Jeow Mak Keua (Aubergine Dip)

Sabaidee!

As it is my last day in Laos, I thought it would be appropriate to catch up on my blog writing and dedicate today's posts to its dishes. After all, that was the initial promise I made for this trip ;-).

So this first dish, Jeow Mak Keua, is a little bit like a Baba Ganoush or Moutabbal, just with an Asian touch of course. The same dish can also be prepared with tomato and then it resembles a lot what you would put on a bruschetta or serve with Mexican tacos... Maybe I am drawing too many parallels here, but I have come across weird similarities in food preparation in these various regions I have visited. Maybe I am just looking for the familiar. Or maybe people across the globe have just had similar light bulbs when it comes to combining ingredients... Well, going off topic here. So let's start with this first, very easy dish, an aubergine (or tomato) dip. It is typically eaten with sticky rice (hence why you'll find the recipe for that one below too), but you can also dip steamed veggies in it!

Ingredients (to serve as an appetizer for 4):

For the sticky rice:

500g sticky rice (not the same as Basmati or jasmine rice!)

Water

For the dip:

4 small (Lebanese or Japanese) aubergines or 1-2 European aubergines

2-3 chillies (Laotians put up to 15 so suit yourself!)

1-2 small shallots

1 tsp salt

4 garlic cloves

1 bundle of fresh coriander (about a cup full)

Dash of fish sauce

Green part of 1 big (or 2-3 small) spring onion

Optional: you can add mushrooms (champignons de Paris) or a green capsicum

If you are preparing the tomato-based dip, use 12 cherry tomatoes, 2 garlic cloves only and add a squeeze of lime juice.

Preparation:

Sticky rice:

First, prepare the sticky rice as the preparation time is quite long. Wash the rice 3-4 times under running water until it runs clear. Then cover the rice with water and allow it to soak for at least 1 hour, better for 3-4. The rice is ready when you can cut it easily with your finger nail. If you can break it with your fingertip only, you have soaked it too long! 

Drain the water from the rice and rinse it several times. Rinse a bamboo steamer (can be a dumpling basket), add the rice and place it over boiling water. Steam the rice for about 30 minutes. Turn the rice over in the steamer and return it to the heat for a few minutes more. Taste to check that the rice is soft and sticky, but not mushy.

Important: in order for sticky rice to become sticky, you have to prepare a minimum of 500g!

Aubergine dip:

Put the aubergine, onion, garlic and chilli (and/or the mushroom/capsicum/tomatoes if using them) on wood skewers and grill them over open flame or in the oven. If you are using big aubergines and capsicums, you can also just prick them with a fork and place them on the coal directly. Grill the veggies until they are blackened. Allow them to cool and then peel the aubergines/tomatoes/capsicum, onion and garlic. Pound the garlic, onion, chilli and salt in a mortar. Once you have obtained a smooth paste, add the aubergine/tomatoes/capsicum and/or mushrooms and continue pounding until all ingredients have mixed well and the dip is more or less smooth. Chop the fresh coriander and add it to the mix, then season the dip with fish sauce and add the coarsely chopped spring onion. You can add lime juice to the tomato dip, but in the aubergine version, the lime might cover the smokey taste of the former.

To eat the dip, form little sticky rice balls with your fingers and then dip them in the sauce. Bon appétit!

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Dolma (Vine Leaves) - Kurdish Version

I could live off vine leaves. In fact I once did just that for an entire weekend when my kitchen was being re-done. So my cook (sounds fancy, but it's just part of the deal here at work) made me a pot of dolma which I devoured. I don't know what it is about the combination of rice and some green leave (get the hint?) that makes me so addicted. But I have definitely developped a new crush here. And so I shall share the recipe with you - homemade vine leaves.
I will not dwell here on who "invented" the vine leaves or dolma or dolmades or whatever they are called in all these different places. I like the Lebanese version (with pickled leaves outside and tomatoes inside). But I love the Kurdish version with yoghurt and fresh leaves.
I will try to also put up the recipe of another kind of dolma: the ones prepared with different vegetables (courgette, peppers, onion and even potatoes) and Swiss chard. But for now: the vine leave version:

Ingredients (for 3-4 hungry persons):
250g rice (short grain)
125g vine leaves (preferably fresh)
A bunch of (thin) spring onions (roughly 20 pieces)
A good bunch of dill
250g yoghurt
3 tbsp. sunflower oil
1/2 L water
1 tbsp. salt

Preparation:
Wash the fresh ingredients as well as the rice in cold water. Chop the spring onions and dill finely and mix it with the yoghurt, rice and sunflower oil. Place the vine leave (with the lighter side up) on your palm and place about 1 tsp of the mixture in the middle (the amount depends on the size of the vine leaves - small ones are better as they are much softer). Then fold the leaves four ways: left, up, right and down until you have a little, almost square parcel. Put these parcels seam-side down into a pan and pile them tightly. Once all the rice is used up, pour the rest of the liquid over the piled parcels. Then cover them with the water and place a plate on top so that the dolma don't start floating (and thus opening) during the cooking process. Place a lid on the pan so that the air can escape (i.e. don't cover the pan entirely). Cook the vine leaves on mid-flame until the water has evaporated (you can check this by tilting the pan slightly). Then reduce the heat, cover the pan completely and simmer for 10-15 additional minutes. When the time is up, turn the pan upside down onto a plate and serve hot. You can serve some herbs (mint, parsley, etc.) on the side - it lightens the taste!

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Oven-roasted Vegetables with Halloumi

Hm, after an almost 6-months silence on this blog, I don't think a lengthy explanation of why there hasn't been any post is particularly helpful. Let's just keep it short: I moved to Iraq in the meantime and have been busy with other things. This has however not kept me in the least from continuing to cook and discovering new cuisines (to be frank, there is not much to discover here). Hence it was just the action of transcribing my activities into posts that was missing.

Many people here have actually encouraged me to continue the efforts and thus I start with renewed motivation (and resolution).

This first recipe came along rather on its own. I was surfing through recipes on the internet and came across the idea to roast carrots in the oven. Somehow, I had never even thought of doing that. And since that discovery, I have been subjecting all kinds of vegetables to the oven-tanning treatment. Today it's zucchini and cauliflower. Two days ago it was capsicum and tomatoes. You can pretty much use any vegetable you like. In this recipe, I have added polenta and halloumi cheese in order to give the dish more substance. For those of you who do not know about polenta and/or halloumi, let me explain.

As Wikipedia describes it, polenta is "cornmeal boiled into porridge". Depending on the type , polenta can have a creamy texture (a bit like mashed potato) or be rather grainy (called "bramata" and looks like bulgur). Personally, I prefer the grainy, rougher texture. Polenta is frequently eaten in the Italian part of Switzerland (I actually assumed that this was its geographical origin but have discovered that it is also part of the Italian cuisine). Polenta can either be eaten right after preparing it (when it is still creamy) or it is baked, fried or grilled after a night in the fridge. Again, personally, I prefer to eat it fried crunchy in a deep layer of butter. 

Halloumi (or Halloum) is, as my grandmother calls it, "the cheese that doesn't melt". Originally from Cyprus (I would claim it is Lebanese, but don't shoot me), halloumi is a very salty (because brined), unripened cheese made of a mixture of goat, sheep and cow milk. Because of its high melting point, it can be fried or grilled without losing its form. 

So, after this introduction to the ingredients, let's start with the recipe!

Ingredients (for 2 hungry persons; if you have polenta leftovers, use them the next day):
125g polenta bramata
60cl water
1 beef-cube (can be chicken or vegetarian of course)
200-250g Halloumi
Vegetables of your choice (2 zucchini or 8 small carrots or 1 capsicum or 2 tomatoes or a handful of cherry tomatoes or half a cauliflower...)
2 cloves of garlic
Olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs (such as basil, oregane or rosemary; include mint, if you prepare zucchini)

Preparation:

Bring the water to the boil and add the polenta and the beef-cube. Let it simmer (with the lid on, but stirring regularly) for about 40 minutes. The polenta should still be slightly grainy, but no longer "al dente".
While the polenta is cooking, cut the vegetables into thin slices (cut the carrots in half lengthwise for example). Then place them in a pyrex tray (try not to "crowd" them) and season with olive oil (be generous), garlic (cut thinly) and the herbs. Then put the tray in the oven (pre-heated at 200°C) and roast the vegetables for about 20-30 minutes (check regularly). When the vegetables are already quite tanned, cut the halloumi in slices roughly 7mm thick and place them in a non-sticky frying pan. The cheese will start sweating at first, then will turn brown. Flip it to grill both sides. If the cheese is too salty, soak it in water for a couple of hours before using it.
Serve the polenta with the vegetables and halloumi. If you have decided to wait another day to fry the polenta (this is best done by storing the polenta in a tupperware so that it is formed into a block), cut the polenta in slices of about 1cm thickness. Place a significant amount of butter (20g) in a frying pan and fry the polenta for at least 10 minutes on each side (careful, the hot butter will make the corn grains jump so cover with a lid) until golden brown and crunchy.
Sahtein!

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Pumpkin soup

Hmpf. Yes. It has been a while. More than a little while. But well, I am back now. With renewed good intentions and the firm resolution to revive this blog adventure. I think I got discouraged by the dwindling visiting numbers. And then I just stopped visiting altogether myself. Maybe some creative pause is healthy... Let's see!

But in the spirit of the season, here comes a very autumnal dish: fresh pumpkin soup!

Ingredients (for about 4 plates) :
2 tbsp. butter
2 shallots
1 clove of garlic
500g fresh pumpkin
200 ml fresh cream
500 ml water
1 tsp. salt
Pepper
Some leaves of sage

Preparation:
Chop the shallots and press the garlic. Heat both in 1 tbsp. of butter in a pan. Cut the pumpkin into cubes and add it to the onions and garlic, fry for about 5 minutes. Add the water, season with salt and pepper and then let the mix simmer at reduced heat (and with the lid on) for 20 minutes. When the pumpkin is soft, purée it and add 100 ml of cream. Keep the soup warm.
In a frying pan, heat the second tbsp. of butter and add the sage leaves. Fry them until crunchy. In the meantime, whip the cream until it's stiff.
Serve the soup with the whipped cream and sage leaves!

Note: if you want the soup to be more hearty, add 2-3 carrots and 2-3 potatoes.

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Goat's cheese pancakes with mango salad

I don’t have much to say to “explain” this recipe – other than to say that the pancakes are very yummy (with a nice twist because of the goat's cheese)

and the fruit salad makes this dish very refreshing and healthy. If you don’t like mangoes, you can substitute it for peaches and/or nectarines and strawberries.

Ingredients (for 4 pancakes):

100 g goat’s (or sheep’s) cheese

1 lemon

1 ripe mango

A handful of fresh mint leaves

1 small egg

70 g flour

1 tsp. baking powder

125 ml milk

20 g butter

Liquid honey

Salt

Preparation:

Mix the egg, flour, baking powder and milk in a bowl and whisk until the dough is smooth. Add a pinch of salt and the goat’s cheese (in little crumbs) to the dough. Grate the lemon’s skin and add to the mix, then stir well. Cut the mango into pieces and drizzle some lemon juice over the fruit. Cut the mint into small stripes and add to the mango salad. Bake the pancakes in butter for about 2-3 minutes (until golden brown) and serve with the mango salad. 

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Olive and tomato tapenade

My grandmother makes this really good olive and tomato tapenades - and for these warm summer evenings, crunchy bread with some delicious olive or tomato spread is just all you need!

Ingredients for the olive tapenade:

200g black olives (or if you prefer, green olives), without stones

2-3 cloves of garlic

50-100g capers (depending on how much you like capers

Olive oil, salt and pepper

Optionally, lemon juice and anchovies

Ingredients for the tomato tapenade:

1 glass of dried tomatoes in oil (do not use the oil)

5 black olives (without stone)

Olive oil, salt and pepper

Optionally, garlic and the skin of 1 lemon

Preparation:

Purée all the ingredients, add 6 tbsp. of olive oil and season with salt and pepper according to need and taste.

Serve with fresh bread or crackers. 

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Summery Salads - N°5: Glass noodle salad

I think this will be the last one of the series for a while since maybe you got a bit tired of just reading about salads. To remain true to myself, it’s yet another Asian salad. Very easy and quick to prepare.

Ingredients (for 1 bowl of salad):

150g glass noodles

50g raw cashew nuts

300g cherry tomatoes

½ red onion

100g bean sprouts

3 tbsp. honey

1 handful of coriander leaves

1 handful of Thai basil leaves (or sweet basil leaves)

Chilli powder

1 garlic clove

2 Chillies

4 tbsp. lime juice

½ tsp. lime zest

4 tbsp. fish sauce

Preparation:

Cook the glass noodles in a saucepan (in boiling water for about 2-3 minutes). Drain the water and rinse the noodles with cold water. Dry the noodles with a paper towel and add them to a salad bowl.

Heat a frying pan (medium-high heat) and add the cashew nuts. Dry-roast until they start to brown. Add the chilli powder and 1 tbsp. of honey and stir until the cashew nuts are well coated. Once the nuts are cooled down, chop them roughly. Add the cherry tomatoes, onion, bean sprouts, coriander and Thai basil to the bowl with the glass noodles. For the dressing, mix the finely chopped garlic with the chillies (deseeded and sliced), lime juice, lime zest, fish sauce and 2 tbsp. honey. Add the dressing to the salad and serve it with the roasted cashew nuts. 

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Summery Salads - N°4: Malaysian papaya salad

So, number two in the series is, surprise surprise, an Asian summer salad! I don't think it needs much more introduction, so here comes the recipe:

Ingredients (for 2 reasonably big portions):

50g green beans and/or 

50g sugar peas

1 small (unripe) papaya

½ cucumber

¼ Chinese cabbage (optional)

1 mandarin

½ avocado

4 cherry tomatoes

2 tbsp. fresh coriander

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

½ red onion (or 1 spring onion)

1 garlic clove

1 tbsp. sesame seeds

1 tsp. Sambal Oelek

1 tbsp. raw cane sugar

Juice from 1 lemon

1 tbsp. fish sauce

Preparation:

Blanch the beans and/or sugar peas in boiling water for 3 minutes. Half the cucumber and papaya, remove the seeds and cut into small cubes. Fry the onion and the garlic (chopped finely) in the oil. Mix the sugar with the lemon juice and fish sauce. Cut the cabbage (if you choose to put it in), the mandarin and avocado. Roast the sesame seeds. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and decorate the salad with the sesame seeds, cherry tomatoes and coriander. 

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Summery Salads - N°3 - Tabbouleh

Now, this is the Lebanese version of Tabbouleh (i.e. based on a lot of parsley rather than a lot of bulgur or couscous as is the Moroccan version). Yet, you still need a bit of bulgur for the Lebanese version too. In case you don’t know what that is, let me explain quickly: “Burgul” is the Turkish word whereas in Arabic it is called “burghul”. It looks a lot like couscous, but is a bit thicker. According to Wikipedia, bulgur is made from the groats of several different wheat species, most commonly from durum wheat. You find it a lot in Middle Eastern cuisine, as for example in Tabbouleh. So here comes the recipe:

Ingredients (for a bowl of salad):

4 bunches of flat parsley

1 bunch of fresh mint

½ cucumber (optional)

5 tomatoes

1 small white onion

5 tbsp. bulgur

Olive oil

Juice of 1-2 lemons

Salt and spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and pepper)

Lettuce and cabbage leaves

Preparation:

Wash the parsley and mint and dry them thoroughly. Chop both finely and add them in a bowl. Cut the cucumber, tomatoes and onion and keep separately (the Tabbouleh gets soggy quite quickly). Shortly before serving, mix in the tomatoes, onions (and cucumber) with the parsley and mint and add the bulgur (no cooking needed!). Add the liquids: lemon juice and olive oil and season with salt and the spices. Mix well and serve with lettuce or cabbage leaves. 

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Summery Salads - N°2: Quinoa-pomegranate

Yep, you might think that I have a newfound addiction to pomegranates... But actually, I am just trying to use my rests in an intelligent way. So here comes a semi-self invented summery salad with pomegranates, radish and raisins.

Enjoy!

Ingredients (for 1 reasonably filling portion):

150g Quinoa (1 cup)

30 cl water (2 cups)

½ cucumber

½ pomegranate

7 radishes (or more)

Raisins or dried dates to your liking

2 tbsp. fresh mint

Lime juice

Olive oil

Salt

Preparation:

Rinse the Quinoa in water (much like rice) to remove the bitter coating. Bring the water to the boil and add the Quinoa. Cover and cook for about 15 minutes (until the germ separates from the seed and the water is absorbed).

Half the cucumber and remove the seeds. Chop into cubes. Cut the radishes into slices. Mix the Quinoa (cooled down), pomegranates seeds (see Summer Beef salad recipe for instructions on how to best remove the pomegranate seeds), cucumber, radishes, raisins (or dried dates) and mint in a bowl and add the lime juice and olive oil. Season with salt.

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Summery Salads - N°1: Ebly-strawberry salad

I thought that over the next days, I would put a series of summery salads. Technically, the beef salad with pomegranate could have been the first one of these salads. But well. Now this - own creation - Ebly salad with strawberries will be! Enjoy (and let's hope the weather will play along!).

Ingredients (for 1 person):

1 cup of Ebly

2 cups of broth

1 small onion

½ cucumber

½ capsicum (red bell pepper)

50g sugar peas

Strawberries (as many as you like)

Olive oil

Vinegar (best is a glazing Balsamic vinegar that is a bit fruity)

Salt & pepper

Preparation:

Chop the onions and braise them in olive oil. Add the Ebly and broth and simmer for about 10 minutes (or until the water is absorbed and the Ebly is soft). Cut off the ends of the sugar peas and blanch them in boiling water for about two minutes. Cut the peas, capsicum, strawberries and cucumber into cubes. Put them in a bowl and add the Ebly. Season with vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper. 

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Gazpacho (cold tomato soup)

And because it was so hot these past days, here comes the recipe for cold tomato soup, i.e. Gazpacho – a very refreshing starter or main dish for a summer evening. When in Mallorca a couple of years ago, I discovered in a restaurant that they put strawberries on the table to add into the soup: very yummy indeed!

 

Ingredients (for 4 persons):

800g ripe tomatoes

2 onions

2-3 garlic cloves

1 cucumber

1 green & 1 red capsicum (bell peppers)

200g bread (can be toast bread)

100g strawberries

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. wine vinegar

Salt, pepper

Preparation:

Skin the tomatoes and cut them into quarters. The easiest way to peel tomatoes is to put them into boiling water for 20 seconds and then to shock them with icewater. Cut the onions, cucumber, capsicum and bread. Put ¼ (of the tomatoes, cucumber, onions, capsicum and bread) away for the “topping”. Purée the rest of the vegetables and the garlic with the oil and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to your taste. Cool the soup in the fridge (preferably for a couple of hours, but if time is short, just add ice cubes). Before serving, roast the leftover bread (cut into cubes) in oil or butter. Cut the strawberries into small cubes and serve all the vegetables together with the soup. 

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Aubergines Szechuan

This dish is a very tasty starter or side dish and very easy and quick to prepare! Not much more introduction is needed, hence let’s get started immediately:

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. peanut oil

800g aubergines

1 tbsp. raw cane sugar

2 tbsp. ginger

3 cloves of garlic

1 red chilli (or dried chilli flakes)

1 dl vegetable stock

4 tbsp. dark rice wine, sherry or Marsala

2 tbsp. light soy sauce

1 tbsp. dark rice vinegar or Aceto balsamico

If available in your household: Szechuan pepper

Preparation:

Cut the aubergines into cubes (about 3 cm x 3 cm) and finely chop the ginger, garlic and chilli (of which you remove the seeds first). Heat the peanut oil in a Wok or frying pan and when hot, add the aubergines, sugar, ginger, garlic and chilli. Stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add the vegetable stock, rice wine, soy sauce and the vinegar (i.e. all the liquids) and let everything simmer (with the lid on) for 6 minutes. Add the Szechuan pepper (crushed) or some dry chilli for decoration. Ready!

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Risotto with pomodori secchi

Normally, when winter doesn't last until June, it would be way too hot to still be eating risotto at this time of the year. But lucky us, it’s still cold and rainy and so we can experiment a bit more and come up with fun new combinations for this Italian rice dish. Here’s today’s version: with dried tomatoes and nuts. Buon appetito!

Ingredients (for 4 reasonably well-eating adults):

2 cups of Risotto rice (Arborio or Carnaroli)

25g butter

1 large onion (red or white)

2l chicken broth

A glass of cooking white wine

1-2g of saffron

100g dried tomatoes in oil

80g walnuts

50g grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Soak the saffron in a glass of hot water and keep aside.  Bring the broth to a boil in a saucepan. Finely chop the onion and sauté it in the butter in a separate, medium-sized, deep pan, until the onion is soft (do not allow the onion to go golden or sweeten!). Add the rice and toast it until it’s glassy. Add the wine and stir continuously until it evaporates. Now add a ladle of broth and continue stirring. Repeat this until the rice is soft on the outside, but still very slightly hard at the centre. Add the saffron (with the water), the chopped dried tomatoes (drained) and crushed walnuts, as well as the last two ladlefuls of broth. When the rice is cooked, turn off the flame and stir in the grated Parmesan. Serve immediately. 

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