Palov, salad and soup

Oh my goodness, I forgot to actually post the other Uzbek posts!

So it’s a double-post day.

The most famous Uzbek food is Palov. Similar to pilaf, plov and other rice dishes I’ve covered from all over the world, palov is made with rice, meat, vegies and seasonings. This one is the kind you cook in a pan, without touching the bottom, so it sets a little and has layers when you serve it.

I made a fairly basic palov, with vegan sausages and carrots, coloured with a little fake saffron (I think it’s marigold – from Turkey). It was actually a little bland, I’m sad to say, and I really couldn’t get the layers thing happening.

Unlayered Palov

We ate it with a mung bean and pumpkin soup from the book, The Art of Uzbek Cuisine, which was much tastier than expected, and a basic tomato and onion salad, which is always one of my favourites.

Pumpkin and Mung Bean Soup

Tomato and Onion Salad

All in all it was a filling, comforting meal, but not the tastiest food I’ve tried. I think I might have to try the palov of an experience Uzbek cook to really get it, because so far my attempts at this style are coming nowhere near the best pilaf ever, or other versions thereof.

Salad Days

I used the recipes in A Season in Moroccofor everything I made this time, so I wont post a recipe. If you like what you see, head to your library

Salads

 

Tomato and onion salad

Delicious Lentil Salad

Perfect Potato Salad

Jerusalem Artichokes and Walnuts

White Zucchini Salad

 

Carrot salad

Steaming Tea and some Ghriba biccies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Pilaf, Cabbage and a Salad

Pilaf with home made stock

I have now real and followed so many pilaf recipes, that I’m actually getting pretty good at making my own. Success seems to lie in the stock. In Australia, I usually just use easy-peasy Massel stock powder, but I can’t get anything approximating vegan stock here in Tbilisi, so I make my own, and it works out well.

In my stock I use a handful of chopped mushroom stalks, the outer cabbage leaves and any left over cabbage stalk, parsley stalks, carrots, a tomato, brown and red onion skins and ends, and all the little tiny garlic cloves I can find (I use the ones from the middle because I have chopping them later, and using them in stock means I don’t have to feel guilty for being lazy). I add a tiny bit of salt, and sometimes a little sugar. I generally make about 1.5 litre at a time.

Pretty Pilaf

Keira’s Pilaf Recipe

serves 3

• 2 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 1 cup white rice (long grain)
• 1 medium brown onion, diced
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• any vegetables you want, small dice
• 2 cups strong stock
• water as needed
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt and pepper, to taste
• sultanas or raisins, if desired.
• dash of chosen spices – I use cinnamon, clove, coriander seed and some curry, depending on what I feel like.

1. In a large, non-stick frying pan, heat the oil, and add the rice. Fry on medium heat for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the onion and fry until translucent, stirring frequently.
3. Add the garlic and any vegetables or fruits you will be using, such as capsicum or zucchini, and fry for a furhter 5 minutes.
4. Add one or two squeezes of lemon juice now, to help break up the rice.
5. Add the stock. Leave until all of the liquid has been absorbed. This took me about 15 minutes.
6. Test – you may need more water, depending on what type of rice you used.
7. Remove from heat when the rice is cooked. Taste, add rest of lemon juice, salt, pepper, and spices. Fluff with a fork and serve with other dishes.

Note: If we’re having pilaf at lunch I like to add a little nooch at the end. Don’t do this at dinner tough, because the B6 in the nooch tends to stop people from sleeping.

 

Cabbage with Tomatoes

I Have no photo of the cabbage and tomatoes dish, because it wasn’t actually until after I made it that I found out it was Turkish.One of the only green vegetables we can get here is cabbage, so I had planned to fry some up with onion and garlic as per usual. I added a chopped tomato, a little stock, a little tomato paste and some cayenne pepper, on a whim.

Turns out what I made closely approximates this dish, so there you go – I’m a food psychic, or something, because I didn’t see this site until long after we ate the meal.

 

Chickpea Salad

The salad wasn’t so much Turkish as Turkish-inspired. I just threw together some onion, garlic, parsley, coriander, chickpeas and red capsicum, to add some protein and crunch to the meal.

Chickpea Salad

 

Turkish Feast in Tbilisi

The first meal of Turkish origin I tired was actually a week or so ago, when a friend came around for dinner. I decided to put on a bit of a feast (I have a lot of time at the moment), and served up a spread including chickpeas in tomato sauce, eggplant mezze, stuffed cabbage, pilaf and shepherd’s salad. I also served up what was supposed to be brownies but turned into very dry biscotti due to my difficult oven and inappropriate ingredient substitutes – but that’s not Turkish, and I don’t have a photo, so lets forget it happened.

Sadly, I got wrapped up in conversation and forgot to take pictures until everyone had started eating, so most of the photos are of semi-destroyed dishes.

Eggplant in olive oil and tomato sauce, with Cabbage roll in the background

Everything was good, but the eggplant mezze dish was the definite winner. It was well cooked and oily in a good way,  and the tomato sauce was a perfect match. A recipe for this is at the end of the post.

The cabbage rolls were a little beyond my dexterity and fell apart when lifted. They tasted pretty good though, with some heavy handedness on the dried mint and sultanas.

 

Shepherd's Salad and Pilaf

Shepherd’s Salad is a Turkish take on an internationally popular combination: cucumber, onion and tomatoes with herbs. This one has garlic, coriander and parsley, with a little lemon juice and vinegar as dressing.

I went with a mixed pilaf with sultanas, a little orange capsicum, onion, garlic, herbs, and some left over chickpeas. This is probably very un-Turkish, but it is what I had. I added a little clove, cinnamon, salt and pepper to flavour it. I’m not personally a big fan of sweet dinner food or non-citrus fruit in savoury dishes, but this was okay. I used a combination of recipes from the land of the internet, but they all involved cooking the rice in some olive oil, then added the onion, then vegetables, then stock and fruit, and cooking the liquid off.

Chickpeas with tomato

The chickpea dish was based on a recipe from the book, Contemporary Turkish Cooking, by Filiz Zorly (2007). I changed it due to ingredient availability, as I can’t get dry chickpeas, cumin or good tomatoes. It turned out really nicely, a little spicy but not too hot, and quite flavoursome. I’ll post my recipe below, but do check out the original if you have access to dry chickpeas, because I imagine that would be even better.

The recipe for the stuffed cabbage rolls also came from Contemporary Turkish Cooking, which I perused at a public library in Vienna, on a cold, too-tired-to-tourist day.

Chickpeas with Tomatoes

Serves 4

• olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 good tomatoes, diced
• 2 cups drained and rinsed, tinned chickpeas
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp corriander powder
• dash cinnamon
• dash tsp cayenne pepper (use as little or as much chilli as you want. I and my friend both have stomach problems that mean no more hot foods without risk of ulcers and stomach cancer, so not much chilli for us )
• Juice on half a lemon
• salt and pepper to taste
• I would have added a little cumin, if I had access to it.

1. In a little olive oil, sweat the onions until translucent.
2. Add the garlic and fry until fragrant (about 3 minutes).
3. Add the tomato, chickpeas, tomato paste, spices and 1/3 cup water. Bring to the boil then return to simmer until the tomatoes are falling apart. Add more water if necessary. This took me about 15 minutes, with occasional stirring.
4. Add the lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Let sit until, and reheat before serving. I let mine sit for about an hour, and it became much more flavousome with the time.

The recipe for the eggplant mezze dish was originally found somewhere on the internet, but I can’t find it now, of course. I’ll attribute when I figure it out, but this is what I did.

Eggplant in Olive oil with Tomato Sauce

Serves 2

• 1 large, long eggplant (or two smaller eggplants)
• Salt
• Olive oil (the amount is up to you, but at least 3 tablespoons)
• 1 medium brown onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tbs tomato paste
• 1-2 tsp sugar (if your tomato paste isn’t sweet)
• salt and pepper
• 1/3 – 2/3 cup water

1. Peel strips of the eggplant, lengthways, so that it looks a little like a circus tent. Slice the eggplant into rounds, salt, and let sit for 30 minutes.
2. Wash and dry the eggplant slices. Heat a little olive oil in a non-stick pan, and fry the pieces, turning once, in batches until they are all cooked through and lightly browned. I used about 1 tbs of olive oil here, but there are versions of the recipe that use up to 1/3 cup, so do what you please.
3. Arrange the cooked slices on a serving dish, and drizzle with remaining olive oil (I used about 1 tbs here).
4. In a small saucepan, cook the onion in a little more olive oil, for about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes, though don’t let the garlic burn.
5. Add the diced tomatoes, and cook, stirring occasionally, until they fall apart.
6. Add the tomato paste here, and then taste test – if it tastes sour add some sugar. I add salt and pepper here.
7. Add 1/3 cup of the water and continue to cook the sauce, stirring occasionally over low heat, for another 25 minutes. It should cook down, and all the tomato pieces should be pulp by now. Add extra water if it becomes dry before this point.
8. If you are a careful sort, pull out the floating bits of tomato skin (or remove them before hand, as shown in my post on ratatouille). I decided not to bother this time.
9. Pour the sauce over the eggplant slices, and refrigerate. Serve cold or at room temperature.

 

Eggplant and mushrooms and walnuts, of course

Kamarjoba!

(Yup, that’s the only word, other than bread, that I can say in Georgian).

Last night’s dinner was intended to be all Georgian, all the way, however, of course, it didn’t quite turn out that way.

I had intended to make my own version of the fabulous eggplant and cinnamon dish that I get at Goodwill (the supermarket), and serve it alongside mushrooms and cream, and a red bean salad. Unfortunately I forgot that I  didn’t actually have any red beans, Mr having used them all up in his signature kidney bean, soy sauce and coriander dish the night before. Also, I rarely have the patience for eggplant, and this was not an exceptional evening.

As I didn’t realise that I was out of red beans until I had already made most of the salad, I have to apologise to all of Georgia for presenting my “Georgian Red Bean Salad”, made with chickpeas. The horror!

I am posting the recipe for my version of the eggplant with cinnamon dish, and if you actually follow it, yours should turn out really nicely. I got sick of salting the eggplant and started cooking it too soon, and then didn’t wait long enough before I added the water, so mine was a little undercooked. I also burned my finger, which is bad because I don’t have patience for holding burned fingers under the tap for long enough, either.

Both the mushrooms in cream and the salad recipe originally came from GeorgianTaste, however I am re-posting them with my vegan/available ingredient related changes. If you have access to vegan cooking cream, I suggest you try to follow the original recipe for the mushrooms- mine was great, but real cream would have been even better.

From front, clockwise: Bread, Eggplant and Cinnamon, Mushrooms in Cream, and (chickpea) Bean Salad.

Eggplant and Cinnamon

We’ve been loving the eggplant and cinnamon dish I get at the deli, so I though I’d give it a try.

• 1 medium eggplant, diced, salted for 40 minutes
• 1 onion, diced finely
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon, or more if you like
• dash cloves
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• dash fenugreek
• 1 tablespoon minced dill (or if you don’t have any, some dill-flavoured vinegar from the pickle jar)
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 cup water
• salt,to taste

1. Leave the eggplant to salt for ages and ages, seriously! (about 30-40 minutes) I never do this for as long as I should and it makes it a bit crap. Then give it a pat down or a rinse.
2. In as much oil as you are comfortable with (between 2 tablespoons and about 1.3 cup), fry the onion, garlic and eggplant together until the eggplant is soft (this takes a while).
3. Add the tomato, spices, and water. Stir together and leave at a simmer to cook down. This takes about 25 minutes, but check it occasionally.
4. Taste, and add salt as wanted.
5. Serve sprinkled with a little chopped coriander and some pomegranate seeds.

 

Red Bean Salad

Original recipe here.

• 2 garlic clove, minced
• 4 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
• 1/2 red onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped, not ground
• 2 tablespoons white  wine vinegar
• 1/4 tsp red pepper powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups can kidney beans, drained and rinsed (clearly, I used chickpeas)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Only one step – mix everything together!

Bean Salad

Mushrooms in Cream, Soko Arazhanit

Originally from this recipe. My version, below, makes enough for two, as a side dish.

• 1 clove garlic, minced
• a little olive oil
• 1 cups of mushrooms, trimmed and thickly sliced
• 1 tablespoon of vegan margarine (I can’t get margarine so I use vegan lard here)
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 1/2 cups soy milk (unsweetened)
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp powdered cloves
• sat to taste

1. Cook the garlic and mushrooms in a little oilve oil until soft.
2. Add the margarine and flour. Stir constantly until a soft dough forms, then continue to stir and cook for about 5 minutes (this “cooks out” the floury flavour).
3. Add a 1/4 cup of soy milk, and stir into a paste. Continue to add milk, a little at a time, until you have added 1 cup.
4. Add the spices, pepper, bay, a little salt and parsley, and leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Mixture should have thickened a little. Add extra soy milk if needed, and stir through. Remove bay leaf, and serve  with rice, pasta or bread.

Gnocchi, and the end of Italy week

Home made gnocchi

I had forgotten all about making gnocchi, until I found this photo.

I loosely followed the recipe from Vegan Yum Yum, ans served it up with tomato sauce (boy have we eaten a lot of that lately), and a big salad of lettuce, basil, mint and silverbeet from our garden, and some cucumber from a friend’s garden.

I love Italian food, and had a lot of fun and a bit of zen making bread, pasta, gnocchi and tomato sauce from scratch. It was fun having a lot of ways to use the tomatoes which are everywhere and very ripe at the moment.

I didn’t get around to making polenta, partly due to circumstances outside of my control, and partly because its just not my favourtie.

Next up is Brazil, I think, and maybe a pit-stop while I try to find out what to make with the four most available foods in Pohnpei: Bananas, Breadfruit, Taro and Yams.

 

More Italian Stuff

There are a few Italian things I didn’t get around to making this time, partly due to a 10 hour, unconsummated hospital visit (everyone is fine) which will have to repeated sometime this week partly due to stupid drunk people who had accidents on Australia Day. This means that sadly I used up all the vegies I had planned to make antipasti with in a midnight stirfry, and also used some of the ingredients intended for polenta.

There are a few Italian things I have made though, which haven’t made it into the blog so far.  This is a post about them.

Tomato Bread

I love making bread – its very calming, it smells good, and there’s just something satisfying about easting home made bread. This one has tomato paste and chopped sun dried tomatoes in it. I made one loaf, and one group of tomato scrolls, with extra tomato paste, cheezly and olives.

The loaf

Sliced

Scrolls

Big Salads

Contrary to what the posts might show, we have also been eating a lot of delicious vegies! Here are a few pics as proof.

Big sweet potato and brocoli salad

Berries and mint salad dressing

Roast onion and tomato salad

Eggplant

Bean and facon salad

Bruschetta

I made Brushcetta with my home made tomato bread. I don’t seem to have a picture, which is sad because it was very pretty. So, you’re just gonna have to trust me that it was fab. We used mashed cannellini beans with lemon juice, and a mixture of chopped tomatoes, garlic, fresh basil and olive oil. Yummy lunch.

The Food of Romance

We don’t do Valentine’s day at our place, but we do celebrate our love! (too cheesy?)

Every now and then I get a fit of vegan gourmet wrapped in a lovegush for Mr, and this usually turns into some heart shaped food.

Last week I had an exceptionally large lovegush/fooddream collision, and the results were fresh tomato soup, beet ravioli, strawberry carpaccio and a caramelised onion, pear and walnut tart. All with some pink or some hearts, of course.

Fresh tomato soup

Fresh Tomato Soup

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 very ripe tomatoes
• tomato paste, as needed
• filtered water
• pepper and salt, to taste

This is so easy to make. Fry the onion in some oil, until translucent (about 10 minutes). Add the garlic, and fry for a further 3 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and cook over low heat for 30 minutes, adding water if it dries out a little. Add about 1 cup of water, and blend. Taste – if the tomatoes are not super ripe, or if they’re from the supermarket, you’ll need to add some tomato paste. Then heat, stir and season.

Home made vegan beet ravioli

I borrowed this concept from Flavours of Venice, by Rosalba Gioffre, and borrowed from the Moreland Library. I made many changes to the recipe in order to veganise it.

I used my own pasta recipe, rather than the egg pasta suggested. For the filling I used some boiled beetroot, a teensy bit of cheesly, some mashed tofu, and some nutmeg. I had intended to make heart shapes, but my rolling was a little off, and I settled for any basic polygon instead.

I served the ravioli with just some margarine, olive oil, salt, and herbs from the garden.

Strawberry and Zucchini Carpaccio

Strawberry and Zucchini Carpaccio

Carpaccio is usually raw meat, cut very thinly. I think its better this way.

• 1 cup strawberries
• 1 small zucchini
• small bunch mint leaves
• 1 tbs agave syrup
• 1 tbs apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbs olive oil

Slice the zucchini very thinly and set aside. To make hearts, cut a triangle underneath the strawberry “cap” to remove it, leave a pointy heart. Very carefully, slice the strawberries.

Mince the mint, and combine in a bowl with the oil, agave and vinegar. Muddle, then gently toss the zucchini and strawberries in it, and set aside for the flavour to develop for at least 30 minutes (60 if you can).

Heart Tart

Caramelised Onion, Pear and Walnut Tart (makes 4)

• 2 sheets vegan pastry
• 1 large red onion
• oil
• 2 tbs agave syrup
• 1 tbs balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbs raw sugar
• 1/3 cup beetroot water (from boiling the beetroot for the ravioli – can be replaces with water or juice)
• 1 pear
• 4 tbs crushed walnuts
• 4 tbs vegan cheese

1. Pre-heat the oven at 160 degrees. Take the pastry out of the freezer to thaw.
2. In a frying pan heat a little olive oil, then add the onion. Fry for 5 minutes, then add the vinegar, agave and sugar.
3. Continue to cook, stirring as necessary, until the sugar begins to dissolve. Add the beetroot water a little at a time, over 20 minutes of cooking.
4. If your pear is firm, add slices into the onion mixture at about the 15 minute mark. If it is soft, don’t add it.
5. Cut the pastry sheets in half so they each form 2 triangles. Chop the acute corners (the two corners on the long edge of the triangle) to blunt them. Roll the edges in, little by little, and press into the middle to form a heart shape. You will have to do some molding to form the top.
6. Arrange the onion and pear mixture (or pear slices) onto the pastry. Sprinkle with walnuts and cheezly, and place in the oven.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, and allow to cool a little before serving.

Whatever you’re making, have a crack at making shapes – its fun, and definitley worth the effort to make your dining partner smile.

Cannelloni

Cannelloni is my favourite pasta dish. I adore it, and make it whenever I can. I used to love it filled with egg and cheese and covered in parmesan, but I think my vegan version stands up to the test.

Vegan Cannelloni

You can use bought pasta cannelloni “shells” if you like, but the recipe for the dough follows if you’d like to strike out and try making your own. It takes more time, but ts well worth it for the perfect al dente finish, not to mention the zen that kneading dough can bring.

Keira’s Favourite Vegan Cannelloni Recipe, makes 4 serves

Note: this works best if you have a rectangular baking dish about 33cm x 20cm x 5cm. You may need to increase the topping recipe if you have a larger, or two small dishes.

For the Pasta

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup water

Filling

• 350g tofu, crumbled
• 100g cheezly, crumbled
• lots of nutmeg
• one bunch kale (about 6 leaves), chopped finely and cooked (I boil it)
• salt
• pepper
• 2 tbs nooch
• little soy milk

Topping

• 3 tbs Olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 -8 large tomatoes, diced
• 3 cups water
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 tbs tomato paste
• sugar, salt and pepper as necessary

Method

1. In case you didn’t read the ingredients properly, now is the time to cook the kale
2. Pre-heat oven to 160 degrees
3. Start with the sauce. In a large saucepan heat some olive oil, then add onion and fry for about 10 minutes, until soft and translucent.
4. Add the garlic, and fry for another 5 minutes, being careful not to burn it.
5. Add tomatoes and cook for 15 minute over low heat.
6. Add all other ingredients (save the salt and sugar). Bring to the boil, then return to slow simmer, lid on, for the time being (about 40 minutes)
7. In a large bowl, or just on your bench, if you’re feeling adventurous, pile the flour and make a well, resulting in a volcano shape.I wrap a towel around my bowl, to stop it sliding around while I mix the dough.
   

   volcano

8. Pour the water into the well, and slowly add the flour into the middle, little by little, until all flour is combined with the liquid, and you have a loose dough.
9. On a floured surface knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes. Rest the dough in an oiled bowl, covered, for 30 minutes.
10. While the dough is resting make the filling. In a clean large bowl, mix all the ingredients for the filling together. This works best if you use your hands. Taste, and add salt and pepper and more nutmeg as necessary. Its the nutmeg that helps replicate the classic cannelloni flavour, so feel free to go heavy.
11. Check on the sauce. If it is beginning to look right, take it off the heat. Taste and add what you need (I like a little sugar in mine, if it isn’t in the tomato paste.) If it isn’t ready yet, you know what to do – leave it on the heat. Its ready when it tastes good, and is thick enough to coat the spoon.
12. Place about 1/5 of the sauce on the bottom of a large baking dish, coating it in a thin layer. Don’t forget to fish the bay leaves out first, and discard them.
13. On a floured surface, roll out the dough in 1 or 2 batches, as bench-space allows. Roll out until the dough is about 3-4mm thick, in a rectangle shape, approximately the same width as your baking dish, and a double the length. If your dough keeps bouncing back, you need to let it sit longer before rolling.
    

    Rolled out

14. Starting at one end, place the filling mixture down the edge of the dough. Brush the dough with some water, and roll into a cannelloni shape. Cut along the edge to form a cylinder. Place the pasta shape into the baking dish.
    

    the filling

15. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. My dish takes about 8 large rolls, so I use one 8th of the filling for each one. This will depend on the size of your dish/es.
    

    Without sauce

16. Once all the rolls are in the baking dish, cover with the sauce, ensuring that all pasta is coated.
    

    With sauce

17. Place the dish in the pre-heated oven, and cook for 35-40 minutes.
18. Enjoy with an enormous salad.
    

    Yum

Pizza

I used to love Lebanese pizza, but it has been a long time since I’ve had any, given it is usually covered cheese.

Lebanese pizza looks like other pizza, though the dough is covered in Zatar (a mix of oregano and spices) with only one or two other toppings added.

I cheated, which is the theme of the week really, and used zatar bread bought at my local Middle East Bakery, on Hope st. We picked a few toppings, based on what we’d seen at Tabets on the non-veg pizzas.

The results were:

Tomato, sundried tomato and capers,

Tomato pizza

Mince pizza,

Mince and capsicum

and Cheezly with olives and tomatoes, not pictured.

Zatar pizza made for a quick and delicious meal. Using pre-baked Zatar means you get a cripsy pizza, and you need to use pre-cooked or no-cook toppings. You could make your own dough to get a softer base.