Dolma (Vegetarian stuffing) and Bulghur pilaf (Bulgur rice)

Karine and I decided to look at our own cultural background to enlighten you guys about Armenian dishes. Thus, we chose to inform you about DOLMA and BULGUR PILAF!! :)
As Armenians, these foods are part of our diet. However, they do not directly come from our motherland of Armenia. Dolma is made in many countries of the world, found mainly in Europe and the Middle East, and bulgur pilaf is common in countries of the Mediterranean and the Middle East as well. They are not hard to make, but, just like any other dish, they do take time and patience. For bulgur pilaf, the somewhat ‘hard’ part is that you have to keep your eye on it and mix it often; otherwise it could easily stick to the bottom of the pot. Concerning the dolma, it is really easy, but takes time. In the end, however, you will be happy you prepared these recipes, since they are a DELIGHT! You can enjoy these foods with anyone and everyone, whether it is a small family dinner on a weekday night, a big family get-together, friends’ get-together, anything!
Additionally, these recipes are great for both the environment and our health. Isn’t that amazing? Bulgur is high in protein, fiber, carbohydrates, vitamin B and E, iron and low in fat and calories. Additionally, it is naturally-grown, so it has no negative effect on the environment! Also, dolma is healthy because it is made with veggies and rice which provide you with vitamins and minerals like fiber, iron, etc.
Our ancestors were making these dishes back in Armenia and we consequently, felt proud that we were keeping our culture alive, not only by preparing these Armenian dishes, but by also keeping our friendship strong. Although we are two Armenians living in Canada, our culture and traditions will always stay with us and we will do our best to pass it along to our younger generations.

Dolma (Vegetarian stuffing)
Ingredients:
1 ½ cup rice (washed and drained)
½ cup parsley finely chopped
½ cup onion finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh mint or 1 tbsp dry mint
2 medium tomatoes finely diced
1 ½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp cinnamon
¾ cup vegetable oil
½ cup lemon juice

Directions:
Mix all ingredients and fill in red pepper, green pepper, tomatoes and/or small eggplants, also roll vine leaves or Swiss chard leaves. Arrange upright in a pot. Cover and let boil, then lower to medium heat to cook around half an hour or until done.






Burghul Pilaf
Ingredients:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp butter
1 cup coarse crushed wheat
¼ cup shredded fine wheat
¼ tsp salt
2 cup water

Directions:
Heat the oil and butter putting the shredded wheat to fry until brown. Add the bulgur, salt and water. Let it boil then lower to medium heat until the water absorbed and the bulgur is done.

Italia Rice and Peas

Recipe:
Alright, this recipe is a family recipe, so I don't exactly have any precise measurements for the ingredients. We just kind of throw things in to fit our own likings.
To begin, 2 cups of rice was boiled in beef stock with butter and salt. The sauce consisted of stir fried onions and garlic, Italian sausage, and two cans of crushed tomatoes, with herbs. I added green peas and mushrooms, along with salt, pepper, and parsley to taste. Once everything is put together and combined with the sauce, it is layered with parmesan cheese and is then baked. After serving the plates, we can then add even more parmesan cheese!

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Assignment Information:
The recipe I chose is a recipe my grandmother passed down to my mother. It’s more-so rice and peas than it is rice and beans, though. My cultural background resides in Italy, therefore I prepared an Italian meal. Preparing it wasn’t too difficult: my mom helped me put it together and it was served for supper for me and my parents.
Preparing the dish was pretty cool since apparently the last time I had eaten this, I was just a kid. The ingredients generally don’t seem to raise any health risks, excluding maybe the meat, depending on the type of meat used.

James Lapierre ~ Food Fight Recipe

Veg. Biryani (indian/pakistani)(middle east)

INFO: This recipe comes from my parents and they muist have learned from theire elders. This recipe is really easy to make and is really delicious (for me anyway). This dish is made on a lot of events like weddings and even smaller occasions like having people over. This recipe is known by the world and is mostly popular in the middle east. I believe it is really easy to make and really fun because you can make it with firends or family. I also believe that is a nice alternative for people that want to eat delicious food and not have meat in it!

Ingredients :

Basmati Rice 1 cup
Onions medium size 1 NO cut lengthwise
Tomatoes Big 1 No cut lengthwise
Carrots 1/4 cup cut into matchsticks
Beans 1/4 cup cut lengthwise
Peas 1/4 cup
Potato Big 1 No cut lengthwise
Ginger-garlic paste 1 tbsp
Pudina(Fresh Mint) 1/2 of small Bunch
Coriander Leaves 1/2 of small Bunch
Yogurt 1/4 cup
salt & chilli powder Acc to taste.
Dhania Powder 1 Tbsp.
lemon Juice 1 Tbsp
Oil 2 Tbsp
Saffron(optional) few strands soaked in warm milk.

Method:
Cook Rice seperately & Cool.
Wash All the veges except Onions & tomatoes.
Marinate the same with Yogurt & ginger-garlic paste
for about an hour.

Heat a fry-pan with Oil , add Onions & fry till translucent.
Add tomatoes, salt & fry till it leaves all the juices.
Add Mint, coriander leaves & cook nicely.

Pour in the marinated mixture,& mix with chili & dhania
Powder.

Cover & cook in low steam till all the veges are tender.
Mix in lemon juice & fry till the moisture is absorbed.
Add Saffron , rice & mix gently .Adjust the seasoning.

Cover & let it sit for a few minutes before serving.

If having an Oven facility Bake the rice in the oven for 30 minutes before serving.

http://www.indianchild.com/Recipes/rice_dishes_recipe/vegetable_biryani_recipe.htm

Red Bean Soup Dessert

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of tapioca pearl
• 10 cups (5 L) of water
• 1 ½ of red beans (azuki beans)
• 1 cup (250 mL) of coconut milk
• Rock sugar

Prepare:

Soak the tapioca pearls in water overnight or at least 3 hours.

Direction:

1. Boil water.
2. Add red beans. Lower the heat to low-medium. Boil the beans until they are a soft and paste-like.
3. Add the amount of rock sugar preferred. [Personally, I put 1 ½ big pieces. You may substitute it with any type of sugar, although taste might differ.]
4. Add coconut milk.
5. Stir until boiled. Turn off the stove.
6. Remove the tapioca pearls from water.
7. Add tapioca pearls into soup.
8. Wait for 10 minutes before serving.

Note: All of these ingredients can be found in a typical Asian grocery store.

Red Bean Soup is a popular dessert among Asians. It is a very good source of protein and fiber. There are many ways to make this ‘tong shui.’ The recipe above was taught to me by my mother. This dessert is easy to make, but it tastes better with practice. I would happily share this recipe with anyone who is interested, but as mentioned, there are many ways to cook this sweet soup.

Spicy Lentil Stir-Fry

Spicy Lentil Stir-Fry

Spicy lentil stir-fry is a dish that my dad taught me, it was passed down generations. My background culture is from Sri Lanka, where both my parents were born and grew up there. This colorful dish shows how we south Asians love to eat spicy.

I personally find that this dish has the power to make people like beans, since is what had happened to me.

This dish is a combination of so many types of beans and peas; it consists of red kidney beans, romano beans, black eyed peas, and chick peas. It is a wonderful dish, for it is a good source of fiber and protein. This dish can be eaten for lunch or dinner, and will satisfy your hunger.

I chose to share this recipe with everyone because this dish uses few ingredients, yet so my flavors are enhanced.

The one thing that is great about this dish, is that it is basic, so you can add anything u want to make it better, like adding some of your favorite vegetables or adding other spices. It is the type of dish that you can play around with the ingredients and it can be made the way you want it.

For now I will let you know of the basic dish. It isn’t a time consuming dish, it only takes a few minutes to prepare. It is a quick and easy dish.

Ingredients:

- 1 onion

- 2 tablespoons of olive oil ( or desired oil)

- ¾ teaspoon of salt

- 1 tablespoon of curry powder (spiciness varies according to person)

- 1 can of mixed beans

- Few curry leaves

Directions:

1. First chop the onion into little chunks.

2. Pour the olive oil into the pan and turn the heat up to medium.

3. Place the onion chunks into pan and stir till a bit tender.

4. Then place the beans into the pan and in toss in the curry leaves.

5. Add the curry powder with the salt.

6. Stir till beans and peas are tender.

7. EAT!

FASOLADA(Greek bean soup)

Fasolada is one of the Greek traditional dishes that are eaten in Greece. They come from these special types of plants called “Fasolia”; in English: bean plants. It is a Greek plant that grows a special type of green bean called “Fasolakia”. As soon as they are done growing, it needs to be untouched for a little while so that the beans can transform into dry white beans. That is the beginning of the recipe of Fasolada(Greek bean soup).
Fasolada in the making is as easy as it gets! All we need is the dry white beans that grew out of the plant, vegetables, and olive oil. With a little help from my grandmother, I made this dish the great traditional way! First off, I soaked the beans in water. After a few minutes of soaking beans, I poured them into a pan, and added just enough water so that the beans are under the surface, and started to boil it. After a good half hour, I cut some carrots, celery and onions and mixed it with beans in the pan. Later, I poured in some olive oil, and about half a teaspoon of sea salt. After this was done, all I had to do was let it simmer on the stove for about an hour, and then it was done.
I shared this dish with my brother, a friend that was over at the time and my parents. They enjoyed it very much. My friend that was none Greek said “this tastes very healthy!” And yes, this is a healthy meal, you can add some bread, and feta cheese as side dishes while were at it.
While making the fasolada, I felt proud, and well aware of what I was doing since it is part of my culture. I enjoy cooking these kind of dishes because I know that it can be a huge plus added on to my health!
Why is fasolada healthy? Because of the high vegetable protein content it has! There is no fatty foods added in to this recipe, everything is from pure plants. That is what makes a healthy meal! Greek bean soup is also considered as optimal nutrition.
Finally, it is not very hard to find the ingredients used to make this traditional Greek bean soup. Just grow some plants in your backyard and you are all set!

Sweet Black Rice Pudding

This black rice pudding makes me remember Indonesia and my Canada World Youth exchange every time I eat it. I make it sometimes at home. But it's hard to make it often because I need to buy many products in Montreal at the Jean-Talon Market. Every time I go to Montreal I also go to Nonya, the only Indonesian restaurant in the province of Quebec. http://www.nonya.ca/I eat their black rice pudding for dessert each time I go there. I can't wait go back to Montreal.

Olivier Noël

This is a delectable dish of sweet, black glutinous rice combined with sticky white glutinous rice cooked slowly in an earthenware pot to melt-in-your-mouth consistency. Infused with scented pandan palm leaves to add a flavour similar to vanilla, sweetened with fresh wheels of grated palm sugar, drenched with swirls of rich coconut cream to cool it, then topped with fresh mango or banana ... mmm ... That's what I call a memorable Bali holiday!



Ingredients

• 1 cup black glutinous rice
• 3/4 cup white glutinous rice
• 2 pandan leaves (see note below)
• ¼ tsp sea salt
• 5 cups water
• ¼ cup palm sugar
• ¼ cup water
• 1 400ml tin coconut cream
• fresh bananas or mangoes and raspberries in season

Instructions

1. Combine the black and white glutinous rice and rinse in a bowl three times to remove starch. Place rice, pandan leaves, salt and water in a heavy-based pot. Bring to the boil and simmer on medium heat.
2. Meanwhile, grate the palm sugar and add to the water. Bring to the boil and simmer until the sugar dissolves (about five minutes).
3. When the rice has been cooking 30 minutes, add the syrup and cook for another 10 minutes.
4. Try soaking the rice the night before to cut the cooking time in half.

To serve

Serve warm on a wintry night with lashings of cold coconut cream and fresh fruit (try frying banana slices) or chill in cups for a balmy Bali summer's night treat.

Note
Black and white glutinous rice can be found at Asian grocers. Buy fresh or frozen pandan leaves at Asian grocers. Or, instead of using pandan leaves, add a few drops of vanilla essence at the end of the cooking process.

kafta w batata ma3 roz (kafta and potatoes w batata ma3 roz (kafta with potatoes and rice) beans version.

My mom(AND I but mostly my mom) made this for supper on Sunday.It's very tasty but very heavy at the same time, you'll be full after 1 plate. It's really heathly for the body because there's meat vegetables and rice. There are many different way to do it but since I'm from Lebanon i'll describe the Lebanese way of doing this recipe.


This dish is is made of kafat,which meat mixed up with parsley and onions, potatoes and tomato juice.it contains a lot of protein and other nutriment needed by the body but you might feel bad for the animals that we killed to make the meat.For the record us, the Lebanese people, use a lot on meat in our recipes which explains why we eat a lot of meat even if it goes for killing animals. If you like you can remplace the meat by shrimps (in that case you dont use parsley and onion) or by red beans(which in that case also you dont use parsley and onion) but the usual way to do it is with meat.I'll explain how to do the recipe with beans.


This dish takes approximately 45 to 60 minutes to prepare because the potatoes and the beans mixed with tomato juice are cooked together in the stove. I would recommend that while the beans and the potatoes are in the stove, start doing the rice that way you don't waste time afterwards.



Ingredients ( For 5 ):

-5-6 cups of beans(cooked beans)

-1 pack of parsley

-1 big onion

-peper and salt

-Butter

-6 potatoes

-2 can of tomato juice

-2 cups of rice


Steps :

1.To make the beans, just put them in a pan with the 2 tomato juice can and let them boil for 15-20 minutes.

2.Take an aluminum plate and put the beans with the tomato juice in it. Peel the potatoes and cut them (cubes,rectangle or whatever shape you like) and put them on the beans. Put the plate in the stove for 30-35 minutes at 375c.


4.For the rice, since it 2 cups you need 3 cups of water(1 cup and a half per cup of rice).So you put the 3 cups of water then the 2 cups of rice a little bit of salt and butter in a pan.

5.Then you let it boil for 15 minutes on low.

6.Take out the beans and the potatoes from the stove put it on the table with the rice and enjoy !! :)

*Note that it's the Lebanese recipe(with beans) there might be other ways to do it.

Khalife Joseph

Gremolata Pasta for Two

I made this for dinner this evening. I like that all my veggies are in this dish, although if you were extra good, you could add a salad. I was experimenting with adding tofu to what would otherwise be a cheese-heavy dish. I love cheese, but it contains too much fat, forcing me to use it sparingly in everyday cooking.

Gremolata is a lovely concoction that combines parsley, lemon zest and garlic. It is very fresh tasting and very easy to make. For this dish, I used a fine-herb infused tofu, which made the cubes chicken-like. When cooked, the tofu was not really distinguishable from the tasteless factory-farmed chicken you buy in the supermarket. I know that this doesn't sell the tofu, but I enjoyed its chewy goodness knowing that no creature suffered for my protein requirements.

This dish takes less than 30 minutes to make. Since almost everything is cooked at once, I recommend you prepare all the ingredients beforehand, just like they do on cooking shows. In fact, pretend you are in a cooking show and invite someone from the audience to share the final result with you.

Ingredients

• 1/2 package organic firm tofu
• dash of canola oil
• 1 red pepper (chopped)
• 4 medium tomatoes (chopped)
• 1 cup chopped parsely
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• rind from one lemon
• 3 cups dry wholewheat pasta
• 2 tbs grated cheese

Directions

1. Cut the tofu in small cubes. Heat canola oil on medium high heat. Add tofu and let brown on all sides. A nonstick pan works well for this. When brown on all sides, let drain on paper towels.
2. Heat water in pot large enough to cook pasta. When water comes to boil, add pasta. Cook for 10 minutes.
3. While pasta cooks, in the same pan in which you cooked the tofu, add the red peppers. Cook on medium high heat for one or two minutes, until peppers are noticeably wilted.
4. Add the tomatoes and cook for another six minutes or so.
5. Add chopped parsley, lemon rind and crushed garlic. Stir and remove from heat.
6. Drain pasta and toss with cooked tofu and sauce. Sprinkle with the cheese.