If you were searching for movie reviews and came across this posting accidentally, my apologies. This title is a diatribe against the lack of the most vital item for cooking in Kurdistan - tomatoes. I am not sure why or when this happened,but it could be that: a) tomato season ended; b) Ramadan started and people are stocking up for the evenings: or c) it is just to vex me on my return to Erbil. Since moving to Kurdistan, I have found I can't find many of the things I was used to eating/cooking when in North East Asia, and hence have had to learn how to cook using the ingredients most readily available here: tomatoes, zuccini (courgette), eggplant (aubergine), green pepppers (capsicum)... With these ingredients, one might think that the easiest thing to do would be to learn to cook the dishes popular here... except that they all seem to contain lamb or mutton and/or seem labour-intensive. As a result, I have turned to almost-Turkish and pseudo-Indian cooking. But pretty much ALL of my recipes are heavily reliant on tomatoes. Even those dishes like dahl (where you can't detect the presence of tomatoes) don't taste nearly as nice without.
This week, (really it must be Ramadan?) I ended up buying a different assortment of veg than usual: cauliflower, okra and red cabbage. The okra was really a brave experiment for me since I really don't like okra. I remember eating it at relatives' houses in the Caribbean - essentially polenta, but with the cornmeal held together with okra slime. As there is no cornmeal here, I figured there must be better ways to prepare it. Success! Sauted with salt and pepper, corriander seeds and a pinch of allspice; then tossed with garlic, hot sauce and lemon - completely edible! The other dish in the picture above is your basic Caribbean coconut chicken curry.
Now, as for the cauliflower, that is no problem. There is a beautiful recipe for red lentil-cauliflower curry on "Almost Turkish" (a blog I will add to my sidebar because it has many tasty recipes for all the ingredients available here. NOTE: The recipe for Yayla Çorbası - Yogurt Soup is very good). And there is always Aloo Gobi. But AS FOR THE RED CABBAGE, I have no ideas. Please post me your ideas or send me your favorite recipe.
3 comments:
Cooking tales! My favourite kind.
I sympathize with your dilemma. Although I can now get just about anything here in Japan (latest addition: asafoetida for Indian food), it hasn't always been the case (as you probably remember).
Your ingredients sound perfect for African food: http://www.congocookbook.com/ and also other Middle Eastern http://www.sudairy.com/mer/recipes.html?sort=mezze.
With ME food, a pressure cooker is a great investment. Especially for those times when you do want to succumb to a lamb fix (g).
Also, can you not get tinned toms and or tomato paste?? I know the Turkish kitchen always has an industrial sized tin of the latter, great handfuls of which I have witnessed being shoveled into various dishes. Straight from the can!
As for the red cabbage, it's a great stuffer for pitas (falafel anyone?) or to add color to coleslaw. You could stirfry it with some cumin seeds and Indian spices and a splash of shoyu (or is that too exotic??)
You might also want to check out this site.
http://www.recipezaar.com/
And if the postal system is up and running in Erbil, it might be time to get some Claudia Roden. The New Book of Middle Eastern Food or The Book of Jewish Food. They'll be friends for life.
The Guardian also recently had some interesting mezze recipes, some of which do not even require tomatoes! http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/index/0,,2109157,00.html (the June 2007 edition, if the link doesn't show properly).
Good luck with the yoga!
W in Tokyo
I was told by my Slovak mother-in-law to NOT use red cabbage for cabbage rolls as savoys and green cabbages work better, but I have used red cabbage and they have turned out quite nicely and rather colourfully. My Polish friend claims "Sacrilege!" I will send the recipe ASAP and you can decide for yourself!
Angela
As I tend not to follow recipes (unless I'm making complicated pastries or other baked goods requiring exact measurements)I work with ingredients and taste rather than cups and teaspoons. The general recipe for Mumka Shelling's cabbage roll filling is as follows:
1 head of cabbage
rice
1 large onion
garlic
bacon
ground pork
ground beef
curry
canned tomato sauce
if you don't want to stand over a boiling pot trying to peel the cabbage leaves apart, core the cabbage and put it in the freezer overnight. then let it thaw. the leaves will have wilted and you'll have to use the boiling technique to encourage only the most stubborn pieces.
cook some rice (i think i use 3 cups of uncooked rice)
fry up half a package of bacon (please excuse my ignorance if you cannot easily obtain bacon or pork in Kurdistan)
fry up 1 lb of ground pork or 1 lb ground veal
fry up 1 lb of ground beef
saute 1 large onion until translucent adding garlic at end for saute as well. mix above ingredients together. season to taste will salt and pepper. This is the curious part - add curry powder to taste. i don't know how a woman from a VERY small country town in Slovakia came to putting curry powder in her cabbage roll filling, but its addition is quite remarkable. wait for the filling to cool then start rolling inside the cabbage leaves in neat pillows. use toothpicks to secure if necessary. put them in a casserole dishe and cover with tomato sauce. cover with foil. bake in oven at 350.
Post a Comment