Bahrain

Bahraini Prawns in Tomato Sauce with Muhammar

And yet another success!

I made these dishes on Monday, September 28 for Andy, Jennifer, Mike and me. I chose the muhammar because it is the national dish. I made the prawns in tomato sauce so that we'd have something to eat with the rice. I absolutely loved this dish. I highly recommend it to you all. It is not difficult to make, either!

I ended up using 16/20 shrimp instead of prawns. Neither Kowlaski's nor Whole Foods had any prawns. While I recognize that prawns and shrimp are technically different, the difference is very subtle. I also wasn't sure what the original recipe meant by "prawn masala powder", so I bought some garam masala powder. I think that it was this spice that made me love this dish so much: that and the fresh tomatoes that came from Andy's parents' garden. The sauce was sweet and savory at the same time. I can't even begin to explain how good it was.

The muhammar is the national dish of Bahrain. It translates to "sweet rice dish." Even though the recipe only calls for 2 tablespoons of rosewater, its presence is very noticeable. At first bite, I felt like I was eating rice flavored with perfume, which I guess I was in a way. Andy thought that the rice tasted like Trix cereal. What I found, however, was that the rice was the perfect accompaniment to the prawns in tomato sauce. I would not recommend it alone though.

Prawns in Tomato Sauce
Serves: 6

The recipe as I made it, modified from the original:

Ingredients:
- 2 lbs. fresh shrimp (as large as you can get), shelled and de-veined
- 2 c. fresh chopped tomatoes
- 1/2 c. chopped green pepper
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. garam masala powder
- 1 tsp. turmeric
- 3 T. tomato paste
- 3 T. oil (I used 2 T. olive oil and 1 T. of canola oil because I ran out of the former)

Directions:
1) Put the shrimp, tomatoes and green pepper into a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Boil for about 10 minutes.
2) Add the salt, garam masala, turmeric, tomato paste and oil. Decrease heat and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes.
3) Serve with muhammar.

Muhammar
Serves: 6

The recipe as I made it, essentially copied from the original:

Ingredients:
- 1/4 tsp. saffron
- 2 T. rose water
- 3 cardamom seeds, cracked
- 6 cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 6 c. water
- 2 c. basmati rice
- 1/4 c. butter
- 1/2 c. sugar
- salt

Directions:
1) Soak saffron, cardamom and cloves in rosewater; leave aside to steep.
2) Lightly salt water and bring to a boil. Add rice; boil to half-cooked, about 8 minutes. Drain.
3) Stir sugar through the hot rice.
4) Heat the butter in the same pan the rice was boiled and add the sweetened rice. Sprinkle the rosewater mixture on top.
5) Cover the rim of the pan with a clean dishcloth and place lid on tightly.
6) Cook over very low heat for 25 minutes.
7) To serve, top with melted butter.

Bahamas

Bahamian Lobster Curry and Johnny Cakes

I made this dish on Monday, September 21 for Andy and me. I was not able to make the national dish, because I did not believe that I would be able to find any conch in Minnesota. I was very excited for this meal, but disappointed by the results.

The lobster was very easy to make, and I believe has the potential to be very good. If I were to make this dish again (and I may), I would not use the juice of an entire lemon. I'm not a huge lemon fan anyway, and there was so much lemon flavor in this dish that it should have been called Lemon Curry. The lemon completely overpowered the lobster taste. I might also use a little less curry. It's hard to tell whether it was the lemon or the curry that masked the lobster flavor, but either way, I could barely taste the lobster, if at all.

The Johnny cakes were very good, and very simple. They tasted just like biscuits. I'm going to eat the leftovers with butter and honey. Like biscuits, they'd be good sweetened up for dessert or paired with a savory dish like a stew.

Here is the lobster curry recipe, copied from the original:

Bahamian Lobster Curry

Ingredients:
- 1 onion, sliced
- 6 T. butter
- 2 T. curry powder
- 1 T. flour
- salt, to taste
- 1 c. milk
- 1 c. lobster meat (I used tail), cut up
- juice from 1 lemon

Directions:
1) Melt the butter in a pan. Add onions and fry until soft.
2) Mix flour, curry, and salt together. Add to the fried onions.
3) Add milk and let simmer for an hour on low heat. Add more milk if it gets dry.
4) Add lobster and lemon juice. Simmer for a half hour.

Serves 2-3

Here's the recipe for the Johnny Cakes, modified from the original:

Johnny Cakes

Ingredients:
- 3 c. flour
- 1 T. baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 T. sugar
- 1/2 c. shortening
- 2/3 c. milk

Directions:
1) Combine dry ingredients then cut in shortening until mixture is sandy.
2) Add milk gradually: just enough to make a small dough. Knead dough until smooth.
3) Let dough rest for about 10 minutes.
4) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
5) Spread dough in pan. Pierce with a fork several times.
6) Bake for 25 minutes. Then, sprinkle with water and bake for 5 more minutes.
7) Allow to set for several minutes.

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani Yarpag Dolmasi

The last of the A-countries!

I made this dish on Thursday, September 17 for Andy and me. I chose this particluar dish because it is the national dish of Azerbaijan. Yarpag dolmasi translates to grape leaves stuffed with meat and rice. While the dish is very similar to Greek versions of dolmas, I read that the flavors are quite different. Recently, while at a Greek restaurant, I tried the dolmas. I liked the Azerbaijani version better than the Greek restuarant's version.

The dish is simple to prepare, but wrapping all of the dolmas is rather time-consuming; I began making the dish at about 3 or so and we ate at 5:45, an hour and a half of which was simmering time. So, wrapping the dolmas took probably about 45 minutes to an hour. The dish was good, but not one of our favorites. For me, the issue was the grape leaves; they are very much leaves, and the texture of them haunted me throughout the evening. Also, I just don't really like the flavor of them. The filling was great though. So, if you're a fan of grape leaves, you would probably love this recipe.

Be sure that you watch the pot carefully. I put it on the stove and ignored it until the buzzer went off and I ended up burning the bottom layer.

Without further ado, here is the recipe, pretty much copied from the original:

Yarpag Dolmasi

Ingredients:
-1 lb. ground lamb or beef (I used lamb)
-1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
-1/2 c. short or medium grained rice (I used basmati, which is long grained, as it was all I had on hand)
-1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro
-1/2 c. chopped fresh dill
-1 tsp. salt
-1/4 tsp. pepper to taste
-60 jarred grape leaves
-3 T. butter, melted
-1/2 c. water
-1 c. plain yogurt
-2-3 cloved garlic, peeled and crushed (I used 1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic)

Directions:
1) Combine meat, onion, rice, cilantro, dill, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Knead thoroughly.
2) Rinse grape leaves in batches under cold water and drain.
3) Hold a grape leaf shiny side down on the palm of your left hand, and place 1-2 tsp. of the filling at the stalk end of the leaf. With your right hand, fold top, then the sides over the filling and roll up tightly.
4) Arrange the stuffed grape leaves close together seam side down in a medium non-stick pan, making several layers.
5) Pour butter over the grape leaves and add water. Place a small lid or a small ovenproof plate on top to keep dolmas tight and prevent them from opening. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for one hour and 30 minutes, or until the leaves are tender and the filling is cooked. There should be little liquid left, recuced to the oily consistency.
6) While the dolmas are simmering, combine the yogurt and garlic.
7) Serve hot with garlic-yogurt sauce scooped on top.

Serves 4-6

Austria

Austrian Tafelspitz with Apfelkren and Kartoffelknoedel

I made this dish with some help from Andy on Wednesday, September 9. We shared it with Tony (Andy's roommate), Lindsay (Tony's fiancee), Mike (Andy's roommate) and Kari (Tony's sister). It was definitely one of the best dishes made so far. Andy says that it may even rival Andorra as his favorite. I chose the tafelspitz because it is one of Austria's national dishes. I chose to make the kartoffelknoedel because I felt the dish needed a starch.

Tafelspitz translates to "boiled beef," which is exactly what it is. Although it takes a long time (3-4 hours), it is simple to prepare. It tastes like a pot roast: very savory. The onions and the leeks dissolve, making a gravy like sauce. The vegetables become very tender and take on the flavors of the onions and beef. The beef is very tender, almost able to be fork-cut.

Apfelkren is apple-horseradish sauce. I was nervous about it because I really dislike horseradish. This, however, was very good. The apples mask the taste of the horseradish. It is still there, but it is not nearly as powerful as it is plain or as I have had it in other dishes. I may have screwed this sauce up a bit though; I wasn't watching it while it was cooking, and I accidentally browned it and dried it out more than I think it was supposed to be. It still tasted good though.

The kartoffelknoedel (Potato noodles) was by far the biggest hit of the meal. They're fairly simple to prepare; shredding the potatoes was annoying because I was too impatient to let them cool more, and rolling the balls was a little messy. However, the finished product was well worth it. They are essentially spaetzle. I bought some store bought beef gravy to put over them, knowing how much Andy likes gravy. But, I ended up using the gravy from the tafelspitz instead, which was very good with the potatoes.

Tafelspitz

There are many different recipes for tafelspitz, and in looking for clarity on the original, I ended up using a conglomerate of several. Of course I forgot to note the links of the other recipes. In any regard, here is the recipe as I prepared it:

Ingredients:
-water
-3 lb. beef brisket (I couldn't find a 3-pounder, so I used two 1.5 lbs.)
-1 tsp. salt
-15 peppercorns
-canola oil
-1 onion, cut into rings
-4 celery stalks, cut into thin strips
-2 large carrots, peeled and cut into think sticks
-2 leeks, white part only, sliced
-6 gherkins

Directions:
1) Heat 2 qts. of water with salt. Add beef. Bring to a boil.
2) Fry onions in canola oil until brown.
3) Add onions and peppercorns to beef. Allow to boil for 2-3 hours, adding water as necessary to keep beef covered.
4) Add vegetables to beef. Boil for 1 hour, letting the water reduce and thicken.
5) To serve, put beef on a plate and top with vegetables. Slice the gherkins out into fans and garnish the beef with them.




Apfelkren

Here is the recipe for apfelkren, copied from the original:

Ingredients:
-2 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and grated
-1 T. white wine vinegar
-1 T. lemon juice
-3 T. prepared horseradish

Directions:
1) In a heavy pot, combine all ingredients.
2) Mix and cook over medium heat until very mushy.

Kartoffelknoedel

And finally, here is the recipe for the kartoffelknoedel, tripled from the original:

Ingredients:
-3 lb. potatoes, peeled and cooked
-9 T. butter, softened
-3 eggs
-3/4 c. semolina flour
-flour, as needed (I needed about 1/2 c.)
-salt

Directions:
1) Grate the cooked potatoes.
2) Mix the butter and egg together until smooth. Add the semolina and salt; mix well.
3) Mix butter mixture with the potatoes, adding flour as needed until you have a firm dough mixture.
4) Form into balls a little smaller than a baseball and boil in salt water for 10 minutes.

Australia

Aussie Meat Pie

I made this dish over at Andy's house, and I forgot to bring my camera. So, I had his roommate Tony take a picture on his phone for me, so that is why the picture looks smaller and not as focused.

I made this dish on Wednesday, September 2 for Andy, his roommates Mike and Tony, his sister Jennifer, his friend Mully, Tony's fiancée Lindsay and me. It is ridiculously easy to prepare; essentially, you just mix simple ingredients (between Andy and me we had all of them except the pie crusts) all together in one bowl, plop in a pre-made pie crust and bake. It was really good too; it tasted like good meatloaf in a flaky crust.

This dish is the national dish of Australia. Recipes for it abound on the internet, and it was tough to pick one. I guess that Australians eat this all the time, usually for lunch. I don't know how they're not all extremely overweight. The dish is not low calorie or low fat, and doesn't have a lot of nutrients. But, it is good!

Here is the recipe, copied from the original:

Australian Meat Pie

Ingredients:
-2 lbs. ground beef (I used lean, and it was still really greasy)
-1 c. ketchup
-1 c. onion, chopped
-1 tsp. salt
-1 c. milk
-2/3 c. breadcrumbs (I used Italian style because that's what I had on hand)
-1 tsp. oregano, ground
-1/2 tsp. pepper
-2 T. Worcestershire sauce
-2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded
-2 prepared pie shells, 8"

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Combine ground beef, ketchup, onion, salt, milk, breadcrumbs, oregano and pepper in a bowl. Mix well.
3) Divide mixture into 2 pie shells and bake for 45 minutes.
4) While pies are baking, mix together Worcestershire and cheese in another bowl.
5) After about 45 minutes, remove pies from oven.
6) Spread cheese mixture on top of pies.
7) Bake for 10 more minutes, or until cheese is melted.