Armenian khurut

Here is a recipe I inherited from my Armenian great grandmother. My grandmother still used to make it occasionally, but my mother did not bother with it any more. I still remember the taste of it and one day I will make some (I promised to myself...).

So what is this mystery food? It is a potted mix that is used to flavour dishes, mostly soups. I did try to look for it on the net without success, so maybe modern Armenians don't bother with it either. If so, then I consider it doubly my duty to post it here as a heritage recipe. Of course, it may happen that in Armenia it goes by another name. I would appreciate if someone who happens to pass by could comment on it. There is another recipe I never found anywhere and which unfortunately I do not own, I just remember it from my childhood. It was called HARSNEMADNAG and it was a cigar shaped cookie. I would very much appreciate the recipe if you happen to have it...!!!

For now here is the description of how khurut was prepared in my great grandmother's house:

Bring 1 liter (4 cups) milk to just below boiling point, let it cool a bit, then mix in ½ liter (2 cups) pure sour cream (which does not contain any gelling agent), cover it and let it stand at room temperature overnight. Next day bring large quantities of milk, 6-8-10 liters, again to boiling point, let it cool and mix the previous day's clotted batch into it.

Cover and let this big pot sit in a warm room for three weeks, stirring it every day. After the three weeks put the resulting yogurt on the stove and let it simmer, stirring occasionally, until it becomes as thick as good sour cream.

Meanwhile get a huge amount of parsley (about the size of a 10 lb bag of potatoes, or maybe even more), pick the leaves off the stems and grind these leaves in a food processor (the old recipe suggests a meat grinder), adding 10-12 celery tops (leaves only), and maybe some fresh tarragon leaves. Put the ground mix into the yogurt and keep simmering while stirring until it becomes as thick as marmalade.

Distribute this among jam jars while still hot, screw the tops on, turn them over for a short while, then store the jars in a dark closet. It will last indefinitely, or at least until next year. They usually prepared it in August or September.

It is used by adding a spoonful or so, mixed with fresh yogurt or sour cream, into soups or sauces, adjusting the amount to get a pleasingly sour taste.

Bean curd rolls

This dish is really nice... in a rustic Chinese way. I like it, my younger one likes it, other members of the family thought it tasted "too Chinese"... It is true that the five spice taste was very prominent. So one can tone that down a bit.

My main problem, though, was not the taste but the bean curd sheets that I used. I bought fresh sheets that do not need soaking. But they turned out to be much thicker than the soakable dry variety, I couldn't wrap the rolls properly, and they did not allow proper steaming to take place. Even after an hour the filling was still uncooked. So I just made balls of the rest of the filling and steamed them separately. You can see a couple of them, behind the rolls on the photo. Then I dried the rolls and panfried them under a lid. This made the stuffing cook nicely and had the sides of the rolls crispen up, but the ends remained chewy.

In the end I also cut the remaining bean curd sheets up into smallish squares, marinated them (dipped them) in the sauce that I prepared for the rolls, and fried them. They came out a bit leathery but tasty. They did not seem to soak up any of the oil. I had to wipe them dry after they cooled. You can see also some on the photo, peeking out from under the balls.

All in all it was OK, there were no leftovers. But I will have to make some further adjustments before repeating it. And if someone can enlighten me as to how to handle the thicker non-dry bean curd sheets, what recipes are they really meant for, I would appreciate a comment about it here below... :)

And now for the recipe (taken from Paula at NibbleDish)

Wrappers:
• sheets of bean curd

Filling:
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 3 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 2/3 cup of grated carrot
• 1 1/2 cup bean sprouts, blanched
• 4-5 dried shiitake (I used soaked wood ear)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon five spice powder
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 spring onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons of potato starch

Sauce:
• 3 tablespoon of light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon of sesame oil

Chopped spring onions for garnish

Soak the mushrooms, then chop them. Mix all the filling ingredients. If you use dried curd, soak that also first, then cut the sheet into smaller squares. Fill them with the few teaspoons of the filling, arrange them in the steamer and steam them until done.

Home made cough syrup from ribwort

Home made cough syrup can be made using the lowly ribwort, a much maligned weed from your lawn. I just went through a bad case of cold, and while looking for home remedies I found this recipe on Klostersuppe mit Haube. Since I have ribwort growing in abundance on my lawn, it wasn't hard to gather the necessary amount, which I did, the syrup then I prepared, tested, and I can report to you that it worked quite nicely. :)

So now I am going to share with you the recipe in good old English:

½ - ¾ lb ribwort leaves
3 cups water
1 thick slice of a lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ lb brown rock candy
2 lb sugar (or honey)

Wash well the leaves and chop them up roughly. In a pot bring the water, lemon, lemon juice and and the rock candy to a boil, add the chopped leaves and then let it simmer on the lowest possible heat for 20-30 minutes. Now sieve it through a cheese cloth lined sieve, pressing out the juices thoroughly. Add the sugar to this liquid and let it simmer for about an hour, until it becomes thicker, more syrupy. Pour this syrup into prepared bottles and keep it in a dark cupboard until needed.

Good bye!

Our beloved Mother, Grandmother and Mom-in-Law has passed away this week.

May her rest be peaceful!

Maque choux - a Louisiana dish

After a long period of hurried slamming together whatever ingredients happened to be available in my kitchen, I had a short period of smoother sailing. I used these calmer days to add some new entries to my other pages, but then I did a little coasting around in the culinary world, too, peeking into other people's pots, looking for exotic dishes. That is how I discovered the maque choux. Doesn't this name itself have an intriguing sound?

The original (I suppose Native) recipe sounded too blah, Emeril's recipe needed Emeril's own sauce, so I opted for Nola's New Orleans Maque choux recipe. Of course, I used bacon drippings. I tend to cook healthy, low fat dishes most of the time, noone in my family has cholesterol, diabetes or any such ailment, so the occasional little indulgence does not upset our overall health. The dish turned out very nicely, I will repeat it.

Maque choux, my version

bacon drippings with oil added to measure about 4 - 5 tbs
3 cups frozen corn
1 onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup celery, sliced thin
1/2 cup green peppers, sliced paper thin
1 ts chopped garlic
1 cup canned whole tomatoes, chopped
salt, pepper
a few spicy sausages, I used some chipotle flavoured ones from European Meats in Kensington Market. They sell them frozen in 5 and 10 lb batches.

Saute the onion until glassy, add the celery, garlic and green peppers. Saute a bit, stirring occasionally, for 5-6 minutes, then add the tomatoes, corn, adjust the seasonings, and place the sausages whole on top of the simmering vegetables. Let it simmer simmer for 15 to 30 minutes, then take out and slice the sausages to be distributed and arranged on each plate of food.

For added flavour and colour you can also sprinkle some freshly chopped basil, thyme or parsley on top of the dishes.

Buffet style spaghetti pie

We just had a birthday party, and I have to tell you about one of the most successful dishes I put on the buffet table. It was so successful in fact that I did not manage to get a picture taken at all before it was gone. Instead, I decided to use the photo from the blog where I found the recipe, whose owner by the way is also a magnificent photographer in the Netherlands, and give full credit to her for the whole package. It truly is a package, as it has extensive photo instructions on the whole process of putting the dish together.

So, please, go and visit her blog, What's cooking?.

Beef with fresh mango sauce

12 thin slices of lean beef

Marinade:
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon tamarind juice (optional)
2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon rice vinegar (or regular white)
1 small onion (or 2 shallots) chopped

Sauce:
2 ripe mangoes
3 teaspoons of fish sauce
2 tablespoon lime juice
3 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
a few drops of hot chili oil (Saigon) - to taste
chopped basil leaves

Place the beef slices with the marinade ingredients in a zippered plastic bag and let them marinate overnight. Then just before serving fry, broil or barbecue them to desired doneness.
Blend the sauce ingredients and serve it with the meat, accompanied with rice. Sprinkle it with fresh. chopped basil leaves. I served the chopped basil on the side in a small bowl, and I also added grated zucchini as a side dish, sauteed with garlic in a bit of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.