Okay, this is the most recent Recipe Thread

[Urbane Guerrilla]

I just banged together a crude Ayran using one of those powerful little hand blenders that try and suck down onto the bottom of the container if you let them. Some yoghurt we'd had to put on ice in a picnic cooler ended up with a great deal of water in it because of that. I poured a little yoghurt whey off the top as I usually do when it shows up and saw the yoghurt was pretty thoroughly diluted with water all the way down but was otherwise good. I cast my mind back to a summer's day during my sojourn among the Turks and having gotten a glass of ayran. It's a yoghurt-based drink.

Enough yoghurt to fill a glass
About half that much water
Large pinch of salt, to taste
Optional sugar or other sweetening

Blend all ingredients with plenty of power, buzzing it up until water and yoghurt are thoroughly incorporated. The result is like mild buttermilk, with a slight overlay of salt and sweet. It might, like buttermilk, be good with black pepper included or sprinkled on top. Serves one.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Honey Cake

1 c sliced almonds
1 1/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter @ room temperature
1 c honey
4 large eggs
1/4 c sour cream

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Lightly grease 9" round cake pan. Sprinkle 3/4 cup of the sliced almonds over bottom of pan.
In medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In large mixing bowl, combine butter, honey, eggs. Stir in the flour mixture, then the sour cream and the remaining 1/4 cup almonds. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl, then stir another minute.

Gently pour batter over almonds in cake pan. Bake 50-55 minutes, or until edge of cake pulls away from sides of pan. Remove from oven, cool on rack 15 minutes.

Invert the cake onto a serving plate and allow to cool completely. If desired, dust with powdered sugar before serving. 16 servings. (UG -- oh, really??)

[Urbane Guerrilla]

A local seven-year-old cooked this no-sugar-added apple pie:

Deep Dish Double Crust Apple Pie

2 Large uncooked Pie Crusts, homemade or store bought
8-10 Large Red Apples
1 large can Frozen Apple Juice Concentrate, w/o added sugar. Probably the 16-oz size, so our SI friends should shoot for half a liter of concentrate.
1 tsp Cinnamon -- 5ml
2 tsp Cornstarch -- 5ml
1/8 cup water -- 45ml
Shortening to grease pie plate

Grease pie plate, put one crust in for bottom crust. Cut up apples.
Put apple juice concentrate and cinnamon in large saucepan, bring to boil.
Mix cornstarch and water in a cup, add to saucepan, reduce heat and stir until mixture of cornstarch, concentrate, and cinnamon has jelled. Then add apples, stir, and remove from heat.

Place apple and concentrate mixture in pie shell, cover with second pie crust, pinch crust edges together. Slit or prick top crust.

Bake at 400 deg F/220 C/Gas mark 9-10 for 45 minutes. (Anyone still use Gas Mark?) Cool before serving. No extra sugar -- fruit sugars are a mix of fructose and some sucrose, if this is important to your innards -- you just taste apples, sayeth deponent. This should work for any kind of apples you like for pie.

I haven't made an apple pie in I don't know how long. About three generations of coons.

[chrisinhouston]

I made a good curry tonight, using mostly leftovers, we had a grilled butterflied leg of lamb with just Mediterranian seasonings so it went well with this.

1 onion roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1/2 red bell pepper chopped as above
1 jalapeno as above
nice knob of ginger as above
some left over carrots and peas and potatoes

sauteed all with a little olive oil and a pat of butter till soft

about 2 lbs of cubed left over lamb to fry for a little bit to brown

Served with rice and a nice Australian Shiraz! Thank goodness for the folks in OZ

Stirred in a few TBS of tomatoe paste and a cup of whole stewed tomatoes hand squeezed.

Added some chicken stock and a tash of garham Masalla and a good 1-2 bs curry powder, stove top cooked for awhile to thicken. Then into the oven at 350f for awhile while the rice cooked.

Should be good! IT SMELLS GREAT!!!

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Chris, if you'd like to make your own curry powder all fresh, and perfumey (fresh ground coriander and cardamom are zingy, but that doesn't last forever) see earlier in this thread -- p. 6, two-thirds down.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

This is another one that smells wonderful, and may also use the curry powder recipe on p. 6 of the thread. This is the most stained and spotted page of our copy of Geraldine Duncann's Some Like It Hotter. This is not the only way to make this stuff. I often speak of "a bobotie." A casserole of meat -- any meat -- and eggs. Great way to use up leftover meats and chicken -- the and is used advisedly. This is said to be a hunting-camp dish good for using up odds and ends that don't quite amount by themselves to enough for hungry hunters.

Bobotie

4 Eggs
1 c Milk
2 slices Bread, white or whole wheat, anything you like for French toast
2 TBSP Butter
1 TBSP Corn Oil/Cooking Oil
2 TBSP Madras Curry Powder, turmeric included/added if using the Madras on p. 6
1 large Onion, diced
4 teeth of Garlic, minced
2 lb (900g-1kg) ground Beef
1 lb (450g-500g) lean boneless Beef, diced bite size -- optional
3 Chicken breasts, diced bite size
2 tart cooking Apples, such as Granny Smiths, cored and diced. Avoid peeling them -- the peel is where most of the nutrition is in this type of fruit
1/2 tsp Italian Seasoning
1 scant tsp Cinnamon, ground
1 TBSP grated fresh Ginger
1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper, or to taste
1/2 tsp coarse Black Pepper
3 TBSP Brown Sugar, dark, or add a trifle of molasses to the regular stuff
1/3 c fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp grated Lemon Rind
1/2 cup Raisins
1/2 c slivered Almonds
Salt to taste
6 hard-cooked Eggs, halved, optional -- makes this already robust dish really so
a few blanched Almond halves, optional

[1 tsp = 5ml, 1 TBSP = 15ml]

0. Preheat oven, 350 F.
1. Beat eggs with milk, crumble bread into mixture and set aside to soak.
2. Melt butter and oil together over medium-high heat in large skillet (frying pan). Add curry powder and singe lightly, stirring rapidly, for 2 minutes or less. It really doesn't take much. Add onion and garlic, saute until onions are translucent but not browned.
3. Add ground meat, sauteing until just done, stirring to break up chunks. Add chunks of beef, sear on all sides. Add chicken chunks, tossing with all other ingredients in pan, coating and lightly sauteing. Add all remaining ingredients except cooked eggs and almonds, stir together and simmer 5 min. If mixture seems a bit dry, add a little water, just enough to make a little gravy.
4. Shell and halve the eggs lengthwise.
5. Transfer meat mixture to casserole dish (4 quart will do, sometimes I've had to dragoon my small casserole dish into the job to handle the extra) and press egg halves down into meat mixture cut side down, then smooth the mixture's surface with the back of a large spoon.
6. Stir up and pour egg and bread mixture over top of meat. Strew top with almond halves into preheated 350 F oven for 30 minutes, or until top custard is set and golden brown.

Serve hot from baking dish, accompanied with rice.

This is a forgiving recipe; you can play with the proportions of everything. I've never even used the hard boiled eggs, though they'd be nice for a company dish. If you're out of anything but the curry powder, you can still bring off a successful bobotie casserole. The essentials are several kinds of meat, curry the heck out of 'em, raisins and a custard.

Another Bobotie, also set up as a company dish with thin slices of orange and lemon -- Googling "bobotie" gets you hundreds if not thousands of hits, so knock yourself out.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Chili Powder

1 part dried ground Cayenne or other hot pepper: Piquin, Chile de Arbol, Habanero for the brave...
1 part dried ground Pasilla or Ancho or other mild pepper
5 parts dried ground red New Mexico chiles -- these are of course also mild, but really the backbone of the chili powder, along w/the cumin.
2 parts Garlic Powder
1.5 parts ground cumin (grind it yourself if possible, ground from the store okay)
1.5 parts Oregano (powdered if desired)

If you've gotten the peppers whole, reduce to powder as much as you can; a blender or a coffee grinder work well.

Mix powdered ingredients thoroughly and store in a tight container.

The advantage of making your own chili powder is you control just how vigorous it is. If you mix everything except the hot pepper into it, then you can have a quiet chili flavor while somebody after flamin' hot chili can stir in the cayenne to taste.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Am I right in remembering that "Imam" is a specifically Shi'ite title?

Turkish food is Middle Eastern food, plus frequent garlic and hot peppers. A good zingy pastirma is not to be passed up; it's got zowie with fried eggs and fresh bread for breakfast. But I digress.

No one's sure if the Imam fainted at the richness of the dish or at his wife's extravagance with the olive oil used making it!

Eggplant with Oil and Garlic or Imam Bayildi

6 long Eggplants (aubergines)
3 large Onions
6 large Tomatoes for the stuffing, plus some tomato sliced
6 to 10 cloves Garlic, the essence and backbone of this dish
Juice of 1 Lemon
Sprigs fresh Parsley
1 tsp Sugar
1/2 pint (yes) Olive Oil, optionally, less than that
1/2 pint mild Stock, like chicken broth
Salt and Pepper to taste

Long eggplants suit this dish best. Step 1) Wash eggplants and slit lengthwise deeply but not completely and not cutting open the ends; you're making canoes of the eggplants to hold the stuffing in. Open eggplants by pushing inwards at the closed ends. If eggplants need salting to draw bitterness, salt down the insides well and let sit 15 minutes.

2) Slice onions very thin, fry in tablespoon of olive oil until soft. Chop tomatoes and parsley, crush garlic; mix all together in a mixing bowl. Reserve any remaining oil in skillet for the next step.

3) If you salted the eggplants, rinse out and pat them dry. Heating some more of the olive oil in a large skillet, fry eggplants carefully all over, medium heat, taking care not to spoil their shape; you want them still stuffing-tight. Reserve oil, it'll be used a bit later. Arrange eggplants in a baking dish and fill the slits up with the tomato/parsley/garlic mixture, using the sliced tomatoes to cover the stuffing over. Pour over them all the remaining oil and all the oil you'd fried them in also, and enough stock to come halfway up the sides of the eggplants. Pour on the lemon juice, sprinkle the sugar and the salt and pepper.

4) Bake in moderate oven, 350F, about one hour, leave to cool. It's usually eaten cold, and makes a fine vegetable meal-starter. If this is too oily, simply use less in the dish.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Cincinnati Chili

2 large onions, chopped
3 tablespoons oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 pounds ground chuck
4 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons sweet paprika
3/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 (8 oz.) cans tomato sauce
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon molasses
3 cups beef broth
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Accompaniments:
Cooked spaghetti
Cooked red kidney beans
Chopped onion
Finely grated cheddar cheese
Oyster crackers

In a heavy kettle, cook onions in oil over
moderate heat, stirring til soft. Add garlic
and cook one minute, stirring. Add ground
chuck and cook, stirring and breaking up
lumps until it is no longer pink.

Add spices and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
Stir in tomato sauce, cocoa, molasses,
broth, vinegar, 3 cups water, salt & pepper
to taste.

Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring
occasionally, for 1 1/2 hours or til thickened
but soupy enough to be ladled. The chili
will improve in flavor if cooled and chilled
overnight. Add more water as necessary
when reheating.

To serve the chili "five-way", ladle it over
individual bowls of spaghetti and top with
beans, onion, and Cheddar. Serve oyster
crackers on the side, preferably in a small
bowl.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Cardamom Rusks

Cream 1/2 Cup Butter w/ 1.5 cups sugar
Add 3 Eggs and beat.
Crush 1 dozen cardamom seeds (ha ha or: 1Tablespoon Ground cardamom)
Stir in 3 Cups Flour mixed with 2 teaspoons baking powder
pat out to about 3/4" thick.
Bake at 350f for 30 minutes, cut into diamonds and re-toast.

UG adds: cardamom pods or seeds may be whopped into submission in a coffee grinder, and you needn't clean it out before you make the next batch of coffee, as a hint of cardamom goes very well in coffee. Makes it coffee Arabic style.

I wonder how this recipe would go using the variety of cardamom called grains of paradise?

[Urbane Guerrilla]

The first time I ate this in Sinop, Turkey, I wasn't too taken with it.

A week later, I was back at that same restaurant, ordering it for breakfast, with fried eggs to go with. Maybe potatoes too; I forget.

Pastirma

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Well, there are about a half bazillion variations on Imam Bayildi, and my cookbook shelf has about a quarter of them.

At the least, it's hearty stuff. We made a batch. Somewhere between a supper vegetable and a salad -- it would do nicely for either.

[bluecuracao]

You know, it just might be worth sitting at your dinner table and being verbally insulted, while enjoying one of your home-cooked feasts.

[BigV]

Only if this was on the menu.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Anyone notice how much she looks like Lily Tomlin?

"(Honk!) Gracious, good afternoon..."

But seriously, folks, verbal insults only after dinner and dessert, puhleeze...