I wanted to make a second cold hors d’oeuvre for Myr’s party. My idea was to make a Spanish tapas that I vaguely remembered from glancing at it in a book many years ago. However, when I looked on-line and in my cookbook on tapas, I could not find anything that was even remotely like what I was thinking about. So, I should let that stop me?
Tag Archives: food
Karl’s Scallop Stuffed Mushrooms
For the kid’s party I am also planing making a hot hors d’oeuvre, stuffed mushrooms. The kids really like mushrooms, so I am constantly trying new ways to make them. This is a variation of one that I started making about a year ago. Jan does not like bacon (a childhood trauma), but this is for a crowd. I am going to use the bacon instead of butter. I will also be making a double batch.
Continue reading
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegetables
Karl’s Uyghur Shashlik
Shashlik is really just the Central Asian name for a kabob, something on a skewer. In Kashgar, at least on the street, this is almost always lamb coated in a cumin based spice blend. Lamb is cut into small (3/8 inch) cubes and skewered with bits of lamb fat. The stick is dipped into a tray of the spice blend and then grilled over hot coals. While the kabab is on the grill, the seller uses a fan to boost the heat of the coals and picks up some of the sticks to baste the skewers still on the grill with the rendering lamb fat dripping from them. If you like the crispy crust of grilled lamb you will be mad about these.
Shashlik is usually eaten with naan. For this meal, I am also making a carrot salad, a tomato and cucumber salad, pickled cauliflower, and fruit skewers to go with the bread and lamb.
Filed under Lamb, Main Dishes, Sauces and Spices
Karl’s Uyghur Naan
Naan (nan, non, n’n, neng) means bread and usually refers to leavened flat bread. There is a wide assortment of breads that go by that name. Some are small (Afgan), some are snowshoe shaped (Indian) and some are not even very flat at all (Tajik). In Xinjiang, the naan are big, round and flat in the middle. This bread was the most available, the safest thing to eat on the street and also the tastiest. We ate this bread every day while we were traveling through Xinjiang.
Filed under bread, Side Dishes
Karl’s Uyghur Carrot Salad
For Mother’s Day, Jan has requested Uyghur Shashlik and Naan for dinner. Normally, if I was making these dishes, I would make a tomato and cucumber salad as the side dish. For me this has gotten to be a bit boring and predictable. I want to do something else.
Filed under Salads, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Karl’s Hot Pickled Cauliflower and Red Peppers
I don’t recall seeing cauliflower for sale in the Kashgar Sunday Market, but I want to do something different than the same old pickled cucumbers.
Filed under Pickles, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Karl’s Central Asian Tomato and Cucumber Salad
When I make shashlik and naan I always make this salad to go with it.
Continue reading
Filed under Salads, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Jan’s Grilled Fruit Skewers
Jan saw a bunch of fruit at the farmer’s market and thought, “What goes with lamb skewers? Fruit skewers!” Some of the fruit was not quite ripe and I suggested that since I would already have the grill going we could throw them on. Jan thought this was a good idea.
Continue reading
Filed under Other, Side Dishes, Vegan
Papa’s Fine Soup
This is my first recipe ever to have a name. I first made this soup when Miriam was a small child. More than once she would toddle up and ask for “Papa’s fine soup” for dinner.
Filed under Main Dishes, Soups, Vegan, Vegetarian MD
Karl’s Veracruz-style Fish Tacos
Two weeks ago, Chris asked for Veracruz-style Fish Tacos. He had had these at a restaurant and they claimed that they were just like the ones sold on the beaches of Veracruz, Mexico.
I looked on-line and what my search brought up was many recipes for Fish Veracruz (a baked whole fish smothered in a salsa of tomatoes, onions, green olives and capers. This could be a problem. Myr doesn’t like capers, and none of the girls think green olives belong in a tomato sauce.
Filed under Main Dishes, Sauces and Spices, Seafood









