Favorite Recipes from Around the World - YouLookFab Forum

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Favorite Recipes from Around the World

carter

Veteran

For about 10 years when my kids were young, Friday was international night each week. At the beginning of the week, the kids would pick the country and region for the week. While I searched for recipes, they had to learn something about the country...its culture, government, currency, etc, plus how to say one phrase in the language. Friday, we would have a meal that was as authentic as I could make it. Over the years they've traveled IRL to a dozen countries or so, but they've been around the world at least a couple times through food.

Unfortunately, we fizzled out on this when my daughter went to college. I should add (proudly) that she graduates in a couple months with a degree in government and international relations. She's hoping to get a job in Europe. I'm at least taking partial credit for her passion!

I would like to get back to some international cooking before my son heads off to college in a couple years. Most of the things I find online are more Americanized than I'd like. I'm hoping that you ladies will share some of your favorites that represent your country. If you have links to sites (in English) or links to specific recipes, please share. Also, if you have a recipe you can post here, that would be great.

U.S. ladies, I would love to see your favorites as well, as I'm sure the non-US crowd would. Is there something specific you love that's popular in your part of the country?

Thank you!

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25 replies

Latest reply was from Diana

doubleh

Veteran

Fabulous idea! I am not the chef in our house, so I will have to get back with a recipe, but I can't wait to see what others post! I have no idea what other countries assume of American food other than fast food and pizza. Oh! I do have an awesome sandwich, back soon.

Can I also request that a phrase be included with the recipes?

carter

Veteran

Of course, doubleh. Do you have a specific phrase in mind? My kids usually came back with something along the lines of "where's the bathroom?" Helpful, but not the most glamorous phrase.

doubleh

Veteran

Ok, so here's mine. As I said, I'm not much of a cook, but DH and I made up this sandwich and it is the best sandwich ever! (And I do eat meat, so I include that in my statement.) It still needs a name...

Multi-grain bread slices
1/2 avocado sliced
Smear of hummus (any kind, but my favorite is Trader Joe's spicy)
roasted red peppers
thin radish slices
sprinkling of cilantro (optional, but if you like cilantro, this puts it over the top!)

I was thinking phrases that relate to food or the recipe, but I would love to learn anything new in another language or colloquialisms from other regions. The only one I can think of at the moment for the south is "Bless her heart".
"Bless her heart; she is as silly as they come". Of course, that doesn't have anything to do with food or my recipe...

rachylou

Veteran

This is how we do Jamaican ackee and saltfish:

ackee (comes in cans)
saltfish (comes frozen)
chopped onion
chopped tomato
salt and pepper

Soak fish overnight in cold water.
Drain and simmer fish in fresh water for 15 minutes.
Drain ackee.
Sautee onion
Add tomato
Add ackee and saltfish

Nice with red peas (kidney beans) and rice cooked in coconut milk and a little allspice and nutmeg.

Anonymous

It might be easier and even less expensive to go to various restaurants. It is fun and more relaxing than trying to cook something when you are not even sure how it is supposed to taste. You can ask your server for what is most authentic on the menu. I especially like dimsum brunches, Indian buffets, and Tapas for trying as variety.
See if you have a Japanese restaurant that makes okonomiyaki. That's what we had for dinner tonight but DH really doesn't use a recipe. To buy the specialty flour for the batter, special sauce, special mayo, and authentic pork belly for making it once or twice, you may as well go out.

Eat with chop sticks!

carter

Veteran

Doubleh, that sandwich sounds great. Maybe a California Vegan Club?

Rachylou, we love Jamaican dishes. If my International market has ackee, I'll be making this one! Is there something you would substitute for ackee if I can't find it?

Joy, it would be easier, but not nearly as much fun! I LOVE to cook, and I love to experiment in the kitchen. Cooking is my favorite form of relaxation. We have a huge International market nearby, so I go every Friday to explore. It would definitely be a good idea to cruise menus from International restaurants and then try to find an authentic recipe.

JAileen

Veteran

It's funny, our tradition for the past 15 years is Friday Night Burrito Night. Even after it was just the two of us, we continued Burrito Night.

This recipe is from when we lived in Texas. It is a Cajun recipe, for Red Beans and Rice.

Red Beans and Rice

1 lb dried red beans
2 qts water
1 large onion chopped
2-3 stalks celery chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
11/2 tsp garlic powder
1- 1 1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp salt
1 lb smoked sausage

shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
green onions chopped

Wash beans, combine all but last two ingredients in a large pot and cook until beans are tender (1 1/2 to 2 hrs) or cook in a pressure cooker for about 25 minutes or until beans are tender.

Serve over rice, sprinkle cheese and green onions on top.

Note: all seasoning is to taste. I usually omit salt, but you might not want to. This is a lot of cayenne. If you don't like spicy, then use caution (and use less)!

ramya

Veteran

Indian food world wide is predominantly North Indian food :D.
So here is something from where I am in South India. We are predominantly a Vegetarian(Not Vegan ) Community. And donot use much onion or garlic in our food

http://udupi-recipes.com/2014/.....anate.html

It's a salad . And do check her blog . You will find many easy to do recipes.

A phrase:" Hege(Hay-Gay) Iddiri(Ee-di- ri)?"(How are you?)

Alassë

Veteran

Ooh! I love
international recipes. Here are some favorites:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/201.....dillo.html

http://www.budgetbytes.com/201.....-shawarma/

http://www.skinnytaste.com/200.....5-pts.html

http://chefambershea.com/2009/.....ani-curry/

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2010/01/quick-migas/

http://www.skinnytaste.com/201.....curry.html

carter

Veteran

JAileen, Cajun Red Beans and Rice sounds fantastic!

Ramya, that salad is gorgeous! I'm adding Moong to my shopping list for the International Market. Hoping they have it!

Alasse, every one of those looks delicious! I have made the broiled tilapia recipe from SkinnyTaste. It's killer! Looking forward to trying the others!

Diana

Veteran

What a great thread!

I don't use recipes in general when I cook Chinese dishes but here are a couple that I have tried and liked:

Chinese steamed buns (baozi); the fillings she has here are meat ones but it's the same dough used for the sweet ones (like red bean, etc). This is a really good tutorial for how to make them:
http://corriehaffly.wordpress......pork-buns/

And here is how to say "baozi" in Mandarin (since I have no idea how to describe it!):
http://voices.yahoo.com/video/.....tml?cat=16

These pork ribs with preserved black beans are really good but the ingredients can be hard to find. You need the ribs to be cross cut (across the bones, into ideally 1-2 inch long pieces) although longer ribs probably would work but would be messier to eat. You need an asian market for those and for the black beans.
http://www.foodandwine.com/rec.....-scallions

ETA: One more, for potstickers/dumplings. I don't use a recipe but this one looks decent. It's super fun to do this with friends or family. Make a couple of different fillings (whatever you like, as long as it's not too wet or dry and will cook relatively fast), and either make or buy some wrappers. You can totally use storebought dumpling wrappers, just make sure you get the ones for "gyoza" or "jiaozi" and NOT wonton wrappers. The ones you want are round (not square) and slightly thicker).

http://rasamalaysia.com/potsti.....-recipe/2/

Astrid

Veteran

My favourite traditional meal are Rouladen (with egg!), boiled potatoes and coleslaw.

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

Rouladen (one for each):
- season the meat slices with salt and pepper
- spread mustard on the slices (not too little!)
- add chopped pickles and chopped onions
- place a hard boiled egg on top and roll the rest around

A good description of the preparation and how to do the gravy is in the Wikipedia link. We actually prepare our Rouladen in a 120 year old iron roasting tin, passed down to my dad by my Oma.

Coleslaw (for 6 people):
- chop or grate white cabbage (1,5 kg)
- boil two chopped onions, one teaspoon mustard, one tablespoon salt, half a cup of sugar, half a cup of neutral tasting oil and one cup of white wine vinegar for a few minutes
- add the still hot mixture to the white cabbage and mix
- cover bowl with a plate and let it stand for 24 hours

For the boiled potatoes it's important to use as little water as possible to keep the taste, my Oma made them with the water NOT covering the potatoes completely. You can't leave them on their own though when you use little water, so keep an eye on the pot.

L'Abeille

Veteran

Our family also loves international cuisine, and I can think of lots of recipes I could share, but you may have discovered many of them already. (What don't you have yet? German, Thai, South African, French Canadian, Brazilian, Moroccan?)

But what you should do is check out the blog called globaltableadventure.com. She set herself a goal to cook and eat food from every country in the world, alphabetically; it took 3 years and recently finished. She blogs about the countries' culture, ingredients, and shares her recipes and how they were received by the eaters. Many things here I'm dying to try.

Astrid

Veteran

L'Abeille, what a great blog! I had a look at the posts for Germany and she also did some Rouladen, but the classic ones without egg and with red cabbage (http://globaltableadventure.co.....-rouladen/). The egg is a regional thing. But there are some great pictures!

carter

Veteran

These all sound so fantastic!

Diana, huge fans of Chinese cuisine here! I've never made baozi, but they look delicious. I'm cracking up that you included a video on how to pronounce it, but it's not playing for me. My browser, maybe? My daughter would forsake all other food for potstickers. I've always used the wonton wrappers. I'll have to track down the others. Our international market is heavily Asian-oriented, so I'm optimistic I'll be able to find them and the ingredients for the ribs.

Astrid, Rouladen sounds excellent, and how wonderful to have a new recipe for coleslaw that doesn't involve mayo! I love your roasting tin story...so sweet.

L'Abeille, what a great find on that blog! I imagine I'll be spending hours poring through 3 years worth of cuisine! South African and Moroccan are two of my favorites, so I'll take whatever you have! Educate me on French Canadian. Definitely something I should try.

Astrid

Veteran

Carter, I actually wasn't sure that coleslaw was the right term, because I googled coleslaw and I got only recipes with mayo, like you said! But the dictionary said so.

carter

Veteran

Yep, Astrid, it's definitely coleslaw in my book. I'm not a mayo fan, so I've been making the same no-mayo slaw over and over and over again. Time to change it up!

Echo

Veteran

This is such a fabulous idea; I may adopt it for our family, too!

Sadly, I don't have recipes to contribute. Well, not anything written down, anyway. My father was first generation German in Milwaukee, WI, and he used to cook veal schnitzel with noodles and a hot sour cream dill sauce. He also made stroganoff, and let it simmer until the meat about fell apart when you ate it. I make them, too, but I don't have any measurements or directions (I just do it the way I saw him do), and I am having a hard time finding recipes online (schnitzel is pretty straight forward, but a hot sour cream dill sauce is harder to find).

carter

Veteran

Oh Echo! I think you need to make these in the next couple weeks and jot down the ingredients and process as you go. They sound wonderful.

Irene

Veteran

While I'm not a big fan of my country (Spain), I have to say I'm a big fan of Spanish/Mediterranean food. I just find it really balanced, healthy and delicious. And light, since I'm not a big eater and I dislike strong flavors or spicy food.

Here's one of my favorite dishes: Spanish Omelet (with potato and onion)
http://spanishfood.about.com/o.....rtilla.htm

Maybe this one is not so popular, but there is a sort of pastry called Galician pie which is also very nice. I like it with tuna filling.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/reci....._pie_63426

Also, I'm not sure this is done in many regions, but spreading an open tomatoe (sliced into two parts) over a loaf of bread makes any sandwich infinetly better. This is not a Spanish tradition though, but a Catalan one.

carter

Veteran

Irene, thank you! This is the perfect example of why I asked for authentic dishes rather than the Americanized ones I find here. Typically, a Spanish Omelet served in the states will have green peppers, ham and cheese. Not even close! Can't wait to try a real one. The Galician pie looks awesome. My husband loves anything that combine seafood and sausage.

rachylou

Veteran

Funny about ackee - to me it's just like scrambled eggs. Lol. If I couldn't find it, I'd just do scrambled eggs and fish.

Re. baozi - Out west here, we all say "Cha siu bao". I guess that's because we're all Cantonese peasants and don't acknowledge Mandarin as even being Chinese... hehe.

carter

Veteran

Rachylou, scrambled eggs sub for ackee?? I thought ackee was a fruit?

rachylou

Veteran

Oh, it is, it is. But it's savory. It's fruit like banana is an herb...

Diana

Veteran

Ha, Rachy, I say "cha shao bao". My mom was very adamant when I was a kid that we always ordered things in Mandarin and not Cantonese, even when we went to Cantonese restaurants like dim sum. Now sometimes I say it in cantonese though, despite not speaking a word of it. My husband's bad influence....

The recipe I linked though is not for cha shao bao. It's more accurately for "cai rou bao" which translates to vegetable and meat buns. Cha shao bao only refers to the ones filled with cha shao, which is the sweet, red barbequed pork. (But if you can find that at your market, Carter, it is delicious and makes a great bao filling!)