Ethiopia

The picture below shows our lovely Ethiopian meal. We made Yemiser W'et (spicy lentil stew) and Doro Wat (chicken stew) on Injera bread.

The Yemiser W'et called for Niter Kebbeh, a sort of spiced, clarified butter similar to ghee. We made it by melting down butter with spices, letting it simmer for about an hour, and pouring the mixture through a cheesecloth.

Both recipes also contained Berbere, a hot Ethiopian spice mixture that we obtained at Afrik Market downtown.

We ladled both stews, in the traditional Ethiopian fashion, onto injera, the flat, spongy, pancake-like bread. Injera is made with teff flower, a gluten-free flower only found in the region. Originally we planned to make our own injera, but we could only find teff flower sold in gigantic bags.  However, we were able to buy it ready-made. In Ethiopia, the meal would be eaten by tearing off a piece of injera and using it to scoop up the stew. The meal would be officially over when all the injera is gone. 

Ethiopia

...Know what else is spicy?

Well, it has in  fact been a wild ride around the "world" in 80 dishes (or less).  I'm so happy we decided to do this project, and I think we've been having a crazy amazing time, despite all that chopping.

It seems corny, but I really think this project helped me discover the things that are "in my own backyard." People joke about Minnesota's overwhelming blond-ness, but this project has really helped us get a taste of the cultures we live with. From our friend's mother's amazing Indian cooking skills to the ethnic markets downtown, we've seen a little bit more of the world, without leaving the metro area. 

I feel like this project has been a nice transition to "real life." We've gone from a sheltered world of bells and regulations in school to setting our own schedule for this project. We still work hard... though we might not start as early. We've learned through doing and seeing. We (no thanks to my nonexistent directional skills) even found our way back from the middle of downtown in one piece.

I'm happy that we've gotten to share our project with others a little. We've had friends over some nights, and we've interviewed a few people we know. It's incredibly satisfying to see that others are benefiting from your work. 

I think I'll be sad when this project is over. It's been a crazy good time.

المغرب

Greetings from Moroccan cuisine!

This night was both the most fun and the most exhausting as we chose to host a party for our friends. We made vegetable couscous, chicken and beef kebabs and tfah, an apple dessert strikingly similar but significantly better than applesauce. Suffice it to say that everything was very delicious!

India

On Friday, we had the incredible good fortune to cook with a good friend's mother who is from India. Having anticipated some delicious cooking, we were not disappointed. In fact, it was by far the best meal we've cooked (or in this case, participated in) thus far. Many thanks!

Here is a picture of our friend's mother's really cool spice holder. It was very convenient and very pretty!


We made samosas, chicken curry, green bean curry and a cucumber and tomato salad.

The salad was the easiest and most refreshing salad that I have ever had. As we approach summer, I cannot recommend this salad enough. Just cut English cucumber and tomatoes (about 4-5 medium tomatoes for every cucumber) into cubes. Add a generous bit of cilantro for extra freshness and some lemon pepper to taste. Mix it all together and you have a delightful summer salad. Yum. Yummy yum yum yum. I didn't take a picture of just that salad, but you will be able to see it in the picture of my plate later on.

Next we made samosas which were really fun. You make the dough (it reminded me of the flatbread with some variations) and then roll it into small balls. Roll the balls out with an Indian rolling pin (they are smaller and much thinner than the rolling pins we are used to-it reminded our percussionist of a drum stick). Put the filling (made of potatoes, various spices, onions, ginger) onto the thinly rolled dough and fold it into a little pocket using water to seal the edges. Cook in oil (canola, definitely not olive oil which as too much flavor). They are both delicious and adorable.

This picture, of an Indian rolling pin, is taken off the internet, the next picture, of samosas is what we made.


The chicken curry was also fabulous, though I don't remember the exact recipe. The really cool thing about cooking with our friend's mother is that she can tell by sight and smell which spices she wants to include and in what quantity. While making the curry, she would check on the color and adjust the level of spices accordingly. The result was breathtaking. We used dark meat chicken for the curry because dark meat is more moist than light meat (because of the extra fat). Once again, there was some serious deliciousness going on.


The green bean curry, though less soupy than the chicken curry, was no less delicious. As a great lover of vegetables and green beans in particular, I enjoyed this immensely. The flavors of this meal were just amazing, and this dish was certainly no exception.


Here is a picture of my amazing lunch. It was yummy. Yummy yummy. In fact, it was probably one of the best meals I've had ever. Thanks again Mrs. L!

Oh, and I can't forget, Mrs. L also served some amazing ice cream. It had saffron in it which made it a lovely pale yellow and gave it an exotic and delicious flavor. It was probably the best ice cream I've ever had.

Ἑλλάς

On Thursday we got to cook Greek food, yum! For those of you who don't know, two out of our three members traveled to Greece over spring break and got to enjoy the delicious food there. For this meal, we decided to make an onion pie, baked feta and walnut salad, and baklava. But that's getting ahead of ourselves.

We started by going to the Holy Land Delhi in Minneapolis where we purchased approximately four tons of pita (okay, maybe not quite four tons) and some plain yogurt. We had been looking for Greek yogurt but were unable to find it. However, to make Greek yogurt (or at least a substitute) put plain yogurt in a colander with some cheese cloth and let it drain overnight. You might be surprised by how much liquid drains out, so it makes the yogurt really thick.

Our Baked Feta and Walnut Salad recipe came from Mediterrasian.com. It was delicious. It worked really nicely with the onion pie, though it can definitely taste wonderful without the onion pie. It's also pretty easy to make and is specialer than just boring totally raw salad (did that make sense? I hope so...)


Our next dish was onion pie from The Glorious Foods of Greece by Diane Kochilas. My suggestion-don't make it. We had considered making Spanikopita (Spinach pie) which is the quintessential Greek dish. We decided against it just because it seemed like a boring choice, however, it would have been much better than onion pie. I suppose the pie wasn't that bad, just really really oniony. And there was a ton of it. Kitchen tip of the day: check out how many servings a recipes makes, if it says 10-12 people and you are only cooking for 6 people, modify the recipe. Especially if it is mostly made of onions. We made 2 and a half pies. One is still sitting in my fridge (we made it on Thursday). Anyways, it wasn't terrible, but I wouldn't recommend it, there are other, better Greek dishes out there to try.


Lastly we made baklava which was, of course, wonderful. Its pretty hard to screw up this delicious dish and our recipe came from the awesome Mediterranean cookbook that we have used for previous meals. So far, it has not failed us. Even my relatively picky younger brother (his idea of ethnic food is Chipotle) ate and apparently enjoyed this. Once again and not surprisingly, dessert was the favorite dish of the meal. I apologize for the poor picture quality, for whatever reason I just couldn't get a decent shot of it.


To sum it all up, the food was, for the most part, really delicious. Greece has a lot of yummy and interesting recipes that you should definitely try, and is a beautiful country if you ever get the chance to visit.

ευτυχισμένη μαγείρεμα (happy cooking!)

Italia

Today we cooked food from Italy. It was, needless to say, absolutely fantastic.

We started our day by going to Cossetta's, an Italian pizzeria and market in St. Paul. Now, for those of you who don't know, Cossetta's has the most delicious pizza ever. Seriously. We had lunch there (guess what we got!) and bought our pasta, pancetta and Pecorino cheese before heading back to our lovely kitchen to start cooking.

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The first dish we made was Simple Stuffed Bell Peppers (Peperoni ripieni semplice) from Mediterranean Cooking by Reader's Digest. This is the cookbook that we got our recipe for gazpacho on Monday, so far, every recipe that we've tried out of it (we made two other recipes from it yesterday) has been fabulous. The bell peppers were beautiful, easy to eat and really easy to make. They would be a perfect appetizer for a dinner party. They were also quite delicious with a very nice, strong flavor.

The next thing that we made was Bucatini with Pancetta, Cheese and Parsley (Bucatini all'amatriciana bianca) also out of Mediterranean Cooking. We substituted bucatini with percatelli, a very similar pasta. Both are thicker than linguini or spaghetti. This pasta was absolutely one of the most delicious things that I've ever eaten. Pancetta is similar to bacon (you can substitute bacon for pancetta if necessary) and comes from the belly of a pig. The recipe also calls for extra-virgin olive oil, a chile pepper, white onion, parsley and Pecorino cheese. Pecorino is similar to Parmesan but with an even stronger flavor. Overall, the result was wonderful both to eat and to look at. Like the bell peppers, it has nice flavors and lovely colors. I liked it best cold, though it is also quite tasty when it is still hot.

We also made flatbread (Piadina). This was really fun to make. It has a very plain flavor as it made of just flour, baking soda, salt, lard and water. As a fun experiment, we also added dried rosemary to half of the dough which was much better than the plain because it gave it some flavor. We cooked the flatbread on a griddle at 450 degrees Fahrenheit though the recipe itself just calls for "very hot." It definitely needs to be eaten with something else, but is otherwise very good.
For dessert we made an Almond Torte from Piedmont (Torta Alpina Piemontese) from Betty Crocker's Italian Cooking. It was really tasty but very filling. The torte is dense and has plenty of almond flavor without being too overpowering, and should be served with whipped cream and strawberries. This is another really easy but delicious recipe. The dough is rolled into little balls which are then squished together in a round pan. The result is pretty addicting, so be careful if you make it!

All in all, the Italian food was amazing. Not surprisingly, we all ate way too much yesterday. All of the recipes were easy (with the exception of the flatbread) and delectable. I would highly recommend every recipe that we made today and would suggest purchasing Mediterranean Cooking by Reader's Digest, so far we have not been disappointed.

Ciao!