Aug 2011 - Japan

Konnichiwa - welcome to our Japanese Food Adventure! We were all very excited to try some Japanese cuisine. Of course there is lots of sushi available in just about every food court in Australia so we decided to leave that much loved dish out of the equation and focus on other traditional foods. The dinner we prepared was:

Mushroom Udon Noodle Broth with Chicken Gyoza

Japanese-style Mushroom Salad

Teriyaki Chicken

Kabocha Pumpkin Cookie and Red Bean Paste

We had a lot of fun making the gyoza for the soup! It looks a lot easier that it really is to wrap up the chicken mince inside the gow gee wrappers and I think they ended up rather rustic but nevertheless they tasted pretty good. The Udon noodle broth was very light in flavour and a good simple recipe which I have since made again for the family. The mushroom salad and teriyaki chicken recipes also came from www.taste.com.au and the ingredients were readily obtainable. The flavours of both were tasty and filling. This dinner felt like a healthier meal compared to some of the other countries where we didn't incorporate as many vegetables. We finished up with traditional red bean paste which we bought ready-made, Kabocha pumpkin cookies which were sweet and crumbly and the ubiquitous vanilla ice-cream. The recipe for the pumpkin cookies came from http://japanesedessertrecipe.blogspot.com/.

NEXT MONTH: AUSTRIA

November 2009 - Kuwait

Kuwaiti food is largely representative of the surrounding food cultures such as Arabian, Indian and Western. There is also a large Bedouin influence. The most common spice mix in Kuwait is a fusion of cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cumin, nutmeg, black pepper and paprika. We approached the preparation of the meal by creating an assortment of traditional salads, mezze, Kuwaiti spiced kebabs, rice and the Gers ogaily which is an oil less cake made with cardamom and saffron.

• hummus and beetroot spreads

• pita breads and fresh salad
  

• Assorted kebabs and rice

Traditional cake

This was a very easy cuisine to prepare and pretty familiar too so I am not going to delve too much into the individual salads and dips. Most of the ingredients were readily available and it felt pretty healthy too. The large assortment of salads and the spicy kebabs and rice worked well together to create a healthy and light meal that is easy to replicate. The kebabs were done on the barbecue and the traditional spices with which they were seasoned made a tasty and aromatic main course. The only disappointment of the evening was the sponge cake which I am fairly sure is supposed to rise to more than half a centimetre in height :) but nevertheless we got the idea of the flavour and texture.

NEXT MONTH: UZBEKISTAN