Midnight Craving For Pastry : Turkish Pogaca

- Turkish whole wheat pogaca, filled with Ezine cheese, coriander leaves and pinenuts... sprinkled with black cumin seeds

** Ezine cheese is a local Turkish cheese kind

Yet another day for "taking it easy".

In the first part of it I was concerned if my computer needs a repair; because last night the PC case released a burning smell. After immediately turning it off, I asked help from my boyfriend who has advanced knowledge with computers. He suggested I would take a look inside the case, maybe it's the dust. I did as I was told and wow. It never occurred to me that the PC case would have such problem due to dust! This is my first desktop computer... Well, okay. After making sure my main outlet to world worked well; I was occupied with reading during the day, remaining physically quite inactive. Just when it was late though, I felt the need to get up and be productive. I cleaned my room along to PJ Harvey's songs. There's something familiar about her that draws me close only in certain times. Satisfied with cleaning, I went online for a while. By that time it was around midnight. That very time for impossible to ease cravings - except for this time I was reasonable with my craving: Turkish pogaca. (I had all the necessary ingredients)

It's a kind of pastry Turkish people adore, just like "borek" which I mentioned in a recent post that you can jump to by clicking here. Borek is made out of phyllo sheets, pogaca on the other hand is made out of dough. This doesn't make sense... I just remember where phyllo comes from. Okay, next.

When I googled it out of curiosity as to how other people mention it in English, I noticed some odd stuff. Pogaca does not equate to biscuit. Or it doesn't necessarily mean it's filled with cheese. Pogaca is very compatible with whatever filling there is. We just seem to favor cheese over other options, that's it.

Moving onto the kitchen part.

I decided to use whole wheat flour as a change. Normally, we'd use refined white flour. Both ones work. It's just a matter of choice and I like to have options when it comes down to cooking.

I'm a fan of pogaca with potato filling but this time, I craved for the particular cheese taste. Speaking of cheese, it's another decision to make there. Since cheese is a big part of a Turkish person's appetite, it's more than likely there's some kind of cheese in every fridge there is. Usually, a few kinds all together. Or there *used* to be. In any case, no matter how bad the economy goes though... I think we'd still stick to cheese, somehow. It's just that important. It's interesting... because when people have to watch their budgets, they cut down the expenses to a maximum obviously. So, when Turkish people do this; they'll keep the breakfast food - as this course is the most important to us. However, my mind is wandering into some other people's possible lives where they don't have what I do have and thinking of it just buries me in embarrassment. Nothing new... for any of us.

Back to the pogaca ingredients...

My mom was awake as I was kneading the dough. She came to check up on me. Seeing that I pour some flour, see how that fits... maybe more this, that... she asked why I would not use the measurements ( Her measurements are very easy-going) Well, unless it's a complete new unknown dish... no measurements please. Sometimes when I'm asked for a recipe, I'm having hard time thinking of one. Just because of the exact reason.

Then again... if anyone would like to make this pastry, I *will* gather my mind and write an easy to follow recipe. Let me know, foodies...

Pogaca itself is very easy to make. Anyone will make it, I think. But the thing is, will it taste exactly as desired? Usually mine come out quite well to our liking... At first I'd make the chunks big so the outcome would still be okay to consume, but somehow in need of more filling. By time, I had a better idea of chunk sizes and filling ratio to go with those. I can please the type A personality foodie even. /giggle.




I'm just thinking... if someone asked me for the recipe later, there's a good chance I'd forget what I did tonight. Plus, some events are coming up... I plan to keep really busy. First... easy recipe:

- Dough Ingredients: 2 cups (or more?! i'll explain) Whole wheat flour, 2 eggs (1 egg goes into the bowl, 1 egg to spread on pogacas before going to oven) , pinch of salt, baking powder, 50 ml. oil or butter (melted and let cool if butter used), 1 cup plain yogurt

- Filling: Anything! This time mine had: Ezine cheese, pinenuts, coriander, cayenne pepper, turmeric, grounded black pepper

- Ideas for possible fillings: Boiled-peeled-mashed potato, spices. Vegetables stir fried but not cooked and spices.
Combination of veggies, cheese and spices. What else... These for now. Oh yeah, meat can go in too. Just nothing sweet. This is meant to be a salty pastry.

As for making the dough and measurements... mom would say that you need such consistent dough to feel "as soft as your earlobe". I don't know if it's known in English... Just translating directly.

• So I pour all dough ingredients into a bowl except for the second egg.
• Take out a table spoon or another stirring utensil and start stirring. How does the mixture feel? Intuition tells the best. I immediately knew that my dough called for more flour.
• Instead of overloading with flour, I gradually add it to be on the safe side.
• Eventually it comes to a point when it's okay to get fingers in flour first and begin kneading. Like this, it doesn't get much sticky & messy.

Mom helped with the filling. She took out a fork and mashed cheese. Sprinkled spices. Chopped coriander. Ready. The approximate measurement I gave with flour could make sixteen pogacas... And for each pogaca there is a need for two teaspoonful filling.

I spread some oil on the baking tray with my fingers. Pre-heat oven to 200 celcius degree.

Pulling out chunks of dough, I flatten them in the palm of my hand and put some filling. Make ends meet in a half moon shape. The rest just goes like this till the end. When all pogacas are placed on the tray, the other egg is scrambled and seperated from white. The yolk, yellow part is spreaded over pogacas and then black cumin seed is sprinkled.

As usual I have more filling than I need. Luckily it can be consumed with bread or something. No problem.

Tray goes into the oven and I start watching. It relaxes me so much to watch the bake. 15 minutes later ready, I think. Just need to watch this sign: Pogaca is ready when it's tanned nicely.

That's really it.




This pastry would make a perfect breakfast, along with tea... Actually, aside from making these at home; we have pastry houses that'll make it early in the morning so when you rush for school, or work you just have to grab one on the way. Turkish people like to take their time for breakfast, but when life gets busy... we will maybe negotiate with our time, though in no way compromise from the taste.

Some of us will even crave and make it at midnight, then sit to share it for example.

I'm looking forward to the upcoming events I plan to go...

I am in definite need of relieving the graduation pressure in a good way.

In the weekend I'll go to a concert, join a food festival to watch the Guinness record attempt for "world's biggest open buffet" which is to be prepared with 1001 different Turkish dishes (paradise!) and next week, book fair and meet up with a former classmate.

Then comes May, and I am born.

Spicy Marinated Beef w/ Mushrooms and Mozzarella Cheese

Red meat mostly visits our pots rather than pans which mean we use it as a side ingredient in a main dish, less in quantity so to speak. The price range of course plays a big role in that, but I think we would still stick with our Turkish dishes that "feature" red meat given the condition it was made more budget-friendly. We have a big variety of savory dishes featuring red meat in Turkish cuisine.

As a change, I decided that red meat would get the main role for dinner. While I was shopping for it, I explained that I'd like to marinate it with spices and then cook slowly. Satisfied with my shopping, I was back home. Checking on the spices I had; cayenne pepper, grounded black pepper looked the most appealing among others. We had fresh garlic, it was definitely going in. Olive oil a must, said the Mediterranean in me. So, the plan was set! In a container, I poured olive oil to cover the base, one layer meat and spices & chopped garlic over it, then other layer of meat.. just like this, I stacked all four layers - making sure each layer could absorb the marinate sauce well over night. It rested a night and I took a picture of my ingredients for this dish:

- Mushrooms washed, beef marinated, fresh garlic cloves and some mint leaves ready

Additionally, I used rings I cut from half an onion to go in with meat and mushroom on the pan and some mozzarella cheese at the end for extra flavor which are not in the picture.

- I didn't let cheese melt, so we could distinguish flavors better

Cooking was easier than I predicted. I placed marinated beef on a non sticky pan, mushrooms as whole, garlic cloves, onion rings all together. I lowered the heat as much as possible because we enjoy beef well done; so it'd cook slow but just give us the taste we crave. I mostly left the cooking do itself, but occasionally stirred and meanwhile couldn't keep patient. The smell it released was so good to a mesmerizing point. When I made sure that it was done, I thinly sliced mozzarella cheese and just spreaded over beef. We like mushroom & melted mozzarella in the oven a lot, so featuring cheese would remind us of that taste, I thought... Here is the dish:

- Close up of mushrooms

- Spicy Marinated Beef w/ Mushrooms and Mozzarella Cheese dish, I served with green onion

After getting our protein levels fixed, we returned to our greens. Especially in the region I'm from, we're especially known for our love for greens, herbs. I'm Aegean. The city I live in is named "pearl of the Aegean".

Lastly, a photo I've taken of the coast I reside on from winter which was like a bright spring day with some occasional breeze:

Too Many In One: Menemen; Popular Turkish Egg Dish, "Oh, You Didn't" Cake, Relief About School, Spring Love

It was such a relief to make it to noon for me, today. In this week I've been busy studying for my exam which was due Friday morning. Since this class I'm taking is my last until university graduation, I focus on it seriously. On Thursday I get a text message from my classmate, letting me know that I might want to go to school because my name is on the "get in touch with us asap" list of student affairs office at my faculty. Just as graduation is approaching, this sudden news make me quite uncomfortable.I go to the office, anxiously, and find it out: I have to take one more class - otherwise I can't graduate. (In fact I have already taken more than minimum amount of credits... but you need to complete exact amount per term and that's where it went wrong before, so they say) What confused me is, prior to every term I did my registration with an officer, it just can't go wrong! She admits her fault. There, in the end I have to take care of this. When's the exam for that class? Today! (Meaning... on Friday) Finding out Thursday, taking the exam on Friday. What class? Adult Psychopathology.

- This is me from a break during studying at night

Ehh... Speechless. Emotions rushed to my brain in fact, "should we make a drama out of this and spend few hours bitterly?" - No, no. Can't afford it. Okay.

- I was distracted thinking, and ended up doing this arrangement. Isn't it ironic that Ganesha is believed to be an obstacle remover... (and placer, too.)

To sum up, while I was studying for one completely unexpected exam and my other exam last night, it was food I found comfort in. Here's what I did: I bought chocolate strawberry cake for base, sweet cream mixture to make it with milk for filling, and banana to decorate! I plan to learn baking sweet stuff, too.

- "Oh, you didn't" cake

Now that I took both exams, it's a great amount of relief I feel. Besides, it was such a beautiful spring day. Staying outdoors felt so good I didn't want to come home. So after getting off the bus, I walked as slowly as possible and felt warmed up. Sunny days with a breeze... Just the perfect weather to me. On the way I got Maji some chicken. I don't know if she likes her special meal or this whole chicken cooked on big rolling skewer more, though. Maybe she doesn't care because both have chicken, and she loves it. Hmm. I wonder if anyone that stops by is a cat lover, as well? If so, let me know I'll post homemade healthy cat food preparation I do, to share with you.

As I turned around the corner and continued walking, there was my favorite homeless cat buddy who I usually feed. Such a weak little voice for that body! I find him so cute for this reason. He got the chicken leg and I talked to him while watching him a little as he ate chicken with pleasure. When I got back home, I also fed my cat too and it was my turn to eat.

Menemen, a popular and easy to prepare Turkish egg dish

I was very lifted to see mom cook for me, thinking that I would be tired for it. Couldn't agree more! She made me a kind of egg dish we call "menemen". Menemen is a Turkish breakfast dish, originally. It has pepper, tomato, onion, eggs and spices. She made me the traditional one which I'll share now that I mentioned it.

- A slice of mozzarella cheese melts on top - not in original version, but why not?

Ingredients would be:

2 eggs
3 tomatos
2 peppers
1 white onion

2 tbs butter/oil of choice

I want to add a note here, amount of veggies could change due to your liking. Just make sure you have them all if you're going for the original taste.

Spices especially:

Grounded black pepper
Cayenne pepper
Mint (dried is okay. mom put fresh mint so herbs are fine as well)
Salt

- Noon meal

Preparation:

First of all I'd dice all of the ingredients for convenience. Melt butter on pan, white onion goes first. Keep stirring, onions become translucent - now's the time for peppers. We had long & thin slightly hot green peppers, but any kind of pepper will do. Get green bell pepper if you want. Just get vitamin A fix! Good for skin and eyes. Back to the cooking, peppers now softened so it's tomatos turn. Tomatos will make it watery as they get cooked, it's okay. It's good idea to add the spices now, so they'll release flavor into it. Lower the heat and let tomatos get ready. As that happens, it's time for eggs. Tap the eggs firmly on the side of non sticky pan in turns and scramble them onto the veggies. Mix the egg white and yolk and cover evenly all over the veggies. If you think this is hard, well try scrambling them into a bowl, mix there and then pour it over veggies same thing. Now, slow cooking 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle a pinch of salt if you like. Ready.

(It's much easier to cook it than instruct it that long!)



Along with it:

Any kind of bread!
Additionally I had purslane with garlic, olive oil and Turkish yogurt.

- Purslane meze, refreshing

I haven't had menemen or purslane meze in a while, so it was a delish meal for me. Feeling more energetic afterwards, I noticed how beautiful it is still outside. Days are longer... it means more sunshine. Definitely love it.

As I was looking out the window enjoying the sun, my cat joined me soon after. I thought I'd capture my relief and her adorable face in the same frame. She wasn't much interested, so much stimuli from the street, I understand. But, I care for memories.

- Maji baby is distracted...

... and I am done, for today.

I already have the draft saved for next post, marinated beef. Though this post was like a therapy I had to attend in my mind with a priority, in order to put things in order and feel comfort again.

Baby Spinach, Pistacchio, Yogurt & Banana Spread

As we had more baby spinach after making the baby spinach pasta with turkish yogurt, I decided I'd make use of it in a nutritious way. Since we had whole grain rustic bread, I knew it had to be consumed with bread. I get the idea when food processor catches my eye.
It was breakfast time, might as well boost the nutrition then. Ingredients I had were:

That's it. Oh also another surprise (not that necessary but it was that time of month) ingredient: Chocolate chips!

Rest is all few seconds long chopping/pureeing job. Enjoy it like I did!

Take it Easy Day: Baby Spinach Pasta with Turkish Yogurt

Sometimes I'll just rush to see the pictures of the food being mentioned in the blog post. (Sometimes?) No, Most of the time. Always! Visuality comes first for me. I need to be able to smell, and almost taste the food just by the looks of it. Then comes the curiosity for the recipe, cooking method, ingredients... Since it's Monday though; I've got no recipe! Today I just want to take it easy with that, and go with pictures with little notes attached. It's not a complicated dish anyway. Nutritious and delicious... how about those? Check, and check. Enjoy!

Turkish Pan Borek w/ Nettle & Feta : Phyllo Pastry That Won't Bite You Back!

... Nettles? Used as filling to phyllo pastry?

Nettles! This is a plant that's been used as herbal medicine for centuries and even to this day that continues in rural areas of my country. How about the culinary use of it? I did a quick search for it, by that I mean that I went to websites that has my props - like one of them being TasteSpotting.com ! Using the search option, I just wanted to find out how many kinds of nettle featuring food I could find. Some examples are:

- Nettle soup (popular)
- Nettle tea (hmm it's described as tonic. oh, nettles have an effect to draw excess fluid from body. one fact!)
- Nettle pesto (not sure! basil seems to have won my heart.)
- Nettle ravioli & pasta (i'll try both! - but i want yogurt. sorry nettles for i'm treating you as a substitute to spinach here)
- Nettle risotto (if i'm ever out of options what to cook. - err. see i'm positive.)
- Nettle fritters (mm sorry.)

By the way the best Google search could come up with was nettle soup, so. Moving on.

...Turkish Pan Borek w/ Nettle & Feta?

First of all; Turkish people adore borek ("börek" in fact - could be pronounced as boh-rek roughly.) . Borek; being the phyllo pastry - fillings of it vary from cheese, vegetables, meat... It's a very versatile food for us. We might have it for breakfast, as a companion to Turkish tea. Or simply anytime of day. For example now, the hungry Turk typing these lines on a sleepless 4:37 am in the morning - could happily have some. Have my mom make it, though. Please?

Börek - as we Turkish people call it - has been one of the favorite "comfort foods" of my childhood. It'd make my day to wake up to its warm, invigorating smell coming fresh out of the oven. That feeling it would give... It's important for me as a symbol of feeling happy - more than it's taste. I should be fair though, it tastes just as great.

Back to today's focus.

Turkish Pan Borek w/ Nettle & Feta Preparation:

1. Nettles, washed. Some olive oil. Non-sticky pan :Nettles as the main ingredient, are not stingy anymore after being stir fried till the leaves don't fight back the utensil, meaning they are softened from heat of the non-sticky pan.
2. Nettles ready to use, feta cheese, grounded black pepper : Preparing a mix of nettles & feta cheese - avoid extra salt depending on cheese type. Feta to me is naturally a little salty, so.
3. Spreading the phyllo layers: Phyllo - 4 or 5 layers feed three. Almost.
4. Keep olive oil (about a tablespoonful of), some milk (i'm not strict with measurements... really. milk here is just being used to keep the phyllo moist inside while it'll be crispy outside. so milk is just a side ingredient being the peacemaker in between phyllo and pan! use accordingly.)
   

That was the hard part.

Next step is, to spread one layer of phyllo dough on a flat surface - and sprinkle? some nettle & feta mix on it, making sure it's in even amount in middle. Holding the phyllo from the ends and making them meet in the center, covering the filling. So now there should be almost a rectangular shape with ends tucked in; till it took a rectangular-ish shape. Almost a tutorial I tried to make with a simple doodle:

This folding type is for the inner layer. On a non-sticky pan with help of some butter or oil of choice, first layer gets made until crispy on outside. Then this layer gets placed in second layer phyllo waiting on the side. More filling on top, and then ends tucked in again. Each time, phyllo layers tucked in each other with more filling on top. Cooked until crispy, then onto the next layer of uncooked phyllo and again the same step. More layers could be added. Following this, the pastry is ready!

Credit: I had this pastry at my sister's place, made by sister's boyfriend.

Taste: It was moist inside and crispy outside. Nettle & feta went well together, but spinach is easily a substitute to nettle if necessary. Sister contributed with a delicious salad of mostly greens - she's the master salad maker.

Thank you for reading.

Feedmeback!



&

That's sister and me... just caught in action.

Okay, I had fast food. I didn't like it. My tummy did.


Ozge

Tortilla Wraps w/ Chicken, Mushroom, Eggplant, Red Bell Pepper

I've been to my sister's and during my week of stay at her place, it's been a pure feast for our tummies. Upcoming posts will feature food we cooked from the visit!

It was my turn to be the cook, so I made my way towards market. I had no idea what I'd buy for dinner. I thought that I don't particularly want to make it a meat or vegetable dish. Feeling indecisive like this gave me the idea. I was going for a little bit of both. Upon noticing the tortilla wraps among breads, the plan was set. Here's the comfort food I came up with -and it's healthy as well : Tortilla wraps with chicken, mushroom, eggplant, red bell pepper and garlic.

I am featuring my step by step cooking photos edited with Poladroid software - which I've been very interested in using recently, for my photography in general. Mentioning this, I'd like to give credit to its maker here with a link back: http://www.poladroid.net By the way, there's a photography group in Flickr for appreciating "poladroid" photography. In case you'd like to see mine, click here please. - I should just add this note that polaroid photography is respected. We're just a bunch of people that feel grateful for creation of almost "polaroid" images were enabled to us.

Back to yummy food!

Beforehand:

- Two chicken breasts cut in cube-ish pieces.
- Mushrooms washed and thinly sliced ( I had the convenience of buying it readied to this)
- Three medium size eggplants and two red bell peppers broiled above oven flame - careful
- Corn and grated mozzarella ready to be used
- Three big garlic heads chopped/cut
- Spices ready to be used: Cayenne pepper, grounded black pepper, thyme
- Tortilla wraps ready on side

For the sauce:

- Yogurt, mayo and mustard mixed in 3:1:1 tablespoon ratio. (Sour cream would work better than yogurt I think. Any other sauce could be used by the way. Complete freedom here, even with ingredients themselves. Your gusto. )

Enjoy!

Rockin' Sea Bass and Oven Potatos w/ Roasted Pine Nuts

Honestly, I've never been a fan of fish all my life. Approximately ten years ago from now, I lived in the countryside for a year. In that time my parents were in a small scale family tourism business. Tourists adored that small seaside town for it had a fame for clean sea and delicious fish - which brings me to the reason why I mention it all now. The only fish I've ever enjoyingly eaten was cooked in that place, my then home. We had a stone barbecue out in garden. My dad always seemed to be in charge at the barbecue. He was great at grilling meats, too.

Originally, mom bought the fish (sea bass) to oven grill herself. I was feeling up to a "challenge" to cook my first fish ever I guess, so I assured her she can sit back.

I planned to make a sauce out of: Olive oil, turmeric, thyme, black pepper, chopped garlic and salt. I smudged this sauce all over the fish generously; in & out. Next; cut onions in rings and chopped some dill to fill inside the fish with these. I had a feeling this was heading for a flavorful outcome.

I let the sauce start working into the flesh while I moved onto the next step I was to decide after finishing up with the fish - that is... cook something to do with potatos! Hmm.

Potatos... A-ha.

Since I was going to use the oven for the fish, I could as well cook the potato in oven. How? Using oven cooking bags.

I slice three medium sized potatos in round slices and fill the bag. Now what to include into the bag? Since the fish is supposed to be focused on I thought, I should go for a modest taste. Was I going to do that?

Mmm. Who knows. Well, pine nuts mom bought so we'd use in sweets in the cupboard... I was sooo tempted to use. Since the day is reserved for "first time ever" stuff, might as well use pine nuts in my dish too! Okay!

Naturally I go for roasting. So upon heating the pan, I throw in the nuts and also a tablespoonful of butter. Mm the smell... I keep stirring - I don't want them burned.

I can't help myself including fennel seeds yet again! I just can't - and this weakness leads to another discovery that fennel seeds release the flavor better lightly roasted. They got crunchy.

I put pine nuts on a small plate to cool down a bit - couldn't resist the mesmerizing smell so I snack on it while I was placing the fish into greasy oven paper. (Back to picture one for fish & potatos seperately placed on same oven tray ready to go into heated oven)

So I have the potatos in the oven cooking bag, a tablespoonful of olive oil, black cumin seeds, thyme. Also included were the pine nuts & fennel seeds. I grasped the bag from outside and let the ingredients mix well.

It was time for me to move onto letting oven do the rest - and mom was helpful making a big bowl of salad for us.



Cooking time must be 20 -25 minutes at 200 C degrees. Well... I don't keep track of these since there is always intuition you can rely on.

Focusing on potatos first:

Soft, loving the company of fennel seeds, black cumin seeds, thyme and oh... pine nuts for the most part. This potato dish itself could make a great dinner - I'll say that much. Wonders of oven cooking!

Now it's wise to focus on the fish - since rockstars always crave the attention. They might be too cool to admit it, yeah. Here is a close-up of my rockin' sea bass!

On the outside it was slightly crispy. I don't take much pleasure of the skin and head so my cat didn't mind helping me out. The flesh... it was so soft and moist merged with different flavors. I did enjoy fish after a long time.

Lastly, a picture of that tasty dinner. Normally we don't consume fish with pickles here! Pickle plates were already on the table when I included salad and dinner plate so the impatient me could take a quick picture before the euphoria would make me mad.

Enjoy !!!

Marinate Chicken Miu's Style!

Hmm. Well, I didn't know I had a style of my own. I love to experiment - so it's likely I'll change something when I attempt to achieve new taste. Then to correct, I say... Style of that day recently, yeah.

Chicken I sliced in chunks - I had it spend a night with spice, herbs and olive oil friends. Different buddies this time: fennel seeds, grounded black pepper, thyme, nutmeg, black cumin seeds, chopped garlic, olive oil.

The following day I took the container out to smell, and decide if chicken enjoyed friends' company last night. Pretty much I'd say. It was a good idea to not over-include of any of the ingredients; so they'd all taste well in fair amounts.

I place the chunks on the heated non-sticky pan and keep stirring. I added just some water - as by then the pan was heated well enough to not allow me cook chicken as slow as I'd like to. I thought I could use a little steam, so. Just through the end - before I was about to be done with cooking - I add little sour orange sauce (which is usually for salads and such here) just cause I couldn't help myself.

This be the satisfying outcome.

Story of "Indian Aloo Paratha which I've consumed like Salvadorian Pupusa - however I just wanted to make Japanese Gyouza" - bread.

I enjoy potato in a lot of dishes for it is so compatible with different flavors and easy to cook. Definitely in potato cooking mood - says my tummi and student pocket that day. But how? I decided it was my culinary curious day so...

"Hmm. Gyouza, Japanese gyouza!Hai!"

For gyouza fillings, I was going to use this mixture : boil potatos and mash them, stir-fry minced meat a little so it's not totally raw, spices as usual. Completed prep step - I began kneading the dough upon looking up some recipes online. It was alright until it was time to make the dumplings. Why don't they get the shape I want? They won't stick in its unique shape I've seen other people posted on images. What's wrong? This is where I say goodbye to my first attempt at gyouza. I don't have a steamer. Not up to making my own either. Onto Indian Aloo Paratha then!

Oh... basically flat Indian potato&herb bread. So delicious... So, I am not yet discouraged at this point. I can still make something out of this dough and filling. Now that it is paratha then... I look for some big cup to help me roll out the dough flat. I grab one, feeling excited for my now paratha experiment! I flatten a chunk of dough, add the filling in the middle, cover the filling from all directions on top and then gently flatten it again, making sure that filling doesn't get out much. This way, dough and filling get merged. I go through this for whole amount of dough that's there.

I pick up a pan, it's test time! I don't like my food too greasy. Pouring a tablespoonful of vegetable oil (for I think olive oil which I normally love to use might get burned due to heat and since I'm making paratha... I'll need it stay on pan - no doubt olive oil will burn...) - I place the first paratha, then follows the others as the space in my small pan allows. One by one, I make these.

Mmm the result? Here.



I say success! - since I didn't have an idea what the outcome could be. I cut a big one in slices - which is unrelated to the tradition with how Aloo Paratha is served, as a hot steaming whole bread that is.

Speaking of serving, now onto the Salvadorian Pupusa part. I had a chance to taste this very delicious tortilla (vegetable pupusa) back in last summer when I was in Los Angeles. My roommate and I've strolled up and down at the Hollywood Farmer's Market drooling on all the nutrition bombs - which in other words veggies and fruits; we were eventually very tired, not to mention the LA summer weather being so hot. Then we start looking at food stalls. Mmm they all smell great to me. I spot a Greek food stall and think of my country food - our cuisines are similar in some ways. Mexican. Salvadorian. Hey wait. Pupusa? I ask my roommate. She tells me "Just taste without knowing. That good." Okay! Indeed, it is simply delicious from the first bite to the last one. Was it the lil stuffed wonder, sour cream - or cabbage pickle... or the combination? Whatever that made me love this - definitely hooked me up on it.

As I recalled some memories, I wanted to "taste" some of last summer then. I combined my multi-cultural bread with beet pickle - as to have the sour taste. Good!

Pasta with Broiled Eggplant, Coriander and Garlic

I was craving for eggplant taste last few days, so I finally satisfied my tummy. I think this veggie enjoys garlic, coriander and olive oil's company the most. I figured I'd use these as sauce to my pasta - soon I had to start preparing because the smoky taste I was aiming for just made me impatient to wait till I could serve my meal. Picture above features my composition of garlic, coriander and eggplants - when I've already completed the first step with them; broiling on my oven flame for 5 - 10 minutes that is. I took them aside when they were soft enough. A smoky smell came out that I didn't mind inhaling a bit as I was moving onto the next step with my ingredients.

I washed & chopped some coriander leaves and got my spices ready before I'd begin peeling whole broiled eggplants' skins - a wise decision. :) As the flesh got exposed, I could begin to slightly mash up eggplant, coriander bits, chopped up garlic and also spices I'd use : Thyme, nutmeg, salt. Adding a table spoonful of olive oil upon finishing the sauce making. Simultaneously, I boiled some water and threw in some bow shaped pasta into the pan. Pasta took about 8 minutes to cook. By the way I didn't need to drain any water afterwards, cause I just add enough water to boil pasta and calculating the bit that'll evaporate!

Sprinkle some cayenne pepper just for decoration purpose and that's all! I didn't have to show a lot of effort for this healthy and yummy meal. What else would go well with it... Hmm, maybe some Turkish yogurt.

Miu's Veggie Feast Soup (Tastes Like Rasam Soup!)

Actually, I had no intention of cooking another version of many existing Rasam soup recipes. When I tasted, my initial impression was that I am familiar with this... but howcome? Didn't I just experiment and randomly bring some veggies together to find out how they'll compliment each other? Flashback to 2006. I was visiting India then... during the time I stayed and worked in New Delhi, I favorited a South Indian restaurant named "Banana Leaf". Along with masala dosa (oh... drool) they'd serve coconut chatni and rasam soup. I didn't know the name of this so nutritious, delicious soup then. I must have been so indulged in making my tummy happy. Anyhow, upon tasting this soup I cooked recently... a lot of memories came back to me.

What you need: Since it's yet another veggie dish, obviously a variety of veggies. In this one my combination included zucchini (1), green bellpepper(2), carrot(1), corn(3 tbs), celery(1 head), onion(1), garlic(2head), tomato paste(1 tbs), water, olive oil (2 tbs), fennel seeds, black cumin seeds, grounded black pepper, salt, ginger, cardamom and nutmeg.

How to: This was fairly easy. All veggies should be cut/diced into the easiest way their original shapes allow - either strips or cubes on that matter. Olive oil goes into heating pot first. Right after follows the veggies - due to my preference I let onions caramelize a bit at first then let all remaining veggie bits at once since I was kind of going to stir fry and simmer to get them soften later on so it didn't matter. Constantly need to stir. After that follows the addition of tomato paste mixed with water (ratio 1:2) sauce addition. It's time to spice it up now that the water creates steam. See, it was easy. The taste? Much more satisfying than expected.

& Vermicelli rice was good company to my soup.