T&T - Tastes Like Home

Tried and Tasted (T&T) is a monthly event of appreciation of other blogs - an opportunity to thank your fellow bloggers for sharing their recipes by re-creating them.
Starting the very first edition of T&T, I have kindly asked Cynthia of Tastes Like Home to be the first “laboratory rat”.

Cynthia was the very first person to comment on my blog and is a great support throughout my blogging days. I have tried several of her recipes and have to say that not only do they look gorgeous, they taste delicious too.

Cynthia’s blog is beautifully weaved with pictures of dishes mainly from her homeland – Barbados and Guyana. It rarely features actual recipes (this is because she is writing a book), but she is more than willing to share them. All you need to do is to drop her an e-mail.

So why not come home one evening saying: “Honey, let’s have some Caribbean tonight.”

The rules are simple:

1. Cook any recipe(s) from Tastes Like Home and post about it. Stay as true to the original recipe(s) as possible. Therefore, there is no need for re-posting it, simply link to the original post :-)
   
1. There is no time-frame for the original recipe. It can be as old as my grand-mother or as fresh as a mung bean sprout.
2. Link your post to HERE (feel free to use the logo) and to the original post. Please always link to both sites, so both blogs are given credit and you are avoiding copyright fuss.
   
3. Send me an e-mail (zlamushka@hotmail.com) with your name, your post URL as well as the original URL and a picture (any size).
4. Deadline is the May 31st 2008 and the round up will be posted within a week.

Non-bloggers are more than welcome to participate (after all, our posts are mainly being written for them). Simply e-mail me (zlamushka@hotmail.com) with your experience of what you cooked and please include a picture.

The round up will be posted during the first week in June.

So from now on until the end of the month, we are enjoying TASTES LIKE HOME!

Excuse my impatience, I have already indulged myself into her Tamarind Relish:

Cynthia suggests this relish as a dipping sauce with raw or cooked veggies or instead of the regular chutney with any curry dish, particularly stirred into a seafood curry. I have stirred a generous tablespoon with boiled couscous, stir-fried mushrooms and peas, fresh veggies, nuts and raisins. Lovely sweet and sour, slightly spicy salad:

Arusuvai - Guess The Secret Ingredients!

About a month ago, Pel of Elaichi Et Cetera was about to cook from his secret ingredient he received in Arusuvai Friendship Chain started by Lathamma of The Yum Blog. He asked us to guess which dish he had in mind. I guessed the "ma" part of it. This innocent "ma" won me a pack of wonderful goodies couple of weeks later. Since it was sent overseas, Pel had to reveal what the ingredients were. But, I thought- just because I know it doesn't mean that everyone else should know. So here is what I got, now GUESS:

1. A spice mix for coffee. Any ideas? And it is not chai masala, that´s for tea :-)

2. A wonderfully fragrant spice mix... Salt and pepper of Indian cooking...

3. Tiny little "deadly" smoked chilies. Any guesses on which type these are?

The fourth "secret" ingredient - smoked dried chipotles has been cooked from as the first.

When I received this beautiful parcel full of these spicy goodies, I went to Tompa:

- Baby, look. One of my blogging friends sent me these smoked chilies. Here smell em, they really stink! (I said pressing the bag of chilies right against his nose)
- (Jumping away). Geez! Toss them right away. They re not good. Moldy or something... (wiping his nose off)
- They re dried, I am sure they re fine (defending my treasure)
- You re not afraid about some strange people sending you something poisonous, are you? - Honeeeeey! I am sure they re fine. It s a part of this friendship chain.... - Yeah, some g-guy sending you presents (shaking his head, walking away, jealously)

(Sorry, Pel :-)...

Two hours later, I yell out of the kitchen, Tompaaaaaa, lunch is readyeeeee... He obediently walks in with a big smile on his face: "Wow, what s smelling so good, mama?"

(Thanks, Pel :-)...

Verdict: We ate it, we loved it and (most importantly) we survived ;-) Long Live Arusuvai!

SMOKED CHIPOTLE ADOBO SAUCE:

• 10 whole smoked Chipotle chilies
• 5 tbsp white vinegar
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
  
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp oregano
  
• 1/2 tsp salt

Mix all the ingredients together with 3 cups water in a pan, bring to boil, cover with a lid, lower the heat on minimum and let simmer for 2 hours or until reduced to 1 cup.
Set off the fire, transfer to a blender and process to a paste.

Serve with any cous-cous or rice dish or toss a generous spoonful of the sauce with stir-fried vegetables as in our lunch today:

I stir-fried some onions, garlic, added a handful of frozen peas, corn and broccoli, mixed together with black beans and some soy mince and finally added a huge tablespoon of adobo sauce. Mixed all well, garnished with chopped basil and ate on a bed of fresh green salad.

HAVE FUN GUESSING THE SECRET INGREDIENTS 1, 2 AND 3! I will come back with correct answers soon.

Red Beet Borsch Soup

Borsch is a typical Russian winter comfort food - well flavored red beat, pork and cabbage earthy stew. I remember growing up with a Russian family as neighbour's, whose mother would make gallons of borsch on a monthly basis. She would always invite us for a bowl, which we never refused. I remember it being a nightmare for us kids, since we weren't a big fan of cabbage of red beet. Then one year, the family moved out and we never had borsch again (which left only my dad upset).
Ever since I became veggie-friendly I have re-discovered red beet in my cooking. And last Saturday, for the very first time, I managed to re-create that wonderful earthy taste of:

RUSSIAN BORSCH:
(борщ)

• 600 g chopped red beets
• 1 tbsp oil
  
• 1 red onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 400 g chopped root vegetables (traditionally celery root, parsnip, cabbage, carrot)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt, black pepper to taste
• vegetable broth
• chopped fresh parsley leaves
• sour cream (to garnish)
• horseradish (to garnish)
  

Peel the red beets and chop into bite-sized pieces. Heat the oil in a pan and brown sliced onions and garlic. (if you re thinking about the meat version, add the sliced pork/beef cubes at this stage and brown properly). Add the cumin seeds and the chopped vegetables. Coat well and fry over low heat until the veggies are soft, but crispy. Add the broth to cover the vegetables. Bring to boil, cover and let cook until soft. Add the black pepper and salt to taste and squeeze in the lemon juice.
Pure half of the soup (unless there is meat in it) and bring back to the boil. Mix in the parsley leaves and serve.

Shred the horseradish very finely and mix in with the sour cream. Serve the soup with a slice of rye bread and a good dollop of the spicy sour cream dip.

* Note: This soup freezes well, so do not be afraid to make a gallon just like my Russian neighbour.

** Note: This also makes a nice dip for crackers or spread on bread.

This is a contribution to the No Croutons Required challenge event hosted by Lisa of Food And Spice... Her debut theme is Vegetarian Soup. Have a spoonful, Lisa ;-)

African Spicy Harissa Chili Sauce

Harissa is a simple chili sauce widely used in Moroccan, Tunisian, Lebanese or Algerian cuisine. I have to admit myself, that this sauce is probably the one that I make most often, probably because (1) it is ready in no-time, (2) there are countless ways of using it and (3) a simple reason - everybody loves it. There are many varieties of this sauce available, all depending on their usage or spiciness, however they all have couple of ingredients in common: Chilies, garlic, olive oil, coriander seeds, cumin and salt. I would like to present the most traditional one and some varieties on usage on the bottom:


AFRICAN HARISSA SAUCE traditional:

spice ladder: *****

prep time: 10 minutes
makes: 1/2 cup

• 12 dried chilies
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 tbsp olive oil

Remove the green tops from the chilies and soak them in hot water for 30 minutes. Meantime dry fry the seeds and crush them in a mortar.
Grind garlic together with salt, add the chilies and process to a smooth paste.
Add the crushed spices and mix well. Finally, add the oil, a drop by drop and mix thoroughly.

This is a very basic chili sauce. No you can add anything your little heart desire to make it 'your-style'. Here are some suggestions:

If you like milder version:

1. Substitute 1 bell pepper (capsicum) for every 4 chilies. Simply roast them, skin them and mash them.
2. Increase the amount of salt, you will naturally use less of the paste.
3. Add a tablespoon of pureed tomatoes to the paste.

Here are some regional tips for different flavor:

1. Add a teapoon of cinnamon (Jordan)...
2. ...a sprig of rosemary (Marocco)...
3. ...or some mint leaves (Tunisia).

USAGE:

Just as there are countless recipes for harissa out there, there are tons of recipes and ways to use them.

Here are my simple general suggestions:

• HARISSA COUSCOUS:

Wok-fry some chopped onion and veggies, add harissa, cous-cous or bulgur cracked wheat, add enough water to cover all the ingredients and let boil, until the water absorbs into the grains.

• HARISSA MARINADE:

Mix some harissa with plain yogurt and rub onto meats or veggies and let marinade for couple of hours.

• HARISSA DIP:

Add some pureed tomatoes to the harissa, sprinkle with cilantro or mint leaves and serve as a dip.


... And some more tips on how to use harissa.
I strongly recomend that you just keep on experimenting with Harissa and let me knwo what happened.

Update Feb 20th - My harissa picture made it to a cooking software. Read more about this pleasant news.

Zucchini Cream Soup

I know it is not winter yet, but there has been such a cold weather in Sweden that in the evenings, there is no better idea than slurping a cup of hot soup. My absolute favorite soups are those thick pureed ones. Therefore, when Tami of Running with tweezers announced her Super Soup Challenge Rematch, I couldn't resist...

The following soup is one of my absolute favorites, particularly for its creaminess. The original recipe calls for a combo of zucchini and carrots, but I have used different “creamy” veggies, such as parsley, broccoli, potatoes or cauliflower. Great as a soup together with fried breadcrumbs, or as a dip for crackers or kuftas:

(This beautiful spoon I got from my Russian friend Natascha, while we still lived in China...)

ZUCCHINI CREAM SOUP

spice ladder: **

prep time: 30 minutes
makes: 4 bowls

• 2 onions
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 zucchinis
  
• 2 carrots
• vegetable broth
• salt and pepper
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• handful of parsley
  

Chop the vegetables, onions finely and zucchini and carrot roughly. Heat oil in a pan, add onions and brown them. Add the zucchini and carrot chunks and so much water that the veggies are covered. Bring to boil with other ingredients except for the parsley. Boil until the carrots are soft. Puree the soup, garnish with parsley and serve. You can leave couple of zucchini or carrots aside while you puree the soup and them mix them back in, so you have something to chew on :)

Update March 21st - Lovely KC of Kitschow decided to re-create my soup last week. She used cauliflower instead and made a lovely "Z" sign with smoked paprika powder. Now isn't that cute?

Salsa With Nachos, My Name Day and DMBLGIT Award

Yesterday was my name day. Let me explain. In Slovakian calendars, we have names assigned to particular dates. This means, once a year, you get to be celebrated again ... (yes, we have birthdays, as well). So, yesterday (August 11th), the calendar called for my real name, Zuzana.
Having that in mind, I had a pretty good day. And then, it got even better...

I updated my blog event list and checked back on those I participated.... And there it was....
Sarah of Food And Paper published the Winners of July´s DMBLGIT... And there was I... and my tadka... proudly occupying the 3rd place :) Out of 88 pictures !!!

So congratulations, Zlamushka, this one goes to you :

So that much for my first name day present.
The rest of the day day went by in a very easy mode. We were partying on Friday, so the whole morning was 'recovery' time.... (slept through the most of it)... After some home-made sandwiches, Tompa and I we went to a coffee house nearby and read books. I am nuts about science fiction, so if you guys can recommend a good one, that would be a wonderful name day present for me :)

Currently I am half way through Koji Suzuki´s LOOP. Gosh, what a captivating book. Metastatic cancer viruses, artificial lives, algebra, mysterious places and a motorcycle ;-) (For real, Mr. Suzuki integrated a few motorcycle rides to his story)... I luv it, luv it, luv it...

Anyway, towards the evening, it was time to get back to reality, I thought, but NO! Tompa decided to treat me like a princess (again). On the way home we picked up some chili nacho chips, chili nuts, wasabi-coated peas (do you guys have a recipe for any of these?), bears and veggies... Soon, there it was. A feast a la Mexicana :

MEXICAN AVOCADO SALSA WITH CORIANDER:

spice ladder: ***

prep time: 10 minutes
serves: 1 hungry couple

• 2 tomatoes
• 1 avocado
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 small red onion
• 1 tbsp pickled jalapeno
• 1 green chili
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro/coriander leaves
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp tomato puree

Chop coarsely all the ingredients and put into a blender. How easy...


















Salsa was so great that we ate it all in no time. The original plan was to cuttle up in bed with a giant bowl of salad, nachos, beers and a movie. By the time we made it to bed (to eat !!!), half of salsa was gone. By the we started the movie, everything was gone...

...But before it was gone, I managed to sneak in a quick picture.


If it wasn't so hot ad we weren't so lazy, I´d probably make some baked koftas with this dip. But that never happened and we never regretted.