Tuvalu, recipes are scarce

Hello,

Tuvalu was a very difficult country to find a recipe for. In the end I found one which was essentially a tuna curry.

Like many island nations, fish forms a large part of the cuisine. The tuna curry contained, chili, curry powder, garlic, ginger, coconut milk, green onion, onion, soy sauce and of course tuna. It was served on a bed of coconut rice.

The curry was much hotter than I had expected, it made my mouth tingle but I found the meal very enjoyable.

Goodbye

Sam’s rating: 8/10

Turkmenistan, another stan

Здравствуйте

Turkmenistan, I didn’t realise fishing played such an important part in this country that is mostly land locked. The fishing industry is important, especially along the coast of the Caspian Sea. Fishing took off in the country around 1910 apparently and has had its ups and downs due to over fishing. Anyway, I decided to cook baked salmon.

The salmon was seasoned with salt, red pepper, dill, parsley and garlic with layers of onion, capsicum, tomato and lemon. Served with a bed of rice, the salmon it made a great meal.

As a lover of garlic, I really enjoyed the flavours of garlic, fish and the other seasonings. I don’t mind salmon but I prefer white flesh fish.

Прощай

Sam’s rating: 8/10

Turkey, sadly no turkey

Merhaba,

Turkey, the country I would love to eat a turkey for but perhaps that would be cannibalism. Anyway, I decided to cook Turkish meatballs, known as kofta.

The meatballs were easier than expected to make and consisted of breadcrumbs, lamb mince, cumin, allspice, mint, garlic, parsley and egg. It held together surprisingly well considering other attempts at this kind of dish have gone a little off track.

I served the kofta with pita bread and yoghurt, the meatballs were nice and moist inside. I must say that cold yoghurt and meat doesn’t appeal to me but I still love the idea of yoghurt as a marinade.  

Güle güle

Sam’s rating: 7/10

Tunsia, my first taste of sardines

مرحبا

Tunsia, for this country I decided to cook a dish called grilled red mullet with lemonand celery salad.

Tunsia was a surprise to me. Firstly I must admit that I made two substitutions, I substituted sardines for red mullet as I couldn’t find red mullet. Secondly, I substituted lime for lemon as some silly person (me) happened to cross the lemon off the list before putting it in the trolley.

Anyway, back to the surprise, sardines with celery and lemon (actually lime) salad would typically be a meal that I thought would send me to Maccas. On the contrary the meal was quite nice. The rosemary, thyme and cumin complemented the sardines. The salad with celery, parsley, garlic, lemon (lime), olives, salt, chili and sumac was hot in places but surprisingly tasty.

I had never tasted sardines before and much to my surprise I found they tasted quite nice, my preference is still for larger fish though.

وداعا

Sam’s rating: 7/10

Trinidad and Tobago, a very nice stewed chicken dish

Hello,

For Trinidad and Tobago I decided to cook a stewed chicken dish from Trinidad. The brown sugar was melted and the chicken was added with coriander, onion, green onion, salt, pepper and garlic. Coconut milk, chili pepper, butter and tomato sauce were all added to the dish.

The dish was sweet with a slight bite to it due to the chili pepper, the meal was very nice and after being home for a week it was great to eat something so nice.

Goodbye

Sam’s rating: 8/10

Tonga, it doesn’t get nicer

Hello,

I have just returned from a holiday to Canada and the United States, as a result my cooking challenge has been on hold for the past three weeks. In my travels I tried frog’s legs and snails. The frog’s legs tasted like somewhat chewy chicken with a gamey taste to it. The snails were black, slightly chewy but overall nicer than expected. Strange that I found them to eat in America but that was something I found in America, a choice and variety not seen in Australia.

Now it is back to reality and cooking dishes to get a taste of overseas. This meal, Kapisi Pulu was very similar to Palusami the dish I cooked for Samoa. The corned beef, shredded cabbage, tomatoes and onion were all cooked in a large cabbage leaf with no spices and coconut cream.

The meal was baked in foil. The meal wasn’t that great but the overall dish was slightly better than Samoa. The creation was creamy blend of food with a strange combination of flavours. I decided to serve this meal with sweet potatoes sliced and fried but in short, the dish doesn’t get any nicer.

Goodbye

Sam’s rating: 6/10

Togo, Africa for dinner

Bonjour,

I’m in Queensland at the moment for this cook up, and slightly closer to Togo than Melbourne but still far far away. For this meal I decided to cook grilled chicken with tomato cornmeal cakes

The chicken drumsticks were cooked with garlic, ginger and onion. The cornmeal cakes were made with garlic, ginger and tomatoes with chicken broth and cornmeal.

Surprisingly after my pap (cornmeal and water) experience I found the meal quite nice.

Au Revoir

Sam’s rating:7/10