Tehari

This recipe is quite odd, but fairly tasty and interesting. Be warned, black cumin is not at all like regular cumin. To substitute you might try a mix of cumin and black pepper, but the flavor would still be different.

Beef or Mutton Tehari

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 60 minutes

Serves: 46

Ingredients:

2 lb ground lamb (or beef)

1 onion, sliced

4 green Thai Chillies, split and seeded

3 tsp red chili powder

2 1/2 tbsp salt

1 tsp garam masala

2 tbsp garlic-ginger paste

4 tbsp yogurt

4 pods green cardamom

2 sticks cinnamon

1 tsp black cumin (shahi jeera)

5 cups water

4 cups rice

2 tbsp cilantro

Cooking:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.

Wash and soak the rice.

In a pressure cooker, add a little oil and fry chillies, onions, and ground meat. Once onions and translucent, add chilli powder, salt, and garm masala and cook for another minute.

Add a cup of water, and close the lid. Pressure cook for twenty minutes.

In a heavy saucepan, add the oil and fry garlic-ginger paste until golden brown. Add the yogurt, cardamom, cinnamon, and black cumin and fry for one minute. Add the water and rice, bring to a simmer, and cook for 8 minutes. Add the meat mixture, place the lid on the pot, and put into the oven for 12 minutes.

Garnish with cilantro and serve immediately.

Aash-e Sholeh Qalamkar

This delicious lamb recipe delivers a rich flavor, and a wonderful texture.

Aash-e Sholeh Qalamkar (based on this recipe)

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 lb ground lamb

1/2 bunch parsley, chopped

1/2 bunch chives or scallions ends, finely chopped

1/2 bunch dill, finely chopped

1/2 bunch cilantro, finely chopped

1 cup peas

1/2 cup rice, rinsed

1/2 cup chickpeas

1/2 cup lentils

3 large onions, chopped

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

1/ tsp salt

1 tbsp canola oil

Night Before (or morning before):

Soak beans and lentils for 4-5 hours, or overnight.

Cooking:
In a large pot, fry ground lamb until browned. Drain of excess greases and set aside in a bowl.

Now fry onions in the remaining lamb grease until golden brown. Add lamb, chickpeas, lentils, turmeric, salt, pepper, and water and bring to a simmer. Simmer for one hour.

Add rice and simmer another 20-30 minutes, adding more water if necessary.

Add peas, chives, dill, scallion ends/chives, cilantro, parsley, and peas. Return to a simmer and continue cooking for another 15 minutes.

Pla Sam Rot - Fish with Three Flavors

Fish can be a tricky subject. I admit that I made this recipe with red snapper, which was not only expensive, but at the time I was unaware of how badly overfished red snapper is.

And other snapper varieties will do for this recipe, or better yet Halibut.

Plat Sam Rot - Fish with Three Flavors (based on this recipe)

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

4 filets fish (snapper or halibut)

sea salt

1 cup oil for frying (peanut, rice bran, or canola)

3 kaffir lime leaves (finely sliced)

Handful of cilantro leaves

thai basil, finely chopped

thai chillies, minced

deep fried shallots (you can buy these in asian grocery stores, or mince up shallots and pan fry them until crunchy)

Sauce:

4 cloves garlic, minced

4 thai chillies, seeded and minced

4 coriander/cilantro roots, chopped

3 tbsp palm sugar

1 tsp sea salt

2 tbsp oil (canola, peanut, or rice bran)

1 tsp tamarind concentrate mixed with 2 tbsp water

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp water

Substitutions:

coriander/cilantro roots - parsley root

palm sugar - brown sugar

kaffir lime - basil soaked in lime juice

fish sauce - worcestershire sauce

Preparation:

In a food processor, finely chop garlic, chillies, cilantro roots, and salt.

Make the sauce:

In a small saucepan, heat 2 tbsp oil, and add palm sugar, fish sauce, tamarind concentrate mixed with water and water. Simmer mixture for five minutes and set aside.

Cut three slashes in the filet.

Heat 1 cup oil in a wok until hot enough to pan fry.

Carefully slide the fish into the oil, and cook for a couple minutes each side or until golden brown. (You may need to cook 1 -2 at a time).

Place onto a plate with a paper towel on it to absorb excess oil.

Plate up with sauce, cilantro, minced chillies, and fried shallots.

Thai Seafood and Squash Curry

This simple curry is absolutely delicious and colorful.

Thai Seafood and Squash Curry (based on this recipe)

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 hour

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients:

1 14 oz can coconut milk

2 tbsp thai yellow curry paste

1 1/2 cups fish stock or water

3 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp curry

3 lemongrass stalks, cut into thirds and bruised

3 kaffir lime leaves

1/2 tsp turmeric

2 1/4 lbs butternut squash, cut into cunks

1 lb fish, cut into chunks

1 lbs peeled, de-veined raw shrimp

1 bunch bok choy, shredded

1 lime, juiced

cilantro, chopped

Substitutions:

kaffir lime - basil with a splash of lime juice

bok choy - kale

fish sauce - worcestershire sauce

Cooking:

Skim the coconut cream off of the coconut milk, and mix it in a pan with the curry paste.Bring it to a sizzle, then whisk in the coconut milk, fish stock or water, fish sauce, sugar, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and turmeric.

Bring to a boil, add the pumpkin, and then simmer for 15 minutes (or until squash is tender). Add the fish and shrimp, and simmer for five minutes.

Add the greens,and boil another three minutes. Squeeze in lime juice. Remove from heat, and sprinkle cilantro over the dish.

Serve with Thai or basmati rice.

Chapter 14 : Chile

Stretching across the Pacific coast of South America, Chile is a narrow country of mountains and coasts. The ingredients aren't too unfamiliar if you've cooked Peruvian cuisine: quinoa, corn, and potatoes are common.

For our first attempt we made Chilean asado. Asado is apropriate across Latin America, Chilean asado is topped with pebre: a mix of cilantro, onions and parsley.

Asado with Pebre

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Serves: variable

Ingredients:

Any mix of the following meats:

Ribs, flank steak, chorizo, or offal

Pebre:

2 cups cilantro

2 cups parsley

1 chopped onion

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp crushed red pepper

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

Preparation:

Mix all pebre ingredients, excepy olive oil, in a bowl and refridgerate for one hour, then stir in olive oil right before serving.

Cooking:

Barbeque, or broil, meats until cooked. Then top with pebre and serve.

Goat Meat

Goat. If you're American and reading this, chances are you might have had goat cheese, but never eaten goat itself. It has a strong, bold flavor quite unlike other red meat.

This recipe also requires anatto. Anatto is readily available anywhere you can find authentic Mexican ingredients. It looks a lot like red lead paint powder, and is used to achieve the saffron-like color in this dish (and is quite a bit cheaper than saffron).

This recipe also uses aji amarillo. If this is unavailable, you can substitute jalapeno.

Seco de Cabrito

Marinade Time: 4 hours

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 1/2 hour

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

3 lbs goat meat

1 bottle beer

1 tbsp ground anatto

2 tbsp aji amarillo paste

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 bunch fresh cilantro

1/3 bunch fresh parsley

2 aji amarillo

1 tsp cumin

2 chopped yellow onions

6 garlic cloves

1 chopped tomato

1 lb potato

Preparation:

Cut the goat into 1 inch cubes. Make a marinade out of garlic, anatto, aji amarillo paste, salt, black pepper, and beer. Marinate goat for at least four hours prior to cooking.

In a blender mix cilantro, parsley, onion, cumin, aji amarillo, and 1/4 cup stock and blend until smooth.

Cooking:

In a large pot heat 3 tbsp oil, and fry the goat meat until browned. Add the cilantro blend, and enough water to cover goat, and heat for four minutes. Add the marinade, and bring to a boil. Boil for two minutes, and then reduce to simmer and add the potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are soft.

Serve with rice.

This dish is exotic, and the flavor of goat may put off some of the less adventurous, but it's well worth the effort. The original, somewhat garbled recipe, called for yucca. Personally, I'm not sure I'm a fan of the yucca and potatoes seem perfectly Pervuian, but either way it's delicious.