Armenian Yogurt Marinated Chicken with Harissa

So, once again, we had a dish that involves a whole chicken. And, once again we have a dish that involves yogurt.

That said, this came out kind of bland...not terrible...not mind blowing...just kind of there...ya know, just like Armenia (AMIRIGHT??)

The most interesting thing about this dish is that Armenia considers their national dish to be a spice mixture, which still baffles me. Anyways, below is the recipe:

1/4 cup whole milk yogurt
One 1- to 2-inch knob fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon red chile flakes
Kosher salt
1 whole chicken, cut in half
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 lemon, halved
Harissa

To make the Harissa, follow these steps:

2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon red chile flakes
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 red bell pepper, roasted, peeled and seeded
Sea salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to coat the top of the harissa

note: you can use equivalent powder versions for all of this if you'd like (that's what I did). 

In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, ginger, cumin, chile flakes and salt. Whisk until smooth and pour into a baking dish. Lay the chicken halves, skin-side up, in the yogurt mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple of hours to marinate.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Remove the chicken from the yogurt, leaving any excess behind, and lay them out on a baking sheet, skin-side down. Cook until the skin is brown and crispy, and then flip. Altogether, it should cook for 35 to 40 minutes.

Then for the Harissa, in a small bowl, combine the coriander seeds, cumin seeds and caraway seeds. Add the spices to a sheet tray and toast in the oven for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and set aside to cool. Add the paprika and chile flakes to the spice mix.

Using a mortar and pestle (or a food processor, like a normal human being), grind the garlic cloves until they become a paste, and then add the red bell pepper. Season with salt, and then add the spices and the 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil and blend well.

While this recipe (here) calls to grind in the bell pepper--I actually left it chunky:

All in all, this wasn't bad...just kinda boring and bland. Gorby got so bored, he walked out side and just slept in the dirt:

Anyways, next week, we'll have something a little more entertaining...next up is Australia. While they don't have an official national dish, the unofficial dish is meat pie. This stuff is so bad that they had an obesity conference last year explicitly dedicated to the meat pie scourge. So, I suppose Gorby and I are intrigued.

Argentinian Asado with Chimichurri Sauce

Man, Pork is just so delicious.

This was hands down, the best dish thus far...and the five or six people who were here absolutely devoured these. Gorby was, of course, pleased as well. Moreover, this was incredibly simple. This was also a pleasant surprise following the Fungie Debacle of 2013.

Here is the recipe I based this on--though it's confusing as hell--so I mostly just put this together willy nilly.






Ingredients:

Ribs (duh)
olive oil, salt, pepper to taste
1 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
125 ml olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp brown vinegar
½ tsp chilli powder
1 tsp adobo spice mix


I was pretty flexible about the volume here--and where it says brown vinegar, I used apple cider vinegar. This was also accompanied by sweet potato fries which were as good if not better than the ribs.

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Rub down ribs with oil, salt, and pepper.

3. Put the ribs in for an hour, flipping them every 15 minutes.

4. While ribs cook, chop up and mix together all other ingredients (I used a cuisinart) to make your chimichurri sauce.

5. (optional) turn up oven to 400 and put in the broiler for a few minutes to give it a little crust.

6. while still hot, dump the chimichurri over the ribs.

And that is that....really easy and really simple. Next week--Armenia and Harissa. You're probably thinking--oh hey, Harissa is a spice mix! Why in the world would anybody choose a bunch of spices as a national dish? I would agree--that's a good question. So, I'll be making a whole chicken with a Harissa-yogurt sauce. FUN.

Antiguan (and Barbadian?) Fungie and Pepperpot

The person who came up with this dish is either insane or brilliant. I'm still not sure which. I should also note that there are probably many Fungie and Pepperpot recipes that are infinitely simpler (and frankly, probably taste better).

Now. With that said, if you think you're interested in trying a dish that has eggplant, papaya, ketchup (ew), margarine (double ew), pumpkin, fish, and salted beef, boy do I have a dish for you.

The original recipe is here. I made some significant changes--namely that I didn't use pig snout because...well...where the hell do I get a pig snout in Baltimore? I also left out the "meat scraps", "4 cloves cut" (I'm not even sure what type of clove this is reference to), the okra (couldn't find it), taro root leaves (also couldn't find it), the peas (ran out of room in my pot), and of course, the pig snout.

I also made some substitutions--instead of margarine, I used canola oil, instead of pumpkin, I used acorn squash, and instead of salt beef, I used corned beef (which is supposedly close to the same thing).

Ingredients:

4 cups water (2 boiling, 2 cold)
2 cups cornmeal

butter, to coat
1 teaspoon salt, to taste
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
4 tablespoons ketchup
4 tablespoons oil
1 bunch thyme
1 bunch chives
1 lb spinach, chopped
1 lb eggplant, peeled & cut
1 lb okra, chopped
1/2 lb acorn squash, peeled & cut
1 lb corned beef, chopped
1 lb papaya, cut
3 small squash, cut
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper

1 lb of white fish

The corn meal piece is really easy--you just mix two cups of cold water with the corn meal (and mix slowly!). Then add this porridgy stuff to your boiling water until it's pretty stiff. Then mash this out into bowls to serve as a base.

 

The directions for the actual soup portion here were absurdly confusing...and had some nonsense about salting your leaf vegetables for a while before cooking. That seemed silly. I basically through everything around the same time and cooked for about 20 minutes and then added the fish in and cooked for another 10 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

To the side, is a picture of the result. It looks ostensibly edible...and it is! But I can't say I thought it tasted very good. Some members of the household thought this was surprisingly good. I thought it tasted like day old trash. But hey...edible!

Next up is Argentina and Asado (basically ribs with Chimichurri sauce). Should be much more tasty!

Anyways, Gorby eagerly waits at the counter for something that tastes better...

Angolan Muamba De Galinha

So I finally got around to my next dish...from Angola! No one would really think, "oh hey, Angola has some fantastic" food, but turns out they do. It's also on the coast of Africa...who knew?

I started with breaking down a whole chicken (because, hey, why not) and then frying it in a cup of oil, which was a great way to get started. The original recipe (here) called for using palm oil...but since I (very occasionally) care about the environment, I decided to just go with vegetable oil instead. After frying for a while, you'll slowly add in your other ingredients and holy crapper there are a lot of them. 

 Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut into serving-sized pieces
1 lemon
Cup of oil (I used vegetable)
3 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 scotch bonnet pepper (or other chilli pepper, left whole and removed after cooking for a mild dish, or chopped, seeds remo)
3 tomatoes, quartered
1 butternut squash (or sweet pupmkin de-seeded, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces)
20 okra (small, tender, washed and 'topped and tailed')

Directions: 

1.  Squeeze the lemon juice over the chicken and allow to marinate for about an hour.

2.  Add the oil to a deep frying pan and heat on high heat.

3.  Place the chicken in the pan and brown on all sides then add the onion, garlic, whole chilli and tomato. Stirring occasionally, cook over medium heat for about half an hour then add the squash and cook for an additional 15 minutes before adding the canned palm soup base and the okra.

4. Simmer for a few minutes until the okra is tender, season and serve with rice.

Below is the finished product. I managed to get food poisoning somewhere along the way in making this, but hey...it was worth it.

Next up is Antigua and Barbuda...there national dish is Fungie. If you ever wondered what Okra, Papaya, and Eggplant taste like together...look no further!

Gorby is still pretty full from last time though, so maybe we'll give it a little time...

Andorran Escudella

So last week I made something that was at least marginally healthy. This week, that kind of went out the window. I think this has at least some of pretty much every meat and starch you could think of...and little to no actual vegetables. So, it was pretty great altogether and I managed to finish a bowl of it without my heart exploding...so I suppose that's good too.



The original recipe was even more absurdly unhealthy (here)...so I made a couple of little changes...mostly because I didn't have access to all the ingredients. I also substitute pasta that looks like like space helmets...because...well...they seemed neat.

2 cups dry white beans
1 bone (I used turkey--you could really use whatever though)
1 other bone with marrow (I used lamb marrow/bones)
3 chicken thighs
14 ounces raw pork sausage, rolled into balls
2 cups of chopped brussel sprouts
1 large white potato, cut into large chunks
1/4 cup uncooked brown rice
1 cup pasta shells 

1 cup canned garbanzo beans

Some instructions:

1. Put white beans, bones, chicken thighs, and pork sausage balls in a dutch oven or large pot. Cover with water.

2. Bring to a boil and simmer for two hours.

3. Remove bones/anything that you might choke on.

4. Add remaining ingredients and cook for another 30 minutes.

All in all this was absurdly tasty. Hooray Andorra. Next up is Angola...and Muamba De Galinha. FUN!

Albania--Tave Kosi

Ah, Tave Kosi. So, for anyone who knows me (and let's be frank, if you're reading this, you probably do), you know I hate gooey things.

Like yogurt.

Well, this recipe has 2 pounds of yogurt.

It also had about a pound of butter, which seems a tad much. So, I mixed things up a little bit. I tried to simultaneously limit my exposure to the unhealthiness and to the yogurt. I used a quarter cup of olive oil and about half the amount of eggs and yogurt that it called for. It actually turned out better than I deserved, mostly because the lamb was delicious. The yellow-ish stuff you see in the picture is supposed to come out like a quiche...but it ended up coming out a little more like polenta. Either way, it turned out pretty tasty! Below is my tweaked recipe (the original source is here):

• 1 1/2 pounds lamb leg or shoulder
• salt, to taste
• freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup of Olive Oil, split
• 2 Tablespoons rice
• 2 Tablespoons oregano leaves, fresh (I used the dry stuff--it was fine)
• 1/2 teaspoon; garlic, crushed
• 12 oz. non-fat Greek Yogurt
• 3 eggs; beaten (I also substituted egg whites for two of these eggs)
• 1 Tablespoon flour 

Some instructions:

• Cut meat into 4 serving pieces (I had three bigger pieces and it was fine). Season with salt and pepper to taste. rub olive oil on the lamb and bake at 350 degrees with the oregano and garlic, basting now and then with pan juices, about 40 minutes, or until well browned. Stir rice into pan juices. Remove baking pan from oven and set aside while preparing yogurt sauce.
• Combine yogurt with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in eggs until smooth. Set aside. (this looks like my nightmares)
• Make a quick roux with the flour (mix flour and remaining oil in a pan and stir until smooth and it appears brown-ish. it should take about a minute on medium heat). Add to yogurt mixture and stir until smooth. Pour yogurt sauce in baking pan, stirring it with meat pieces, and bake at 375 degrees 45 minutes. Serve hot

 And this was my end result:

Next up...Andorra. Did you know Andorra was a legit country? Either did I. They've been in the UN since 1993...so that's something. Their national dish is Escudella, which is basically just meat soup (and not gooey in the slightest!). Anyways, onward we go!

Algerian Couscous

And now we're on to Algeria. I unfortunately didn't think to take a great picture before I started eating (if you're really really really curious--and also want to see the source of this dish, see here).

This was a pretty tasty dish, (to be fair--I was also starving), really easy, and for those who have silly dietary limitations, it's vegetarian. I accidentally left out the Garbanzo Beans--but I'm sure they'd make it even more delicious.

Anyways--I enjoyed it and Gorby got to lick my bowl--and he seemed to enjoy it too.






Ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 cup vegetable stock
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons tomato paste

3 -4 whole cloves
3 medium zucchini
4 small yellow squash
3/4 large carrot
4 medium yellow potatoes, skins on
1 red bell pepper
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans

1/2 cup of Couscous
boiling water to cover Couscous

 Directions:

1) Saute onion in vegetable stock over med. low heat until translucent.

2) Add all spices and cook for a few more minutes, stirring as needed.

3) Add tomato paste, stir and simmer 2 minutes.

4) Cut the vegetables in large chunks and add all (not the beans) and a dash of cinnamon; add water to cover.

5) Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for an hour or so. (This can cook slowly for 2-3 hours, if desired.).

6) Add the drained garbanzos about 5 minutes before you take the veggies off the heat.

7) Put couscous in a bowl.
8)Pour boiling water over couscous and wait about 5 minutes.

9) Fluff with fork. (Ratio of about 1 1/2:1 of water to couscous.).

10) For added flavor, add some of the liquid from the veggie stew to the couscous in place of some of the water.

 You were probably thinking...but wait! Why didn't you do Albania! Well, that's because I apparently can't read. So...yeah...Albania is next. There a number of national dishes in Albania--but the only one that appears to lack a lot of organ meats is Tave Kosi...so Tave Kosi it is! High five Gorby!