Food from around the world...kind of.

annie1992

14 years ago

Elery is here so we actually cooked, and we had the strangest assortment of food ever, we were both chuckling at our "international selection".

Last night we had Mexican, in the form of Ann T's stacked enchiladas. I like them a lot and Elery loved them, they'll be on the menu again for sure.

while I was at work yesterday, Elery was busy smoking pastrami, let's see, that's Italian? Nope, it's not, it's actually Yiddish, a traditional Jewish food. At any rate, this is the third pastrami we've made, we'll get it perfect eventually. In the meantime it's pretty darned good:

this morning we got up and I made Scottish Oat Cakes, right from the side of the Scottish Oats package. Kind of like an oatmeal cookie, but not sweet, it went pretty well with my egg and grapefruit half:

For lunch, I made sushi, just for a change, with wasabi and soy sauce, that was my Asian influence:

It's probably not authentic, but I made it with what I had on hand. That was brown rice, the Florida avocado I'd bought for my taste test comparison, some wild caught Lake Michigan salmon that Elery had smoked last summer and put in the freezer and a bit of low fat cream cheese:

Nope, I'd say it definitely wasn't authentic, LOL.

Finally, I tried a new recipe from Eating Well, for Indian Mango Dal, I'd gotten mangoes 3 for 99 cents at Horrocks. The recipe called for yellow lentils, I was lucky to get any lentils at all here in my tiny town, so I just used what was available. The yellow would have been prettier but this was really good, sweet from the mangoes, a bit hot from the cayenne and fresh ginger, I needed to cut the cilantro a bit finer:

It was all good but I especially recommend the dal:

Indian Mango Dal

From EatingWell January/February 2010

More than 60 different types of dal (or dhal) are made across India. The basic dish contains lentils or other legumes flavored with aromatics and spices. Here, yellow lentils (toor dal) and mango are cooked in a more traditionally Southern India stylemore souplike. Both ripe and underripe mango will work: less-ripe mango imparts a tart flavor and holds its shape, while riper mango breaks down more during cooking and gives the dish a sweeter taste. Serve over basmati rice or with roasted chicken.

6 servings, about 1 cup each

Â1 cup yellow lentils

Â4 cups water

Â1 teaspoon salt, divided

Â1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric

Â1 tablespoon canola oil

Â1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

Â1 medium onion, chopped

Â4 cloves garlic, minced

Â1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

Â1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

Â1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Â2 mangoes, peeled and diced

Â1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1.Place lentils in a colander and rinse until the water runs clear. Combine lentils, 4 cups water, 1/2 teaspoon salt and turmeric in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, partially cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.

2.Meanwhile, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add cumin seeds and cook until fragrant and starting to brown, about 30 seconds. Add onion; cook, stirring, until soft and beginning to brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, coriander, cayenne and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring, for 1 minute more.

3.Stir the garlic mixture and mangoes into the lentils. Return to a simmer; cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are falling apart, 10 to 15 minutes more. Stir in cilantro.

Per serving : 186 Calories; 3 g Fat; 2 g Mono; 9 g Protein; 9 g Fiber; 398 mg Sodium; 511 mg Potassium

1 1/2 Carbohydrate Serving

Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 fruit, 1 lean meat, 1/2 fat

Annie

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Comments (38)

jimster
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hooray for Ann's Stacked Enchiladas!

That pastrami looks terrific. I would try to slice it thinner, but that's nitpicking.

Your sushi is attractive and the ingredients were carefully selected. What do you you mean "not authentic"?!?!?

I predict the next rage on this forum will be Indian food. I'm ready.

Wow, that was some foodie week-end! Thanks for the report.

Jim
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Posted by jimster ---Your sushi is attractive and the ingredients were carefully selected. What do you you mean "not authentic"?!?!? "

You don't find avocado served in Japan much because it is not a native dish. It is only "authentic" in the USA.

dcarch
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jimster
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
That's true, dcarch, so far as I know. But avocado is an immensely popular ingredient in U.S. sushi and I am wondering if it won't catch on in Japan. It seems to fit in well with the sushi concept. And mayonnaise, something really foreign to Japan, seems to be the new rage with the Japanese, who are not at all averse to adopting exotic ingredients such as foie gras.

Jim
lindac
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I thought that "authentic" sushi was rice wrapped around vegetables or fish or pickles?
I am sure cream cheese isn't an "authentic" ingredient either.
But what Annie made was authentically sushi, if not sushi with authentic ingredients.
althetrainer
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Wow, Annie! Everything looks very delicious! I particularly like the sushi. I make sushi with avocados too but never have that much of wasabi! LOL Al
ntt_hou
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Wow... I'm hungry again... that is, my eyes are hungry and not my stomach (had steak & shrimp tonight) .... looks so yummy though.
jimster
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I have to agree re sushi with cream cheese, which is popping up everywhere, along with cream cheese in dim sum. What's that all about? For that matter, as much as I like avocado in other ways, for sushi I prefer other types, such as hamachi and uni.

Perhaps "authentic" wasn't the right term to describe Annie's sushi, but her sushi was well put together I thought, and with Elery's smoked salmon and the avocado we have been discussing in the other thread, it was topical. I'm sure it was enjoyed.

BTW, some of the best sushi tuna, sold in Japan at astronomical prices, is caught right here off Cape Cod, a short boat ride from where I sit. When the giant bluefin tuna are caught, they are evaluated by buyers while still at sea. They are purchased and flown in refrigerated coffins to Japan. We never get to taste the best. Guys I know chase these monsters in the fall, hoping to land one which can bring $15,000 to $20,000 or more for a single fish. That's a nice pay day for what is a side line from their regular jobs for most of them.

Jim
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
"Posted by jimster --------- Guys I know chase these monsters in the fall, hoping to land one which can bring $15,000 to $20,000 or more for a single fish. That's a nice pay day for what is a side line from their regular jobs for most of them. "

Many years ago, some friends went out fishing, a couple of days later, they caught a King tuna. I don't remember where and how big. While still at sea, a bidding war started over radio, and finally the fish was sold for $50,000.

dcarch
lindac
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hmm....never heard of King tuna...I know albacore, yellow tail, black fin and big eye....where was this King Tuna caught?
sally2_gw
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Well, I'm interested in the Dal recipe. I'm copying and pasting it. Although I made a lentil soup last night for dinner, I have lots of different kinds of lentils in my pantry, waiting for new recipes in which to be used.

I might like sushi if it weren't for the seaweed. I've never liked it, although I should try it again. It's been a few years, so I might like it next time I try it.

It looks like you had a fun, foodie weekend trip around the world!

Sally
annie1992
Original Author
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Al, I love wasabi, and so does Cooper, Ashley's dog. Go figure, the only dog I know that will lick wasabi straight, right off the plate. I can just feel my sinuses burning, but he loves the stuff! I take a dab of it and mix it with soy sauce to thin it a little, but Elery also eats it "straight".

When I said my sushi wasn't authentic, I meant that my ingredients probably weren't those used in sushi restaurants or by sushi chefs. Somehow I doubt that Michigan salmon, Florida avocado and low fat cream cheese have a lot of space in a sushi chef's kitchen, LOL, but it was good and we enjoyed it a lot. No tuna in Lake Michigan, LOL, but my fish was locally caught and smoked, and so I liked it. It only weighed a touch over 6 pounds when I caught it in May, but the water was about 36F and the fish was firm and very sweet and mildly flavored.

Sally, I can't say enough good things about the dal recipe, it was very good (if you like lentils). Elery took the recipe AND the leftovers home, he's making more this week.

Just chop the cilantro more finely than I did, I had an occasional chuck of cilantro leaf and the texture wasn't right.

Annie
mustangs81
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Hey Annie, maybe you could make that "less than authentic" sushi again, I hear there is an avocado lovers convention in Chicago next month.
User
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Annie, what a combo! Sounds like a fun weekend!

I think I might like the stacked enchiladas, although I'm not a huge tomatillo fan , but it sounds too spicy for himself. But then again you and he are about equal on the woose scale.

Was the pastrami the same recipe as in the book you gave me? I'm dying to try it again....
jakkom
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Your eclectic meals sound wonderful! And the pictures are inspiring!

>> for sushi I prefer other types, such as hamachi and uni. >>
Just FYI for those who are unfamiliar with what's what in Japanese cooking: Sushi traditionally refers to a certain type of rice, either sprinkled with vinegar or salt (as a traditional preservative; these days it isn't essential). It isn't automatic that there has to be raw fish with your sushi rice; in our house we prefer vegetarian inari, especially with chopped shiitake mushrooms.

Raw fish is more accurately, sashimi, which is sometimes used in sushi, but more often eaten separately. Really expensive sashimi would never be rolled up in rice and seaweed. That would be like grinding up Wagyu filet mignon to make a Whopper.

Sashimi is especially pretty when placed atop a communal bowl of rice for eating, in Chirashi Sushi. This is a very popular way to have all the tastes of rolled sushi at home without going to all the bother of pressing and rolling, BTW.

You don't have to use seaweed to wrap sushi. You can use anything you want to, such as thinly sliced ham or roast beef. The only limit is one's imagination. To label a homemade sushi as 'unauthentic' would be like saying your homemade BBQ bacon cheeseburger on a brioche bun isn't as 'authentic as McDonald's'. Rice and tofu are peasant food: simple, cheap and nourishing.

In the old days when packing for travel, plain rice would often be molded around "umeboshi", or dried pickled plums (although it's botanically closer to the apricot), which like all "tsukemono", or pickles, are both sour and salty. If one wasn't eating the rice immediately that day, it was important in the days before refrigeration to use such additions as salt or vinegar to prevent spoilage. Rice will ferment and spoil very quickly in the summer heat!

Although you won't find them in restaurants, for decades there have been Japanese cookbooks with recipes for 'exotic' Western-inspired sushi, using such hard to find ingredients as Spam, pineapple, canned corned beef, and yes, mayonnaise. I have a cookbook I picked up in San Francisco's famed Kinokuniya bookstore more than three decades ago with a recipe for sushi with canned corn beef, topped with a generous 'cap' of mayonnaise. Needless to say, I bought it for the amusement factor, not to use, LOL.

Using mayo is a fad they picked up from the Chinese. About twenty years ago, someone in the Chinese restaurant business figured out that instead of going to all the trouble to make the traditional 'velveting' technique, they could use Western mayonnaise as a time-saver. It's become most popular in Velvet Prawns with Glazed Walnuts, a now-ubiquitous restaurant staple (at least around here; literally every Chinese restaurant offers it).
althetrainer
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
OMG! Wasabi licking dog?!

Al
sally2_gw
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Jkom, that was interesting. I hadn't thought of trying Sushi wrapped with something other than seaweed. I'll have to "wrap" my brain around that idea.

Al, LOL!

Annie, I'll keep that tip in mind when I make that recipe.

Sally
annie1992
Original Author
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Al, Cooper ate that last piece of sushi and licked the wasabi right off the plate! It's the strangest thing.

Sharon, definitely try the enchiladas. Mine were not spicy at all, I took all the seeds out of all the peppers. I couldn't find anything except jalapeno and poblano, so that's what I used, and I roasted the poblanos over my gas burner.

Jim, we greatly enjoy sushi of all types, but I'm not eating uni. I tried it in California and Jessica was right when she told me it tasted like low tide, LOL.

I did very much enjoy the sashimi tuna and salmon that I got there, and I like the seaweed/nori, so I use that, although I'm not as good at rolling the sushi with the rice out/nori inside, I need more practice.

I always use brown rice and sprinkle it with rice wine vinegar and a bit of sugar. A very nice oriental lady at an Asian grocery told Elery that brown rice made "very nice" sushi. Her young male helper insisted "no brown rice sushi, it's not good". She finally told him, in essence, to shut up, and informed Elery that brown rice sushi was "very good" and he should try it. I've used brown rice for sushi ever since, I just like it.

Heck, I might even try it with canned sardines, just another variation on "Michigan Sushi"! I'm still bad at chopsticks, though. As Aunt Yoshiko used to tell me "you are no good, you use fork".

Annie
lpinkmountain
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Annie I love brown rice sushi! I don't know what it is with me, I just don't like white rice but love brown rice. Go figure. So do you buy special brown sushi rice or just use aborio? I have some short grain brown rice that I can't seem to develop a taste for. So far I have not figured out how to cook it so it gets done. That hard center I think is supposed to be there, but to me it is off-putting.

I like cukes and carrots in my sushi for the crunch, especially cukes, which I guess could be marinated in some rice wine vinegar and peanut oil. I sure wish I had a mat for making sushi, but there is no sense in me getting one, I would make sushi maybe once a year at best. I just don't do well with "arranged" or "composed" foods. If I made sushi I would make Jewish sushi--rice, maybe some capers and scallions, and smoked salmon. Served with a little dab of sour cream mixed with horseradish on the side, and a thin slice of dill pickle, lol! I just would not have it together to get fresh raw fish. I could not get my act together to prepare raw fish, I hardly ever buy and eat something on the same day, let alone get to a decent fish market.

Enchiladas and mango curry on the other hand, are right up my alley.

How did you manage SQUARE oat cakes? They are on my "to try" list but have been on the list for about 10 years so I'm not holding my breath.
annie1992
Original Author
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
L, I just used the bag of brown rice I had in the pantry, the same stuff I use for everything else. I cooked it about 45 minutes and I use more water than the package says, about 1/2 cup more for 4 servings. I made extra rice because I like it in fried rice or rice pudding too, so it's planned leftovers, I just don't what I'm planning yet. (grin)

The square oat cakes were way easier than round ones. I dumped the dough onto the counter, patted it into a square and cut it into nine cakes, three cuts across and three up and down. They do not raise or spread appreciably.

That way there's no re-rolling of scraps, and it's the same way Grandma always made biscuits so there were never "tougher" scraps that had been re-rolled.

You'd love the dal, really, you would. I've fed you and I know!

Annie
jimster
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
LPM,

Jewish sushi is not a stretch at all IMO, although I do have my reticence about cream cheese in oriental dishes. Apparently that's just me though. I would love the capers and scallions and especially I would like a roll made with dill pickle, I usually order a roll made with pickled daikon or just cucumber, either of which make a good interlude between bites of the other sushis. I've never seen smoked sable on a sushi menu, although black cod may have been there under a name I didn't recognize. Sable would be outstanding! And aren't wasabi and horseradish eaten for essentially the same reason. Don't let this Jewish sushi idea drop. You are onto something.

Jim
jimster
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Annie,

I can understand why uni might not be on your list of favorites. It's one of those love it or hate it things. When it is good it is very good but when it is bad it is awful, even to those who like it. I've learned to order it only in very good sushi places. Hmmm. Why would I go to any other kind?

I prefer to think of it as "taste of the sea" as opposed to Jessica's "low tide" characterization. :-)

Jim
annie1992
Original Author
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
That's OK, Jim, you can have ALL my uni, and probably Jessica's share too. I did have a variety made with BBQ'd eel, and it wasn't one of my favorites either.

The California Contingent took Elery and I to a sushi restaurant while we were there and we liked it so well we ate there two more times that week! Sushi is now one of Elery's favorite foods, and we've tried a couple of pretty good sushi places in Ann Arbor and the Detroit suburbs (where they have a lot of Japanese car execs, or they did, and sushi was/is pretty popular).

They were good, but still not as good as the California sushi, I think maybe because tuna is not indigenous to Lake Michigan, LOL. Elery says the first thing he's going to do the next time he goes to California to visit his grandsons is find some sushi!

And I've never heard of a King tuna, what the heck is that? We do have King Salmon here, and I've caught 'em, although the salmon in my sushi was Chinook.

Annie
jimster
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Annie,

Thanks. I'll take your uni. But I want some other pieces just for variety.

With sushi (and sashimi, of course), freshness is everything as is presentation and ambience. I've had quite a lot of Chinese, Korean and homemade sushi and all of these fall just a bit short of the Japanese in presentation. Let's face it, nothing equals the years of training and dedication to their art Japanese sushi chefs have. Certainly, smashing a sea urchin on a rock at the beach and digging the uni out with your thumb doesn't make it.

A couple of small sushi bars were started by locals here of the Cape who probably observed the sushi craze and thought they could make a killing by selling tiny portions of fish at large mark-ups. Despite the availability of the freshest seafood, they didn't last a season. One sold his sushi from a take-out window of a Dairy Queen type of place connected to a fish market and the other was in a fish market. Presentation was amateurish and sushi bar ambience was totally lacking.

My daughter's favorite sushi is a caterpillar roll. As an avocado lover myself, I would order it except that there are too many other things I like. Because I like hamachi so much, once in a while I treat myself to hamachi don, which is a bowl of rice topped with a generous amount of hamachi sashimi.

There is no such thing as King Tuna. I'm sure the tuna in that story was a Giant Bluefin. It is impressive, but not shocking, that the fish fetched $50K. The weight probably was in the neighborhood of 750 lbs. and it was probably caught somewhere off the North Atlantic coast. All of this would be totally credible. Before you decide to make some easy money though, look into expenses of the boat, fuel, tackle and a spotter plane if you use one. And will you have to pay the crew or will they work for a share of the fish you MIGHT catch? You might decide lottery tickets are a better investment. A guy I know who was going fishing for tuna last summer promised me a piece if they caught one. Didn't happen. OTOH, you had hand caught, home smoked salmon. It doesn't get much better than that.

Jim
annie1992
Original Author
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You're right, Jim, it doesn't. It's fresh and it's local and it's made just the way I like it.

Authentic ingredients aside, how in the world could it be bad?

And I had some of the leftover/extra roll for lunch, still good!

Annie
User
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Thanks for the info Annie, I may give them a try but I might do a sub on the tomatillos.

Did you see my question about the pastrami? Was it the same recipe as in the book you gave me?
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
"----There is no such thing as King Tuna. I'm sure the tuna in that story was a Giant Bluefin. It is impressive, but not shocking, that the fish fetched $50K. ---"

I am not an expert in tuna, I understand there are about 48 kinds. Possible that's what they call it in Japan? Even more possible that I heard it wrong, "King-size tuna?"

dcarch

Caterpillar roll? :-)
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lindac
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
But....that's not "real sushi" it has avocado in it....
But if you are going to make a dragon, what else but avocado for the green?
lakeguy35
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
You two sure do have some fun in the kitchen when you have weekends together. I'm going to have try Ann's enchiladas, I know Stacy made them recently too. I'm still out on sushi...guess I need to put that seven year rule into play and try it again. : )

I'm intested in trying the pastrami too. I'll have to plan it around the weather though. What kind of smoker is Elery using? I've had some challenges keeping my temp up when it's cold and the wind is blowing......which is most of the time in OK!

David
jessyf
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Next Los Angeles forum get together should include a trip to Langer's Deli! We took someone there one time, who was it?
jimster
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
dcarch,
Thanks for posting the superb examples of caterpillar rolls. The link I posted was obviously not a caterpillar but hamachi don. A little mixed up there, heh heh heh.

David,
Any good sushi bar will have sushi which will appeal to just about any taste. Not all of the seafood sushi has raw seafood and not all of it has any fish at all. I'm sure you could have an enjoyable meal of sushi.

As to smoking pastrami, that will be a good experience too I'm sure. I love the stuff and it's not difficult to make. Do it on a nice summer day. Lox is even easier. I do that all the time.

Jessy,
You bring up Langer's Deli in a thread which has turned mostly to sushi. Does this have anything to do with LPM's concept of Jewish sushi? If so, I encourage it.

Jim
User
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Jim how about you share your Pastrami and lox recipes/techniques. I am new to smoking and curing and an absolute sponge for information.
annie1992
Original Author
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Sharon, I did use the recipe and method in Charcuterie. I found that the last step, which is steaming the pastrami for a couple of hours, really helps cut the saltiness, the first batch I sliced and froze, and didn't steam. It was far too salty.

David, Elery has a MasterBuilt electric smoker. It's in my garage, so he uses it year round. My garage is not heated, and the electronic display doesn't like it when it's under 35F or so, so we have to remove it, take it inside and warm it up, then put it back on. Thankfully, it's easy to do.

We smoked the pastrami over cherry wood, the last one we did with apple. Why did we choose those types? Because I pruned the apple and cherry trees last spring and that's what we had.

I think Jessica was referring to the deli because of my reference to pastrami...

Annie
lpinkmountain
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
OK Jim, I could go with some avocado mixed with that wasabi. I need something to cut it with, and also cut the saltiness of the pickle, capers and lox. I love the pickled ginger with the raw fish, I just couldn't quite imagine it with the smoked versions.

DC I love the little dragon guy! Yum!
I had a feeling you'd be great at sushi creations!
jimster
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I and some others who post here and on the Harvest Forum tried to get a forum started on meat and fish curing, but there was not enough interest to sustain it as a stand alone topic. In the next day or two, I will start threads for pastrami and lox. I think we don't need to combine those topics with enchiladas and sushi. LOL

Jim
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
"Posted by lpinkmountain -----DC I love the little dragon guy! Yum!
I had a feeling you'd be great at sushi creations!"

Just want to be clear. Those are not my creations. I grabbed them off from the net.

However, I am ready to do some in the near future. Ordering a few sushi knives.

dcarch
User
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Oh I agree Jim! I would love to have a discussion on smoking and curing. I am such a neophyte and probably can't add much but I'm eager to learn and would love it if you would share your knowledge.
jimster
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
"I had a feeling you'd be great at sushi creations!" (referring to dcarch)

My thoughts precisely.

Jim
lakeguy35
14 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Jim, thanks for the info on different sushi. I had always thought it was with raw fish of some sort so I didn't have any real interest in it. I think my DM ruined me with her jar of pickled herring in the fridge....LOL!

Annie, thanks for the info. I'll have to check into the electric version. I know several others here have them too...I just like to play with fire...LOL! I've had a charcoal one for several years and love it. Don't think it would be a good idea to use that in the garage though. : )

I'll check back with you and Elery when I'm ready to take on the pastrami.

David

Food from around the world...kind of.

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