Belarus, a bad cook blames the recipe

здравствуйте, Belarus national cuisine is largely potato based, potato and pork and pork and potato it seems.  I decided to take an attempt at cooking Potato pyzy. The recipe seemed easy enough but like all bad cooks, I blame the recipe. I am afraid that no size of the pyzy was given for the dimensions so I had to estimate a bit. In addition, one of the ingredients was “seasoning” so that was a touch hard to estimate as well. Putting it together was easier than the Armenian dish and the result looked a little like white cow pats.

Despite some difficulties in getting it in and out of the pan it generally proceeded pretty well. Then the eating began.

The pyzy to be honest was horrible, the dough was much too thick and was far more than 5-6mm thick, it probably could have been smaller as well. It would be one I would be game to try again with the appropriate spices but on first attempt it was a dull, lack lustre meal. That I couldn’t finish in one sitting.

да пабачэння

Sam’s rating: 3/10

Barbados, another island another fish

Hey, the Bajans live in a single island known as Barbados in the Caribbean, there are a number of countries squeezed in this little area of the map. As an island nation, their diet consists of a lot of seafood.

Unfortunately flying fish was nowhere to be found. Seems like none have flown to Australia yet so Barbados Spicy Fish Balls and veggies it was.

The fish balls were beautiful, full of flavour.

Sam’s rating: 7/10

Bangladesh!

হ্যালো, Bangladesh was a surprise to me, as is close to India I was prejudice and assumed that the country was predominantly Hindu being so close to India. When I saw the beef curry recipe I wondered just how authentic it truly was. Bangladesh however is predominantly Islamic which explains the beef curry.

You do live and learn in cooking different meals. It is a language in itself to read the recipe. The recipe asked for Cardamom Pods, Cinnamon Sticks and Whole Cumin Seeds. I put these in but I believe they needed to be grounded first. I did ground them after a while when I realised they weren't dissolving in water or breaking up under the heat.

This was I think the hottest meal to date, it was nice all the same and I would definitely make it again.

বিদায়

Sam’s rating: 7/10

Beautiful Bahrain

مرحبا, Bahrain is a nation I never hear of before undertaking this adventure. The nation consists of a single island to the east of Saudi Arabia.

There was a lot of cheating in making the meal which was Chicken Machboos. Baharat spice and dried limes were unable to be sourced so were omitted. The rose water could have been sourced but the question surrounded whether or not herbicides or insecticides.

Although the chicken looks slightly burnt in the picture it turned out quite beautiful having been grilled.

وداعا

Sam’s rating: 9/10

Bahamas Bounty!

Hello, the Bahamas is an island country with over 700 islands. It made it hard work plotting on the map but you get the general location. According to the history, the Bahamas was a former British colony which was brought about in order to end piracy in the Caribbean.

As an island nation, one of their key meals is seafood. We cooked up Bahamian Grilled Fish and Onion Salad. The fish we used would not have been up to the Bahamian standards but it was nice all the same.

Bye!   

                                                     

Sam’s rating: 7/10

Bec’s rating: 7/10

Azerbaijan

Salam, Azerbaijan, a divided nation with Armenia in the middle. Azerbaijan has nine different climates out of the eleven possible climates. As a result, the cuisine is diverse.

We decided to make our taste of this country in the form of Lyulya Kabob.

The meal was beautiful with the meat spicy and full of flavour.

Xudafiz!

Sam’s rating: 9/10

Bec’s rating: 8/10

Authentically Austrian, or is it?

Guten tag, Austria, we couldn’t not cook Wiener Schnitzel. Wiener Schnitzel forms part of the Viennese cuisine but is regarded as a popular Austrian meal. The question like many of the recipes, what to eat it with? We followed the suggestion to eat with lettuce.

A very easy recipe and a long time since I have had Schnitzel!

Sam’s rating: 8/10

Bec’s rating: 6/10 

Australian’s all let us rejoice!!!

G’day, as an Australian it makes this meal one that I know intimately and as a result, a fairly easy one to do.  Australia was quite a hard one to choose a recipe for because its cuisine has been influenced by many cultures over the decades.

We decided on Bangers and Mash. This could easily be found in an old English pub so we used Kangaroo Bangers. Australia must be one of the only countries in the world where you can eat the national animal!

Note to self, ensure the sweet potato is fairly soft, otherwise you break the potato masher (chalk one up for strength).

Whether it is just a home bias or not, it turned out to be a tasty meal!

See ya later mate.

Sam’s rating: 8/10

Bec’s rating: 7/10

Armenian Afflictions…

Barev Dzez, Armenia proved to be a meal to forget and one that taught many lessons to remember.

Bec chose to the recipe called trakht (Cracked wheat and beef patties). All started off well, the filling was put in the fridge 24 hours before. I got home at 6:15 pm and started to cook. Then the filling got mixed up with the outer shell as the recipe was a little unclear (and we hadn’t read the recipe all the way through), we tried to rescue it by making another batch of filling.

Putting the patties together was a messy job to say the least and I believe the mixture contained too much water. Next was the part of putting the patties into the boiling oil, as soon as the patty hit the oil it came apart and went everywhere in the pan.

So then we cheated, Bec put some in the frying pan (with little oil and with flour) and I put some in the oven. The result, a terrible version of trakht!

Lessons learnt:

1. Always read the recipe through to understand it properly
2. Choose the recipe carefully
3. It isn’t always as simple as following the recipe
4. Tensions get frayed in the kitchen, particularly after 3 times as many dirty dishes and 2 times longer to make

Hrazhesht!!!

Sam’s rating: 7/10

Bec’s rating: 6.5/10