Slovenian Apple Štrudel

Slovenian Apple Štrudel

Ingredients: (serves 12)
dough:
250 g flour
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup oil
pinch of salt
====mix ingredients, knead and let stand for 30 min. in a bowl covered with a teacloth.
filling:
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 tablespoon sugar
====mix ingredients in small bowl
apple filling:
130 g sugar
1250 g apples
handful of fine bread crumbs
40 g butter
raisins and cinnamon to taste
====melt butter in pan, add breadcrumbs, fry till a paste forms.
peel and grate apples.

On a big table covered with an old (but clean!) tablecloth, roll out the dough till it's so thin you can see the tablecloth through it. Then cover the dough thinly with the sour cream mixture, toss the grated apples on top and drizzle the butter mixture over the apples. Now sprinkle with sugar. If desired, add raisins and cinnamon now. (See the main 80meals post for explanatory pictures)
Roll the dough up into a "sausage" and cut into pieces that will fit into your oven dishes. Bake for about 55 minutes at 180 °C (350 °F).
Serve hot, sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Lithuanian Barščiai

Lithuanian Barščiai

Ingredients: (serves 6)
1 kg grated cooked beets (either pre-packaged, or cook and grate beets yourself)
500 g beef cubes
beef bones
beef stock cubes
200 g grated carrots
1 large celery bulb, grated
250 g mushrooms, sliced
3 big onions, diced
butter
4 garlic cloves, crushed
salt&pepper
laurel leaves (3-4)
cumin
sugar
vinegar
=====
400 ml sour cream

Preparations:
(boil and grate the beets first if you're not using the pre-packaged kind)
Fry the celery bulb, mushrooms, garlic and onions in butter for a few minutes till soft. Add salt, pepper, sugar, cumin and a bit of vinegar. Stir it around a bit.
Now add the cooked beets and carrot and the beefcubes, bones, stock cubes and laurel leaves. Add water till it's about 2 liters of thick soup. Simmer on low fire till beef is cooked.
Add more salt and pepper to taste.
Serve hot with generous dollops of sour cream.

Trinidadian Pelau

Trinidadian Pelau

Ingredients: (4 to 6 servings)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 chicken, cut up (about 2½ to 3 pounds), or substitute Quorn, for vegetarians
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1½ cup gungo (=pigeon) peas, soaked overnight in salt water (last option: from a can)
2 cups rice (do not use instant rice)
3 cups water
1 cup coconut milk
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bunch of spring onions, chopped including the greens
2 stock cubes
1 scotch bonnet hot pepper (or hot sauce to taste)

Preparation: Heat the oil in a heavy pot or skillet. With the heat on high, add the sugar and let it caramelize until it is almost burned, stirring constantly. Add the chicken (or Quorn) and stir until all the pieces are covered with the sugar. Reduce the heat to medium, add the rice, onion, salt and pepper and fry, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Drain the gungo peas, add them to the pot and "stir fry" them as well. Then add the water, coconut milk, stock cubes and scotch bonnet/hot sauce . Reduce the heat and simmer on low fire, covered, for 30 minutes or till the rice is done. The pelau should be moist at the end of the cooking time.

You can vary by using coconut cream instead of coconut milk (add less water) or adding vegetables like squash and carrot to the pelau.

Iranian Naan-o-Paneer-o-Sabzi

Naan-o-Paneer-o-Sabzi

Ingredients: (4 servings)
Iranian or middle-eastern thin bread, 500 grams
feta cheese in cubes, 400 grams
herbs (parsley, coriander, spring onions), 500 grams

Preparations:
Iranian or middle-eastern bread that comes in very thin, soft sheets should be used. It should be warmed up in the oven before serving but avoid over-heating it which will dry it out.

Wash the herbs with cold water and let dry. Cut spring onions into 4-5 cm pieces, and parsley and coriander into small pieces. You can add other herbs or vegetables of choice such as mint leaves or radishes. Serve with the bread and feta cheese.

To eat, cut a small piece of bread, place a piece of feta cheese and some herbs in the middle, and wrap the bread around them.

Iranian Khoresht Fesenjan

Khoresht Fesenjan

Ingredients: (6 servings)
Chicken pieces, 1-1.5 kgs
Ground walnuts, 500 grams
3-4 onions
Pomegranate juice, 3-4 glasses (or 4-5 spoons of pomegranate paste)
Sugar, 2-3 spoons
1/2 cup of cooking oil
Salt

Preparations:
Peel onions and slice thinly. Fry in oil until slightly golden. Wash chicken pieces and fry in onions until color changes. Add 3 glasses of hot water and bring to boil. Turn heat down and let boil slowly for about 30 minutes adding more hot water if needed.

Add salt, ground walnuts and pomegranate juice or paste (if using pomegranate paste, add 2 more glasses of hot water and bring to slow boil). If pomegranate juice or paste is sour, add some sugar to the khoresht.

Care should be taken to cook the khoresht long enough so that the oil in the walnuts comes out and the mix becomes quite thick. Khoresht fesenjan should be served with white or saffron rice.

Japanes Teriyaki Swordfish

Ingredients:
swordfish filets for four
sake
mirin (sweetened sake)
sugar
fresh "mioga" ginger
(japanese) vinegar

Preparations:
Pretreat the swordfish with sake and salt for half an hour to remove the fishy smell. Fry on both sides for two minutes (medium baked) in a pan, then add a small amount of sauce (30ml of soy-sauce, 30 ml of sake and 30 ml of mirin (japanese sweetened sake) with 5g sugar) and boil the sauce until it has condensed. Serve with Mioga-ginger, which is boiled beforehand with japanese vinegar and sugar.

Japanese Ginger Mackerel

Ingredients:
mackerel filets for four
sugar (150 grams)
one ume-boshi (Japanese pickled plum)
one piece of fresh ginger
120 ml of mirin (sweetened sake)
100 ml of sake
150 ml of soy sauce
miso (150 grams)

Preparations:
Mackerel is a tasty fish but it has a bit strong smell too, so the filets of mackerel should be first washed with boiling water (for a few seconds). Then boil the filets in water in a deep frying pan, and carefully remove the scum that forms on top. Remove the water and add the sugar, the ume-boshi, the thinly sliced ginger, the mirin, the sake and the soy sauce and boil till the sauce becomes nice and thick. Finally add the miso (soy paste) and boil for a few more minutes.