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| Page Views: 579 | SHELNLIN'S VIRTUALTOURIST COOKBOOK PART ONE by shelnlin - last update: Oct 20, 2006 |
INTRODUCTION | When I serve my guests they like my kitchen best |
In the last two years since I have returned back home to my native New Zealand I have not had the chance to escape overseas and visit some more of our wonderful world. So one day while talking to a very dear friend of mine another foodie, I had this brainwave in my head... "Why don't I bring the world to me?" and so last night I sat down and composed an email to each one of my friends that I have made through VirtualTourist. So without further ado, I will be introducing you all to some of our very own Virtual Tourist member's favourite dishes. I have told each one of them, it doesn't need to be elloborate but it should be something that is unique to yourself and perhaps something that reflects your culture and the country that you come from. Each recipe is written especially for this cookbook by it's author, thank you everyone.
Here are some that have just come in and a quote from Saberz in his native Urdu.
Mazay Daar Khanay say ... Maza Hai Zindagi Main ...
(Test in foods...bring flavour in life ) |
| Miniature scene;The Castle Pamela, Tirau NZ |
|  | Elodie_Caroline VijithFdo and Gwynneth Elodie is from the United Kingdom and shares these two dishes which are of her own creation but come with a french twist. Elodie makes me want to go to France, when I read her french pages and we both love Pink (well I have lots of pink clothes... but green is my favourite colour... pink isnt far behind! Merci Elodie !
Ratatouille
3 large Courgetes chopped into chunks
3 large Carrots sliced thickly and then quartered
3 mixed red, yellow and green Peppers
1 large Onion, sliced and chopped int 1 ins bits
2/3 cloves chopped Garlic
1 Tin Tomatoes chopped
Tomato Puree
Salt
Cayenne Pepper or fresh ground Pepper
Teaspoon of Herbs De Provence
1 tblsp Vegetable oil
Bring to the boil the chopped Carrots in seperate saucepan.
Warm the oil in a very large saucepan.
Then add Carrots, Courgettes, mixed Peppers and Onion into the large saucepan,
fry until Onion is transparent. Add the tinned Tomatos ,squeeze in Tomato Puree
to taste, add Garlic and Herbs de Provence, Salt and Cayenne Pepper to taste.
Bring to boil and then simmer for around 10/15 mins until all vegetables are
edible but still crunchy.
Serve with other dish, including meat to your own style.
*****
Tastes great with roast Lamb or for the vegetarians amongst you, home made
Cheese and Potato pie! (see recipe below)
Mashed potatoes enough for how many there are of you.
lump of your favourite cheese grated, as much or as little as your taste likes.
1 small onion chopped finely
salt and fresh ground pepper
Mix it all together, add to an ovenproof dish and bake for half an hour on
medium heat ... delicious!
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Vijith is Sri Lankan and currently resides in Saudi Arabia. This dish sounds great if you do not have access to a fridge. Vijith shares a lot of the same views on Saudia with me and although I have left now, I still have many memories.
Ambul Thiyal
Is a special Sri Lankan fish preparation that can be kept without refrigeration
for several days.
Works best with Tuna, but almost any variety of fish can be prepared this way.
The traditional method is to place the fish in a clay pot over a fire and
replace the lid with another claypot.
Ingredients
Fish 500g
Green Chilies 4
Bay leaf (curry leaves)
Pepper 1 Teaspoon
Saffron
tamarind 4 Pieces
Salt
Cut the fish into cubes. Add the chopped green chilies and bay leaf. Grind the
tamarind and mix a little water. Add the salt and pepper to the tamarind and
pour into the fish placed in an earthenware pot. Cook over a moderate flame till
very dry.
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And from down under in Perth, Western Australia I was given this yummy if not decadant Chocolate Brownie recipe from
Gwynneth.....A real bubbly lady that I look forward to meeting when I get back to Perth, I am so sad we never met before as I lived there for 4 and a half years...
The Triple Choc Brownie! (goes a little like this...)
185g (6oz) butter
185g (6oz) dark chocolate chopped
3 eggs
1.25 cups caster sugar
2/3 cup plain flour (all purpose)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup white chocolate chopped
3/4 cup milk chocolate chopped
Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Place the butter and dark chocolate in a
saucepan over low heat and stir until just smooth. Allow to cool. Place the eggs
and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat til light and creamy. Fold
through the chocolate and butter mixutre. Sift the flour and cocoa over the
mixture and mix to combine. Add the white and milk chocolate then pour into a
23cm (9inch) square cake time, base-lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake for
35-40 minutes or until set. Allow to cool, then cut into squares. For a total
indugencce, serve with double cream and ripe forest berries.
Boun appetito!
Gwynneth
x |
| A handful of foodstuffs from around the globe |
| | Janet and Amitabh When I first took a look at Janet's (Nebulaflash) homepage, I was really impressed with the beautiful photographs that she had taken. Take a look they really are beautiful. Janet comes from Canada and this dish sort of reminds me of my own recipe for Shepherd's Pie.
SHEPHERD'S PIE
1 onion chopped
1 pound ground beef or lamb
2 carrots sliced
1/2 cup beef stock
salt and pepper
4 medium to large potatoes
milk (optional)
butter (optional)
1 egg
Brown beef or lamb in frying pan with chopped onion. Add sliced carrots and
beef stock. Simmer until carrots are soft. Add salt and pepper
Peel potatoes and cut in small pieces. Boil in salted water until soft. Drain
water. Mash potatoes adding milk and butter (unless you want to keep Kosher
then add margerine and a little potato water). Add raw egg and mash well into
potatoes.
Put meat mixture into lightly oiled casserole dish. Spread potato mixture over
the top of the meat and bake in the oven at 350 degrees f. for 45 minutes or
until top is brown.
Eat this on a cool or cold day.
Janet
Amitabh like every other friend in VT is very special to me. Amitabh keeps me up to date with what is happening with him and his family and I hope that one day (like with my other VT friends) I hope to meet him in person. Today he shares this dish with us all.
Aloo Mutter
Ingredients: (Servings : About 4)
1. Chopped Onions -- 3/4 th cup
2. Potato (Peeled and Chopped into cubes) -- 1 & 1/4th cup
3. Shelled Peas -- 3/4 th cup
4. Paneer -- 8 to 10 cubes (optional)
5. Green chilli -- 2
6. Garlic cloves -- 2 to 3
7. Ginger -- 1/2 inch piece
8. Cilantro -- 1/4 th cup
9. Tomato -- 2 (1 chopped and 1 cut into half)
10. Garam masala and Red Chilli powder -- 1/2 tsp of each.
11. Cummin seeds and Mustard seeds -- 1/2 tsp of each
Method :
1. Take a tbsp of oil and heat it. Add half tsps of Cummin seeds and Mustard
seeds to it. Add a pinch of turmeric powder and then the chopped onions. Fry it
for a few minutes and then add chopped tomato, potato & peas. Add a little
water, if required. Cover the pan and cook until the peas and potato are tender
(approx 10 to 15 minutes). Stir in between. Add salt while cooking.
2. Grind the remaining ingredients except Paneer. Deep fry the Paneer till
golden brown or add it just like that towards the end (depends on how you like
it).
3. Add the above paste to the pan and cook for a few minutes. Add paneer before
serving and garnish with a few cilantro leaves and milk cream (Malai). Try it
with Roti (Indian Bread) ,Parathas or normal bread.
Note : If you don't have the Indian ingredients, try preparing the dish without
them. In this recipe, it should'nt make a lot of difference. |
| And a few beverages too... |
| | One of my sweetheart's favourite dishes!!! One of my loved one's favourite dishes is Vietnamese and as Vietnam is a place we are hoping to travel to in the next year I thought I would share this dish with you. It really is delicious and Craig makes it for us often. Oh and no he is not Vietnamese, he is a New Zealander like me. Thanks darling mmwwaa!!! :-D
Belly Pork with Egg
Belly pork cut into large cubes (enough for 4 people)
4 hard boiled eggs
8 garlic segments
stork of lemongrass crushed
1/3 cup of sugar
1 cup fish sauce
1/2 caramalised sugar (place 2 cups of sugar into a small pot with 1cup of water and slowly boil down until almost all of the water has evaporated keep stirring sugar on a low heat until it browns. Take caramel of heat and cool, add a mall amount of water and place back on heat until caramel desolves)
Place all off these ingredients (except the eggs) into a large pan adding enough water to cover well for the duration of the cooking which will likely be about an hour or so. Bring the water to the boil and then immediately bring water down to a low simmer. Don't let the water get to low. Scim the scum of the top of the water when needed.
20 mins before pork is completely cooked add the hard boiled eggs.
Serve with plenty of white Jasmin rice & Ngok Cam (Vietnamese chilli sauce)
Ngok Cam
2 Chillies (sliced very finely then wash your hands well!!)
4 cloves of garlic chopped finely
2/3 cup of fish sauce
1/2 cup of sugar
1 lemon juiced
Place ingredients in a jar and stir until sugar is desolved. Make about an hour or more before you serve to let flavours come out. Cover and store in the fridge.
ENJOY!!!! |
| | Abbas's Couscous Abbas (2me) is a very good friend of mine here in VT and offline. He comes from Algeria orginally but has been residing in Malaysia and is heading off to Ireland very soon. Here is a recipe that is famous in his country.
A message from Abbas:
" Mainly Couscous is known as the north African people main traditional dish. In Algiers (the capital) they use chicken while in my town (about 300Km southern the capital) they use Lamb (maybe becuase we have many Lambs there ;) ).
Couscous praparation is very long process, a girl (in my town) will be tested if she can cook couscous and many of the new generation they don't do it well. It needs skills. However, in the super-markets it is available (medium size) either Italian or French products, precooked you need just few minutes to cook it, unlike the hours spent in my country.
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1 lb Boned Shoulder of Lamb,
-cubed.
2 Onions
2 Garlic Cloves, peeled and
-finely chopped
1 pt Lamb or Chicken Stock
pn Saffron
1 pt Couscous
bn Spring Onions
1 Red Pepper
1 Cucumber
1 tb Chopped Mint
1 tb Chives
1 tb Parsley
1 tb Coriander
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Lightly saute the meat in two tablespoons of olive
oil. Remove and add the onions, cooking them over a
low heat without colouring for 10 minutes. Add the
garlic, saute for 1 minute and return the meat to the
pan along with the saffron. Pour over stock, season
with salt and pepper and simmer, uncovered, for one
hour, or until the lamb is tender. You should end up
with about half the quantity of liquid. If there is
more than this, remove the meat and onions and reduce
the stock over a high heat.
Add one pint of boiling water to the couscous, cover
with a tea towel and leave for 10 minutes, or until
all the water is absorbed. finely chop the spring
onion, core and deseed the red pepper and top and tail
the cucumber, remove the seeds and finely dice. Fluff
up the couscous with a fork, and the chopped
vegetables, 2 fl oz of olive oil and season with salt
and pepper. Add the chopped herbs and keep warm.
To serve, ladle the lamb on top of the couscous and
serve with lots of juice.
Source: Hugo Arnold, London Evening Standard, http://www.recipesource.com/main-dishes/meat/lamb/00/rec0031.html |
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| Pretend foodstuffs from Thailand |
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fashionapple Sun Jun 28, 2009 17:56 UTC
Good luck with studies Shelly. No worries i understand that u are busy. take care :) | nebulaflash Sun Jun 21, 2009 19:39 UTC
Good luck with your studies Shelly. Keep us informed of your progress. | MichaelRees Wed Jun 10, 2009 09:28 UTC
It would be nice if everyone heeded your Warning To All | fouads Wed Jun 10, 2009 08:40 UTC
you are welcomed all time .Happy Birthday to you Shelly , we miss you on VT, wish you all the best . :-) |
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