Notes about Recipes in this book

• Rye pancakes with pork belly and lingonberries [Emma Bengtsson]

  • Yildiz100 on March 18, 2018

    This pancake dough was quite a bit thicker than regular Swedish pancakes and hard to make the crepes thin enough. That could be the rye flour. There are so many different kinds of rye flour, some with barley flour, etc mixed in and the author doesnt really specify what to look, for so it could be a difference in the absorbancy of the flour. Can add a bit more liquid but instead I think I will try to make mine thinner next time by using less cream and more milk. Nobody cared for the mustard creme fraiche with the pancakes, maybe try chive and creme fraiche next time, or just more lingon. Used store bought rarorda lingon instead of making her recipe.

• Reem's muhammara [Reem Assil]

  • Yildiz100 on March 17, 2018

    Her technique for roasting red peppers does work nicely but takes almost an hour--twice as long as she states. This version of muhammara is mellow and sweet. It needed significantly more lemon to balance to bring out the flavors. Overall I still think I prefer Ayla Algars-I particularly think the use of whole cumin seeds makes that one pop. I like the mellowness of this one though and I think the perfect version of muhammara might be somewhere in between the two.

• Lebanese peasant salad (Fattoush) [Barbara Abdeni Massaad]

  • Yildiz100 on August 05, 2019

    The dressing for this version of fattoush is very heavy on the pomegranate molasses, making the dressing very sweet, even with my unsweetened pomegranate molasses. Not my favorite.

• Tichi's gazpacho [José Andrés]

  • Yildiz100 on April 14, 2018

    I was attracted to this recipe because of the inclusion of oloroso sherry. At first I was not sure if it added or took away. However, the became more muted and the flavor really developed when this was really cold. The author says let chill for 30 minutes, but that is not enough. Allow at least several hours. That, however, is the only problem with this recipe. Otherwise, this is the best gazpacho ever! Also note, I think fino sherry would be interchangeable with oloroso if that is all you have on hand, but definitely use the sherry. I used 1.5 tsp Table Salt for 1100 grams tomatoes, plenty salty.

• Lentil and spinach soup (Dal palak) [Hari Nayak]

  • Yildiz100 on April 29, 2018

    This is a chili-free dal since I was using homemade garam masala. Not what I wanted so I added 3/4 teaspoon red chili pepper. The only other change I made was sauteeing the onions a bit longer than called for. Was very good, but the color is not the most appealing. Maybe my tomato was a bit small. More would have upped the color and the acidity, which was also lacking.

• Green potato smørrebrød [Claus Meyer]

  • Yildiz100 on April 01, 2018

    Used red onions instead of pearl. (Pretty with the pink onions and green dill mayo!l) Thought this had potential but our choice of rye bread killed it. Will make again with a nice rye flatbread from a bakery, or maybe with a slightly molassesy skargard bread. Dont use commercial German style whole grain rye like Kung Markatta. The texture is not right for this.

• Turmeric, zucchini, and carrot stir-fry (Orak arik) [Pat Tanumihardja]

  • Yildiz100 on January 23, 2019

    I am not always a turmeric fan so I was surprised at how much I like this dish. It tastes fresh, healthy, and like comfort food all at the same time. Besides that, it is also fast, easy, and almost a pantry recipe. Will definitely go into regular rotation.

• Kurus with spoon salad [Didem Hosgel]

  • Yildiz100 on March 21, 2018

    I had a little extra potato and forgot to increase the amount of bulgur accordingly so that probably limited my ability to get a nice crisp exterior. Not bad-need to make again and be sure not to skimp on the bulgur before giving a star rating. Salad was very nice. Reduced the mint as too much fresh mint can be bitter and added a bit of lemon to balance out my sweeter than average pomegranate molasses. Reduced dressing by half sinde I reduced the quantity of herbs. Was plenty.

• Kushari [Brenda Abdelall]

  • Yildiz100 on May 23, 2018

    I only prepared the sauce according to recipe as the rest of kushari really isn't a dish you need a recipe for. This is the third version of tomato sauce for kushari I have made, and it is a pretty good one. This one isn't the most like what I had in Egypt - that one is made with tomato paste thinned with water, while this one is made with passata. I prefer kushari with the tomato paste version of the sauce, but this one, which has more vinegar and tastes sweeter, was a big hit with my 5yo.

• Coconut dream fish [Ziggy Marley]

  • Yildiz100 on August 29, 2019

    This recipe has nice flavors but I don't think it is written very well. As written, the onions and bell peppers are basically raw and the garlic cloves are whole and barely cooked in liquid (not sauteed in fat). If you change up the technique by sauteing onions and chopping the garlic, it makes a decent dish.

• Cured and seared salmon on rice (San Buri salmon on gohan) [John Sugimura]

  • Rinshin on February 17, 2018

    This salmon is cooked. Don't need to use more expensive and hard to find sushi-grade or sashimi-grade salmon specified in this recipe. Those grades are used for raw preparation.

• Chicken dahiwala [Roni Mazumdar]

  • Yildiz100 on March 25, 2018

    Delicious. I made some minor adjustments but refrained from reducing the oil (like I often do) and I am glad I didn't. This would have tasted too thin without the fat. My adjustments: reduced the cayenne to 1/2 tsp because mine is potent. This was still very spicy. Also reduced turmeric to 1/2 teaspoon. I only had 1 pound a chicken on hand so after seeing that this was meant for three pounds of chicken (wow!) I decided to bulk it out with a can of chickpeas. (I won't count this as an alteration since the author specifically suggests swapping out the protein!) I am sometimes scared of yogurt in sauces because anything that tastes too milky will put me off, but I stuck to the recipe and the yogurt was just right. It added body to the sauce without screaming "dairy". Recommend using a homemade garam masala (cleaner taste and no chili.) If not possible, definitely reduce the cayenne. The end result was spectacular. Highly recommended!

• Rice with chicken (Arroz con pollo) [Ingrid Hoffman]

  • Yildiz100 on July 02, 2018

    Halved the recipe and fed 3 of us with lots of leftovers. Felt like a lot of work for so so results, though I did have to make do without the lemon pepper. Maybe that is the secret ingredient?

• Island slaw [Ron Duprat]

  • Yildiz100 on June 12, 2019

    Nice balance with just a hint of sweet, but the dressing was a bit thin and tended to appear bubbly, and I wasn't wild about the cumin flavor here. Note, I needed only a bit more than half the amount of dressing.

• Eat Your Books by Jenny Hartin

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