Originally uploaded by Clemens S. Orth
Mince Beef with Mushrooms, Recipe by Clemens S. Orth/flickr

How about some Crispy Pork Knuckles in beer for this Christmas? Add potatoes and apple wedges, this is a very easy to cook dish and fantastic addition this christmas. Watch the recipe video and you will agree with what I mean...

Originally uploaded by Betty Crocker Recipes
In England, the evolution of the main course into turkey did not take place for years, or even centuries. At first, in Medieval England, the main course was either a peacock or a boar, the boar usually the mainstay.

During the late 17th century it then became common to serve Goose. And despite the arrival of turkey into Great Britain by the French Jesuits in the mid 18th century, Goose remained the predominate roast until the early 20th century when battery farming made Turkey financially viable for most people (it was quite common for Goose "Clubs" to be set allowing working class families to save up over the year towards a Goose before this).

The dessert of a British Christmas Dinner may often be Christmas Pudding. Trifle, Mince pies, Christmas Cake or a Yule Log are also popular. Enjoy the follow video recipe of the Christmas Turkey with Cranberry sauce by Nigella Lawson.

Originally uploaded by fadingflowers
This spinach dish called “Sigeumchi namool” is one of side dishes that Koreans eat with rice. It’ll be good recipe for vegetarians.

Ingredients:

* 1 bunch of spinach
* 2 cloves of garlic
* 1 green onion
* 1.5 tbs of soy sauce
* sesame oil and sesame seeds

1. In boiling water, add 1 ts of salt and blanch a bunch of spinach for 30 seconds after removing dead the leaves and roots.
*tip: using scissors is an easy way to cut this up
2. Drain the cooked spinach and rinse it in cold water 3 times, and squeeze it gently to get the water out.
3. Cut the spinach a few times and set it aside.
4. Place 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 chopped green onion, 1.5 tbs of soy sauce and ½ tbs sesame oil in a large bowl and mix them all up with a spoon.
5. Place the spinach into the sauce and mix by hand.
6. Transfer the spinach onto a serving plate and sprinkle ½ tbs of toasted sesame seeds.

Adapted by: Maangchi



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Asian Cooking Recipes

This is a traditional Hungarian food and the locals cannot resist it. The best form is the smoked sausages and it is great even if you just 'slap' some mustard on them and eat it with some home-made bread. Some locals eat it with a pickled mixed vegetables called Csalamádé.

(photo: Gaben)

A rich, flowery white wine from Hungary with strong minerality, I like when a wine is refreshing, not too heavy.
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vacanta in Romania

Poffertjes are a traditional Dutch batter treat. Resembling small, fluffy pancakes, they are made with yeast and buckwheat flour.

They can also be served with other sweet garnishes, such as stroop (syrup), slagroom (whipped cream) or aardbeien (strawberries), for added flavor.

Poffertjes is also familiar in Indonesian cuisine through its historical ties as the former Dutch colony. Poffertjes is thought to be related to and to have influenced Indonesian kue cubit.
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vacanta in Romania

Originally uploaded by zannnielim

Do not underestimate the look of this food. It is a traditional food and it is 'Very Hungarian'! I love it. Although it is quite heavy, I love the taste. Imagine onions and sour cream combination on potatoes...mmm...you can't go wrong on this.

Ingredients:
potatoes
flour
onions
sour cream
salt
oil

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Allinclusive Blog Digest

Originally uploaded by zannnielim

The Hungarians called these Frankfurters 'Virsli'. Besides boiling it in water, there are other ways to cook it. In this photo, it was fried in oil. That's all. Horse radish is the dipping sauce to go with virsli, but some people prefer the mustard. For me, either Ketchup or mayonnaise is accompaniment.

Those virsli which are most commonly made from beef and pork are the Bécsi virsli where Bécsi means 'Viennese'. The first Bécsi virsli was made in 1805. In the Hungarian dish Lencsefőzelék, which is a lentils stew dish, traditionally eaten on New Year's eve, some families added virsli too.

There is also a belief that lentils resembles the 'coins' and it bears the symbolism of 'richness, wealth and money'. So that's why it is eaten on the New Years' Eve in Hungary.

Originally uploaded by Alterem

So this is Shashlik. For Hungarians, it is called 'Rablóhús'. Shashlik is a form of Shish kebab popular throughout the former Soviet Union and Mongolia. These skewers of meat are either all meat, all fat, or alternating pieces of meat and fat. Meat for Shashlik (as opposed to other forms of Shish kebab) are usually marinated overnight in a high-acidity marinade like vinegar, dry wine or sour fruit/vegetable juice with the addition of herbs and spices. Congratulations to Tomi and Imre who answered correctly to this quiz with their answers on Facebook.

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Originally uploaded by TeaIight

From a shop in the market beside Pacific Mall.

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Kent International Airport

Originally uploaded by zannnielim

Time ago I made a salad and I called it the 'T.O.C' Salad. It was just because it was made from tomatoes, onions and cucumber. Originally, it is a Bulgarian salad and has to be with Feta Cheese. Today, this salad is also made with the same ingredients and it is the Croatian Shopska salad. I guess the shape of the goat cheese grated in this manner by the Croatians differs it from the Bulgarian (usually in cubes or crumbled). We had this Croatian Shopska in Zagreb before our trip to Plitvice Lakes.

Originally uploaded by zannnielim

Originally uploaded by zannnielim
Although it tastes very much like the bulgarian or croatian 'Shopska' Salad, but due to the fact that it is without goat cheese on it, my husband Zsolt forbade me to say it is a 'Shopska' :)

So as simple as it gets, I named it 'T.O.C' cos you know why? Its ingredients are just the tomatoes, onions and cucumber :) Taking the initials of these three main ingredients, hence its name. Hope you'll like it.

(On top of it, I've added blanched cauliflower, capsicum and sprigs of fresh Oregano which I've harvested this morning)

So my T.O.C Salad Recipe as follows:-

Ingredients (serves 2)
For the salad:
2 medium size tomatoes (cut into wedges)
8 Cherry tomatoes (cut into halves)
1 large Red Onion
One medium Cucumber (cut to bite-sized)
1/2 red california pepper (capsicum, diced it)
100g of Blanched Cauliflower (Blanching*)
A bunch of parsley, chopped (I've substituted with Oregano)
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp Coriander powder
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Steps:-

Originally uploaded by cabayarea



Hainanese chicken rice is often considered as the "national dish" of Singapore, and is often served at international expositions and global events abroad, and in Singaporean-run restaurants overseas. It is also one of the few local dishes served on Singapore Airlines flights.

In Singapore, Hainanese chicken rice is served at stalls and food courts. There are Hainanese chicken rice stalls that have established franchise or branch outlets, The price range is around S$2-4 (the latter if the dish includes a drumstick).

Originally uploaded by zannnielim

The summer meat dishes for Hungarian are not to be missed without the Hungarian Summer Pickles such as the cucumber.

It takes about 10 minutes to prepare this pickle.

The ingredients include 3- to 5-inch pickling cucumbers

• 1 tablespoon pickling salt or kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 fresh head and 1 frond of dill
• About 2 cups water

Simply wash the cucumbers, and remove the blossom ends. Using a knife, slit the cucumbers through lengthwise just short of the end, so they are still attached.

Place pickling salt or kosher salt, vinegar, and dill into a narrow-mouth quart jar. Pack cucumbers tightly into jar so they are not floating, leaving 1 inch space. Pour in water to cover and cap the jar with a nonreactive lid.

Place the jar outside in the sun or in a sunny window. Bring the jar in at night. Within 3 days, you should see tiny bubbles, indicating the cucumbers are fermenting. When the tiny bubbles have stopped rising (around 5 days), place in refrigerator. They will keep about 2 weeks, refrigerated. Enjoy!

Originally uploaded by Guzzle & Nosh



Cake appetizers are not just exquisite starters, they are worthy of your most important dinner or celebration. It usually includes caviar, canapes, chicken liver pate, mini potato pancakes with gravlax, cheese straws or even smoked salmon cake.

Originally uploaded by zannnielim

Green Curry is one of my favourite curry. Do not be misled by the colour of the curry thinking it is not spicy, because it is!

Ingredients:
Green Curry Paste,
Beef or chicken sliced to bite size,
Coconut milk,
Eggplant, sweet basil leaves, kaffir lime leaves and hot chilli

Watch the video recipe for the steps:

Originally uploaded by open-arms

The ingredients are rather simple and just by steaming you can make these delicious custard pudding (the japanese way). The English narration in this video sounds a little weird with the strong Japanese accent, however the video shows a clear recipe and preparation steps.

Today's BBQ'd Chicken Wings in Sweet Chili Sauce recipe is by Rueben.

Everyone loves chicken wings. You can bake them, barbecue them, even broil them. There are many ways to enjoy one of our favorite snack foods. But one of our favorites here on Guam are the Asian Sweet Chili Sauce BBQ’d Chicken wings.

Here is all you need:

2 ½ to 3 lbs of chicken wing drumlets and winglets.
2 cups of homemade sweet chili sauce.

For the Sweet Chile Sauce:

1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup of water
1/2 cup of sugar
2 fresh hot peppers minced
2 cloves of fresh garlic minced
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tsp water

Procedure:

1. In a saucepan, combine together the water, vinegar and sugar.
2. Mix together until well blended. Bring to a boil until the sugar has been dissolved.
3. Add the hot pepper, garlic and salt, and boil for another 1 minute.
4. Add the cornstarch and boil until everything has blended together.
5. Allow this to cool before you use it for a marinade.

If you are going to use this sauce for a barbecue glaze, cooling is not necessary.

This makes about 1/2 cup of sauce.

You can adjust the vinegar, sugar and hot pepper to your particular taste however this recipe is usually friendly for all.

This BBQ recipe will take 2 cups of this sauce.

Putting it all together:

Wash and allow the chicken wings to drip dry.
Place chicken wings in a re-sealable plastic bag.
Add in one (1) cup of the sweet chili sauce.
Seal the bag and rotate to make sure the wings are well coated with the sauce.
Chill for at least 4 hours before barbecuing.

Start the fire in your BBQ pit. You want to BBQ with medium heat. This is at about 350° to 450° F. Use the thermometer in the lid/cover of your BBQ pit to measure the heat.

If you do not have a lid thermometer, here is another way to measure your heat. Hold the palm of your hand about 5 inches above the grill. If you can hold your hand there about 5 to 7 seconds, you can consider your heat to be medium.

Take you wings out of the chill box and allow to them to reach room temperature before BBQing. This should take about 20 minutes.

Grease up your grill and place the chicken wings down. Barbecue your wings about 15-20 minutes per side but make sure that you constantly turn them so that the sugar from the sweet chili sauce marinade does not burn. Total cooking time should be 30-40 minutes.

The last 5 minutes of cooking, coat the wings with the remaining one (1) cup of sauce for a nice, thick glaze.

Serve with white rice and your favorite sides.

I hope you enjoy this very simple recipe for a great Asian BBQ experience. - Rueben's Recipe blog

Adriatic Cruises

Originally uploaded by rheanna2



for photography: 
http://losangeles-headshots.com

Adriatic Cruises

Originally uploaded by ​eyebex

This dish looks great. However, if you watch the video recipe of this dish by Rick Stein, it's even better.

Originally uploaded by zapxpxau

1 lb fresh tomato (cored and quartered do not peel)
1 lb strawberries (fresh, stems removed)
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 sprig mint

Method
1 In a food processor or blender, puree the tomatoes and strawberries.
2 Add the vinegar and blend again.
3 Chill thoroughly, at least an hour.
4 Garnish with a few mint leaves.

Here is a video recipe of the Tomato Gazpacho:

A semla is a traditional pastry made in various forms in Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Norway, Denmark and Estonia. Semlor is the plural of semla.

Today, the Swedish-Finnish semla consists of a cardamom-spiced wheat bun which has its top cut off and insides scooped out, and is then filled with a mix of the scooped-out bread crumbs, milk and almond paste, topped with whipped cream.

The cut-off top serves as a lid and is dusted with powdered sugar. Today it is often eaten on its own, with coffee or tea. Some people still eat it in a bowl of hot milk. In Finland, the bun is sometimes filled with strawberry jam instead of almond paste, and bakeries in Finland usually offer both versions. (Many bakeries distinguish between the two by decorating the traditional bun with almonds on top, whereas the jam-filled version has powdered sugar on top).

Originally uploaded by levente_borcsok



Ingredients: 
1 kg shank, 
4 onions, 
6-8 cloves of garlic, 
500ml red wine, 
2 tomatoes, 
1 green pepper, 
1 beef stew cube , 
50g smoked bacon (szalonna), 
2-3 tbsp ground paprika powder, 
2 tsp salt, 
1 tsp pepper 
1 tsp cumin powder
3-5 bay leaves
 
Preparation: 
Add the bacon into the pan, fry chopped onion, caramelize the onions.
Add meat when onion turns pale. 
Add the salt, pepper, paprika, tomatoes, green pepper, chopped garlic and beef stew cube. 
Add Red Wine and let it simmer on low heat until meat is tender.
Add the remaining paprika powder and sour cream as topping.
Serve with nokedli (dumplings) or spatzel or potatoes. It is delicious to eat with bread (baguette) too.
Enjoy.

Salmon set
Originally uploaded by mila0506

Originally uploaded by indianabecajones

Macedonian cuisine (Macedonian: Македонска кујна, Makedonska kujna) is the traditional cuisine of the Republic of Macedonia—a representative of the cuisine of the Balkans—reflecting Mediterranean (Greek and Turkish) and Middle Eastern influences, and to a lesser extent Italian, German and Eastern European (especially Hungarian) ones. The relatively warm climate in the Republic of Macedonian provides excellent growth conditions for a variety of vegetables, herbs and fruits. Macedonian cuisine is also noted for the diversity and quality of its dairy products, wines, and local alcoholic beverages, such as rakija.


Tavče-gravče and mastika are considered the national dish and drink of the Republic of Macedonia.

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Originally uploaded by FanFan 凡凡

Bibimbap is a popular Korean dish. The word literally means "mixed meal." Bibimbap is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) and gochujang (chili pepper paste). A raw or fried egg and sliced meat (usually beef) are common additions. The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating. It can be served either cold or hot.

Vegetables commonly used in bibimbap include julienned cucumber, zucchini, mu (daikon), mushrooms, doraji (bellflower root), and gim, as well as spinach, soybean sprouts, and gosari (bracken fern stems). Dubu (tofu), either plain or sautéed, or a leaf of lettuce may be added, or chicken or seafood may be substituted for beef. For visual appeal, the vegetables are often placed so that adjacent colors complement each other.



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Originally uploaded by molamoni
The Lentil soup is served for New Year in Europe and in Hungary, this dish symbolizes wealth. The shape of the lentils has the resemblance of coins. There are many different ways to eat it, usually with Smoked Sausage and an important addition is Parsley upon serving. Enjoy!

1 8oz package lentils
I large yellow onion
4-8 cloves garlic
2 sliced carrots (optional)
2 cups potatos, cubed into half-inch cubes optional)
1 bay leaf
1 cup soy yoghurt
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon cider vinegar (optional)

Directions:

For stew, chop onion into large pieces, for soup, leave onion whole.

Wash lentils, changing water 3 times.

Place all ingredient except potatos and yoghurt into a 6 quart pot. For soup, add 2 quartes of water and during the cooking, add additional water as needed to keep soup from thickening too much. For stew, use the same, but only add enough additional water during cooking to create a thick product.

Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, adding the potatoes (if used) about 10 minutes after reducing heat, cook until lentils are soft and have burst. (Time varies based on type of lentils used - if you use grey lentis, this may take over an hour - add the potatoes 20 minutes before the hour is up! Red and Orange and Yellow lentils are usually done in half an hour.) If making soup, remove and discard onion.

Before serving, stir in yoghurt, and add a tablespoon of cider vinegar (optional).

Made without the carrots and potatoes, the stew version is terrific with fried potatoes and sauted squash!

Serves: 4-6

Preparation time: 1-1/2 hours



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