by | March 16, 2013 · 4:19 am

Karl’s Chicken Casablanca Soup

Eilene was sick today so I plan on Chicken soup. Originally I was going to go with my usual French chicken noodle soup and then I noticed the bag of Mandarin oranges on the counter.  I had bought these thinking they were Cuties, but they were not as easy to peel.  As a result, they were just sitting on the counter getting old.

Karl's Chickem Casablanca Soup

Karl’s Chickem Casablanca Soup

I went on the Internet looking for some kind of “orange juice chicken soup.” There were surprisingly few hits and fewer that looked appealing or what I had in mind. One that was close was a Moroccan soup that used orange juice.  I looked up several Moroccan chicken soups and the spices blends and ingredients that made them Moroccan. Picking and choosing and using what I had on hand I came up with this recipe.

Note after dinner: This was a fantastic combination of flavors. Spicy with being hot. It may seem that there is a lot of spice for a dish this size, but it was perfect. The Mandarin orange juice worked as a secret ingredient (the soup did not taste “orange-y,” but you would have missed it if it was not there). Finally the bulgur thickened the soup just the right amount without turning it into a pasty stew.

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by | March 15, 2013 · 5:36 am

Karl’s Uyghur Lamb Samsa (Baked Samosa)

This recipe comes from a memory of a taste and  of a Mongolian? Chef (from the banner behind him I think it is Inner Mongolia).

Karl’s Uyghur Lamb Samsa (Baked Samosa)

Karl’s Uyghur Lamb Samsa

Yesterday I made Uzbek samsa, a baked dough filled with spinach, and it reminded Jan of the Uyghur lamb samsa we had in Kashgar in 1988. I know the name Uyghur looks frightening to American sensibilities, but it is pronounced “Way-ger.” We were taking our vacation, from teaching English to the Chinese, to the far west of China. There were almost no foreigners in China during those months so, except for a few stray Canadians and Australians, we had Xinjiang pretty much to ourselves (not counting several million locals). The locals assumed that we were Canadians, except for the one who thought I was a Russian and the woman who came up to Jan and started chatting her up in Uyghur. She could have easily passed in the Mexican embroidered dress and the Russian babushka she was wearing.

Jan and Miriam at the Kashgar Market

Jan and Miriam
(in blue – age 4)
at the Kashgar Market

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by | March 14, 2013 · 7:18 am

Karl’s Samsa with Spinach and Paneer (Baked Samosa)

Adapted from a World Cook recipe

Today I was surfing the web looking for a new idea, some recipe, some country’s food I had not yet tried to make.  I stumbled upon World Cook, a site out of the Netherlands with recipes from 133 countries (currently there are officially 196 countries total). It does not purport to be comprehensive, some countries have many recipes, others only a single one. You can search by country, ingredient, and day of the year. Many of the recipes have a bit of cultural background added to them if they are associated with a particular holiday. The site is also a bit of a travel log of their family’s visits to places away from home.

I spent hours exploring the site and it had an odd quirk. Whenever you select a recipe to look at, a second unrelated recipe appeared on the same page. For example the page for the Uzbekistan Samsa recipe also had one for Tomato Soup.  One recipe would lead you to another, and another, and another. It became addictive to see where it all would lead. I finally chose the samsa recipe, but the original Uzbek recipe was a bit boring.  The dough was OK, but the filling was just spinach and onions.  I was going to have to spice this recipe up.

Karl's Samsa with Spinach and Paneer (baked samosa)

Karl’s Samsa with Spinach and Paneer
(baked samosa)

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by | March 14, 2013 · 7:09 am

Karl’s Baked Potato Soup

I wanted a soup to go with my Uzbek samsa. I had originally thought about a white bean soup, but I have been cooking a lot with beans lately and I thought Jan would object. I noticed that the chive in our garden has come back from the winter and we had some sour cream in the refrigerator (this is not a staple in our house—too high fat). These ingredients started me thinking about baked potatoes.  Could I make a soup version of a baked potato? Yes, I could.

Karl’s Baked Potato Soup

Karl’s Baked Potato Soup

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by | March 11, 2013 · 4:55 am

Karl’s Pork Tamales with Mole Poblano

Some assembly required. Many cultures have a festival dish that is something wrapped in dough that can be stored and then cooked quickly (so the moms can enjoy the festivals). The Hispanic countries have tamales, the Asians have jiaozi (pork dumplings) and the Eastern Europeans have perogi. However the price for this festival freedom is sometimes days of preparation. Making the dough, the filling(s) and assembling the final product are painstaking tasks.  Usually this is made easier by making it a group activity. In China we would be treated to jiaozi parties.  Our host would bring over the prepared meat and dough and then everyone would pitch in to make (and eat) the jiaozi. For a fun idea of how the Mexican culture does this, I recommend the children’s book Too Many Tamales! (for the hearing impared.)

Jan and I were watching Triple D and one of the featured restaurants was a Mexican place that always has 15 different moles. Jan loves mole and the show expanded my mind on what was possible in the way of mole and how to use it. One of their signature dishes was tamales with mole.

Karl’s Pork Tamales with Mole Poblano Karl’s Green Mole Rice Karl’s Refried Beans II

Karl’s Pork Tamales with Mole Poblano
Karl’s Green Mole Rice
Karl’s Refried Beans II

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by | March 11, 2013 · 4:35 am

Karl’s Mole Poblano

A few months ago I had tried making molé for the first time, based on a recipe by Ty and Juels. This was one of our Sunday challenges before I started writing this blog. I found Ty’s recipe, but I could not help myself, I had to make some changes. That is just the kind of cook I am, I even have trouble following my own recipes. I rarely make the same dish the same way twice, I am constantly tinkering.

Mole Poblano

Mole Poblano

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by | March 11, 2013 · 4:27 am

Karl’s Green Mole Rice (Arroz Mole Verde)

I wanted a new side dish to go with my Pork Tamales with Mole Poblano. In Mexican cuisine beans and rice are the standard side dishes. Refried beans do not really lend themselves to a lot of variation. This left me to do something with the rice, but I wanted to do something other than my usual Mexican Rice.  I thought about making a green mole rice, but when I Googled “Mole Verde” most of the recipes were on how to use this sauce on chicken with rice as a side dish.

Karl’s Green Mole Rice (Arroz Mole Verde)

Karl’s Green Mole Rice (Arroz Mole Verde)

Green Mole

Green Mole (Mole Verde)

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by | March 11, 2013 · 4:16 am

Karl’s Refried Beans II

Adapted from a recipe by Chelsie Kenyon, About.com Guide

The epazote is a key ingredient to this dish adding a distinctive flavor. It is a Mexican herb that when raw smells reminiscent of citrus, savory, or mint, but is not any of them.  It culinary purpose is as a carminative, i.e. it helps stop gas from forming. Left over epanzote may be used as a tea, like fresh mint.

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by | March 8, 2013 · 7:02 am

Karl’s Slow Roasted Pork

I am planning to make Pork Tamales with Mole Negro this Sunday, but I have used all of the roast pork I had in my freezer. As a result, I need to roast some pork this week. If I am going to spend hours, if not days, making roast pork I see no reason to cook only a pound or two for the one meal. Go big, there are lots of things you can do with left over roast pork. It is a sad task, but someone will have to eat it.

Karl’s Slow Roasted Pork

Karl’s Slow Roasted Pork

Pulled Pork

Pulled Pork

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by | March 8, 2013 · 6:53 am

Karl’s Pork Roast Rub

I have only recently braved the world of pork roasts. In the past my attempts at pork have been met with dismal failure (think: dry, chewy and stringy). This is my first attempt to make my own pork dry rub.  Looking on-line the spices for pork rub are all over the map.  I did not want too much sugar. One recipe I found called for two cups of sugar for a two pound roast (that is not a roast, that’s meat candy).

I have spices in my cabinet from all over the world. I mixed Mexican oregano with Indian red chili power and Spanish paprika.  Time will tell if this rubs works.

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