52 Meals, 52 Countries, 52 Weeks - Laos

My wee girl picked Laos for our newest "trip around the world"! I can't tell you how happy I was with that because it means she truly is a girl after my own heart. I have loved Laos for ... well, decades. I've had this infatuation with the beautiful little country, and my dream is to go on The Gibbon Experience in Northern Laos. Recently a good friend of mine went to live there (as well as Thailand) for a few months. To say I was jealous would be an understatement. Green with envy just doesn't cut it. I lived for the emails I would get about her adventures. I would drink in every single word she wrote as if I was lucky enough to experience it myself. I will go there some day, that much I know. I am positive of it. Perhaps after a trip to Europe we might take a trip to Asia? Oh yes, just maybe.

Now, having said that about that lovely, beautiful little country... this was by far the most difficult week to find vegetarian food! Not only did it have to be vegetarian, but it also had to be ingredients I could find. Do you think I could find fresh lemongrass or banana leaves? Um, that would be a big fat no! I'd love to revisit Laos again after visiting a bigger city to get ingredients. Oh well, at least what we did have we enjoyed. The kids had second helpings and there really wasn't much left over, so that is a good sign. I couldn't find much about dinner etiquette either and what I did find was contradictory, so I think we failed on that front.

For dinner I made a cold green bean salad called Akha Beans, some marinated tofu, some sticky rice (Kao Niao) (done in a rice cooker like this... I need a steamer basket now cause the kids loved the rice!) and some dipping sauce for the rice (which is the same as the marinade I used for the tofu). I loved the tofu and the marinade for the rice. LOVED. It was an interesting train of tastes. First sweet, then salty and finally spicy. Delicious!

Akha Beans

1 lb green beans, trimmed and cut into smaller pieces

1 head of garlic, with the top cut off

2 inch piece of ginger root, peeled

4 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp mint leaves, chopped

2 tbsp cilantro, chopped

2 green onions, chopped

Wrap the garlic and ginger in foil and roast them in the oven for about 30 minutes at 350.

Steam the green beans in some water for a few minutes. Drain, rinse and place in a bowl.

When the garlic and ginger are ready and have cooled enough that you can handle them, remove the garlic cloves from the peel and place them, along with the ginger and salt into a mortar and pestle and grind until it becomes uniform.

Add the mixture to the beans and mix well. Add the soy sauce, mint leaves, cilantro and green onions and toss well.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Lao Tofu Marinade and Dipping Sauce

(you would need to make this recipe twice if you wanted both)

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp garlic chili sauce

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp vinegar

pinch of star anise

Mix together. Use immediately for a dipping sauce, or marinate some dry fried tofu in it for the day. Reheat the tofu by dry-frying it for a bit on the stove.

Check it out! Our map is looking better week by week.

52 Meals, 52 Countries, 52 Weeks - Japan

I'm a bit behind when it comes to blogging right now since my laptop cord decided to die on me. Finding time on my husband's computer when he's not using it and I actually have time is not an easy task. Despite the fact that I haven't been updating, I have been recording our kitchen adventures. Which brings me to...

Japan! This was Tiernan's first country of choice, and I have to say there were no complaints from me. I love everything about Japan - the people, the scenery, the way of life. Just take away the dolphin slaughtering and you have a perfect place. ;)

For our meal we could have made sushi, but that's a regular occurrence around here, so we went with some Udon Noodle Soup, a Wakame Salad and some Pockys for dessert. Originally I wanted to make an adzuki bean dessert, but my local ethnic food store was completely out of them. Soooo, we opted for one of the kids' favourites - Pockys! Unfortunately you can't get any of the fun flavours here in Belleville, but a Pocky is a Pocky. Dinner was definitely a success with all three kids devouring every bit of it. Tiernan loved it all the same, Rhianna loved the salad best and Avery loved the soup best. Those three are always so different from each other. :) I find the flavouring in Japanese food makes me feel awake and alive!

In Japan you typically sit on the floor with your feet tucked under you, in front of a low table. We don't have any such table, so we sat around a games table with the legs down. Haha, not exactly authentic, but it still did the trick. We were very careful when it came to the Japanese dinner rules - like never leaving your chops sticks sitting inside your bowl, and never using them to point at anyone or anything. To eat the soup we read that we were to eat the noodles and mushrooms (etc) with the chopsticks (slurping welcomed!) and then drink the broth. Feet are to be resting under you, and never pointing out at anyone else. With our dinner we served loose leaf green tea and I think this might have been the kids' favourite part. We made sure to follow the Japanese tea customs as well. For instance, you should never ask for a drink. If you would like some tea and no one has served you any, you can fill up everyone else's cups before topping up your own. It is polite to top up anyone's cup if they have room for more tea. If you don't want any more to drink, you simply leave your cup full. It took some getting used to, but by the end of dinner the kids were all serving the whole table. Fun! The only Japanese words we learned for this was "itadakimasu" which they say before eating which means "I receive" and "gochisousamadeshita" at the end of dinner meaning "It was a feast".

Wakame Salad

10 oz dried wakame

4 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp sesame oil

4 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp ginger, grated

1 tsp sugar

2 large cloves garlic, minced

3 green onions, slived

1 tbsp white sesame seeds

1/2 tbsp black sesame seeds

Place the seaweed in a large bowl and cover with water. Soak for 5-6 minutes until it's tender and tripled in size. Drain.

Meanwhile, combine the vinegar, sesame oil, ginger, sugar, garlic and green onions. Stir until the sugar dissolves.

Toss the seaweed with the dressing and let it sit at least 10 minutes allowing the tastes to mingle.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Udon Noodle Soup

1 package of dried mixed mushrooms

4 slices of ginger

3 cloves garlic, minced

1400 ml of water

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

4 tbsp soy sauce

4 tbsp sherry

4 single serve packs of udon noodles

2 chopped green onions

Mix the mushrooms, ginger, garlic and water in a pot. Bring it to a boil and simmer for about 10-15 minutes until the mushrooms are rehydrated. Add the sugar, soy sauce and sherry and simmer another minute or two.

In the meantime, cook the udon noodles in a separate pot of boiling for 5 minutes. Drain well.

Divide the noodles among the individual bowls. Ladle some of broth into the bowls to cover the noodles. Top with some green onion and serve.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Pocky! :)

We now have two countries coloured in on our Asian map! Such fun!

52 Meals, 52 Countries, 52 Weeks - South Africa

Welcome to my second edition of 52 Meals, 52 Countries, 52 Weeks. This week Avery got to choose which country we visited, and he chose South Africa! The kids are loving this as much as I am, and Kyle is quite happy to take part in it in his own way - eating. :) For our meal today we decided on some street food called bunny chow and some soetkoekies (can you see/hear the heavy Dutch influence?) for dessert. Before you protest that a vegetarian should not eat bunnies, I will reassure you that there were zero bunnies involved in this dish, or in the original bunny chow in South Africa. Typically it is a curry made with mutton, chicken or beans, and I've read that the original bunny chow was in fact vegetarian. The curry is then placed in a hollowed out bread loaf or bread bowl, sold as a fast food, and eaten with their hands.

Tiernan wasn't feeling too great tonight, so the cooking was left up to Avery, Rhianna and myself. Rhianna did almost all of the vegetable peeling and chopping while Avery pretty much baked the soetkoekies (spicy red wine cookies) himself. This is a big deal because he's never really had any interest in cooking before. Since we started this project up he's been really enjoying himself. My favourite part is seeing the kids' pride when they sit down to eat this meal that they've created. I hope they always enjoy the feeling of love that you get from cooking and creating with delicious fresh foods in the kitchen and sharing them with family and friends.

As for South African food etiquette... they don't do anything different from us. Instead, we decided to eat while catching up on our episodes of Survivor and Amazing Race. :) Now the big question is..... did the kids enjoy this meal? Oh yes they did, and so did we. Avery and Rhianna gave the bunnies two huge thumbs up! Because Tiernan wasn't feeling too hot, he didn't eat much of it. I'm definitely going to try this dish again on a night where he's more himself to see what he thinks. Kyle was in heaven with this meal because curry is his favourite food in the whole world! And the soetkoekies? A perfect ending to the meal. The spices and sweetness of the cookies were the perfect way to offset the curry from dinner. Yum!

Our first country coloured in on the continent of Africa!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Bunny Chow aka Bunnies

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 onion, chopped finely

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch chunk fresh ginger, minced

2 carrots, diced

green pepper, diced

1 tomato, chopped

2 tbsp curry powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tsp tomato paste

1 1/2 cups water

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for about 5 minutes until it has browned. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another 30 seconds. Add the carrots, green pepper, and tomato and cook until the vegetables are tender. Add the curry powder, turmeric, paprika and salt and cook for 1 minute. Add the drained chickpeas, tomato paste and water and bring to a boil. Boil for about 3 minutes and remove from heat. Add the lemon juice and stir to mix.

Take some whole wheat buns (which is what we did - but you can use any type of bread) and cut out the centre, making a bread bowl. Be careful not to cut too far down or your curry will leak out of the buns. Pour some curry in, being sure to include some of the sauce so it soaks up nicely into the bread.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Soetkoekies

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup almonds, chopped

1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces

2 eggs

1/4 cup red wine

Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, brown sugar and almonds in a large bowl. Cut in the butter, and mix until it's crumbly. Add the eggs and red wine and stir until well mixed.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a baking sheet and cook 12-15 minutes.

52 Meals, 52 Countries, 52 Weeks - Afghanistan

I recently decided that our family should eat our way around our world. What better way to have the kids learn a bit about geography, dinner routines/habits of fellow humans and learn some more about cooking? We are starting off by calling this 52 Meals, 52 Countries, 52 Weeks, but may extend that to as long as it takes to try something from every country (as per Tiernan's request) if we continue to enjoy it as much as we are now. Because we are vegetarians, we tend to dabble into a lot of different ethnic dishes on a regular basis, but they are typically from the same countries. This gives me an excuse to search high and low (and believe me - my city is certainly not well versed in the ethnic food choices at grocery stores so this is a real challenge!) for certain ingredients, and to branch out into different styles of cooking. Of course, our recipes will not always be 100% authentic since we will have to vegetarianize some dishes, but we will do our best.

The kids seemed pretty excited about this adventure when they got up today, but I may have been a teensy bit more excited than they were. ;) Our country of choice for this week was Afghanistan! I had a blast looking up different Afghani recipes and eating etiquette, and found a perfect vegetarian meal. It's a dish called Kabuli Pulao and it has many different spellings. Most of the time this rice dish is made with meat, especially mutton, but I read that it can be made with vegetables instead. I couldn't find any specific vegetarian recipes, so I decided to throw my own together based on the cooking methods of the other meat recipes I had read. It turned out fabulously and was a big hit with most of us and a decent hit with the youngest. We also baked up some Afghan Nan which is different from Indian Naan. It's traditionally baked in a tandoor, but we had to make do with our oven. It still tasted wonderfully, and reminded me of a pizza crust rather than the light, airy taste of the Indian Naan.

When it was time to sit and eat, we set a cloth out on the living room floor and sat down around it. According to some things I've read online, Afghans often eat out of communal bowls, but we all had our own plates. As per their traditions, we ate with our hands - no cutlery - and we tried not to use our left hands at all (this is more difficult that you'd think!). Avery and Tiernan stuck their hands in their shirts so they wouldn't forget. Hey, whatever works! Another rule from their culture is that you should try to sit cross legged, or at the very least, with your legs under you. It is considered very rude to stretch your legs out, or face your feet towards anyone else. My legs were asleep by the time dinner was over! Ha. The one rule we did not follow was having the men eat before women and children. In this case, we will always eat as a family.

All in all, this was a complete success! Even Tibby had a great time "cleaning up" afterwards. :)

Each week the kids will take turns finding and then colouring in the country of which our meal is dedicated to on these maps we have printed. First I tested to see if anyone knew where Afghanistan was (Avery was close, Tiernan was not too far off, and Rhianna guessed correctly). Then we pulled out our globe to find it. What a fun way to learn! I can't wait to see the progress on these maps over the following weeks.

Kabuli Pulao

2 1/2 cups basmati rice

vegetable oil

1 medium onion, diced

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp saffron

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

5 carrots, peeled and shredded

1 tsp brown sugar

1/2 green cabbage, shredded

1 cup craisins

1 pomegranate, prepared

1/2 cup almonds, roasted

1/2 cup cashews, raw

vegetable broth, a few splashes

Wash the basmati rice well, and cook in a rice cooker, as per directions.

Preheat oven to 350.

Grind the saffron, cumin, garam masala and freshly ground black pepper in a mortar and pestle until evenly crushed.

Heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a wok, and fry onion until browned. Remove the onions and put them in a large bowl. Add the beans to the wok, along with the spices, and fry for 2 minutes until heated through. Add them to the bowl with the onions.

Add another tbsp of oil to the wok and add the carrots and brown sugar. Cook for about 2 minutes until the carrots have softened. Add the carrots to the bowl.

Add one more tablespoon of vegetable oil to the wok and fry the cabbage for a few minutes until softened. Add to the bowl.

Add the craisins to the wok and fry them for a minute or so until they have puffed up a bit. Add them to the bowl.

Add the cashews and almonds and stir constantly for about 1 minute until they begin to toast. Add the nuts to the bowl.

Add the pomegranate seeds to the bowl. Add the cooked rice to the bowl. Add a few splashes of vegetable broth and toss well. Pour the mixture onto a large oven safe plate.

Cook for about 5 minutes. Remove, and serve.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Afghan Nan

1 cup warm water

1 tsp dry yeast

2 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Mix the yeast and water in a large bowl. Allow it to sit for about 5 minutes. Add the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well, and knead for 10 minutes. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm area to rise for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375.

Grease a baking sheet with some oil, and with wet hands, flatten the dough out across the sheet.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until starting to brown underneath. Eat fresh from the oven.