbs, but i don't like thick carrots in salad)
2 small-medium tomatoes, cut into wedges
1/3 package of vermicelli rice noodles, cooked in hot water for 5-7 min

Gado Gado Sauce

1 cup peanuts
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup water
1 tsp chili powder (fresh chilies would have been better, but I didn't have any!)

Directions

Make the Gado Gado sauce by blending all the ingredients together. Add more water/peanuts depending on if you want it thicker or thinner. I used less water because I was assembling the salad the night before and I didn't want the romaine to get all soggy. Then toss the sauce in with the cooked noodles. I gave the noodles in sauce a quick run in the wok (I'm lying, I don't have a wok I used a frying pan. But I pretended it was a wok), to bring out the flavor of the peanuts, because I think I should have roasted them before.

Then I assembled like this: romaine, topped with noodles and sauce, topped with vegetables and the hardboiled egg roughly chopped.

Can I just tell you that I know that this isn't a real GadoGado sauce. But, I'm only here for a few more months and I just can't go buy fish sauce because it's too expensive and I won't use it often enough! The rice vermicelli noodles were a splurge this month...I mean, this is Cairo, right?

Review: Blackstone Bistro in Cairo, Egypt

2011-07-19T13:46:00.002+02:00

So, since I just decided I would do my first restaurant review, why not start with my favorite breakfast in Cairo? I think this place opened slightly pre-revolution, it definitely wasn't here when I left Cairo in September.

Blackstone Bistro
22 Taha Hussein Street
Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt
+20227355875
Anyway, I went to this place with my dear Maya, who raved about the breakfasts, specifically their eggs benedict. Well, it was a Saturday and we are generally pretty lazy on Saturdays so when we wandered in at 4:30pm, it made sense that they were no longer serving breakfast...this isn't Sunday in Berlin afterall!! I ordered a burger and Maya ordered a quiche and a salad. All were AMAZING. My burger really hit the spot. The next time we went we made it for breakfast and we all ordered the eggs benedict. So good. I order them every time I go back, which has been probably 3 times in the last 5 weeks. I can't say for sure if it's because their eggs benedict are particularly amazing, or the fact that I haven't found them anywhere else, but let me tell you, they make me happy!

Prices are exactly what you'd expect for a restaurant in Zamalek that serves British/American style breakfasts...does that help? :)

Their iced coffees are good, but I would say not better than Crave next door... ooops, I hope that's not rude.

WOAH, what happened? I'm in Cairo!! Eggplant-couscous marinara

2011-07-19T12:05:00.002+02:00

Well, I have neglected you little blog. In some kind of whirlwind adventure, I find myself writing from my office in Cairo, Egypt where I am supposed to be working. I'm here for a short term contract...well, it was supposed to be short-term, but now it's looking a little longer term than originally planned. I think I might just finish out 2011 here! I am missing Berlin and my dear Roddy, but for now I am happy in this new adventure. Not only a living and working adventure, but a cooking one too!! The cooking adventure is this: I am trying to buy locally grown produce. Locally as in the region, not necessarily Egyptian, but I generally shop in the street markets, so I just guess it's local?

The challenge is creativity. There are a few key items that I can buy that always look good and fresh: eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes and onions. Peppers a lot of the time. I can honestly say that I've eaten more eggplant and zucchini in the last 2.5 months than I usually do in a year. Anyway, I wasn't blogging because I just haven't been super inspired... until last night!

I started out trying to make an eggplant rollatini thing, but using the recipe I found on VeggieBelly. I really love her blog! Anyway, obviously I can't cook like her, and my friend Heather and I improvised a little bit. The eggplants I bought were too short, (and I cut them too thick..ooops!) to roll. So we kind of made this eggplant couscous lasagne type thing, which was sooooo good, if I say so myself. I feel like since I had help, I"m not being completely arrogant.

Anyway, I only decided to blog this on the spur of the moment, so if I wanted to capture it on photo I would have to take pictures of the insides of Heather and my bellies. SICK.

Here is the recipe, for those daring people out there who don't need a photo to be tempted into making something!!

Eggplant-Couscous Marinara

Ingredients

Marinara Sauce
1.5 onions
5 garlic cloves
10 tomatoes (or 1-2 cans of tomatoes)
Italian spices (mine are unlabelled!! so I'm guessing they were oregano and thyme..:)
Salt and pepper
Pinch of sugar
1/2 -1 cup water

Couscous
2 cups couscous
4 cups water
1/2 cup feta type cheese (it's not feta that I used but my arabic is crap and it tastes like a cousin of feta)

2 eggplants
3/4 cup grated cheese

Directions

I started with the marinara sauce. I didn't chop things too finely because I knew I would be blending before I added it to the mixture. If you're not blending, chop finely. Start with some olive oil, add onions and then garlic, then tomatoes and spices/sugar and simmer for as long as it takes you to make everything else, adding bits of water as it gets thicker. When everything else is finished, blend er up!!

The couscous can be made at anytime, just boil the water and add it to the couscous in a pot or bowl. Leave it until all the water is absorbed, then fluff it up. Cut up the feta family cheese into chunks, or crumble, and stir into couscous.

Slice the eggplant into slices, to your desired thickness, and pan fry in a tiny bit of olive oil. Fry them like burgers, so that each one has it's place in the pan, and so you'll have to do a few batches.

THEN. Assemble. Spoon a small amount of sauce in a pan. Depending on the size of the pan (I used one that was WAY too big), you can have one layer of each, or more lasagne like, with a few different layers. Anyway, it goes eggplant, couscous, marinara sauce. Then grated cheese on top.

Delicioso!!

Vietnamese-style Rice and Spring Rolls

2011-01-28T13:38:00.000+02:00

One of my favorite things is being able to cook delicious food using only the ingredients that you already have in your kitchen, particularly the vegetables that have limited life left in them. This is particularly true when you are broke. So, when I looked into my cupboards and fridge the other night and saw that I could make a Vietnamese-style egg fried rice, I was pretty excited. Then I got a little more ambitious and thought, 'Hey, why not throw in some spring rolls as well. This may have been where I went wrong, but I don't think so, I think it was just a bit of a practice run. They didn't turn out perfectly, BUT I feel like I learned a thing or two about making spring rolls. Number One: They are NOT burritos, and so should not be stuffed like burritos. Anyway, live and learn.

So, this was the result. I don't this photo really captures the tastiness of the dish, but it's better that the tastiness was captured in the dish instead of the photo, right??

Anyway, getting down to business. I don't know why this was specifically Vietnamese-style, it just felt like it, you know??

Ingredients

RICE

2 cups uncooked rice
1/2 zucchini
1/2 red pepper
1 onion
7 mushrooms
1 tsp fish sauce
1tsp soy sauce
2 cloves garlic
1 inch ginger
1 tsp sugar
salt and pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup cashews
oil for cooking

Spring Rolls

Rice paper wrappers
handful of vermicelli noodles
2 mushrooms
1/2 red pepper
handful of bean sprouts

Directions

First, I started with the rice. I cooked the rice and let it cool.

Next step was making a marinade of fish sauce, sugar, soy sauce, garlic and ginger, all chopped as small as possible or crushed in mortar and pestle. Then toss it all in with chopped veggies, and let sit while you assemble make the spring rolls.

For the spring rolls, I poured boiling water over the vermicelli noodles in a bowl and let sit, covered, for about 7 min. I chopped up the veggies and through them in a pan and cooked them up in a bit of oil. Then, put veggies aside, drain noodles and put aside. I put some water in a circular pan and one at a time immersed the rice paper. After the rice paper was a little bit soft, I took it out and put in some of the filling. This is where I went wrong because I put in WAY too much. Next time, not so much, definitely! Anyway, after each one, I put another rice paper in and did it again. Then I set them aside on a plate, waiting to be cooked.

Back to the rice, throw the veggies in a wok, and cook them all up in a bit of oil. It really smells delicious. Then, make a little spot where there is no rice and throw the eggs in, beating them as you go. Once they're cooked up a bit, stir them in with the rest of the rice. Add the cashew nuts at the end.

Put a bit of oil in a frying pan and throw in the spring rolls. For the life of me I CANNOT bring myself to deep fry ANYTHING, and so I always panfry. This may have partially resulted in poor spring rolls.

Serve spring rolls on rice.

OH. also, i threw some garlic, chili, sugar, water and a tiny bit of fish sauce to dip spring rolls in and pour a bit over the rice. DELICIOUS.

Massaman-ISH Curry

2011-01-26T14:29:00.000+02:00

Yesterday, I really wanted a curry. And I love making curries. As well as eating them. Actually, I love eating curries more than I love making them, to be truthful, but I still love making them because people love curries and it's so satisfying to have someone dig in to food you've just made and look so happy. So, I initially wanted more of an Indian style curry, but ended up making this kind of Massaman Thai curry instead. Now, I need to emphasise that this is not a true Massaman Curry, for the simple fact that I could not find all the ingredients! I tried really hard, but the Asian food stores in my neighbourhood stocked neither lemongrass nor shrimp paste. I was a little bit irritated, because I love them both, but what's a girl to do when she's living in a country where she doesn't speak the language??? Try for a bit, then give up and go home and see what happens with the ingredients she has I guess.

This was the result:

What do you think?? I'm sure there's a great way to photograph curries. At Chefinyou AND Veggiebelly, they always take beautiful photographs of their curries. Alas, I am a beginner, and this will have to do.

It really was tasty, and if you want a more authentic Massaman curry, there are plenty out there. One that's particularly good AND gives a bit of info on the Massaman, can be found here: http://www.shesimmers.com/2010/07/massaman-curry-recipe.html#comment-form

Also, you can easily add beef or chicken, but it really did taste beautiful without meat. I even fooled Roddy into thinking there was meat in it for a bit. But not the whole meal.

So, here is the process. Note that shrimp paste and lemongrass in the paste would have added a whole other level of deliciousness.

Ingredients

Paste:

Tsp peppercorns, toasted
Tsp cumin seeds, toasted
Tsp coriander seeds, toasted
1/2 tsp cloves, toasted
2 cloves garlic
1 shallot
1 tsp each of cumin, cinnamon, salt, pepper and coriander, ground
2 of the really hot red chilis
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp ginger
Zest of lime
1 tbsp oil

Other part:

1 onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 zucchini
5 mushrooms
3 potatoes, cooked 3/4s of the way in boiling water, in bite sized pieces
1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup crushed cashew nuts

Directions

For the paste, just blitz all the ingredients in a hand blender, or pound it in a mortar and pestle, depending on how much time and pent up anger you have to get rid of.

Then. Heat up a little oil in a deep-ish pan, and add the paste. It's probably WAY better if you make the paste the day before so the flavours can come together more, but I'm not that much of a planner, so same day paste must do!

Sautee that for around 5-10 mins, so that you can really smell the flavours. Mine was a little bit dry, so I added a bit of the coconut milk to it for added moisture. Then add the onion, chopped to your desired size. Cook that up for a bit, I covered the pan as well. Then, add (in this order, giving each time to cook before adding the next), garlic, zucchini and mushroom. Finally add the coconut milk and later the nuts. Did I forget anything? YES. The potatoes. Add them right before the coconut milk. Let that simmer as long as you can. Mine was not sweet enough so I ended up adding a bit of sugar to it. And i snuck in a bit more cumin as well. It just depends on how you like it.

I let it sit and simmer on low heat for as long as I could before I cooked up the rice, but I imagine the leftovers in my fridge are going to taste even better for letting those flavours mix together even longer!!

TexMex Style Chili, Potatoes and AvoSalsa

2011-01-26T14:04:00.000+02:00

Well, the other night Roddy called me up as I was heading to the grocery store. This was our conversation.

Me:Hey, what do you feel like for dinner tonight?
Him: I'm in the mood for mexican.
Me: No problem
Him: But with mashed potatoes.
Me: Umm, okay, I'll see what I can do.

Now, this is as good a time as any to mention that Roddy is Scottish. So, when he says he wants mexican, he actually means something a little more TexMex-y than actual mexican. Not that there's anything wrong with it, I just needed to point it out.

Anyway, this was the result, and even though it might not look amazing, it tasted pretty darn good.

I mean, particularly because it's winter, right?? And I live in Berlin, it's cold here! Ok, I don't know why I feel like I need to defend this, MAYBE because I'm not supposed to be eating this much fat so early in the year, since I haven't even been exercising. Regardless, it's super easy to make, and obviously easy to adapt to your tastes. I was actually planning to make it without meat, but Roddy actually mentioned how excited he was to eat meat, so I had to give him a little something.

Ingredients

Lots o potatoes
However much milk and butter you like to use in your mashed potatoes
250 grams of ground beef (optional)
1 can kidney beans
Tsp cumin
1/2 tsp sugar
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 red pepper
1 small chili
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp thyme
Salt and pepper
2 Tomatoes
1 avocado
Grated cheese (I used gouda)
Chopped spring onions for top

Directions

For the potatoes, I used a bunch because Roddy is a big fan. I cut them up pretty small before I boil them because I am impatient and hate waiting for them to boil. Boil until soft, drain, add a bit of salt, pepper, milk and butter. I find you don't need to add too much butter because they're going to have the chili and cheese and AvoSalsa on them, so they'll still taste good.

For the chili, just chop up your onion, sauté until soft, chop up garlic and add it to the onion. Oh, but if you're using meat, do that first. Or at least I did, but I think everyone has their own style. Add chopped chili and red pepper and sauté them too. Add the spices and simmer. I would normally add tomatoes, but because of the avosalsa, it's not necessary... but still tasty!! Then just add the drained and rinsed kidney beans and simmer for as long as you want!

For the AvoSalsa, just finely chop up tomato, salsa, onion, avocado and add salt and pepper. Toss it up a bit, and you're done! If you make it first, then the flavours come together a bit more and it's more delicious.

I made a little loop with the potatoes and filled in the hole with chili and added the cheese and spring onion on top, with the AvoSalsa on the side.

Either way, it was super tasty.

Faux Pho Soup of the Vegetarian Persuasion

2011-01-14T15:54:00.000+02:00

My day yesterday was cold and rainy. I wanted to make a pho soup, but as usual, I didn't have any of the ingredients nor did I have a recipe. As I went about my day, some flat viewings all of which looked like they were conceived over a dinner between the inventor of linoleum and a depressed architect, I thought I'd try to find an Asian supermarket in my neighborhood. I found one, and just bought everything I saw, flat rice noodles, vermicelli, soy sauce, rice paper. I felt good. I then found another and went in. Now, I'm guessing what happened through her actions as, again I speak no German, is she saw the rice noodles in my bag and felt like I shouldn't have bought all my stuff at the other store. She emptied out my shopping bag on her counter, wrote down all the price information, guessed at what I might be making and instructed me to buy a variety of other ingredients that would make this imaginary dish complete. This resulted in below--

I'm not going to lie to you, it was delicious. It's not real Pho, but it was good, it was warm, it had lots of flavour AND I felt very healthy after I ate it. Also, I'm going to learn to take photos of the process soon, I'm just a really messy cook and I feel like photos of food next to crumply wrappers and food discards will not have the appetizing effect I'm going for at this point in time.

Anyway, here is my recipe.

Ingredients

3 of those little piles of flat noodles (how they pile them in the package)
Whatever vegetables on hand for stock, I used carrot, leek, onion, ginger, celery.
Cinnamon
Salt and pepper
Soy sauce (splashes)
Fish sauce (splashes)
1 clove garlic
2 things green onion
bunches of cilantro
1 small chili
2-3 brown mushrooms
Water
Tofu, around 200 grams
Pinches of salt, pepper and chili flakes

Now, what I did to start was mix the clove of garlic (minced) some splashes of soy sauce, fish sauce, and some pinches of salt, pepper and chili flakes in a bowl, and then marinated the tofu, which was cut into thin strips. Probably going back I would have started on the broth first, basically just boiling water, cinnamon and the stock veggies, with some splashes of soy sauce as well. But just do these at around the same time, they're both in the "flavour sharing" portion of the cooking program.

Then go pour yourself a glass of wine while the flavor mixing party happens, it doesn't need your supervision, it won't trash your house like a teenager.

Around 15 minutes into the flavor party, throw the tofu and its marinade and fry it up in a pan. I had just bought a non-stick pan that very day and so I didn't even use oil. Next, put noodles in a bowl, cover them with boiling water and put a plate over it to cover it. Or for you fancy people with actual kitchen utilities, a real cover.Then just chop up your other stuff, onion, cilantro, chili and mushrooms.

Go drink some more wine.

When you feel the flavor party starts to wind down (let's say, 30 min?) check the noodles. If the noodles are ready, get started on putting it together.

First, put all the chopped and waiting stuff in, as in the below photo, including the tofu. Roddy also threw in some sweet chili sauce for an extra treat.

Then the noodles, then spoon in some broth and you're ready Freddy!!

It really was good. I wish I could have it again tonight....

Chorizo and Roast Tomato Penne...

2011-01-13T19:24:00.000+02:00

Last night I wanted to make something really exciting. I mean, it's my second real recipe post and I wanted it to be good, exotic, intriguing. I was, however, exhausted from searching for flats all day (I should mention that was online hunting, not walking around Berlin actually, ooops!). Anyway, Roddy and I discussed and he wanted something with chorizo, SO this is what I came up with. It's simple, but the flavours really come out and it's so easy to make, especially when it's cold out, you're tired, and really really hungry.

Weird, it looks kind of stretched out in that photo, maybe it gained weight since I took it? I don't know. Anyway, here is the recipe!!

Ingredients

2 cups cherry tomatoes
Medium sized onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp oregano
1 tsp chili flakes
1 pinch each of salt and pepper
300g penne
1 chorizo sausage
A few fresh basil leaves
Cheese (I used gouda...because I live in Germany ö)
1\3 cup passata
Olive oil for cooking

Step One

Cut cherry tomatoes in half and toss with 1 garlic clove (minced), and all the other spices, and some olive oil.

Step Two

Place tossed tomatoes on a pan like the photo below, throw in the oven and roast those suckers for, well, around 10 minutes, but more if your oven is tricky like mine.

Step Three

Sautee onions (chopped), adding the other clove of garlic (chopped) when the onions have cooked for a bit, until both are soft and smelling like Italy.

Step Four
a) Sautee chorizo (roughly chopped) in pan (you don't need oil, it's oily enough!)
b) Combine onion, garlic and roasted tomatoes in a bowl and blend with a hand mixer, or use a food processor if you are super lucky and have one.

Step Five

Add it all together, with the passata and cook it up!!!

WOAH. I forgot to add a step in about cooking the penne!! But I bet you were all smart cookies and made it anyway, right??? Or, if you didn't, just pretend you did it on purpose so that you could let all the flavours of the sauce meld together while you cooked up the penne. That's what I do...

Serve with some freshly chopped basil and grated GOUDA, and enjoy!!!

NOTE-- you could totally eat this without the chorizo and it would still be tasty, and maybe a bit lighter!

Yummy Yummy Fish Cakes with Red Pepper Yogurt Sauce!!!

2011-01-11T16:38:00.001+02:00

Well, it has been too long since I last wrote, however I had decided not to post anything until I had actually made something, took photos and had something real to share. Since the last time I wrote, I have travelled a bit more around Egypt, gone back to the UK, moved to Berlin, worked a 2 month contract in Mozambique and gone home to Nova Scotia, Canada for the holidays. Now I'm back in Berlin, and last night I made the most delicious fishcakes with a beautiful roasted red pepper yogurt sauce.

Now, since moving to Berlin (the whole 17 days I've lived here), I've found it a bit difficult working my way through the grocery stores. I think that the universe has sent me to places where the grocery stores are increasingly worse and this must be a message to me to use less and less already prepared products, to sample more international markets and to learn to cook under any conditions. So, last night, I wanted to make something delicious for me and my lovely boyfriend Roddy in our super cute and cramped studio apartment that we will hopefully be moving out of in the next month so we can eat, cook and sleep in separate rooms...

ANYWAY...

Fish cakes seemed like the perfect solution. I had wanted to use something canned, as fresh fish would have meant that our bed would smell like fresh fish for the remainder of the week, but I was a bit disappointed when I had the option of 50 different types of canned tuna, but no other varieties of canned fish. It was disappointing, but I persevered, and below is what I managed to create!

I realize I need to work a bit on my food photography, but, here goes!

INGREDIENTS

Fish Cakes

1 small can of whatever fish floats your boat that evening
3 medium potatoes
1 medium onion
2 stalks celery
1 clove garlic
1tsp cumin
1.5 tsp oregano
1.5 tsp thyme
1 tsp chili flakes
olive oil for shallow frying

Red Pepper Yogurt Sauce

1 large red pepper
75 mL plain yogurt
pinch each of sugar, salt, garlic powder, chili flakes, salt and pepper

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

Fish Cakes

1) Peel and cut potatoes into small pieces and boil until almost ready for mashed potatoes, but not quite (I like the potatoes to be a chunky mash instead of a mashy mash). When ready, drain and let cool a bit.
2) Cut onion and celery into tiny little pieces and sautee until aromatic and soft.
3) In a bowl, mix potatoes, onion, celery, can of tuna (drained, obviously), and all the spices and mash. I don't have a masher yet so I used a fork and the consistency was awesome and chunky mash.
4) Heat a LITTLE bit of oil (it's the beginning of the year and I'm sure we're all still making an attempt to eat healthy???), roll fish cake mixture in flat-ish patties of your desired size (once I made them kind of like mini-burger patties, once like little croquets and both times I loved them equally) and cook for around 4 minutes a side. Then, they're finished!!

Red Pepper Yogurt Sauce

1) Cut red pepper in half, cut out the seeds and white stuff inside and stem, put on top layer of oven and roast (or grill, whatever), skin-side up until skin is black. Take out and let cool, preferably in plastic bag.
2) Empty yogurt into a bowl and add spices, mixing them together.
3) Peel of skins of pepper, cut into small pieces and add to yogurt.
4) Using a hand blender, mix it up into a smooth dressing.

I think the key to success for this is to make the sauce in advance, to take all the yogurt bite out of it, for those who don't like the yogurt tang (Roddy). Also, a squeeze of lemon juice adds a delicious touch. We had them on some egg noodles with lettuce and avocado and we were seriously full at the end of that dinner!

And that's it!! What do you think???

The Trouble With Blogging

2010-05-18T10:52:00.000+03:00

I think this must happen to everyone who starts a blog. All you want to do is blog. Even if you don't really have anything to blog about. Ok, that's great, assuming you are not also blogging while you're in your office at your full-time job as deadlines pass you by and your boss is getting fed up with not receiving anything from you in the last week.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, Lori, you have 4 blog posts. Big Deal. I'm pretty sure you can handle your full time job AND writing 4 blog posts. But if you are thinking that, then you obviously do not have a blogging obsession, and I don't know if there's anything that I can say to help you understand what this obsession truly means. But I will try. OH, I will try.

Let's start with the fact that IF you want anyone to read your blog besides your boyfriend, you have to network. This means going to other people's blogs, leaving your business card in the form of a link back to your blog, commenting on their posts and what not. Ok, fair enough, if I were a robot, I could do this pretty quickly. However, I am not. I go onto other people's blogs and I CAN'T STOP READING THEM. I sort though their posts, dreaming of tasting the food that they've so beautifully photographed. So the blogs I have listed in my Food Blog list...well, I love them. I know them, I've looked through pages of their stuff. I go through and wonder how they came up with these recipes. How did they get the photos to capture the deliciousness of the food? I look at how they have all these really cool graphics that I don't have the first clue on how to create. They have these indexes and search engines. They have GIVEAWAYS. They even have awards. Did you know that blogs can win awards? Now don't worry, I recognize the my blog consists of 5 posts, photos stolen from the internet, and links to the sites where the actual information is located. I am not going to start dreaming of awards. But people have followers in the thousands!!

The blog world is fascinating. And exclusive. And I want to be a part of it. Now, I also don't want to get fired from my job. Can blogging and working be reconciled? Well, I'm sure that if there was a mother of 3 blogger reading this, she would say, "Uh, YEAH, you self-involved blogging newbie. What do you think I do, sit at my computer blogging while my kids starve and run naked through the neighbourhood?"

But MY blog has FOUR goals. cook, travel, write, learn, remember? ok, let's admit it. the learning element isn't real. it just looks good and i can say i learn while i do all the other stuff. fine. But man, finding freelance writing work is hard. I will do it, but it's hard.

So. I'm going to post this and get back to work. And I won't return until I've handed my boss a paper on interventions in the post-harvest fisheries sector. got it? good.

But first, a book. My friend Tamara gave me this book when I told her I wanted to start a blog:

Pretty good price right? It was pretty good, and I used it combination with a lot of online how-to-start-a-blog blogs. Which are great. Except maybe a TAD bit overwhelming. Just read other peoples blogs and see what you like. Easy-peasy.

A Samosa To Remember

2010-05-17T17:02:00.000+03:00

Ok, it's time to talk seriously about a topic about which I am particularly passionate: Samosas.

(This photo was stolen from the internet. I can't even give the credit to someone because it came up so many times when I googled samosa. My camera is broken and this is a new blog. Give me a break, and please don't sue me over some kind of copyright infringement. PLEASE. only my boyfriend reads this anyway)

Now, I've always known and recognized that I love samosas. When I see the word samosa, I feel warm and loved. When I think about the different possible fillings, I feel excited I would like to write an adaptation of Jimmy Buffet's "Cheeseburger in Paradise", substituting in samosa instead. It wasn't until a two weeks ago, though, until I realized that samosas may actually play a larger role in my pursuit of happiness than I ever thought. It was a Friday night and we were going to a friend's birthday party. We walked in, there was a sprinkling of people, and some music playing. In the middle of greeting some people, I noticed the table of food behind them. On it were plates of samosas. I immediately proclaimed, "This is the best party ever!". I realize now, that I have an affliction. In a daze, I walked away from whoever I was talking to to grab one of those tasty pockets to discover what was inside. It was a meat samosa. Meat samosas aren't even my favorites, but still, I was in heaven.

I honestly don't know where my love for samosas stems from. My mom never made them, in fact, she generally doesn't even like any kind of greasy food. I share this obsession with nobody in particular, and yet everyone in general. I remember arriving in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, only to discover that lentil filled crispy samosas were on the menu for breakfast at every cafe in town. I have nothing but fond memories of Ethiopia. In Nairobi, I popped into the little shop every day on my way home, picking one up as an after-lunch, pre-dinner snack. They guy at the shop laughed at me everyday, and still, I couldn't not go. The underground stations in London even! How they have them right next to the pasties, taunting you to take one on your way down to the the tube, and again on your way out. (I am well aware that Transport for London actively discourage eating scented food on the tube. And I don't like eating on the tube myself, I'm just saying, the option is there. Don't get all London commuter on me.)

So, the other day, I started thinking about this. My best friend Jenn, can take or leave samosas. But we have never been obsessed with the same foods, so that's not a surprise. But, the more I thought about it the more I realized, I'm pretty sure that the city from which I hail, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, could very well be obsessed with them in some kind of discrete, underground way. Now, before I get into this, I realize, samosas can be found everywhere, and so there is a kind of general love for samosas around the world.

But while we Haligonians struggle to find stalls of shops that offer decent burritos, jacket potatoes or savory pies, you never have to walk far to find a samosa. And this is a province with less than one million inhabitants, of which something like 95% are of Scottish, Irish, English, Welsh, French, German and Dutch descent.

The fact that you can find samosas across the entire town, one might predict that the samosa market is now saturated in this city of less than 400,000. However it turns out that, in the business world of samosas, always room for one more. The recent opening of Serious Samosas attests to this. And this is not just limited to the city of Halifax. In the (relatively by Canadian standards) nearby cities of St. John and Fredericton, they also share this healthy, if not curious, love for samosas. CaveatDoctor, with his love of the samosa industry, writes about a third samosa stall opening up at Boyce's Farmer's Market in Fredericton. Population: 50,000.

Now, I think it would be useful to stop and take a look at the history of this entrancing, pocket-y delight that tantalizes the tastebuds. Why, you ask? And to that I respond, why not?

It turns out that samosas actually originated in Persia, like so many other culinary successes.It was called sanbusaj, and we only have to look over at Samosa Connection to get the facts and history of this tasty triangle. However, I can summarize:

What seems to have happened was, the sanbusaj was not content to stay in Persia and be enjoyed by the Persian people alone. Despite its love for its homeland, it knew that it had more out there to see, it had something it could share with the world. I imagine that the people of Persia were initially hesitant about one of their own leaving them to go off to strange lands. But the sanbusaj would have assured them that it was not leaving in its entirety. No matter what happened out there, the sanbusaj would always be Persian first. And so, the sanbusaj put on its backpack and traveled the world, much like Marco Polo, or Ferdinand Magellan.

Now, while the sanbusaj recognized that it had intrinsic qualities that could be enjoyed by populations across the world, it also knew that it had to adapt to local tastes in order to be truly accepted. Whether this meant adapting its filling, its wrapping, its shape or its method of cooking, the sanbusaj was willing. The sanbusaj discovered that while it originated in Persia, other cultures had so much to add, so much to give it. And so over hundreds of years, the sanbusaj developed friends and family in the form of Singara, smosa, sumosa, சமோசா, samosa, sambusak, سمبوسك‎, samsa, somsa, sambusa, самбӯса, سنبوسه, samuza, chamuça. Resulting in what we have today. Sanbusaj(s?) that come in triangles and tetrahedrons, that can be adapted to vegetarian, vegan, lactose-intolerant, gluten-free diets.

And so, as much as I believe that the maritime provinces are a special, magical part of the world, I know now that their love for samosas is a love that transcends provincial, national, and state boundaries. It is not surprising that this little guy, hailing all the way from Persia, is able to slip into Eastern Canada's farmers markets, which pride themselves on organic, local produce.

I would like to take this moment to suggest that the samosa be nominated as the international food of peace, for its demonstration that globalization does not have to include domination. As a disclaimer, I realize that with that last statement I have lost all credibility with any of the readers I may have had (Basically just Roddy, but he knew what he was getting himself into when he started dating me).

But to bring it back, I found a good samosa recipe, at The Tamarind Tree. You can click there to get their recipe, OR you can embrace the adaptive mantra of the samosa/sanbusaj and just, make it however you want!

Get crazy, experiment with flours and water, the different types of fillings, and the way you cook it. Try a feta cheese, pesto and potato filling. Whip up a dhal and throw it in there. Bake it, boil it, deep fry, pan fry!! Just make sure that when you make it, you make it with the spirit of the samosa ever-present in your mind!

Finally, in honour of Persia, I will link to this cookbook, from the food family that brought us the sanbusaj.

UPDATE 19/05/10: I found this samosa-taco recipe at the Cooking Photographer. I mean, could the timing be any more perfect? Look at the continued evolution of the samosa. Just look at.. :)

Eritrean Delights in the Form of FOOD!!

2010-05-17T09:32:00.000+03:00

I was not planning on writing anything today, as I haven't actually cooked, written, or traveled. However I have tasted and I have learned.

Last night I was invited over for dinner at my good friend Biniam's house. Biniam is from Eritrea, and we were having a dinner to say goodbye to his brother Alex, who was heading back to London. Now, I spent a bit of time in Ethiopia and absolutely LOVED the food.

Eritrean food is very similar to Ethiopian, actually I can't tell the difference. When I ask Biniam if there is a difference, he always says no, but then he'll point out that in a specific dish, Eritreans might use or add an ingredient that Ethiopians might not. As I feel slightly obsessed with the Habesha people, I plan to investigate this further.

For those of you unfamiliar with Ethiopian and Eritrean completely, I can only suggest you get yourself to the nearest Habesha restaurant. Two of the most distinct items in this food is the use of berbere in their sauces, as well as injera, which is the rice to one's thai green curry, the naan to one's dal makhani. Traditionally made with Teff, a grain that can only be found in those countries, it's usually substituted with wheat outside.

Ok. So enough with the descriptions. I have search and searched for a blog or website devoted to Eritrean and Ethiopian cooking, but to no avail. As well, cookbooks covering recipes from here are lacking. All I want is a great Shiro Wat recipe (peas stew). And for a region that has such amazing food, the lack of resources to cook this amazing food is just unacceptable. I will see what I can do.

I did have look, and found and these Ethiopian cookbooks. I had a flip through the first two here in Cairo, and they looked great. And as soon I get money, I plan to buy them, but I figure, what's the rush when I'm still getting invited to people's houses for Eritrean and Ethiopian food...right?
Ethiopian Delights Cookbook

I had looked at one of the Eritrean cookbooks, but the reviews weren't great and it definitely didn't seem like it captured the essence of Eritrean cooking. The rest seem to be mainly cookbooks that cover the entire continent. I am always surprised when I come across an African cookbook, as I can't imagine how the author would have attempted to tackle that challenge. It would be like creating a European cookbook, or an Asian cookbook. How could you possible choose which recipes to put in each country's chapter? I do not envy the person that embarks on that task, that's for sure.

But I digress. For those of you who are looking for a little sample of Eritrean or Ethiopian food, I would take a look at http://ethiopianrecipes.net, although the site itself can be a bit difficult to navigate. Also, DK at Chef In You has done so much of the trials and testing, presenting what appears to be an amazing gluten-free Injera recipe.

And that is all I have for you. I have not cooked, but tasted. So I can assure you that tasting some of the delicious dishes that come from this region, as well as learning about this incredibly rich culture and people, will only bring you joy.

So. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, if there is anyone that is reading this and knows of some great recipes from this region, put it out there for the rest of us to enjoy!!!

On my own for my first week of goals

2010-05-16T11:58:00.000+03:00

Cook

Well, I have to say that the inspiration for cooking has always been pretty good, I love cooking for other people. And, I have been blessed with an amazing flatmate, Maya, who coincidentally hates to cook AND loves when I try new recipes. Unfortunately, Maya is going back to the UK for the week, and I will be left to cook on my own. I can't imagine I will motivate myself to cook something fantastic this week, unless I venture to invite OTHER friends over for dinner...ok. We'll see what happens, I'm not making any promises.

Write

This bodes well for my writing goals, as I will be all alone. My goal for this week is to get and complete one paid writing assignment. Even if it only pays 2 dollars. Anything.

Travel

I am currently living in Cairo by the way, I think that I mentioned that in my last post. So, where can I go to share with you some of the joys of this crazy city? Well, luckily, I need to go get some presents to send back to Canada, so I will head to Khan el-Khalili armed with my impressive observational skills and a camera if I can get a hold of one...

HERE I AM!!!

2010-05-16T11:18:00.000+03:00

Wow. My own blog. I have been inspired over the past few months by other people's blogs. Mainly cooking blogs, because I find people that have a gift for cooking to be incredibly inspiring. Those people who know the secrets of how to get certain flavors out of vegetables, how to work with different flours and how to know when to stop cooking something before it becomes overdone.

I am not one of those gifted people who can cook without recipes. I usually start by searching 15 different ways to cook one dish, then combine them to make a dish that 1) uses ingredients that I can actually find, based on my location (currently Cairo), 2) omits things i don't like in dishes (raisins), 3) is compatible with the fact that I forever struggle with finances.

Ok. So, in order for this blog not to be completely self-indulgent, I will use it for the creation of a goal which combines all the things that make me happy (outside of family and friends and love and all that jazz, of course).

I love cooking. I love traveling. I love writing. And I always always always hope that whatever I am doing, I am learning.

What will I do in this blog? And why should you read this blog?

1) I will experiment with the best recipes I can find. And cook them. And share with you the joys of trying to cook recipes in a countries that generally don't have half the ingredients.

2) I will share the joys of travel. As I mentioned before, I am forever and eternally broke. But I am a firm believer that this should never stand in the way of doing anything you want, and I want to travel.

3) WRITING. Ok, I have to just say it. I have had a love-hate relationship with writing since I learned how to write. Example: Once I learned to print, I decided that learning cursive was pointless and useless and I have refused to write cursive ever since I left elementary school. Example 2: I have always wanted to make a living through writing, but have yet to make a dime from it. (Unless you count that working as a researcher is kind of making money from writing, but I doubt it because a TON of researchers can't write for all the tea in China.)

4)Learn. Learning is without a doubt the one thing I can say that I have done, through all the cooking, traveling and writing. And I don't know if one can really learn from someone else's experience, but if it is possible, I will try to learn some amazing lessons and articulate them in the most share-friendly way that ever existed.

So. Here I go, let's see what happens.