Lebanese main dish & dessert

April's international cuisine was Lebanese. It wasn't the most successful month of cooking, but I did find a decent main dish and dessert recipe. The appetizer was a type of bread... but I'm going to make tweaks to the recipe I found and update on that later.

Lebanese food is usually heavily seasoned, but not spicy. It's very similar to Greek cuisine, and I wanted to make sure I found recipes that leaned more into the category of Lebanese and not Greek. For my main dish I made Lebanese Chicken & Potatoes.

     8 cut up chicken pieces
     8 small potatoes
     3 cloves garlic, crushed
     1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
     1 cup fresh lemon juice
     salt & white pepper to taste

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Wash & peel potatoes. Slice the potatoes and chicken into bite size pieces and place in a large baking dish. Sprinkle salt and white pepper on top.
• In a bowl, stir together garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice. Pour over chicken and potatoes. 
• Cover dish with tinfoil and bake for 30 minutes. 
• Remove tinfoil and turn heat up to 475 degrees F and cook another 30 minutes.

Half a dish of Lebanese Chicken & Potatoes.

This was a very basic recipe and turned out well. It makes about 5-7 servings. The only pain was crushing the garlic cloves, so I gave that task to the Boyfriend Unit. The lemon juice gave the flavor a nice twang. I would recommend this as a dish if you have guests over and want to whip up something a little different.




The dessert was super awesome. Technically, it's more of an Algerian cookie, but Lebanese desserts do tend to favor almonds, so I let that slide. However, it's not a cheap dessert to make due to the amount of almonds needed. Nether the less, I created a batch of Makroud el Louse (or if you want an easier name, call them Algerian Almond Cookies).

     1 pound almonds, whole
     1 cup sugar
     2 eggs, lightly beaten
     2 cups water
     1/2 cup sugar
     1 tablespoon orange extract
     3 cups powdered sugar

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grind almonds into a fine powder and then add to large bowl. Stir in 1 cup of sugar.
• Make a crater in the center of the pulverized almonds & sugar. Add the eggs and stir with spoon until the dough comes together. 
• Knead the dough with clean hands until smooth. Divide the dough into 4 equal portions and remove to a floured work surface. 
• Roll one portion out into a rope about as thick as two fingers. Press down to slightly flatten the roll and then cut the rope at a diagonal to make 1 inch pieces. 
• Repeat with the rest of the dough and place the 1 inch pieces on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake cookies 12 minutes and then let cool.
• While cookies bake, bring the water and 1/2 cup of sugar to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Stir to dissolve sugar and let boil for 10 minutes. Removed from heat, stir in the orange extract, and let cool to room temperature. 
• Get a bowl to hold the powdered sugar. Lightly dip each cookie into the sugar syrup and then dip into powdered sugar to coat the dampened part of the cookies. Place on rack to dry and repeat process for all cookies.

Before baking in the oven.

After baking in the oven.

These cookies are so darn good. I couldn't help but eat a few while typing in the instructions. I was very leery about what the results would be, but I was happy with the taste and texture. I ended up with 48 cookies from this one recipe. I shared with some family and friends, and the cookies received one thumbs up (because the other thumb was busy holding another cookie). If you can't find orange extract, you can use a teaspoon of lemon zest. I'm not sure if the orange extract really added to the flavor, but it does give the cookies a heavenly aroma.

I only have one major rule for this cookie - make sure you share.

Fun fact - This entry doesn't really have any fun facts.

Dang Dangos

Okay. Finally. The Japanese dessert.

Dangos are dang hard to make. I'm not even fully sure I made them correctly... And frankly, I'm a little scared to actually taste them. Might just be one of those dishes I have the Boyfriend Unit eat before I risk my own taste buds.

Fun fact: Dangos are dumplings that can be either savory or sweet. They are usually served on bamboo skewers.

I found my recipe on The Anime Blog, and decided to create the Easy Dango:

          1 cup mochiko (sweet rice flour)
          1/4 boiling water

• Fill medium sized saucepan with water and boil
• Slowly add a small amount of water to the mochiko and carefully knead dough together
• Keep slowly adding water until dough is the consistency and texture of an earlobe
• Form dough into small balls and add them to boiling water
• Cook for 8 minutes or until they float to the surface

Fun fact: Bocchan dango has three colors. One is colored by red beans, the second by eggs, and the third by green tea. I just used food dye.

Dangos are often accompanied with sauces. I sprinkled white & brown sugar on top.

So end result - worse dish I have ever made. Don't make dangos. At least, not these dangos. There are some recipes that require the balls to be grilled instead of boiled, which seems more promising. But it's probably best if you just bake some plain ol' chocolate chip cookies for dessert instead.

Unimportant update.

March has been a super busy social month, so International Cuisine Night sort of got squished around. I already had success making rolled beef, fluffy boiled potatoes, and sushi rolls. My next goal is to make a Japanese dessert, dango.


Just a reminder for those new to the blog, each month I pick a cuisine and then try to create an appetizer, main dish, and dessert based on that cuisine. I have a small box that contains slips of paper with a variety of cuisine choices. Just for information sake, these are the available cuisines:

• Native American - January
• Great Britain - February
• Japanese - March
• German
• Russian
• Vegan
• Italian
• Jewish
• Spanish
• Lebanese - April
• Thai
• Greek
• Chinese
• Mexican
• Irish
• French
• Indian
• Vegetarian

Know a cuisine that I didn't list? Let me know so I can add it to my list!

Leprechaun Drop Cookies

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I was inspired to whip up a batch of cookies last night for the holiday.

3/4 cup sugar                                2 1/4 cup flour
3/4 cup brown sugar                     1 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks butter (softened)               3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs                                  2 cups Andes baking mints
1 teaspoon vanilla                         1 cup semi-sweet baking chocolate chips
Green food dye

• Preheat oven to 375
• Mix sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs, and 8 drops of food dye
• Gradually mix in flour, baking soda, and salt
• Stir in baking chips
• Bake for 8 minutes

I present to you - Leprechaun Drop Cookies!

Sushi Part II - Photo update

Sushi rice spread over the seaweed & sesame seeds on top.

Cling wrap is placed around bamboo mat to keep rice from sticking.

Flipped, so rice will be on outside. 

This is the improved "Hon" roll. Crab meat, cream cheese, and (now) steamed asparagus.

Sliced and topped with sweet & sour sauce.

NOM NOM NOM!!!

The rolls were lovely and super tasty.

Yawata-maki & Jagaimo no tosa-fumi (I'm not speaking in tongues, I swear!)

While researching Japanese cuisine, I came across a couple of recipes I wanted to try instead of just doing one Japanese meal this month. Last night I tried my hand at yawata-maki (rolled beef) and jagaimo no tosa-fumi (fluffy boiled potatoes).

Fun fact: Japanese cooking was influenced by China in the 8th and 9th centuries when chopsticks and soy sauce were introduced.

So let's get down to business. For the Fluffy Boiled Potatoes, only a few ingredients are required.

2 large potatoes
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sake
1 teaspoon salt

The original recipe also called for bonito flakes to be sprinkled over the potatoes after they're cooked. I failed to find any store that sold bonito flakes (no luck at a large Asian market uptown). And really, who wants dried fish flakes on their food anyways? Save that junk for the cats.

• Clean and peel potato skins. Cut into chunks (roughly the size of dice).
• Fill a sauce pan with enough water to cover potatoes. Heat water to a boil and then add potato chunks. Reduce to a medium heat.
• Let potatoes cook until they are tender. You can test by poking them with a skewer. If it goes in easily, they're done.
• Drain water. 
• Mix the soy sauce, sake, and salt together and then pour over potatoes. Toss lightly to spread the sauce around.

This makes about 3-4 servings. I used the two largest russet potatoes Walmart had to offer, but I think next time I'll just use one potato and cut the ingredients for the sauce in half. The flavor was amazing and I am for sure making this again in the future. It took a long time to have the potatoes cook because the cook book said to put the heat on low... but then the water didn't seem hot enough, so medium heat works better.

Bowl of fluffy boiled potatoes - great side dish.

The Rolled Beef gave me some grief. I had to cut the beef myself into the thin sheets required. Plus I found out I had no idea how to steam asparagus (instructions were not in the cook book). But now that I've lived through the experience, I think I could repeat the whole progress more smoothly.

1 pound thinly-sliced beef sirloin or tenderloin            10 asparagus, steamed
2 tablespoons ground ginger                                      1 tablespoon sake
1/4 cup soy sauce                                                     4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar                                                    toothpicks

• Make teriyaki sauce by mixing together the ginger, sake, soy sauce, and sugar. Marinate the meat in sauce for an hour.
• Steam asparagus by cutting off the bottom third of the stalk (or just bend until it snaps - asparagus will snap at its weak point). Place in microwave safe container, add 3 tablespoons of water, cover with cling wrap with one corner opened. Microwave for 2 minutes.
• Slice asparagus to be the same width of the  the beef slices. Place 3 slices of asparagus at base of beef slice and then roll up, securing with a tooth pick. Refer to images below.

• Put a thin layer of vegetable oil in skillet and heat. Place the rolled beef pieces in and cook until brown. Be sure to flip and move the beef to insure all sides are browned. 

Having the toothpicks in the meat makes it a bit of a pain to cook them in the skillet, but it helps so much to keep it all together. You can remove the toothpicks once the meat has cooled a little. The teriyaki sauce gives these things a KICK of flavor which is beyond great. I made my slices about 2 fingers wide, so the beef rolls turned out to be bite sized. This is a dish that makes me feel like I've done some fancy, culinary cooking - but it was actually pretty easy. I did have to figure out how to cut my meat (by the way, have it slightly frozen to make it easier to slice) and learn how to steam asparagus. If you want to add a bit more flavor, cut slices of green onion to put in with the asparagus. Either way, it taste super awesome and will make you feel like like a real chef.

Most pointless fact ever: Eating asparagus will make your pee smell funny. That's a scientific fact.

Yawata-maki - a.k.a. Rolled Beef (if you prefer a more normal name)

This was a very fulfilling meal with a lot of flavor packed into each bite. This meal has easily become the top favorite so far. But don't take my word for it - you should make it for yourself.

A lesson about sushi.

Sushi is the most famous dish of Japanese cuisine and is usually eaten during celebrations in Japan. There are different types of sushi, but whatever type of sushi you order, it will contain fish and rice.
Fun fact: Sushi does not mean "raw fish". Sashimi is raw fish. Sushi is actually vinegared rice with other ingredients.


 The most well known type is Norimaki. This is when rice and seafood is rolled in sheets of dried seaweed. There is a large variety of items that can be placed inside the rolls such as avocado, cucumber, cream cheese, and, of course, the various seafood items. When the sushi is rolled with the rice on the outside (instead of the seaweed) it's referred to as an "inside out" roll. In Japan, it is much more common to see the rolls with the seaweed on the outside.




Nigiri is a ball of rice with the fish placed on top. This sushi sometimes has a strip of seaweed to keep the fish and rice together. The most popular varieties for this style include tuna, shrimp, octopus, or eel.




The third most popular sushi is Temaki. Dried seaweed sheets are rolled into cone shapes and stuffed with sushi rice, seafood, and vegetables. I'm not a huge fan of this type of sushi because I prefer the seaweed to be more masked within the other ingredients. But don't let that scare you away from temaki. Seaweed is actually one of the healthiest foods available, containing trace minerals, enzymes, and vitamins A, C, D, E, & K. It's good for your digestive and nervous system.


The sushi rolls I made were very plain. We made two sushi rolls, but I could have made more since the recipe I used created enough for 4-5 rolls. Since I don't own a rice cooker, I used a video from YouTube to figure out how to cook the rice correctly. Runny's Japanese Cooking had a great video that I followed - but again, a lot of rice was made.
I wanted to create an inside out roll, so I found a great video from HowCast.com to walk me through the steps. This particular video demonstrates how to make the California Roll, but I invited my own sushi rolls instead.

On the left is the Hon Roll and on the right is the Kelci Roll (for lack of more creative names). Originally, I had planned to use an avocado as well, but it turns out that they go bad very quickly (which now I know...).
The Hon Roll has shredded crab meat and cream cheese. We drizzled sweet and sour sauce on top.
The Kelci Roll had cooked salmon and cream cheese with a dipping sauce called hoisin on top.
Fun fact: Hoisin sauce is a Chinese dipping sauce. "Hoisin" literally means "seafood"... but fish is not an ingredient.

The Hon Roll was the favorite by far. Each roll was tasty, but they kept falling apart. Next time I'll have to make sure I wrap them more tightly with the bamboo mat. Also - it is VERY important to have a sharp knife to slice the rolls. Follow the tip from the video and slide the side of the knife against a damp cloth between cuts to prevent the rice from sticking.


I will be attempting more sushi rolls a few weeks from now on the International Cuisine night. Creating the rice is the most time consuming portion of the process, but now that I have the hang of it I look forward to creating more sushi rolls.


Now who wants to have a sushi party!

Wonton or Rangoon?

I'm going to say... Both!

I seriously can't figure out what the true difference is between a wonton and a rangoon, except rangoons seem to be most commonly filled with crab meat. Wontons seem to usually have pork or shrimp... but where's the rule that says I can't fill a wonton wrap with crab meat and still call it a wonton?

Fun fact: Wontons are a type of dumpling found in many Chinese cuisines of soups and noodle dishes. In American Chinese cuisine they're often served as appetizers.

Anyways. I sort of created my own recipe because I couldn't find one online that I liked.

Wonton wraps
1 package Neufchatel cheese (or cream cheese)
1 can (6 ounce) shredded crab meat
1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

• Drain water from canned crab and mix the meat with the cheese and sauces. 
• Take about a tablespoon of the mixture and place in the middle of a wrap. Wet the sides of the wrap and then fold in half, creating a triangle. The water helps seal the wraps. 
• Makes sure wraps are sealed. If possible, "burp" out any trapped air that might get caught inside the closed wontons. 
• Heat oil in deep skillet. When a drop of water hisses, the oil is hot enough.
• Place the wontons into the hot oil and let brown on both sides. 

The result was tasty. I used Neufchatel cheese because it has 1/3 of the fat that cream cheese does. It has a sharper, more cheesy taste to than cream cheese (also not as sweet). There were some slight issues when the wraps would open in the oil, causes a LOT of hissing and splattering of the hot oil. Just be aware that hot oil looks nice and calm until it touches something it doesn't like.

My only complaint is they seemed a little too greasy. Some sites suggest places the wontons on a paper towel after removing it from the oil, so maybe that helps.

Makes roughly 15-20 wontons.

In the mean time, I am still looking up recipes for the Japanese cuisine night. I am studying the art of sushi techniques in hopes that I can create some rolls that are worth eating.

February - Great Britain

The first thing that pops to mind when I hear the term "British cuisine" is fish and chips or tea and crumpets. A little research gave me some extra options for cooking, and I was finally able to decide on my appetizer, main dish, and dessert. 




Appetizer: Yorkshire Pudding
Main Dish : Sunday Roast Beef
Dessert: Parkin

For the Yorkshire Pudding I used a recipe from AllRecipes.com that claimed to be a quick and easy pudding recipe. Compared to the other recipes I found, it seemed the least complicated.

• 1 cup milk                               3 eggs
  1 cup all-purpose flour              3 tablespoons butter

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

• In a medium bowl, beat eggs with milk. Stir in flour. Set aside.
  
  
• Divide butter evenly into the 24 cups of a muffin tin, about 1/2 teaspoon per cup. Place tin in oven to melt butter, 2 to 5 minutes. Remove tin from oven, and quickly distribute batter evenly among buttery cups.

• Reduce heat to 350 degrees F, and bake 25 minutes more or until puffed and golden.

The original recipe asked for just 2 tablespoons of butter, but since I was using the mini-muffin pan instead of a regular sized one, it required an extra tablespoon. I didn't measure the butter places in each cup, but I had just enough so when it melted there would be a thin layer for the batter to sit on. Also, since it was the smaller tin, I only used about 3/4 of the batter. You have to place the batter in the hot butter and get it back in the oven before it cools. We filled the cups a little less than half with the batter since it expands so much in the oven. 

Fun fact: I've always been a little skittish about the oven and getting burned when putting items in or taking them out. That's way that task is totally left to Jonathon.

The result was good - fluffy and buttery, but they are best when eaten immediately after baking. I was pleased they ended up looking, more or less, like the images I found online.

Yorkshire Pudding

The Roast Beef was great and something I will definitely make again! I also found this recipe from AllRecipes.com and was pleased to put my Crock Pot to use. I would fully 
recommend this to anyone with a slow cooker.

1 1/4 cups water                       
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
3 1/2 pounds pot roast              
1 (1 ounce) package dry onion soup mix

• In a slow cooker, mix cream of mushroom soup, dry onion soup mix and water. Place pot roast in slow cooker and coat with soup mixture.
• Cook on High setting for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low setting for 8 to 9 hours.

Seriously. That's it. Just 4 ingredients and 2 steps, and you have a main dish! The soup and onion mix creates a good gravy that tastes great over the meat and Yorkshire pudding. I'll admit, the roast looks a little gross sitting in the slow cooker... but the result is SO yummy. I only have a 4 quart Crock Pot, so anything pushing 4 pounds would be too much - but if you have a larger slow cooker and bigger family to fed, just select a larger roast,and the other ratios should be fine.  

Fun fact: It's a tradition in Great Britain to have a Sunday roast with the family. It is usually served with potatoes and other vegetables, along with Yorkshire pudding.

Slice of Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding (without gravy)

In my previous entry I explained my dilemma on finding an appealing British dessert. I vetoed the spotted dick and decided to try Parkin. It's like a British hybrid of cake and gingerbread. Of the three recipes, this was probably the most difficult, but that's really not saying anything because it was still a straight forward recipe to follow. 

3/4 cup flour                                                    1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder             1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger                                    1/8 teaspoon cloves

3/4 cup oatmeal                                            3/4 cup corn syrup

1 stick of butter                                             1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg                                                      1 tablespoon milk

• Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, and clovers. Blend in the oatmeal. 
• Place the syrup, butter, and sugar in a saucepan and heat until well blended. Stir into dry mixture. 
• Beat the egg with the milk and add to mixture.
• Pour into lightly greased 8-inch square cake pan. Bake at 275 degrees F for 1 1/4 hours (or until firm in the middle). Cool before serving. 

We prepared the mixture as the Yorkshire pudding was in the oven, that way I could throw it in the oven once the pudding was done. For a darker color, use dark corn syrup and dark brown sugar. The Parkin smelled great and made me think of the scents of Thanksgiving or Christmas. The top is a little crunchy, but the center is soft. The result was... eh? It's not our cup of tea. It was good, and I would recommend it if you're cooking for someone that hates chocolate or you just want a unique dessert. 
Fun fact: Parkin originated in Northern England and is traditionally eaten on Bonfire Night (November 5) but is also enjoyed year round.

Slice of Parkin

British cuisine was a success. Everything turned out well and the roast beef recipe will be saved for future meals. Now I can start preparing for next month's fun International Cuisine Night:

Spotted Dick and a lesson about Pudding.

The second International Cuisine Night is almost here, and I've been busy looking up recipes.

As a recap, February's cuisine is British and I will be making an appetizer, main dish, and dessert. Deciding on the appetizer and main dish was easy - families in Great Britain have a tradition of a Sunday roast (usually beef) with a serving of Yorkshire pudding and potatoes.

Now when most of you think of pudding, an image similar to this probably comes to mind:

Mmmm - American chocolate pudding

But in Great Britain, the term pudding can mean any type of sweet dish served after a main course. The fun thing about the Yorkshire pudding is that it can be used as a dessert or a side dish with beef roast. At one point in history it was used as an appetizer to make people more full before the main course (back when meat was difficult to come by and was in smaller portions). This is what Yorkshire pudding is expected to look like:

Yorkshire pudding

I lucked out and might be getting a family Yorkshire pudding recipe from one of Jonathon's British co-workers. I'm hoping I get the recipe in time, but I might not. It is hand written and the gentleman's mum is typing it up for me. If I don't get it by Sunday I'll use another source for the recipe. However, I will still use the family's recipe later on to compare the results.

As for dessert, I'm having a devil of a time figuring out what to make. I want something that appeals to me, but most of the British desserts consist of cakes with dried fruit. Ick. Which brings me to the catchy entry title: spotted dick. I seriously thought it was a dish made from a poor animal's genitalia, but as it turns out it is not made by that. At all (Thank God). It's just another type of British pudding. It's called spotted due to the dried fruit pieces, and dick because... well, I can't find a consistent answer anywhere for that. My best guess is that it started as an inside joke for some giggles, but then got way out of hand and was never corrected.

Spotted Dick

As amusing as it might be for me to make a spotted dick, I've decide to keep searching for a dessert that doesn't require raisins or such nonsense.


Fun fact: I totally held my breath when I did a Google Image Search for spotted dick. 

Cold-Water Test for Candy

In my last post, I sort of failed at making the popcorn balls. I didn't understand the directions about checking the syrup temperature using cold water, and in the end I believe it was well over-heated. 

Since making the first meal, we actually went out and bought a cooking book. (I swear, it's one of the smartest things I've done all year.) I recommend the Better Homes & Garden New Cook Book. It has a lot of good tips for cooking - such as the cold-water test.

The book has great photos to explain the different ball stages of cooking syrup. However, the best website with the visual is at Taste of Home. 

The downside is that while you are using the cold-water test to figure out the temperature, your syrup is probably starting to over heat. So getting a candy thermometer is probably a wise investment. 

Fun fact: It's best to make candy on a dry day. If the humidity is over 60%, most candies won't turn out very well.

January - Native American

I'm not entirely sure why Native American was made an option. It's not like people think "Mmm, I'm craving some Indian food!" And if they do think that, they're talking about food from India.

Either way, it was the first cuisine drawn for the year. It was tricky to find recipes (most Native American searches resulted in breads or soups). Eventually I found the winning recipes for the meal.





Appetizer: Chippewa Bannock (type of fried bread)
Main Dish : Isleta Pueblo Buffalo Roll
Dessert: Maple Popcorn Balls


For the Chippewa Bannock I used a recipe pulled from ocbtracker.com.
2 c  Flour                               3/4 c  Water
5 T  Bacon drippings              1 ts Baking powder
1/2 ts Salt                              1/4 c  Cooking oil

• Sift together the dry ingredients, then mix in the bacon drippings and water.  
• Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet until a drop of water sizzles.  
• Drop the batter from teaspoon, flatten into cakes and cook 3 to 5 minutes on a side or until well browned.

Sounds simple, right? Well that's because it is. The only thing that was a little confusing was the bacon drippings. I'm not sure if there's some better way of getting that much bacon grease, but we ended up just frying up a whole package of cheap bacon (heard from a source that cheap bacon gives off the most grease). Even if that's not the correct way, we ended up with a bunch of yummy bacon to munch on while cooking, so ha! We won anyways.  

The advice that the cooking oil is ready when a drop of water sizzles is dead on. But it scared the crap out of me when I let a drop of water fall from my finger into the skillet. Fun fact: oil might not APPEAR to be cooking, but that sucker is HOT. If you've never cooked by frying an item in oil, just keep in mind that water and hot oil will not mix. Instead, it will try to jump out and attack you. 

The end result was a tasty snack. Even though it only said to brown one side, I flipped them over and let them barely brown up on the other side as well. 

chippewa bannock & our extra bacon

While I was frying up the appetizer, the boyfriend unit was working on the ingredients for the Isleta Pubelo Buffalo Roll. I'm just going to confess now that the original recipe was supposed to be lamb, but when we got to Whole Foods they didn't have pre-ground lamb. But they did have buffalo. (And what's more Native American than buffalo... right?)

      1 1/2 lbs ground lamb (or buffalo, if you wanna be totally awesome like us)

      1 1/2 t salt

      1/8 t pepper

      1 garlic bud, mashed

      1 medium onion, chopped 

      2/3 c milk

      1 roasted green chile, peeled, seeded, and chopped

      1/2 c crushed corn chips or toasted tortillas, ground to fine crumbs

      1 1/2 c canned whole kernel corn

      1/4 c catsup (ketchup works just as well, too. True story.)

• Mix together meat, crumbs, onion, milk and seasonings
• Pat or roll out to a 12-inch square
• Combine corn and green chile & spread over meat
• Roll to a cylinder, sealing edge and ends
• Place on rack in uncovered pan and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes
• Brush all sides with catsup, and bake for another 30 minutes

Besides using buffalo instead of lamb, we also substituted green chile for shredded cheese. We also only used half an onion, since nether of us are huge fans of that vegetable. We bought a garlic masher and had another "wtf are we doing" moment when we couldn't decide if the smaller parts of the garlic were the bud, or if the entire thing was a bud. Fun fact: The whole garlic is the bud. The smaller pieces inside are called cloves. 

Make sure you don't spread the meat mixture too thin - when you start to roll it with the corn, the sides will try to tear apart. 

End result was a good meal. The buffalo meat seems to brown darker than beef and has a stronger/bolder flavor as well. This was our first time trying buffalo, and I think it was a good choice for this recipe. 

Isleta Pueblo buffalo roll 

Now for the most difficult of the three. The Maple Popcorn Balls. The recipe was pulled from recipegoldmine.com, which was the site that made me think that Native American would be an interesting cuisine option. 

       1/4 cup popping corn

       1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

       1 cup maple syrup

       1 1/2 teaspoons butter 

• Pop corn according to package directions. Season with salt, if desired.
• Heat syrup and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until temperature reaches 250 degrees F on a candy thermometer or until a few drops form soft balls when dropped in cold water.
• Remove pan from heat and pour mixture over popcorn. 
• When mixture is cool enough, toss popcorn with syrup and mold into balls

First off, I need to invest in a candy thermometer, because we could not figure out what it meant by "soft balls" in water. I let the butter & syrup keep heating up until it was bubbling and a very soft brown foam. I couldn't tell if it needed to thicken up before it was done. After roughly half an hour of constant stirring, we decided to dribble the sauce over the popcorn. I guess it got hot enough, because the tip of my silicon mixer-spatula was melting off. Fun fact: Do not use a silicon mixer-spatula for items cooking on the stove. For the popcorn we bought kernels and popped them in a sauce pan on the stove. We put a clear lid over the pan so we could watch them pop (it was cute!). We didn't really succeed in forming neat balls of popcorn - maybe we didn't evenly pour the sauce over the popcorn before trying to shape them. Or maybe we didn't let it cool enough before being handled.

Either way, the result was... eh. I don't plan on making popcorn balls again any time soon. 

maple popcorn balls

Thus our first cuisine of the year is done! Over all, Native American was an interesting cuisine for cooking. I would very much recommend the appetizer and main dish ideas. 

Next month: British cuisine. Cheery-o!

2011

New year, new tradition.

Once a month, I and my boyfriend are going to have an International Cuisine Night. We'll be cooking an appetizer, main dish, and dessert from the selected culture of the month. To start things off, I wrote down 18 different styles of cuisine and threw the options into a small box. One of us pulls out a slip of paper to determine the culture we'll be cooking from.

Let me just say that our cooking experience is highly limited. This is just one big learning experience.