Foods You Can Cram into Your Gullet - With Nasturtiums

[Nast]

I've created this thread to post recipes that I like; they've been found, learned and scavenged from many sources. I hope you find them tasty. 

[Nast]

Berebere

I find it prudent to mix the spices whole, keep them in a jar, and then toast and grind them when needed.

10 small dried red chiles
4 1/2 tbl paprika
4 tsp cumin
2 tsp fenugreek
1 1/2 tsp cardamon
1 1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cinnamon
8 cloves

Mesir Wat - Ethiopian Lentil Stew

Serves ~4

1 cup red lentils
Water
Oil
3 tbl tomato paste
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, ground
1 inch piece fresh ginger, ground
2-3 tablespoons berebere (see above recipe)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
Salt to taste

In a large pot on medium heat, cook the onion dry, without any oil, until it loses its raw smell and becomes soft. Then add oil, and then ginger, garlic, and spices. Add your lentils, cleaned and picked through. Stir in tomato paste, add enough water for the lentils to cook, about 45 or so minutes, covered. Add salt to taste.

[Nast]

Lamb Curry

2 lbs lamb meat, cubed
1 onion, diced
2-3 tsp cayenne pepper
2-3 curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp garlic, ground
1 tsp ginger, ground
2-3 curry leaves
~1 cup tomato puree
3 small potates, cooked (firm), and cut into chunks
Salt to taste

Sautee onions. Add spices. Sautee lamb with spices until browned. Add tomato puree, and simmer until the meat is tender. Add potatoes and simmer a little bit more. Garnish with cilantro.

[Nast]

Tonight's dinner - Borscht with mushroom and caramelized onion pierogies. I fucked up on the pierogies, and didn't roll out the dough thin enough. As a result they were really thick and tough. But I'll post the recipe anyway in case any of you are actually skilled at making them.

Pierogies

1 3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup water

1 generous cup dried mushrooms (I used porcini)
1/2 onion, diced
yogurt
parsley
salt and pepper

Prepare filling: Soak mushrooms. Drain. In a pan, caramelize onions in some butter. A little bit before they're done, add in mushrooms. Transfer onions and mushrooms to a food processor, mix in yogurt, parsley and salt and pepper. Grind into a rather coarse paste.

Prepare dough: Mix dough ingredients, knead a little and let rest for 10 min. Roll out onto a floured board, cut into circles and stuff them with the mushroom filling. Seal them. Drop them into a pot of boiling salted water. When they float up to the surface they're done. Serve with browned butter and more parsley.


Borscht

2 medium beets, grated
1/2 head cabbage, shredded
3 medium potatoes, cut into chunks
2 carrots, cut up
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
~1 1/2 cups diced tomato
stock (I used the leftover water from soaking the dried mushrooms)
salt and black pepper to taste
bay leaves

Sautee onion in butter until translucent. Then add all the vegetables, garlic, salt and pepper, bay leaves. Add tomato and stock. Simmer until vegetables are tender. Serve hot with sour cream and dill.

[Suu]

Pierogies. *drools*

[Nast]

Delicious Lamb Meat Balls

1 lb ground lamb
1/4 c finely chopped parsley
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese
1/2 c breadcrumbs, mixed with 1 beaten egg
salt to taste
red pepper flakes

Combine all ingredients. Roll into meaty balls about 1 inch in diameter, should make 12 or so meatballs. Put in a baking pan. Bake at 375 until lightly browned and delicious.

Cabbage Salad with Caraway Seeds

1/2 head cabbage, sliced really rather thin
~2 tablespoons caraway seeds
green onions, sliced
salt and pepper
grapeseed oil
rice wine vingegar

Mix cabbage and green onions. Make dressing from oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Toast caraway seeds in a pan. Toss everything together


Served here with roasty potatoes.

[Nast]

Orzo with Sausage and Arugula

Orzo
1 lb sweet Italian sausage, squeezed out of their casings
Shallots, chopped
1 bunch arugula, chopped
asiago fresco

Fry up the sausage with the shallots in a big pan. Before that's almost finished, through in the chopped arugula. Cook your orzo. Mix in the sausage, arugula, and shallots. Add in asiago fresco cheese, and stir in to melt.

Served here with sauteed eryngii mushrooms and bread.

[East Coast Hustle]

looks good, man. You've got an eye for plate composition.

[Sir Squid Diddimus]

PUT THIS INTO MY FACE HOLE!!

NAO!!

[Nast]

looks good, man. You've got an eye for plate composition.

Thanks!

PUT THIS INTO MY FACE HOLE!!

NAO!!

THE ENGINES ARE ALREADY RUNNING AT FULL CAPACITY!

[Nast]

Oh, also, I promise to post some Japanese food once I drag myself to the Asian market to get the necessary ingredients.

[Nast]

Right, so, Japanese food.

I like Japanese food, it can be tasty. It can also be pretty bad, if not made the right way. I suppose this is because of the austerity of the flavorings: soy sauce, mirin, sake, and salt don't really give as much of a fudge zone as butter and bacon and such. But most of it's easy to make and gratifying.

You don't need a terrible lot of specialty ingredients to make Japanese food either. The basic staples are soy sauce, mirin, sake, salt, sugar, miso, and kombu. Those, compounded by whatever vegetables you have available in your area is enough to make a very wide range of dishes.

So, one of the most basic units of Japanese food is dashi, a broth made out of dried kelp, dried fish, or sometimes dried mushrooms. Sounds awful, but it's used in practically everything and has naturally flavor enhancing properties. Here's how you make it:


1. To a large pot of water, maybe 4 quarts or so, add a envelope-sized sheet of kombu (dried kelp). Let this soak for 15 minutes.



2. Slowly heat until it comes to a near boil. It should steam and have little bubbles at the bottom. Never let it come to a full boil, or else it'll get murky and murky tasting.



3. Remove from heat, and let it sit just a few minutes. Sprinkle in a few handfuls of dried bonito flakes. Wait 3 minutes. I find it convenient to use a big strainer for easy removal.



4. Remove kombu and bonito flakes, and strain. Now you have dashi. It should smell like the seashore.



There are other types of dashi, such as a vegetarian one that just use a combination of kombu and dried shiitake, or one that uses little whole dried fish. But this is a basic version that I think has a balanced flavor.

[NotPublished]

Amazing! Do you work as a cook? Or just a long time hobby?

[Jasper]

I'm impressed, the food looks and sounds great, and the photography is well above par!

[Nast]

Miso Soup
Dashi
A flavor miso of your liking
Garnishes of your liking

Heat up dashi until it just boils. Remove from heat. Using a strainer and a spoon, stir in the miso paste into the hot stock so that it dissolves. Add garnishes of your liking; typically scallions, tofu, wakame, blanched greens, mushrooms, vegetables, anything really.

Spicy Burdock Root and Carrots - Kinpira

Some burdock root*, cut into match sticks
Carrot, cut into match sticks
Sesame oil
A splash of sake
A splash of soy sauce
a splash of mirin
a few pinches of sugar
a few shakes of Shichimi togarashi (7 spice pepper blend)
Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Soak burdock root in a bowl of water for a few minutes. Drain. In a pan heat up sesame oil, add carrots and burdock and stir fry for a minute or so. Add the splash of sake, keep stirring, and sautee for a minute more. Add sugar, stir some more until lightly caramelized. Add soy sauce and mirin until the liquid is nearly gone. Toss in the shichimi togarashi and sesame seeds.

*You can simply use parsnips if these aren't available. Both versions are tasty. You don't have to soak parsnips before using, though.

The night before last's dinner:



The kinpira, soup (yellow miso with fried tofu and scallions), and rice with a pickled plum.