I realize it’s always difficult throwing a dinner party not knowing if one of your guests is vegetarian. It’s always a gamble if you know that a Vegi may be a guest among a group of carnivores, so what can you make that won’t break the bank but transcend feeding your kind animal-conscious friend a plate of bread and mash potatoes?

Why not just go rich and healthy! The following recipe I found in a vintage cookbook called “THE VEGETARIAN CUISINE CARIBBEAN STYLE by DR. Betty “K” (from Centax Books out of Canada), is a dish that not only is universal and healthy, but flavorful and delicious – a dish that should leave any discerning eater satisfied.

A special note: contrary to the recipes direction to prepare the okra by cutting it up into 2″ pieces, when cooking okra, avoid breaking the pods until after cooking as the seeds and flesh can create a viscous mess when heating if broken open. Instead, consider chopping up the okra after cooking.

Curried Okra

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 Large Onion, cubed
1 Hot Pepper, seeded
2 garlic cloves, halved
2 tbsp. Curry Powder
2 Large tomatoes, quartered
1lb Okra
3 tbsp. Olive Oil
2 Potatoes, quartered
1/2 cup Macaroni
2 cups of Water
Salt and Pepper to taste

What you need to do:

1. Blend onion, pepper, garlic, curry powder and tomatoes into paste.
2. Heat oil, add curry mixture. Stir-Fry for 2 minutes.
3. Add Okra, potato and macaroni, stir; add water and bring to a boil.
Simmer, covered, until potatoes and macaroni are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
4. Cut up okra
Serve Immediately.

Serves 6-8

The result is a really satisfying dish that everyone can enjoy. Pair it with a lovely wine and your dinner will be a hit.

Good Luck!

If this recipe was helpful or could be adjusted in anyway please comment. We would love to hear from you.

photo courtesy j.e.n.n.y. via Creative Commons

Tags: curry, Dinner Party, okra, omnivore, vegetarian

I love quinoa.  More than life sometimes. What I love most about this tiny little grain, is the many ways you can prepare it to eat. Once it is cooked you can have it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, even dessert. It is a miracle food and I love experimenting with it as a base.

I was having a cookout the other day and as I was shopping for different BBQ delights, I wanted to give my guests a side different than your typical “potato or macaroni salad” you see sitting next to your hot dog at the party.  I came up with the idea of incorporating, feta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes in with the quinoa. This dish is just delightful; it’s light, fresh, playful, and honestly my favorite alternative to a side I’ve tried to date.

Here’s what you need:

* 1 cup quinoa
* 2 cups of Water
* Feta Cheese Crumbles (about 1 cup)
* Diced Onions
* 1/4 cup minced fresh herbs
* 1/3 cup diced sun dried tomatoes in oil
* organic soy sauce or Ponzu
* 1 shallot diced
* 3 cloves of garlic diced
* Pinch of crushed red pepper
* Kosher salt and black pepper

What you need to do:

* heat the quiona over the stove to get the grains warm
* Quickly add 2 cups of water and cover on med/high heat for 12 mins.
* check on the quinoa and stir occasionally till water is gone, and it looks fluffy.
* Remove quinoa from heat and let sit for 10 mins to cool.
* When the quinoa is done, dump quinoa and ingredients into a large bowl.
* MIX and let it cool.
* Taste and adjust

It’s such a great and easy recipe. You can add/substitute any of these ingredients to your own personal liking.

Let us know here at TasteOdyssey.com, if you have tried this recipe or if you have any ideas for Quinoa you’d like to share! We love hearing from you!

Buen Provecho!

Tags: black pepper, breakfast lunch dinner, cloves of garlic, cookout, cool taste, crushed red pepper, cup quinoa, diced onions, easy recipe, fresh herbs, high heat, kosher salt, macaroni salad, miracle food, personal liking, quiona, shallot, soy sauce, sun dried tomato, sun dried tomatoes

For the last dish in our tribute to Arabic dishes I wanted to add “Pizza Lubnaniyya” meaning ( Lebanese pizza) that uses Za’atar a complex and delicious Middle Eastern condiment (see photo below)

What you need:

DOUGH:
For this recipe you will only use 1/2 of basic dough recipe:
(Follow basic dough recipe, but knead the bread with a little oil, let rise only two hours.)

What you need:
1 package of yeast
6 cups of flour
1 table spoon of sugar
2 teaspoons of salt
2 cups of warm water

What you need to do:
1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water. Set aside for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a large depression in the center of the flour.
3. Combine remaining flour, water and yeast mixture and pour into the depression.
4. Mix the flour with the mixture and worth into dough. Knead until smooth.
5. Cover the dough with a towel and let rise until the dough doubles in size, approximately 2 – 4 hours.
6. Pull off dough portions the size of an orange and form into balls.
7. cover and let rise for 1/2 hour.
8. Roll into circles about 1/4″ thick and let rise for another 1/2 hour.
9. Place dough on racks in an oven preheated to 475 degrees.
10. When the dough rises into a mound, place under a broiler for a few seconds until it is browned.
11. Let cool and place in plastic bags to refrigerate(if needed)
but instead you will use this as a base for your pizza!

NEXT STEP:

Sauce:
8 medium cloves of Garlic
6 small tomatoes, chopped fine.
salt and pepper to taste.
Za’atar, without sesame seed
mushrooms, chopped
4 tablespoons of ketchup
6 to 8 slices of deli ham
4 to 5 sliced cocktail (or regular sized) hot dogs
1/4 1 pound gruyere cheese, (provolone may be substituted)

A photo of Za'atar - a Middle Eastern condiment

What you need to do:

1. Pound the garlic with salt.
2. Mix the tomatoes, pepper, za’atar, salt and mushrooms.
3. Place risen dough in a greased pan.
4. Spread the tomato mixture on top of the dough.
5. Place in an oven at 350 degrees until the mixture is dried.
6. Remove from the oven and add the rest of the topping ingredients.
7. Place back in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and the dough is golden brown.

After that you are good to go, to enjoy and authentic Lebanese Pizza.

If it works for you, and you enjoy it please let us know!

photo by Sjschen

Tags: basic dough recipe, cloves of garlic, Lubnaniyya, medium cloves, mushrooms, provolone, salt and pepper, sesame seed, table spoon, tomato mixture, yeast mixture, za'atar

Continuing my tribute to Arabic cuisine, I found another deliciously simple recipe for pea stew, also known as BIZZELLA – a typical dish of Iraq.

What you need:

1 pound of frozen peas
1 medium onion
2 tomatoes, finely chopped
4 potatoes, sliced
1 teaspoon of black pepper
2 tablespoons of salt.
1-8 ounce can of unsweetened tomato sauce
2 tablespoons of cooking oil

What you need to do:

Stew the onion, peas, tomatoes, salt and pepper.

Add potatoes, unsweetened tomato sauce with one can of water. Simmer until done and serve with rice.

After you have completed the above steps, please let us know the outcome!
Can’t wait to hear how it came out.

Happy Eating!

Tags: arabic cuisine, bizella, Iraq, pea stew

Every now and then I get an itch for some good ol’ Arabic cuisine. I grew up eating it often as a kid, as my cousins whose house I frequented often, were Syrian. I was always so thankful to get to go to their house and escape the boring cuisine comprised of hot dogs and macaroni at my place, and travel into a new world with my palate at their house.
Stuffed grape leaves and tabouli became childhood comfort foods . One of my favorite dishes has to be falafel – mixed with some hot sauce, pickled turnips and hummus, and I’m set.

Traveling to the sleepy town of Combermere in the Canadian Shield, you can discover the most AMAZING bookstores. Not for the sake of their “oh so current” selection of books, but from the vintage collections they always seem to have for sale.  I love opening a cookbook from “back in the day” and trying it out today.

On this latest trip, we were lucky enough to find an authentically vintage Arabic cookbook coil-bound and printed via typewriter.  It was an exciting find and the Pilgrim Reader’s Bookstore had it on sale for five dollars!   When I opened the pages to see some on my favorite dishes exquisitely verbalized on the page for my creating, I was ecstatic.

So in celebration of this terrific find, I thought I would add a few delicious, and easily made Arabic cuisine recipes for the next few days.  A tribute to cuisine from the Middle East.

Today on the menu, I decided to try the Falafel. It is spelled “Falafil” in this book with a side note saying ( Chick Pea and Fava Bean Patties)

Here’s what you need:

2 lbs. fresh and tender fava beans
1 medium Onion, chopped
3 Cloves of Garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/8 teaspoon of allspice
1/2 cup of Oil
1 Teaspoon of Coriander Seed
1 Cup of water
1/3 Cup of Lemon Juice

What you need to do:

1.  Wash the fava beans and shell. then remove the strings from the beans and discard. Cut pods 1″ in length.

2.  Place the pods and beans in water.

3.  Saute’ the garlic, onions , salt, pepper, and allspice in oil until they are light brown. Then add Coriander and saute’ for a few more minutes.

4.  Then add the fava beans and toss thoroughly. Then add 1/2 cup to 1cup of water and cook on medium heat for 20 to 25 minutes or until almost tender.
Add lemon juice and simmer for 5 minutes.

After that I’m sure you can roll it up into balls or however you serve your falafil. E njoy!

bil-hanā’ wa ash-shifā’

(may you have your meal with gladness and health)

As always, if you have tried this recipe, please comment, and if you have any requests of your own they are always welcome as well.

photo by morbuto

Tags: arabic cookbook, arabic cuisine, cloves of garlic, fava beans, grape leaves, hot dogs, hummus, tabouli, vintage cookbook