Share a recipe from your local cuisine :)

daneejela

I am fascinated how different cultures have learned to get the most out of some plants/food ingredients that my culture usually use in a very limited way.
Since MFP is worldwide community connecting people from different cultures and gastronomies, I thought it might be fun and useful if we share some of the recipes of our local cuisine. That way we can create a small "database" of exotic recipes.
Could be any type of meal, but would be great if it would fit into not-too-caloric or "healthy" meals to keep it in the context of loosing weight

So, what's your favorite recipe from your local gastronomy?

RodaRose

We live in a big multi ethnic city. My hubby loves the PHO places near us:
Vietnamese Chicken Rice Soup
http://www.imnotthenanny.com/2014/11/easy-chicken-pho-ga-recipe.html

Ingredients
2 skinless, bone-in chicken breasts
2" long piece of fresh ginger root, peeled
3 whole cloves
2 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick, approximately 3" long
1 medium onion, peeled
4 cups of Perdue Signature Chicken Broth, low sodium
3 Tbsp of high quality fish sauce
1 tsp of sugar
1 package of flat rice noodles
1 stalk of scallions (green onion), sliced thinly
1 bunch of cilantro
1 lime, cut into wedges
1 fresh jalapeno, thinly sliced (optional)
Hoisin sauce and Sriracha tableside

daneejela

I'll try to post a few Mediterranean low calorie meals that I have been eating since I was a child.


Swiss card potato side dish (for 2) - very simple and quick





About a pound of Swiss chard
2 medium potatoes

Dressing:
Olive oil
Salt
Garlic, Parsley (optional)

Peal potatoes, wash swiss chard and chop both potatoes and swiss chard in a medium pieces.
Cook potatoes in water few minutes then add chopped swiss chard to it, and cook for another few minutes.
Drain and dress with olive oil and salt.
Potatoes should be well cooked and soft, swiss chard should be soft too...in the end it should have a bit creamy texture.

This makes a great side dish for grilled fish, but you can also eat it as a light main dish with a slice of a nice cheese.

pinuplove

The quintessential local meal for me would probably consist of chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes smothered in cream gravy, some form of breaded and fried vegetable (probably okra or squash), sweet tea, and coconut meringue pie for dessert. Not exotic, certainly tasty, and no doubt responsible for a few of the extra pounds around here

alias1001

Jersey is a mix of a lot of things--Italian, Polish, halal, Indian, Irish, you get it... I guess the prototypical Jersey dish is Taylor ham, egg, and cheese on a roll or bagel. (Never cared for it myself, though )

Geocitiesuser

Utica greens from upstate NY (spicy italian style escarole)



http://www.upstateramblings.com/utica-greens-recipe/

Ingredients

1 head escarole
3 T olive oil
½ c. prosciutto, diced
½ c. onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 hot pickled cherry peppers, chopped
½ c. water
salt and pepper to taste
⅓ c. bread crumbs
¼ c. Romano cheese, grated

Instructions

Rinse the escarole and chop into small pieces.
Bring salted water to a boil and blanch the escarole for 2 minutes. Drain in a colander and run under cold water.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Add the proscuitto and onion and cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
Add the drained escarole, cherry peppers and water. Stir it all together and add a little salt and pepper if desired.
Cook until the escarole is wilted, about 7-8 minutes.
Sprinkle the top with bread crumbs and cheese, and stick under the broiler for 2 minutes to brown the top.

apullum

I grew up in the Appalachians in Virginia. A lot of our food was similar to food in the southern US. I guess one thing we ate that isn't so common elsewhere is "soup beans," which are dried pinto beans cooked with a big piece of fatback or salt pork. You want enough water in the beans so that you have a soup, which is eaten over crumbled cornbread. Cornbread where I grew up is savory, not sweet. We would usually eat cornbread and beans with fried potatoes: take a potato or two, peel and slice them as thin as you can, and pan fry them until they're crispy. You can add some chopped onion if you'd like.

We also ate green beans cooked similarly to the pinto beans--with a big piece of pork, but less water. Those aren't meant to be soupy, but they are cooked for a long time until they're very tender. People there grew varieties of green beans with tough strings that have to be removed before you cook them. I'm sure you could use use other types of fresh green beans.

I'm vegetarian now, so I don't make my beans in the "traditional" way anymore, and in the interest of cutting calories I would use less oil in the potatoes. Also, I would probably not eat half a pan of fried potatoes by myself anymore.

Here is a basic cornbread recipe:
2 c. cornmeal
1/4 c. self-rising flour (optional)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 1/2 c. buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If you have a cast iron skillet, grease it and put it in the oven while the oven is preheating. Mix all ingredients, and when the oven is hot, take the skillet out and quickly pour in the batter. The batter should fry a little bit as it hits the hot oil. Bake 30 minutes or until brown. (If you don't have a cast iron skillet, I'm sure you can just bake it in whatever you have, but I've never tried that before.)