Tag Archives: Philosophy of Cooking

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.

Karl’s Uyghur Shashlik

Karl’s Uyghur Shashlik

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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.

Karl’s Uyghur Naan

Karl’s Uyghur Naan

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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.

Karl’s Uyghur Carrot Salad

Karl’s Uyghur Carrot Salad

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Filed under Salads, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables

Karl’s Casamiento Veracruz (Black Beans and Rice) with Grilled Mexican Green Onions

I wanted a side dish to go with my Veracruz Fish Tacos and the marriage [casamiento] of black beans and rice seems a natural. In reading about the cuisine of Veracruz black beans are a must.

Karl’s Casamiento Veracruz (Black Beans and Rice)

Karl’s Casamiento Veracruz
(Black Beans and Rice)

Veracruz being as first port of call on the east coast of Mexico had more contact with Europe than other parts of the Mexican interior. The joining together of the Old World rice with the New World beans is almost symbolic of Veracruz’s historic position as the place where European, black slave and indigenous native cultures combined to form something new.

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The Inverted Peanut Butter Cup of the Lueck Ladies

[Back hand, stage whisper] “The secret is the chocolate is on the inside!”

The [trademarked chocolate and peanut butter confection] Challenge. This entire meal resulted from Myr having made peanut butter cookies from an Alton Brown recipe. Myr followed the recipe fairly closely, except that she did not have chunky peanut butter. She made do with smooth PB and added fresh chopped peanuts. Even after she had made dozens of large cookies, she still had a quarter of the cookie dough left over. When she told her mother about this, Jan said, “That would make a good pie crust and we could fill it with Claudia’s Chocolate Mousse. I also just bought a bottle of “Voodoo,” a chocolate and peanut stout. Karl, make a dinner with chocolate and peanuts!”

The Inverted Peanut Butter Cup of the Lueck Ladies

The Inverted Peanut Butter Cup of the Lueck Ladies

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Filed under Desserts & Treats, Pies & Tarts

Karl’s Chicken Cacao with Peanuts and Mango

The [trademarked chocolate and peanut butter confection]  Challenge. For the last few weeks I have been constrained by trying to make things suit a particular cuisine. With just an ingredient challenge I am free to go whole “California Fusion.” To mix and match flavors and techniques with only one constraint–it should all taste good when I’m done.

Karl’s Chicken Cacao with Peanuts and Mango

Karl’s Chicken Cacao with Peanuts and Mango

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Karl’s Mission Fig Balsamic Asparagus

Jan and I went to the farmer’s market yesterday and she fell in love with Big Paw’s Mission Fig Balsamic Vinegar.  The question was what to do with it. We had already decided that we were going to have a Deli-dinner (fresh bread, cheese, cold meat, salad etc.) Jan had already gotten some heirloom carrots for carrot salad, so what were we going to do with the new vinegar?

Karl's Fig Balsamic Asparagus

Karl’s Fig Balsamic Asparagus

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Karl’s Vietnamese Summer Rolls (Gỏi cuốn)

Jan has gone to three conferences in the last week, a dean’s conference, the Southwestern Anthropological Association conference and a Google conference. As a result, her eating habits have been completely disrupted.  Google especially fed her some very strange things, but one of the things she liked was a Vietnamese summer roll with lamb, instead of the usual shrimp or pork.

Karl’s Vietnamese Summer Rolls (Gỏi cuốn)

Karl’s Vietnamese Summer Rolls (Gỏi cuốn)

You can make summer rolls as a vegetarian dish, but I usually make them with shrimp and/or thin slices of Chinese barbecued pork. The idea of using lamb intrigued me.  Could I make a summer roll with tender, flavorful slices of lamb like I can picture in my head?

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Filed under Lamb, Main Dishes, Salads

Karl’s Lemongrass Clear Soup

I had brought some lemongrass, because I was thinking about braising the lamb for my Vietnamese summer rolls in a flavorful broth.  I changed my mind to a quick grill for the lamb, but then I was left with the lemongrass. I decided that I what I needed was a soup to go with dinner.

Karl's Lemongrass Clear Soup

Karl’s Lemongrass Clear Soup

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Karl’s Doro Wot (Ethiopian Red Chicken Stew) with Authentic Injera

If you have ever been to an Ethiopian restaurant the beautiful tray covered with the large, sour pancake dotted with brightly colored stews is a delight to see and even more to taste.  It makes you want to try to do this yourself. While many of the Ethiopian dishes appear to be simple, with only a few ingredients, you discover hidden complexities. Many of the ingredients in Ethiopian cooking turn out to have their own complex recipes.

Ethiopian Feast

Karl’s Doro Wot – Ethiopian Red Chicken Stew
(in the center)
with Authentic Injera (under all)

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Filed under bread, Main Dishes, Poultry, Side Dishes