Apple palov, soup and salad

The last night of Uzbek attempts was another palov, this time with apples, another soup, and another salad. Both the soup and the palov recipes came from this blog (http://uzbekcooking.blogspot.com.au/) although I tweaked them a little to be vegan friendly. The salad I just threw together, using ingredients that seem to repeat a lot in…

The last Turkish supper

Sadlly the supermarket has run out of lentils AND chickpeas, and I am doomed to two weeks of kidney beans. This also means that I can’t make the last dish on my Turkey list, cabbage and lentil salad. Sigh. I did, however, come up with the ingredients for the other final Turkish dish: raw kofte….

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…

One disaster, a few thngs that didn’t quite work, and salad

When we first arrived in Tbilisi we were cold, tired and hungry as a result of a long flight and very little sleep the night before. We stayed with a couple we met through couch surfing, and Natalia, our host, made us a really tasty dish, which she said would probably be called something like…

Babka

I have seen many recipes for a chocolate babka, which is Polish (I think), and looks like a bread. This isn’t that. Belarussian babka is a potato and meat pie/bake/thing. It consists of a layer of meat (pork and lard) sandwiched between two layers of a potato and flour mixture, and coated in sour cream….

I’ll introduce Belarus a little later…

…today, I’m just going to tell you about what I’ve been cooking from Belarus instead! Draniki and Machanka Draniki are little potato pancakes, eaten with sour cream and a meat and lard sauce, Machanka. So, you know, a variation on the general theme of meat, potatoes and lard that seems to be found throughout Belarussian…

“Edible” Playdough: at least it wasn’t blue

Next up in our culinary trip to Tanzania, we tried Kuku Paka (tofu in coconut milk), Kachumbali salad, and Ugali, the national grain dish. I let you know now, it was a dreary night, with a rush to eat, bad photos, and not my best cooking effort. Sorry. For the tofu in coconut milk, I…

Kimchi and Links

I just realised that I almost finished off Korean week without describing my home-made Kimchi! The Food of Korea, says, “A man can live without his wife, but cannot live without Kimchi”, and according to David Lebovitz Koreans would be ashamed to buy Kimchi, so it would be a travesty not to include it in…