Hummus Gallaya

Fettuccini Alfredo

Pita Chips

I was making a pita and dip tray and my sister suggested I fry long pita strips. I just cut up some store-bought pita and flash-fried them in oil. I bet they would work brushed in olive oil in the oven, but I didn't have time.

Salmon with tri-color angel hair pasta

A quick meal I threw together because I had the ingredients on hand. The pasta was sold in the bag as tri-colored, and I cooked them in three separate pans to keep them from inter-mingling. That was the only trick. The salmon is brushed with olive oil, lightly salted, squeezed with lemon and sprinkled with dill.

Samosas

I have been searching high and low for a great samosa recipe. They are truly varied, so if you try one you like, it may be difficult to find just the right approximation. Some call for cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and cilantro, while other recipes use none of the above ingredients.

In another attempt to find the right samosa, I stumbled across Manjula's samosa recipe (from Manjula's Kitchen). I tried them out on dinner guests (poor dinner guests--always bear the tail end of my experiments) and one lady told me they were the best thing she had ever eaten in her whole life! Those were her exact words, and she repeated them many times... Unadventurous, the gal's palate may not have had the opportunity to try a ton of varied foods, but still... her comments raised my eyebrows on this recipe. Still not exactly what I'm looking for, it is nonetheless a crowd-pleaser. Besides, what I value in an samosa may be quite different than what you value. Enjoy!

This recipe will make 8 Samosas.
FOR CRUST
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tablespoon sooji
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons+ 1 teaspoon oil
1/4 cup -1tablespoon look warm water
FOR FILLING
3 red large potatoes
1/2 cup green peas
2 chopped green chilly seeded
1 teaspoon grated ginger
½ teaspoon cumin seed
1 teaspoon coriander powder
½ teaspoon garam masala (garam masala is a mixture of different spices)
1 teaspoon mango powder
2 tablespoons oil

Good Fruit

I was just taking some pictures of a fruit tray and thought the fruit looked naturally appealing, so I thought I'd add it. To your health!

Rogan Josh

Naan

Marie Catrib's Indian Rice

Carrot Cake

Plantain Cups

Burek

I was preparing for a dinner party for a group of people who have never tried my cooking, and needed something a little less daring, a little more American, and certainly less spicy. I decided to go with a Middle Eastern/Indian menu. Hummus is popular, kebabs are palatable, and I could still find ways to experiment. But I wanted to use ingredients I already had in my kitchen--one of which was sheets and sheets of puff pastry. I searched for Middle Eastern recipes using puff pastry with limited results. I did, however, run across a Bosnian recipe for Burek--which I had eaten before at a Middle Eastern restaurant--and thought its taste could pass for Middle Eastern. The clincher? It was made with filo dough, not puff pastry. Would it work? I followed a recipe for Burek that I found online and tried rolling it with puff pastry. The results were bland, relatively tasteless, but the puff pastry seemed to work out rather well. I tried it again altering a Sambusa recipe I had gotten from a Somali woman (Sambusa is the Ethiopian equivalent to Indian samosas). The results were pleasing. Crispy, tangy, and impressive looking. Great for guests.

Burek
-1 lb. ground beef, browned
-5 cloves garlic, minced
-1 T curry powder
-2 tsp. salt, or to taste
-juice of 2 lemons, plus rind of 1/2 lemon
-freshly ground black pepper
-1 onion, chopped and browned
-1 T dessicated coconut
-1 tsp. cumin seeds
-1 tsp. cardomom
-1/8 cup pine nuts (optional)
-melted butter

Saute the onion and garlic. Add beef and brown. Then add remaining ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring regularly until almost dry.

Roll the puff pastry to nearly twice its size. Cut in half twice lengthwise. Brush with butter. Add meat filling to length of puff pastry. Roll into a coil, brush again with butter, and bake in preheated (375F) oven until golden.