Argentina

Lentil Stew with Sweet Potato

Ingredients:

1 cup dry lentils

1 Sweet potato, peeled and cubed

 1 quart water

 1 cube vegetable bouillon

 3 medium tomatoes, diced

 1 large onion, diced

 1 carrot, sliced

 1 medium apple - peeled, cored and diced

 1/2 cup frozen peas

 1 large clove garlic

 1 tablespoon olive oil

 1/4 cup barbecue sauce

 1/2 teaspoon paprika

 salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Place the lentils and water in a large pot, and mix in the vegetable bouillon. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes.

Stir the tomatoes, onion, carrot, apple, peas, garlic, olive oil, barbecue sauce, and paprika into the pot. Continue to simmer 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to serve.

Thoughts:

This turned out phenomenally!! BBQ sauce and Apples has to be one of the strangest combinations, but it works! I made a few variations to the stew. I used spicy BBQ sauce (turns out 98% of the sauces out there have high fructose corn syrup and spicy is all I could find w/o hfcs). I also had a left over sweet potato that was conveniently peeled in advance for me, so I cubed it and tossed it in the pot. I tend to favor my veggies being crispy rather than soft; too much mushy pot roast as a child…. So I wouldn't cook it any longer than 20 minutes. 

Angola

Peanut Stew

Ingredients

1 teaspoon canola oil or 1 teaspoon peanut oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 Sweet potato 
1 -2 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
1 jalapeno pepper, diced (or serrano if you like it more spicy)
2 -3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1/2-1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon berbere, spice powder (or cayenne)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
black pepper, to taste
1 -2 teaspoon sugar
3 -4 cups water or 3 -4 cups broth
1/2-1 cup crunchy peanut butter (adjust to taste)
peanuts, for garnish (optional)
1 dash lemons (optional) or 1 dash lime juice (optional)

Directions

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Add the onions, garlic and ginger; cook until the onion is translucent. Add the chili pepper(s), heat for several more minutes.
Add turmeric, berbere, and cloves. Cook over medium heat until.
Add the tomatoes, grated carrot and any other vegetables you want to use. Cook for 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the water or broth to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the peanut butter and reduce heat to medium-low. Stir well for 5-10 minutes, or until the peanut butter dissolves. Add the sugar and lemon/lime juice (if using). Taste, and adjust any ingredients to taste. Simmer for 5-10 minutes longer. 

Thoughts:

As the weeks pass and the year comes into full swing, I, like most people by the end of January, realize my New Years goals were neither attainable nor realistic; as goals should be. I may have bitten off more than I can chew (so to speak). Alas, I was able to get around to yet another country, and so it goes… Typically, the thoughts are born entirely of my own perspective. The brave soul who dared to join me gave it glowing remarks! If, like me, you find peanut butter to give you that certain ineffable feeling, I would strongly recommend this stew. It was simple to make (passing the beer in hand test), cheap (including the beer), and  delicious with a hint of spice! It also makes for some great left-over lunches.  

My new, and hopefully attainable goal, is to add to this during the weekends. We’ll see how it goes

Andorra

Trinxat & Espinacs amb Panses i Pinyons

Trinxat 

Ingredients

 1 large bunch kale, cleaned

1 large bunch Swiss chard, greens shredded, stems reserved for another use

12 small red potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

2 Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes

1/2 cup olive oil

1 head garlic, peeled and thinly sliced

Directions

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add the kale and Swiss chard. Cook for 20 minutes. Add the potatoes to the pot and cook until softened, about 20 more minutes. Strain and reserve the vegetables.

Meanwhile, place the oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the garlic to the oil and remove from the heat to infuse the oil. Remove the garlic with a slotted spoon or strainer and add the strained vegetables to the pot of infused oil. Mash the vegetables until thoroughly combined, but still a bit chunky.

Espinacs amb Panses i Pinyons (Spinach with Raisins and Pine Nuts)

Ingredients

Spinach with raisins and pine nuts.
Ingredients (serves 4):
1 bunch of spinach
1/2 cup of raisins, ¾ cup pine nuts
Salt, pepper and olive oil

Directions

The dish is basically sautéed spinach in a paella dish with a splash of olive oil, raisins and pine nuts. But before this, the spinach needs to be boiled, drained, and cut into small pieces.
Toast the pine nuts in the frying pan, then add the raisins along with the oil.
When the pine nuts are browned, add the spinach, salt and pepper and stir for a short while. 

Thoughts

I have absolutely no complaints with this dish; everything was delicious!! The Trinxat was basically a fancy way of making mashed potatoes. Greens in potatoes; who would’ve thought?? I highly recommend infusing the oil with the garlic. It adds a very subtle, but apparent garlic taste. The spinach was also exceptional! The addition of the pine nuts inflated the cost of this meal, but if your pallet is what is driving you, they shouldn't be spared.  

Aljerryuh

Garantita with Harissa

                                                          

Ingredients 

2 cups chickpea flour (Garbanzo Bean Flower)

4 cups water

1/2 cup sunflower oil (you can use vegetable or canola also)

2 -3 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 egg, beaten

1 1/2-2 teaspoons cumin

To serve
4 tablespoons harissa
2 large French baguettes
1 tablespoon cumin


Directions
Preheat oven to 360 F
Place all your ingredients (except the egg & those required to serve!) in a large blender / liquidizer - you may need to do this in 2 batches
Liquidize the mixture until it is frothy & completely smooth.
Pour this batter into a 7" x 11" rectangular pan.
Whisk the egg, and then pour over the top of the batter.
Cook for around 45 minutes or until the top is lightly golden but the middle is still slightly squishy / sloppy (unless you like it firmer, in which case cook it 5 - 10 minutes more).
Slice the garantita into 8 pieces (a large, wide spatula or cake knife is useful for this!)
Cut each baguette into 1/4's, then split open & remove a little of the inner bread.
Spread the bottom of each 1/4 of baguette with 1/2 tbsp. of the harissa & lay the garantita on top. Sprinkle with a little cumin then cover with the top of the baguette - to make a sandwich.

Harissa Recipe

 10-12 dried red chili peppers

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground caraway seeds

1/2 teaspoon cumin

Directions

Soak the dried chilies in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain. Remove stems and seeds.
In a food processor combine chili peppers, garlic, salt, and olive oil. Blend.
Add remaining spices and blend to form a smooth paste.

Thoughts

If you haven't ever cooked a soufflé before, I would highly recommend researching it first; I didn't..... A  strange texture was the result. The Garantita had the consistency somewhere between semi-cooked cake batter and bread pudding; a consequence of my culinary prowess… Great flavor; simple; cheap; terrible soufflé on my part…

The most expensive part of this was making the Harissa. In the future, I wouldn't see a problem in substituting some sort of tabasco sauce for it. Minus the Harissa, this didn't cost more than $6.00 and could easily feed 3-4 people.

Albanier

Turli Perimesh

Ingredients

2 medium onions

2 zucchini

1 yellow squash

1 white potato

1 sweet potato

1 can diced tomatoes (in the summer use 2 fresh tomatoes)

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 cup water

Salt and Pepper to taste

olive oil

Directions

Dice all vegetables in 1 inch cubes.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high. Add onion and saute until translucent.

Add zucchini and squash, browning lightly.

Add potato, tomatoes, parsley, and water.

Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until all vegetables are tender and water has absorbed.

Serve immediately.

Optional: Served with a side of brown rice

I bought all of the vegetables and ingredients for $7.68
The Zucchini was out of season and unfortunately from Mexico
Serves 3-4

Thoughts
I was really surprised how Italian this came out. I suppose that it makes sense considering Albania's geographic proximity to the Mediterranean. If I were to make this again, I would have added more Italian herbs and spices, overall it was quite bland. If you find yourself with the flu and seek a change from chicken noodle, this is the magically bland cuisine for you!

Afghanerstan

Lentil Stuffed Bell Peppers

Ingredients

2/3 c Red lentils

1 inch piece ginger,=grated

4 tb Vegetable oil

1 tb Ground coriander

4 md Green bell peppers

1 1/4 c Water

1 ts Cumin seeds

2 Onions, chopped

2 tb Chopped cilantro

2 Green chilies

Directions

Rinse lentils & soak for 30 minutes. Cook and stir lentils for 15 to 20 minutes or until until the liquid has evaporated. Heat half oil in skillet. Cook cumin till they begin to pop. Add onions &  chilies & cook for 8 minutes. Stir in ginger & coriander. Add cilantro. Drain lentils and stir in with the veggies in the pan. Cut tops off peppers & remove seeds, blanch green peppers. Stuff with the lentil and veggie mixture & replace the tops. Stand in a baking dish. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes.

I'm not going to itemize the costs, but my total at the grocery store came to $6.25 for a meal for four (buy bulk!).

Thoughts

Not a bad first meal; this was quite easy to make and came out pretty tasty. I used a little more cilantro than necessary and immediately regretted that decision; it was a little overpowering and detracted from the other flavors of the dish. My advice: use less cilantro and find something other than a PBR to pair this with…