Jewish Kugel

Ingredients

1 LB egg noodles,

1/3 LB whole-milk yogurt/greek yogurt

1 LB light sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

4 eggs

2 spoons corn starch

cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, raisins, nuts 

Procedure

Cook noodles by instructions, and drain.
Mix all the other ingredients (besides  raisins, nuts, and noodles)
Add and mix the noodles and raisins&nuts.
1. Oil a baking pan, pure the mixture (it is possible to press a little with a plastic glove).


Bake for 30 min X 385 F, or for longer time on lower degree, until slightly brown.
2. Cool-down for ~10 min and slice. 

Orechovnik (Slovak Nut Roll)

Prep time: 1 hour 10 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 1 hour 40 mins

Serves: makes two 12-inch rolls

A tender sweet bread with a deep golden crust and a flavorful, nutty filling. Perfect with a hot cup of coffee. Before you begin, keep in mind that the dough needs to be refrigerated overnight.

Ingredients

• FOR THE DOUGH:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 egg yolks, beaten (set aside the egg whites)
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup cold milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 package dry yeast
• FOR THE NUT FILLING:
• 3/4 lb ground walnuts (about 3 cups whole walnuts)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• FOR ASSEMBLY:
• 2 egg whites (saved from dough)
• 2-3 drops vanilla, divided
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup milk

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, mix the vanilla and milk together then dissolve yeast in the mixture. Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients (like you would for a pie crust) until the dough resembles a course meal. Add the beaten egg yolks (setting aside the egg whites, covered, in the refrigerator) and the yeast mixture. Mix together briefly with a wooden spoon, then knead with your hands against the sides of the bowl until everything is blended together and the dough is no longer very sticky. Alternatively, you can use an electric mixer with a dough hook. Form the dough into a ball, cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
2. When you are ready to put together the nut rolls, prepare the filling: mix together the ground walnuts, sugar, and brown sugar. Divide evenly into two bowls and set aside.
3. Remove your dough from the refrigerator; divide in half and place on a floured work surface. One at a time, roll out each piece of dough to a 14” x 13” rectangle. Turn the dough so that one of the longer edges is facing you. Mix your reserved egg whites with a drop of vanilla. Using a pastry brush or your fingers, brush some of the egg white mixture over the top of the dough. Then smear about 1/4 cup applesauce (or a little less) over the dough to keep the nut roll moist. Sprinkle one of the bowls of nut filling over the dough, leaving about a 1-inch margin on each side of the rectangle but the far end, where you can leave a little less room (about 1/2-inch margin).
4. Start rolling the dough away from you, into a spiral, keeping the spiral firm and tight. When you’ve made several turns, fold the 1-inch side margins inward, and then continue to roll all the way up, pinching the seam once rolled. Place the nut roll, seam down, on a parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheet. Using a pastry brush or your fingers, use just enough milk combined with a drop or two of vanilla to brush the top of the rolls (this will make the rolls nice and shiny). Repeat the process with remaining dough.
5. Preheat oven to 350 F. Let the rolls rise for 30 minutes, then bake for 30-35 minutes until the rolls are a deep tan color. To serve, cut the nut rolls crosswise into slices.

Russian Pancakes "Oladushki"

This month Irina from Russia thought us how to prepare Oladushki, a popular dish in Russia either as a meal or just as snack.

Ingredients:

3 eggs 

2-4 table spoon sugar

pinch of salt

1 tea spoon baking powder

400 g cottage cheese

2 table spoon semolina flour

2/3 cup flour

In a large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add semolina, cottage cheese and flour. Mix very well. Then please wait (about 10-15 minutes) until semolina gets swelled.

In a frying pan, preheat the vegetable oil on high to medium flame. Using a tablespoon, scoop the oladushki  mixture and carefully tip it into the frying pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until nicely browned. Frying pan should be covered. Adjust the heat to medium-low if they brown too soon.

Remove and place on a plate layered with paper towel to get rid of any excess oil.

Serve warm or at room temperature, top with sour cream or honey, jam.

Bon appétit!

Mixing eggs, sugar, baking powder, salt and semolina flour

Adding cottage cheese

frying them

Ready to eat!

Russian Cabbage and Mushroom Pie

As an extra, Marina made a delicious vegetarian pie with cabbage and mushrooms.

Ingredients for the dough:
1 egg
1 table spoon sugar
1 tea spoon salt
1 cup kefir or buttermilk
1 cup all-purpose flour
Baking powder a little
150gr (about 1/2 lb) butter

For the pie filling we have chosen to use Cabbage, Mushroom and onions. Before preparing the dough fry the fillings until soft and set aside.

To make the dough, break the egg in a bowl. Add the sugar and salt. Mix them very well. Add one cup of kefir and mix all the ingredients together again. Add the flour and baking powder and mix all the ingredients together. At this point add the melted warm butter to the mixture. Make sure the butter it not hot otherwise it will cooks the dough. Mix it well. The dough should become fluffy and airy.

Now that the dough is ready, put half of the dough in the baking dish, add the filling and then put the rest of of the dough.

bake the pie in the oven first for 30 minutes at 375F then for 10-15 minutes at 350F until it's golden outside and cooked through.
Enjoy it!

Adding Kefir to dough mixture

Pouring half of the dough into the baking dish

add the filing

Adding the second layer of dough

And the second layer of filling

Just our of the oven

Austrian Apple Strudel

This month lovely Lea from Austria showed us how to prepare Apple strudel, including making the dough. As she mentioned, she made the Vienna Cafe version with crispy crust and lots of fillings.

Dough:
250 gram white pastry flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp oil (neutral-taste - NO olive oil)
about 150ml lukewarm water (eventually more)

Put the flour on a kitchen surface, sprinkle salt on top of flour and mix it with your fingers. Build a crater out of the flour and put the oil in the crater. Mix it. Build a crater again and add about 1/3 of the water. Mix it. Add more water and mix it, knead the dough, add the rest of the water until the dough is kind of sticky (dough would stick to your fingers). Knead the dough with your palms until it has a smooth, soft and silky texture. Throw the dough-ball onto the kitchen surface for a couple of minutes until the surface of the dough is really silky. Form a nice round ball, spread oil on the dough and put a bowl over it. Let it rest in the warm kitchen for at least 30 minutes. The longer the dough can rest, the better. About 2h is perfect.

Meanwhile prepare the filling.

Filling:
100 gram butter
100 gram bread crumbs (plain!)
3 1/2 lb. apples (baking apples - sour, if the apples are not sour enough just add juice of one lemon)
100 gram sugar
cinnamon as desired
50 gram raisins
50 gram butter melted

Peel the apples, cut in half, remove the core and cut the apples in little apple pieces (I cut one half apple in 3 slices and then cut about 2 millimetre thick pieces out of the slices), add lemon juice if needed. Roast the bread crumbs in the butter. Melt the 50 gram butter for later.

The filling

THEN you need to stretch the dough:

Put a tablecloth (cotton in the best material) on your table and sprinkle it with flour. Take your dough and make sure it is soft and oily on the surface. Start thinning the dough with the back of your hands (take rings and watch of before). Once the dough is about as big as a table put in on the tablecloth, put your hands between the dough and the tablecloth and stretch the dough, beginning in the center, carefully with your hands. The dough will get huge and it is supposed to be as thin that you can put a newspaper underneath and be able to read it (if it's not as thin the first couple of times you make it, don't worry :-)). Cut the thinker edges of the dough if you don't like eating them.
In the end the dough should have a rectangle shape.

Dough ready to get stretched

Can you see how thin and transparent the dough is?

Now the dough is ready for the filling:

Spread the melted butter on top of the dough (everywhere). On one half of the dough put the filling, start with the breadcrumbs, then add the apple pieces, then all other ingredients.

Roll the strudel with the tablecloth. Begin with the part where the filling is on top. You can fold the edges to ,,close'' the sides of the strudel before you roll it, but this is not a must.

Put the strudel on a backing sheet (parchment paper!) and spread melted butter on top.

Bake it at about 375 degree Fahrenheit for about 30-40 minutes.

Enjoy!

Covering the dough with melted butter

Adding the filing

Strudel fresh from the oven

You can fill the strudel with sweet or savory fillings (just google a little bit). Here are some ideas:
Sweet: cherries, rhubarb, poppy seed and apples
Savory: potatoes, squash, ground meat, mixed vegetables

Brazilian Chocolate Balls "Brigadeiro"

Debora from Brazil taught us how to prepare Brigadeiros. Here is a brief explanation by her:

Brigadier is a Brazilian typical birthday parties' food made of condensed milk and chocolate. It is called Brigadier because of a Military who was running the presidency election in the early nineteen's. In his campaign he served this chocolate balls to people on the streets to catch attention. People gave the name Brigadier to the little sweets because it was the only thing they remembered from the presidency candidate.

Ingredients:

1 can of sweetened condensed milk (preference "La lechera" because it is more consistent)

1 tablespoon of butter

3 tablespoons of chocolate powder

Chocolate sprinkles

Small baking cups

Preparation:

In a pot mix all the ingredients and cook it in medium-low temperature until it is a little firm. (it will take approximately 10min).

You can also cook it into the microwave. Mix all the ingredients inside a glass bowl and cook it in the high temperature for 12-15min. (Mix each 4 minutes to avoid burning the cream).

 After that pour the firm cream on a plate and wait a few minutes to it cool down. Spread butter on hands and make little balls. Roll the balls on a bowl filled with chocolate sprinkles. Place the balls inside small baking cups.

Serve.

Indian Cooking

Gobi Manchurian

Ingredients:

1 lb cauliflower
4 tbsp corn flour

4 tbsp Maida (white refined wheat)

1 tbsp coriander powder

4-5 minced green chili

½ tsp ginger paste

½ tsp minced garlic

1 chopped onion (medium)

1 chopped green capsicum

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp vinegar

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp Garam marsala

1 tbsp red chili powder

Salt + pepper

Oil (to deep fry)

Water (to make batter)

For the batter mix corn flour, Maida, water and spices (Garam marsala, red chili powder, salt + pepper, ginger, garlic). Dip the cauliflower florets in the batter and deep fry then until they are crispy brown.

Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan. Fry onion and chili until they are light brown. Then add vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, coriander and capsicum. At the end add the fried cauliflower and the left over batter (to thicken the gravy).

German Soft Pretzels

Recipe for Soft Pretzels (“Laugenbretzeln”)
adapted from Alton Brown's recipe for soft pretzels.

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

• 1 1/2 cup of lukewarm water
• 1 package dry or fresh yeast
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 oz melted butter
• 22 oz flour (about 4 1/2 cups)
• 2tsp salt

For the Lye bath and decoration:

• 40g (~1 1/3 oz.) food level Sodium lye (NaOH) in powder or pearls (in the US buy at Essential Depot)
• 1 l (ca. 4 cups) water
• Kosher salt or Pretzel salt for sprinkling

Preparation:

Dough:

1. In a bowl, mix the lukewarm water, yeast, and sugar/honey, and let it rest for ~5mins until the mixture  looks foamy on top. Melt the butter.
2. In a large bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer if you own one), mix the flour and the salt, add the yest mix and the melted butter (make sure it has cooled down a little so it doesn't kill off the yeast bacteria).
3. Knead the dough and, if not using a machine, beat it with a wooden spoon against the side of the bowl until it is smooth “like a baby's bottom”. (This will take at least 5mins – preferably 10 by hand, about 5 with a mixer).
4. Cover the dough with Ceran wrap and let it rest in a warm spot (no warmer the 120F, ideally above 80F) for about 45mins-1h until it has doubled in size.

Forming the Pretzels

1. Divide the dough into eight even portions
2. Roll each of the eight portions into a string, about 16 inch in length and about twice as thick in the middle as at the ends
3. Hold the string on both ends, twist it twice and affix the ends to either side of the center of the string to form a pretzel shape. If needed use a little water to make the ends stick.

Working with the Lye

Note: Be careful when using lye. Especially the pure lye is highly corrosive. Only use it in plastic containers and with plastic or wooden tools.
You should always wear rubber gloves, consider wearing protective goggles and avoid breathing in lye dust. Once the lye is diluted in the water, the solution is much less aggressive so you don't need to be paranoid about it, but treat it with respect...
If you can't get or don't want to use lye, you can use baking soda (Sodium carbonate – NaCO3) dissolved in hot water instead, but the result will be less exciting pretzels which lack the crisp crust and the characteristic brown color of original pretzels.

1. In a plastic bowl, mix the lye and the water (you can vary the amounts as long as you keep the ratio – 100 water to 4 lye – constant – e.g. 500ml water 20g lye; 2l water, 80g lye etc.
2. Using rubber gloves and a plastic spatula, carefully put the pretzels in the lye solution, one or two at a time, let them sit for about 1min, remove, let excess lye solution drip, and place them on a baking tray, readjusting the shape as needed. The pretzels will rise a good bit still, so leave some space between them.
3. Sprinkle the pretzels with kosher salt (this is customary and tastes good, but the pretzels will bake just as well without, so if you mind the extra salt feel free to leave it away) and let them rise again for about 10-15mins at a moderate temperature. 
4. Preheat the oven to 425F
5. Bake the pretzels in the oven for about 12 mins until they have a rich brown color. 
6. Let the pretzels cool for about 30mins before eating. Germans will typically eat pretzels with butter, cheese, or sausage, not with mustard. 

Peruvian Food

Ceviche

Ingredients

4 pounds of white fish (mahi mahi is an excellent choice)
juice from about 30 key limes (or enough to cover the fish)
1 annheim pepper, diced
salt and pepper to taste
3 large onion, sliced into half-rings
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon of ginger (powder or paste)
 
Sides

3 lettuce leaves per plate
16 to 24 corn cobs cut into 2 inch pieces, cooked as usual or four tablespoons of white homini
5 or 6 sweet potatoes, boiled and peeled


Procedure

Wash and de-bone the fish and cut them into ½ inch x ½ inch chunks.
Season the fish with salt, pepper, annheim pepper. Marinate the fish for 5 minutes after mixing well.
You should have enough lime juice to completely cover the fish.
Add onion. Mix gently. Marinate for 3 more minutes.
Serve on a bed of lettuce and add two pieces of corn on the cob and a portion of sweet potato.

Spanish Food

Gazpacho and Tortilla



Gazpacho
-serve 8

ingredients
4 tomatoes
3/4 clove garlic
1/2 cucumber
1 Tbsp onion or green onion
1 slice white bread, without the crust
1Tbsp red wine vinegar(this is a kind that Sara used. You could find this at World Market)

1/4 cup olive oil
water to cover
salt to taste

direction
1. Peel the tomatoes' skin. Do not biol them! (Sara's trick: rub the skin with side of a spoon to make it easier for the skin to come off)
2. Soak the bread in water
3. Put everything in a blender
4. Garnish with some left over vegetables. i.e. tomatoes, cucumber or green onion

Tortilla
-serve 4

ingredients

2 potatoes
1 onion
4 eggs
a lot of olive oil
salt to taste

direction
1.Cut potatoes and onion in small pieces
2.Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and add 1.


3.Cook the vegetables until they are soft and the potatoes are easy to break
4.In a medium bowl, beat 4 eggs and add some salt
5.Scoop the cooked vegetables out from the pan and add them to 4.
6.Add some more oil to the pan
7.Pour the egg mixture back in to the pan
8.Cook for a while until you can see the bottom is browned
9. Flip the tortilla (put a plate that can cover the frying pan, then "flip" the whole thing!)
10. Slide the tortilla back in to the pan to cook the other side
11. Cut in to squares and serve!



We had some slices of bread to go with tortilla this time.
They toasted the bread and rub fresh tomatoes and some olive oil.
Top with Prosciutto.

Brazilian Cooking

Baião de Dois (Rice and Beans)

-3 cups rice
-2 cloves garlic minced
-1/2 yellow onion

-1lb dried pinto beans
-3 cloves garlic minced
-1/2 yellow onion
-6 bay leaves
-1lb pork sausage(you can also use chicken, beef jerky, flied fish)
-1bunch parsley chopped
-1 lb queso fresco(Mexican cheese-you can get this at AB Mart in Boulder) cubed

Direction
1. Rinse the rice and set aside.
2. In a frying pan, put a little bit of oil and add garlic. Add onion and cook until it's translucent.
3. Add rice to the pan and water(double the amount of rice). Put salt to taste. Bring it to high heat until the water in the pan get dissolved.
4. In another pan, cut sausages in pieces and cook them and set aside.
5. In a big pot, cook garlic and onion until translucent.
6. Add *cooked beans(take out the bay leaves), the rice, sausages, parsley, queso fresco.

*cooked beans
There are a few different options:pressure cooker, normal pot, slow cooker.
This time, the chef used a pressure cooker since it's the fastest way to cook the dried beans.
You can always find how to cook in each method online. Just don't forget to cook the beans with bay leaves!!

Doce de leite
The chef found a pre-made can here but in Brazil, people make this out of sweeten condenced milk. And this is how you make your own if you can't find "doce de leite" in a can.
In Brazil, people dip apples etc in this and have it as a dessert! yum!!

Ingredients
-pressure cooker
-water
-1 can sweeten condenced milk(not the easy open lid one!)

Direction
1. In a pressure cooker, place the can and fill up with water until it reaches 1/2 inch above the top of the can.
2. Put the lid on and turn on the heat.
3. Once the pressure is on, keep it that way for 30mins.
4. Turn off the heat and wait until the pressure is off.
5. Cool the can until it's cool enough that you can handle it.
6. Open the can and finish!

Cultural Potluck

Thank you all for bringing your wonderful/tasty cultural dish. It was a lot of fun!
If you could send me the recipes, that would be wonderful. I'll be putting those up on this page so that everyone can look at it and maybe try to cook!

Biscuits Cake by Dorit(Israel)

Chocolate Cream:

1 pack of “Osem” Pudding – vanila flavor (it is at King Super at the “Kosher” area)

2 cups of milk

2 cups of sweet cream (whipped cream)

Blend everything in electric mixer until it becomes a creamy texture. Don’t blend it too much because it will be too hard (like butter).

Vanilla Cream:

1 packs of “Osem” Pudding – chocolate flavor (it is at King Super at the “Kosher” area)

2 cups of milk

2 cups of sweet cream (whipped cream)

Blend everything in electric mixer until it becomes a creamy texture. Don’t blend it too much because it will be too hard (like butter).

For the biscuits:

4 packs of “Kedem” Tea Biscuits (it is at King Super at the “Kosher” area)

Put milk in a small bowl and add 1tsp of vanilla extract

· Take biscuits, dip them inside the bowl with the milk and arrange them in one layer in a dish. Don’t live them too much in the milk because they will melt.

· Above put a layer of the cream that you made (half of the vanilla cream).

· Again, take biscuits, dip them inside the bowl with the milk and arrange them in one layer above the cream.

· Cover it again with vanilla cream.

· Again, take biscuits, dip them inside the bowl with the milk and arrange them in one layer above the cream.

· This time put above half of the chocolate cream, again layer of biscuits and the last layer is chocolate cream.

· You can decorate with any fruits you like (raspberries, strawberries etc.).

· You don’t have to make chocolate cream and vanilla cream you can replace one in the other, for example use only chocolate pudding instead of the vanilla and in the middle of the cake put pieces of banana. Be creative! You should eat the cake the next day or give it at least 7 hours at the fridge to cool. Enjoy!

Indian Curry and Lassie

Indian Curry and Lassie

Indian Curry
Ingredients
-1 bunch cilantro
-1 lime
-1 package *Masala powder

-ginger garlic paste(or 20 cloves of garlic&10cm ginger)

-10 cans garbanzo beans
-7 red onions
-14 tomatoes
-spices(powdered red chili pepper, whole cloves, black cardamon, cinnamon sticks, powdered black pepper, green cardamon in salt, turmeric powder) See the photo of her spice case. I put these in order from the little spoon in the middle. The one left of the spoon is the chili and it goes clock wise.

1)cut the vegetables. No need to chop them to small since we will be putting them in a blender.
2)Grind onions (if you are not using the garlic/ginger paste, add garlic&ginger at this point.)
3)Rinse the beans and drain well.
4)in a large pan, heat 2-3TB oil(more oil you add, faster to cook). Add 2pinches of cumin, 10green cardamon peeled. (1can of beans=1 green cardamon), 1 black cardamon-crashed, 6or7 cloves.
5)add the onion mixture from 2) to the pan. Simmer for 10mins until the water in the mixture dries up and you can see the bottom of the pan as you stir the mixture. You'll only see the grease not water on the bottom.

6)In another pot, add some oil, grind tomatoes and a little bit of salt to taste. Bring it to medium heat for 10-15mins. Stir occasionally.
7)Once the onions are cooked, add that to the tomato's pot. Bring it to high heat.
8)Add 2TB salt to taste.
9)Add masala(1can of beans=1TB masala)
10)Add water (1can of beans=1/2cup water)
11)Add beans

12)Taste and see if you need to add more salt.
13)Pour the curry on top of cooked basmati rice and add toppings(chopped red onions, chopped cilantro, squeezed lime juice and black salt).
Enjoy!
*Masala's different brands and spiciness
-Badshah brand(the masala is called "chole masala") mild
-MDH brand (the masala is called "chole masala") medium
-Everest brand (the masala is called "chana masala") hot

Lassie(yogurt drink)
Ingredients
-32oz plain yogurt
-a little bit of water (or ice cubes if the yogurt is not cold)
-2-3 shelled crashed green cardamons (2glasses=1cardamon)
-little bit less than 1/2cup sugar

1)Put all in blender for 1min
2)Wait for a little and blend again for 1 more minute.

Where to get Indian spices?
-Krishna Groceries in Lafayette
-28th and Valmont St. in Boulder