Afghanistan and Albania
Neither country is very well-known for their cuisine, but they do have one thing going for them - they are #1 and #2 at the beginning of the alphabet! For Afghanistan (capital Kabul) I made Afghan Chicken (login: IWMS password: wolverines). The most striking think about this dish, was that you made a lemony yogurt
sauce and then marinated the dish for 1 1/2 days. That's a long time. And although the finale wasn't very exotic, it was well-flavored and very tender. Gave it 7 out of 10.
The Albanian meal was a bit more of an escapade. Partly because I intended to make three courses (Baked Lamb and Yogurt, Bean Jahni Soup, and Stewed Dry Fig for desert), and mostly because I still am working on reading directions. Well, after I noticed it was supposed to cool for 2 hours, the bean soup was the first to be thrown out, . The others were made, but the lamb was accidentally already ground and I got figs, but they were fresh figs (I had never even imagined I would need to differentiate). Fortunately, the baked lamb kicked mother fucking ass. As it was being made it looked truly horrendous, as the 2 pounds of yogurt I was told to use bubbled and turned funny colors, but in the end the grounded aspect seemed to add flavor to the yogurt, while the lamb was quite good as well. Overall a 9 out of 10.
The Stewed Fresh Fig was a bit more difficult. Wife and friend Melissa came to my aid and used all their cooking wiles to make this work (corn starch and flour were involved) and the end product didn't taste bad, as in anything with milk, sugar, corn starch, and flour does not taste bad. But it certainly wasn't the dish the recipe had intended. Still, it was all worth it for the Baked Lamb and Yogurt (which needs a snappier name).
And if you were in need. Here are some fun facts about those ever whacky Albanians!!!
1. Between the world wars, their leader was named King Zog
2. They were communist after WW2, but chose to follow the Chinese style for some reason
3. Come from a trib pre-slav, called the Illyrians
4. In 1997 there were mass revolts over a failed pyramid scheme that the government was somehow involved in.
5. "Young people might show strong approval by quickly moving the hand horizontally, while at the same time bringing the thumb and index finger together and clicking the tongue."
6. Ismail Kadare is their most famous author and I read a book by him called Broken April. Crazy crazy book that you think takes place in Medieval times until you realize it's modern rural Albania.
sauce and then marinated the dish for 1 1/2 days. That's a long time. And although the finale wasn't very exotic, it was well-flavored and very tender. Gave it 7 out of 10.The Albanian meal was a bit more of an escapade. Partly because I intended to make three courses (Baked Lamb and Yogurt, Bean Jahni Soup, and Stewed Dry Fig for desert), and mostly because I still am working on reading directions. Well, after I noticed it was supposed to cool for 2 hours, the bean soup was the first to be thrown out, . The others were made, but the lamb was accidentally already ground and I got figs, but they were fresh figs (I had never even imagined I would need to differentiate). Fortunately, the baked lamb kicked mother fucking ass. As it was being made it looked truly horrendous, as the 2 pounds of yogurt I was told to use bubbled and turned funny colors, but in the end the grounded aspect seemed to add flavor to the yogurt, while the lamb was quite good as well. Overall a 9 out of 10.
The Stewed Fresh Fig was a bit more difficult. Wife and friend Melissa came to my aid and used all their cooking wiles to make this work (corn starch and flour were involved) and the end product didn't taste bad, as in anything with milk, sugar, corn starch, and flour does not taste bad. But it certainly wasn't the dish the recipe had intended. Still, it was all worth it for the Baked Lamb and Yogurt (which needs a snappier name).
And if you were in need. Here are some fun facts about those ever whacky Albanians!!!
1. Between the world wars, their leader was named King Zog
2. They were communist after WW2, but chose to follow the Chinese style for some reason
3. Come from a trib pre-slav, called the Illyrians
4. In 1997 there were mass revolts over a failed pyramid scheme that the government was somehow involved in.
5. "Young people might show strong approval by quickly moving the hand horizontally, while at the same time bringing the thumb and index finger together and clicking the tongue."
6. Ismail Kadare is their most famous author and I read a book by him called Broken April. Crazy crazy book that you think takes place in Medieval times until you realize it's modern rural Albania.
posted by chuckdaddy2000 at 10:00 am
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