Week 8 - Bosnia and Cambodia

My son sat with me as I researched for Bosnia and he liked the look of 'Kifle' a bread for breakfast, but I just could not fit it in with our hectic sport schedule at the weekend and early work times. However, as he asked for it, I have included it and will make it when things quieten down a little. If you recall, I have mentioned that we have given up meat for Lent except for whatever country we are exploring; so I found a meat dish that also required me to make some pita type bread to satisfy my son as I didn't not make the breakfast bread. Simple food, a little time consuming to make but we all enjoyed it. He also liked the fact that Bosnia has the last remaining jungle in Europe!

As for Cambodian food, it seemed to be a mix of flavours so I opted for this dish as I felt it would work. I didn't not use caramel sauce, instead I created my own version which we all enjoyed - although I think if you had too much of it, you would feel a little off. My son and I loved the stir fry veg, really tasty dish - one that was quick to do after swimming as well. We did find that Cambodia is the only flag in the world to feature a building, which is pretty handy to know for a quiz night!

Cambodia:
Kaw Sach Chrouk (Caramel Pork)
Bai lieng pale (Vegetables fried rice.)

Bosnia:
Lepinje (Pita Bread)
Cevapi (Sausages)


Lepinje (Pita Bread)
2 cups bread flour

2 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons active dry yeast

1 ¹⁄₂ teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon sugar

water (about 1 cup, but only add enough to make the dough a slightly sticky texture)

1. Proof the yeast with the sugar and about 1/2 cup of lukewarm water. Meanwhile, mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. When the yeast is foamy, pour it into the flour with another 1/2 cup of water (approximately, stop when the dough is the right texture. You may need more or less water). Mix well. Your dough should be a little bit sticky.
3. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for five minutes. Shape into a ball and place in a large bowl greased with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel, and let rise in a warm place for an hour or so, or until doubled in size.
4. Put the dough back on the floured surface and punch down. Knead again for another minute, then divide into four balls. Brush with olive oil and let rest for 10 or 15 minutes.
5. Roll the dough balls with a floured rolling pin until they are roughly the thickness of an extra-thick pizza crust.
6. Transfer the dough to a greased baking sheet and brush with a bit more olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel and let rest for another half hour or so.
7. Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. When the dough has rested remove the towel and plastic and put it in the oven.
8. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 5-10 minutes.

Cevapi (Sausages)
1 tablespoon lard or 1 tablespoon butter

¹⁄₂ yellow onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 lb lean lamb

1 lb lean beef

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

2 tablespoons onions, finely chopped

1. Melt the lard or butter over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent. During the last three minutes or so, add the garlic and keep stirring to prevent burning. Remove the onions and let cool.
2. Mix the ground lamb with the ground beef. Add the onion/garlic mixture, egg white and paprika and mix well.
3. Shape the meat into unappetizing looking little cylinders, which are the traditional shape. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.
4. Pan fry the cevapi in a little olive oil until nicely browned.
5. To serve, cut the pita breads in half and make a pocket in each one. Stuff a few finely chopped onions inside the pita, then add the cevapi and top with a few more of the onions.

Both sourced from "Travel by Stove." blog (Accessed March 2017)


Bai lieng pale. (Vegetables fried rice.) 
   

Ingredients :

3 Tablespoons vegetable oil

2 Cloves garlic, minced

1 Yellow onion, chopped

1 Cup frozen sweet peas

1 Cup frozen or fresh chopped carrot

A ¼ head of cabbage, chopped (I used bok choy) 

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

1 Teaspoon salt

½ Teaspoon sugar

¼ Teaspoon black pepper

1 Teaspoon Sriracha hot chili sauce or to your taste(option)

4 Cups cooked Jasmine rice

Heat up a non-stick skillet or wok with high temperature.
When wok is hot, add oil, garlic, yellow onion, sweet peas, carrot and cabbage, stirs well.
Seasoning with soy sauce, salt, sugar, black pepper and hot chili sauce, stirs well.
Add cooked rice, stirs till rice fluffy hot.
Serve hot.

Source: http://www.khmerkromrecipes.com/recipes/recipe185.html (Accessed 03/03/2017)


Caramel Pork Kaw Sach Chrouk
- Pork
- Brown sugar
- tin of sliced Bamboo
water

All I did was heat the sugar and stirred to form caramel, then added water and the meat and stir-fry it all up then put in the tin of bamboo. I served it all on jasmine rice. There seemed to be several recipes with various variations - most of which included hard-boiled eggs in; but I didn't do that bit.

Week 7 - Belgium and Burma (Myanmar)

Belgium; the land of beers (over 800 varieties), chips or French fries - they claim to have invested them and  waffles! They also have the lowest ratio of MacDonalds per person in the developed world - so maybe they really did invest the humble fry. I did not know that Burma was now Myanmar, which is appalling of me to admit, but admit it I do. Apparently it happened in 1989, when I was more interested in pop music and shoulder pads, but it was interesting to read about how it came about and the history attached to it.   Like America and Liberia is has not adopted the metric system of weight. Unlike America though, it is one of the few places where being a little plump is regarded as healthy!

We enjoyed the meals we had from both, although Myanmar was our favourite...

Belgium - Flemish Style Pork Chops
Myanmar - Mohinga (Fish Noodle Soup)
                  - Stir Fry

Mohinga (Fish Noodle Soup)
Purists will wince when they read this; but we do not like shrimp paste. So, I did not put it in this dish. also I could not get hold of tamarind or banana blossom. I did get some besan flour though. I used vegetable stock - which the recipe allowed.

We loved this, and when my husband ate his later on in the evening he ate it cod and really enjoyed it!

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 long red chilies, 1 finely chopped, 1 thinly sliced

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 onion, thinly sliced

2 cm-piece ginger, thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 lemongrass stalks, white part only, thinly sliced

1 bunch coriander, stalks and roots finely chopped, leaves chopped

2 tbsp ngapi (Burmese shrimp paste) (see Note)

1 tbsp tamarind pulp (liquid form) (see Note)

150 g banana blossom (see Note), thinly sliced

35 g (¼ cup) chickpea (besan) flour (see Note)

100 g (½ cup) chickpeas, cooked and crushed

750 ml (3 cups) fish or vegetable stock

400 g vermicelli rice noodles, soaked in cold water for 15 minutes, drained

250 g firm white fish (such as barramundi), skin on, chopped

2 tomatoes, roughly chopped

2 tbsp fish sauce

lime wedges, to serve

Instructions

Place oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add finely chopped chilli, turmeric, onion, ginger, garlic, lemongrass, coriander stalks and roots and ngapi, and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until softened.

Stir in tamarind pulp and banana blossom and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes until banana blossom has softened. Add chickpea flour, stirring to combine. Add chickpeas, then gradually stir in stock and simmer for 10 minutes or until soup has thickened. Add drained rice noodles, fish, tomatoes and fish sauce, and simmer for 5 minutes or until noodles and fish are just cooked.

Divide fish noodle soup among 6 serving bowls. Scatter over coriander leaves and thinly sliced chilli and serve with lime wedges.

Source: http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/burmese-fish-noodle-soup-mohinga (accessed 28FEB2017)

Flemish Style Pork Chops

This was ok, although on reflection I think I could have been more adventurous. I do not normally like pork, but I did enjoy it like this. If I did it again, I would make sure the chops were thicker and I would cook it for longer and slower to get more of a sauce.

4 thick pork chops (about 2 inches thick)
50 g – 1,75 oz. butter
4 large tart apples
2 tb lemon juice
1 small onion, sliced
4 crushed juniper berries
Salt and pepper
Sprigs of rosemary
5 sprigs of parsley
30 g – 1 oz. butter (to pour over)

Trim excess fat from the chops, season with salt and pepper and brown very gently on both sides in 50 g – 1,75 oz. butter for 10-15 minutes.

Put the browned, half-cooked chops in a shallow casserole, sprinkle them with the lemon juice, add the onion, parsley, juniper berries, and rosemary, and season with salt and pepper.

Arrange the peeled and sliced apples over the chops and pour the melted butter over them.

Cover and cook in a medium to hot oven for 30-35 minutes or until the chops are cooked.

Serve directly from the casserole.

Makes 4 servings.

Source: A Taste of the Belgian Provinces, Enid Gordon and Midge Shirley (published by The Tuesday Group, rue Frans Merjay, 1060 Brussels).