ethnic recipes

” Tandoori Inspired Baked Chicken “

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Many years ago when Maria and I lived in Karachi, Pakistan, we developed a deep passion for Indian and Pakistani Food. The chicken I made for dinner tonight was not cooked in a tandoori, nor was it seasoned with the “proper” spice blend a cook wood actually use to make a traditional tandoori chicken.
Nevertheless, this dish came out of the oven smelling, tasting and looking like the best of them 🙂
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All about Tandoori Chicken

All about Tandoor

Ingredients :

Chicken, Breast and legs, cut in half
yoghurt,
Garlic, paste
Ginger, grated
Turmeric,
Hot sauce, preferably scotch bonnet
Kosher salt,
Butter, melted, in a spray bottle
Scallions, sliced fine, for garnish
Chili, roasted, for garnish

Method :

Cut deep slits into the chicken, about 1/2 inch apart.
Mix all seasonings with the yoghurt, rub onto chicken
and into the cut’s until well covered. Marinate overnight.
Bake in a 410 F oven until done. During baking, spray often
with the melted buter.
To serve, top with roasted chili and sprinkle with scallions

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” Naan, Veal Ribs & Other Stuff “

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Last night’s dinner made me realize that I eat a lot of comfort food which does
not necessarily fall into a specific group or cuisine. Sometimes, just raiding the
fridge without a grand plan and simply putting some stuff together on the fly
does produce some great dishes. This was one of them :
” Naan with ribs, chilies, onions and yoghurt ”
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Ingredients :

Veal ribs, simmered, bones removed
Naan, Generously buttered and sprinkled with sea salt
Greek yoghurt,
Chilies, finely diced
Lime, juiced
Garlic, paste
Scallion, sliced
Onions, rings
Sesame seeds,
Oyster sauce,
Sriracha,
Soy sauce,
Teriyaki sauce,
Kosher salt,

Water,

Method :

Blend all ingredients except ribs and half of the chilies.
Put a bit of water into a small, rimmed pan, into which
the ribs just fit, one layer only. Add the ribs.
Cover ribs with the sauce, (the sauce should be very watery
at this point) cover airtight and bake in
a low heat oven until very tender, about 3.5 hours.
When the ribs are tender, the sauce should have thickened
and cling nicely to the ribs.
Arrange rib meat on hot naan, drizzle with yoghurt, add onion rings,
sprinkle with chilies, sesame seeds and scallions and serve with a
garnish of spinach salad and sliced lime.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

” Breakfast Of Champions ” # 10 – Tortilla Española

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This is without doubt one of my favorite potato dishes
and the good thing about it is that it tastes even better when you re-heat the leftovers.
Serve it as a substantial breakfast, as a snack, lunch, dinner or part of a buffet.
As for the ingredients, use potatoes and eggs for sure. Everything else is up to your fancy.
I have used seafood, chicken, ham, braised pork, any kind of sausage, mushroom, cheese,
any kind of vegetables, you name it. Just make sure that if you plan to serve it
at room temperature, season it stronger as when you plan to serve it hot,
since the seasoning is not as prominent at lower temperatures.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” Imperial Chow Mein “

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A Dish I created a few years ago for a chinese restaurant in Bogota, Columbia
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Image by : Hans Susser

Ingredients :

Shrimp, shelled and deveined, tail on, dusted in cornsatarch
Scallops, dusted in cornsatarch
Squid, sliced, dusted in cornsatarch
Egg noodles, cooked and drained
Cooked ham diced
Lap Cheong (chorizo) sliced
Bell pepper, red diced
Bell pepper, green diced
Bell pepper, yellow diced
Green peas, frozen
Onion diced
Scallions, finely sliced
Ginger, shaved
Garlic, paste
Salt, to taste
Lime juice, to taste
Cayenne, to taste
Soy sauce, to taste
Sesame oil, to taste
Sherry wine,
Peanut oil, to fry

Method :

Saute shrimp, scallops and squid in very hot pan until halfway cooked.
Remove and set aside.
Saute all vegetables except scallions, deglaze with sherry.
Add noodles, seafood, ham and seasoning,
saute until well combined, adjust seasoning if necessary .
To serve, sprinkle with scallions.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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” Borscht “

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On a cold and / or rainy night, a hearty borscht will make you instantly
feel better and give you great visual as well as culinary satisfaction.
I have had borscht with all kinds of protein, fish, beef, pork, poultry,
and sometimes vegetables only. My favorite two are goose and veal.
No goose to be found at my butcher today, but veal ribs in abundance.
( I wonder how old that veal really was, seemed more like ribs from a
full grown cow to me 🙂

Here is my version of borscht. You will notice i did not use sour cream
nor dill this time, although I had both at home. The reason was that the
ribs gave such a strong and rich flavor to the soup that I did not want to
distract from it by adding to many other flavors.
Meat and vegetables, pure and unadulterated 🙂
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All you want to know about Borscht
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Ingredients :

Veal Ribs,
Red beets, peeled, diced, cooked, strained, cooking liquid reserved
Potatoes, diced
Cabbage, diced
Carrots, diced
Onions, diced
Green peppers, diced
Garlic, paste
Cilantro, chopped
salt, to taste
cayenne, to taste

Method :

Simmer ribs in salted water until tender. Add potatoes, onions, carrots and garlic and simmer until vegetables are tender but firm.
Add beets, peppers, cabbage and seasoning and simmer for five minutes. Remove all ribs and vegetables into serving dish.
Add reserved red beet cooking liquid to broth, adjust seasoning if necessary and ladle broth over ribs and vegetables.
Sprinkle with cilantro or herbs of your choice.
( Note: Traditionally the beets are cooked with the other vegetables together in the broth. However, it is my opinion that the presentation improves by cooking them separate )
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” Fettuccini Bolognese “

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This simple dish is something I never get tired of.
I have made this in many different variations but
never straying far from the original, classic “bolognese”
Here are two more variations of the classic, the video tells
you the recipe and gives you additional information about
the dish and it’s background,

Bon Appetito ! Life is Good !

” Fusilli Bolognese “

” Vegetarian Spaghetti Bolognese “

” Angry Voices ! ”
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” Geschmortes Rinder Herz ” (Braised Beef Heart)

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Tonight I cooked dish two of my “Offal Series” :
– Braised beef heart with steamed chili potatoes and garlic broccoli rabe.
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Heart:

Marinate the meat for the the Braised Heart in cider vinegar for 8 hours,
strain and dry the meat. Season with Dijon, soy sauce, garlic powder, onion powder,
and pepper. Sautee on high heat until golden, add onions and garlic and saute
until garlic becomes fragrant. Deglaze with plenty of good merlot, add demi glace
and simmer until meat is tender, about one hour. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

Potatoes :

Peel potatoes, cut into wedges and simmer in salted water until almost done.
Strain. Saute chili flakes in plenty of butter on low heat until fragrant, add potatoes
and salt, cover. Leave on very low heat until heated through and fully done.

Broccoli rabe :

Saute Garlic paste until fragrant, add blanched rabe , salt, cayenne and
maggi seasoning and saute until heated through.

Serve with a good sized glass (or two) of the same merlot you use in the sauce 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

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” Bauern Vesper ” # 1

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The word “Vesper” has two very different meanings, and is used in different languages.
Obviously, we don’t want to discuss the religious meaning here, but the culinary one.
In southern Germany we use the word “Vesper” as an alternative to “Brotzeit“,
which means a meal consisting of bread (Brot) and usually, meat, poultry, cheese or fish.
It is a meal traditionally consumed at around sundown (there is a religious connection)
and used to be a simple version of dinner. These day’s, vesper has more or less taken on
the meaning of snack, consisting of bread and protein during any time of day.
Yesterday I skipped breakfast and lunch and instead, in the early afternoon,
had a VERY substantial bauern vesper (farmers meal),
consisting of smoked pork knuckles, slowly simmered until tender,
served with dijon mustard and a dipping sauce of cider vinegar with roasted garlic,
chilies, salt and onions. And last, but not least, a glass of fine merlot.
– And yes, this is one portion. (lot’s of bones) 🙂

Bon Appetit & Cheers ! Life is good !
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” Spaghetti Aglio e Olio “

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Tonight,
a simple, great, straightforward pasta dish is all I need.
I give you : Spaghetti aglio e olio 🙂
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Ingredients :

1 pound dried Spaghetti
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons roasted garlic
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt, to taste

Method :

Cook pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente.
Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until garlic is fragrant.
Drain pasta, reserving some of the cooking liquid. Add to pan.
Season with salt.Mix well, adding some of the cooking liquid
if the pasta seems too dry.
To serve, sprinkle with chopped italian parsley.

Please note :
I have changed the basic, very traditional recipe by replacing
slivered garlic with roasted garlic and adding scallions
(for crunch) and Parmigiano Reggiano (for taste).

Buon Appetito ! Life is Good !
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” Veal Broth With Matzoh Ball’s & Veal Rib’s “

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For many year’s I buy most of my beef, morcilla and chorizo from an Argentinian butcher in Hialeah who sometimes calls me for “specials”.
Usually those are offal and other cuts he has difficulty selling to his American customers, but which he knows I treasure. His older Latino and Haitian customers are also not afraid of that stuff, but the younger crowd usually prefers more mainstream cuts. Wednesday he called me because he had some “specials”. To my surprise, when I got there the specials were veal ribs. It is beyond me why he called me for these, because clearly everybody loves ribs. ( Maybe he was just trying to be nice, not usually one of his outstanding attributes 🙂 Anyway, for $4.50 a pound I did not complain and came home with 10 pound of them (Plus some other goodies)
So here we go :
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Soup:
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Simmer ribs with celery, carrots, onions, leek, garlic, ginger, star anise and chopped tomatoes until ribs are tender, about 2 hours.
Remove ribs, set aside. Strain broth, season with salt, cayenne pepper, lime juice and maggi seasoning.
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Matzo Balls Recipe:

1 cup matzo meal
3 eggs

3 tblsp oil or rendered chicken fat

1/4 cup seltzer (exact amount depends on the size of the eggs and the coarseness of the matzo meal)
3 tblsp finely chopped parsley (optional)
Kosher salt and white pepper to taste

Mix all wet ingredients together, then fold in matzo meal, salt and pepper and place in refrigerator for 15 minutes. Shape into golfball sized balls, drop into boiling water, cover, turn down to a simmer and cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until fully cooked (cut one in half to check if it’s done).

To serve, combine ribs, broth and matzo balls , sprinkle with
chopped cilantro or sliced chives. Grated parmesan optional.
(Not kosher, but I use it anyway)
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Es gezunterheyt ! עס געזונטערהײט ! Life is Good !
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