Thailand: หนีเสีอปะจระเข้ (Out of the Frying pan and into the Fire)

Egypt was fantastic, but way too laborious.  So we dumped the sand out of our shoes and headed east to Thailand (ราชอาณาจักรไทย) for a respite. Thailand, hands down, wins the award for best city names.  You could visit the capital, Bangkok, and when you tire of the city, say Phuket and well, move on.  Here in Charlotte, Thai food is all the rave.  We venture to say it is the top ethnic cuisine sold here after Mexican.  Thai House, Monsoon and Thai Taste are all amazing restaurants that we frequent.  So, when fate handed us Thailand, we were excited and fearful all the same.  How could we ever get to the savory level that is found in those delicious dining establishments?  

After weeding through many websites, we decided to go with only two dishes for two reasons: The huge undertaking in Egypt had left us exhausted.  Secondly, to make authentic Thai cuisine, you must use spices and pastes that are not normally found in a Southern kitchen.  We basically had to start from scratch.  Two dishes were plenty.  And yet, we still cheated. 

We started off the evening with Tom Yum Goong (Hot and Sour Shrimp Soup).  Kaffir lime leaves are a huge part in Thai cooking, and this soup is no different.  Unfortunately, these little leaves are quite elusive, even in Asian markets.  It seems even the grocer has to have some sort of hook-up with the wholesaler to get these little leaves.  Our neighborhood Asian grocer had no such hook-up.  Neither did we.  So, to make this soup, we used a Tom Yum bouillon they had instead.  Here is the revised recipe:

2 squares Tom Yum bouillon in 4 cups hot water

Big handful of shitake mushroom (make sure to chop off the stems)

Big handful of dried lemon grass (couldn't find the fresh!)

Sprinkle of dried cilantro (forgot to get the fresh!)

2 limes - juice and zest

Sriracha Hot Cock (Thai red chili sauce

Handful of bean thread (clear noodle-like strands)

1 lb shrimp last, stir till pink.  

Of course, if you can find the fresh herbs, use those instead.  If you do dried lemon grass, don't be idiots like us - strain it out before you put everything else in.  Also, we discovered that shitake mushroom stems are not soft even when cooked down. Don't use them.  If not, you'll end up with a surprise in every bite.  Aside from the aforesaid silly mistakes, this soup is absolutely fantastic and very quick to make.  It has a ton of flavor and a good kick too.  You can leave out the Hot Cock altogether if you're not a fan of the spicy.  

  From there we moved on to  Gang Naw Mai Neuw Sub (Beef and Bamboo Shoot Curry).

We made a substitution replacing the beef with shrimp.  We also added zucchini and carrot.  If you’ve never had bamboo shoots, you’re in for an experience.  They are eerily reminiscent of alien tentacles but amazingly tasty.  Instead of making our own red curry paste, we got a packet of it made by Aroy-D from the Asian Market.  We should have known it was going to be spicy when we saw 19% of the paste was pure red chili pepper.  Naw, that's not that much, right?  Whew. Wrong. If you have the intestinal fortitude to handle the curry assault, then we salute you.  Otherwise, grab the air-freshener, take a magazine and don’t forget to light a match. 

If you’re a fan of Asian cuisine then you’ll absolutely love the next part.  It’s cheap.  Outside of the shrimp, this meal cost us $15. And we still have enough stuff to make it all again.

        Stay tuned for the next adventure, because we’re done with the Eastern hemisphere and we ship off to a country where the beaches are hot and the music is hotter.  Until next time we say, Choc-tee!

Egypt: أَكْل العِنَب حَبَّة حَبَّة . One Step at a Time

            After a brief stay in Slovakia we headed south to Egypt. Week 1 had been successful. No cuts, contusions, lacerations, burns or any other minor kitchen disasters. We learned that it wasn’t the dishes themselves that were difficult to make, but the rare ingredients and spices that were hard to find. Where does one find Tahini Paste? Furthermore, what is Tahini paste? Tahini Paste, or Sesame Paste, is a paste made of ground sesame seeds. Would we ever use it again? The more involved we became in the research for each country, the more we saw common trends of ingredients between region.

How did we arrive in Egypt? As ridiculous as our Conquest is - we do have a method. We choose our next country at random as our current trip comes to a close. Using the CIA World FactBook app on our Robot phone, we swipe and stop on a country in the list, eyes shut. We cannot visit the same continent twice in a row.

Egypt was particularly exciting, invoking thoughts of hot sand, ancient pyramids and black eyeliner. The start of civilization, the invention of the calendar year, the 24-hour day, pen, paper, glass, cement, wine cellars, brewing practices, organized religion, irrigation... It was deep. We got a little ahead of ourselves in trying to honor an epic country with an epic night.

So...let’s try an extensive five course, fully involved, Egyptian buffet. After some tapas of grapes, honey, hummus, cheese, and pita we started our first course of Fasolia Khadra Lil Salata (Fresh Green Bean Salad). This salad is a fantastic summer salad. It’s light, crisp, and refreshing compared to most of our heavy American salads.

The next dish, Kushari, was a traditional Egyptian meal great for those of us who are desperately looking for an escape from the ‘pasta in jar’ so commonly available at the super market. Here might be a good place to add that 3 common spices in Egyptian cooking are cumin, cinnamon and baharat spice. It was an excellent variation on Americanized dishes.

The highlight of the evening was definitely the Mashi-Phil-Phil (Stuffed Peppers). Apart from an awesome name, these peppers were stuffed with much more than meat and rice. They contained an ingredient that made wine disappear. You see, the worst part about these peppers is that they take FOREVER to cook. As the scent of stuffed pepper deliciousness filled the kitchen, we bonded over wine and good stories.

 To finish off the evening we had‘Molasses with Tahini’ served with pita. For those of you that have had Nutella, it was very similar.

The Arabic Jams were provided by:Egyptian Radio

Until next week, we say Fee sihetak!

Slovakia: "Okuliare na nos!"*

Let's get one thing straight. We are not Foodies. We're novice cooks that like good food and drink and are trapped in the United States by our own financial folly. (Or the economy...whatever). So, when the idea came about one cold night in South Charlotte, we chose our first country that felt in line with our B-rated worldly education. Slovakia. It wasn't as predictable as Italy yet not as obscure as Eritrea. It had a tumultuous past with a bright future. It had shaken the Mongols, the Nazis and the Commies. The country now has one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union and is called the Tatra Tiger due to its economic explosion. Andy Warhol is of direct Slovak descent. Basically, Slovakia is awesome.

Equally awesome is their second national dish: Fučka. Not only because of the name, but because it's also simple and delicious. We didn't do the first national dish: Bryndzové halušky, because we couldn't get the Bryndza, Slovak sheep's cheese, to NC in time. So we did the Fučka instead. As I mentioned before, we are novice cooks. Therefore, we had to improvise when the recipe didn't go quite as planned.

6 white potatoes

2+ cups of milk

1 vidalia onion

4 pieces of bacon, crumbled

1 tbsp. butter

salt & pepper to taste

Peel and cube potatoes and boil. As they're cooking, chop onion and bacon. Instead of straining the potatoes when they got soft, we just neglected them and danced to Slovak Rap Music. Fantastic. As they cooked down, we remembered to stir them. And added milk to make it more porridge-like. Fry bacon in pan on low heat. After half-way done, stir in onions. Cook on low until caramelized. Don't forget to stir the potatoes. Add more milk and some butter if they get too thick. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve in low bowls with the carmelized onion and bacon on top. Slurp and say in your best Oliver Twist voice, "Please sir, can I have some more". Yum.
We chose Huby so Salinou as one of our side dishes. It also uses one of our favorite items in all the world: Bacon. Due to a miscommunication, (hey, we're new at this!) we used large portobello caps instead of baby portobellos. Because of the size difference, we saved the inner scrapings of the caps and stir-fried them with chopped onion instead of just using the bacon as the filler. We then restuffed the mushrooms with all three ingredients. After stuffing, we baked on 350 until they looked like the picture in the recipe.

As our healthy veggie, we made Uhorkový Šalát, or Cucumber Salad. This is extremely easy and refreshing. It reminds us of the sliced cucumber and onions that our mothers make during the spring and summer.

For this trip and for all future ones, we say Cheers to you and your's. From Slovakia...Na Zdravie!

The great folks at SlovakCooking.com provided all recipes that we used for our Tuesday Trip.

Music was provided by the following sites: You Tube, and Slovak Radio. (Note: When searching from streaming radio stations, be aware that your current browser may not support the script. We all hate IE, but it works well for most sites.)

References:

http://www.eupedia.com/slovakia/trivia.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovakia

* Okuliare na nos!

Spectacles on the nose! (pay attention).

Traveling Tuesdays

Food. It’s a necessity. When we were children the menu generally consisted of two items: Take it or leave it. We quietly rebelled against monotonous dishes. Instead of eating our green beans, we'd slyly spit them in our glass of milk and hope our parents wouldn't see the dark green beasts bumping against the side. Our mothers are not bad cooks. In fact, they embody perfection in the Southern kitchen. And they're also sisters, making our culinary upbringing similarly polished and similarly cynical. We’re the biggest critic of what we eat. Too Bland. Too Hard. Too soft. Too Salty. Too Spicy. Maybe, we were just too picky.

We finally reached the dire state of being "Grown-Up". We can tell you how much rotors cost to replace and what APR really stands for. Even more abhorrent, we are too poor to travel. Our months abroad as students unleashed a crazed conquistador within us, hungry for the next adventure, longing for another land. The smells, the music, the language, the sound of our feet walking on stone streets or dirt paths. Travel shows became painful to watch as our envious explorer boiled, trapped inside us. Foreign films helped, Pandora quenched our thirsty ears, but still we restlessly waited for the next adventure.

We diagnosed ourselves with Culinary Complacency. Causes: Drab Dishes and Tasteless Takeout. Why not spice it up? So was born ‘Traveling Tuesdays’. Each week a different country. We’ll go from France, to Thailand, to Russia and back without ever leaving the kitchen. All we need is a recipe, music, creativity – and of course- a high speed internet connection. Each week we escape. The cabinets become store fronts peddling exotic herbs and garnishes. The counter tops become fruit stands. Everything comes alive. The smell of curry, red wine and lentils transform an ordinary kitchenette into something magical.

However, let us point out that we aren't professional chefs. We can't flambe, only one of us owns an apron, and each time we cook there's a significant chance of a kitchen fire. We must also reiterate that wine, beer, and spirits are integral parts of each week's travels. After all, we wouldn't want to compromise the authenticity of each country. Australia needs Shiraz, Japan needs Saki, and Russia needs Vodka. Creativity needs a catalyst. Let our catalyst be the earthy undertones of a nice Chilean Carmenere.

Grab your passport. Maybe pack an extra pair of utensils? (Don’t worry, there isn’t TSA where we’re going). Kick start the imagination. As we travel to over 200 countries trying different cuisine and sampling the local fare – all from our own kitchen. This is “Traveling Tuesdays” written by the Culinary Conquistadors.