World cuisine, yummy!

The king of all Korean dishes: rice

Some of you might be familiar with Korean cuisine, mainly Kimchi (a spicy and stinky pickle), Japchae (sweet potato noodles stir fried in sesame oil), and Bulgogi (beef marinated in sweet soy sauce). Aside from whether you like it or not, what most people do not realize about Korean dishes is that all of them are usually accompaniments to go with Japonica rice, a type of short grain rice, which is the main staple of both Japan and South Korea (not really sure about North Korea). Boiled white Japonica rice (some of you may call it “sticky rice”) is the most important thing in any Korean diet.

As long as I know, Koreans’ love for white Japonica rice dates back to centuries ago, when people had to pound rice by hand. As you probably know, the texture and smell of rice bran can be unpleasant, and only the rich could eat whole–pounded rice, i.e. white rice. So most ordinary people yearned to eat white rice. Nowadays, thanks to the advent of an electric rice mill, all of us can have it. There are some who prefer bread or pasta for meals and our rice consumption rate is decreasing, but still, the majority of Koreans have rice three times a day, ingesting 2/3 cup (uncooked) each time. There is even a famous and beloved proverb about rice which goes, “Koreans’ vigor solely comes from boiled rice.”

At each meal, Koreans eat boiled Japonica rice, which is so high in starch thus very sticky. It literally sticks to your teeth (I’m not a big fan of this, so I’ve changed to Basmati, Indian long grain rice). There are even shorter variation of it, called “Chapssal (meaning “super sticky rice”), which is usually used to make different types of rice cake. I can’t say this for everyone, but most of the time, we prepare four or five (or much more if it is a special occasion) accompaniments to rice including a kind of soup (in which we do not use roux), eat just a little bit of them with much rice, thus not consuming them all. We store the leftover accompaniments in the fridge, and eat them later at the subsequent meal.

Left: Basmati, Right: Japonica. You can clearly tell the difference.

So basically a Korean diet consists of too much white rice, plus a tiny amount of other nutritious ingredients, which accounts for the high rate of Type 2 diabetes among Koreans. It is obvious that we lack protein (little meat or seafood, and no dairy) and fresh leafy green vegetables (most vegetable accompaniments are cooked and seasoned with sesame oil), but no one is brave enough to admit it in public, since Koreans take a great pride in Korean cuisine and think it is so wholesome. Perhaps it’s time to let go of excessive white Japonica rice, but that seems to be a long way off now.

Ms.L

Masala Dosa is the most beloved snack across India. Originated from the south of India it is one of the very few dish easily recognizable and available across Indian. While in north of India it is a popular snack but in south India it not only a snack but a popular breakfast.

Masala Dosa is paper like thin, delicate crepe made of rice and lentils, cooked on a very hot griddle and stuffed with the spiced mashed potatoes and onion, and served with spicy tangy garlic or coriander chutney and hot sambar (Lentil and vegetable stew).

Masala Dosa was voted one of the top 10 dishes must have according to a list compiled by the Huffington Post of American 2012 and 50 most delicious foods complied by CNN in 2011. I think it surely deserves that because it is not only a delicious food it also allows to have fun with it too.

Family Dosa

Topi (hat) Dosa

There are lot of variety to humble Masala Dosa like Mysore Masal Dosa, Rava (Semolina) Masala Dosa, Butter /Chessy Masala Dosa, Paper Masala Dosa, Open Butter Masala Dosa, Paper Masala Dosa. With globalization there are international variety too like Chinese Schezwan Dosa,  Chinese Noodle Dosa. There is also Pizza Dosa with cheese and pizza topping. There are so many variety of humble Dosa that there are restaurants who solely dedicated to serve 100 varieties of Dosa.

Bindya


Dumplings, dumplings everywhere

I can said that the traditional czech cuisine is really unhealthy. Which doesn´t mean it is less tasty than other cuisines. It is a little influenced by cuisines of surrounding countries. Czech cuisine typicaly means two dishes (for lunch I mean) – soup and the main dish. But our country is developing so these days it´s not rare to have also some dessert.

One of typical things in czech cuisine are dumplings. They are served usually with the meat and they are part of a few typical czech dishes. We have got sirloin ("svíčková" – it´s name for both, the sauce and the meat - it´s a czech name for this dish. The meet which is used is usually beef or venison) with dumplings, whipped cream and cranberries. They are also part of another czech traditional meal – Roast pork with dumplings and sauerkraut. This is often considered as most typical and famous czech dish. Another typical czech dish are "bramboráky". Those are fried pancakes made of grated raw potatoes. You can eat it for a main course and in smaller variant also like a side dish. We have got sweet dishes too – for e.g. Fruit dumplings (dumplings again) filled mostly with plums, apricots or strawberries.

Oh and I almost forget our most typical alcoholic drink! Beer! Czech beers are popular all over the Europe I think.

Alena


Mediterranean diet

Spain cuisine is known for including legumes, vegetables, fish, meat, eggs and the popular olive oil. This kind of gastronomy has been named "Mediterranean diet", and it is also present in some regions of Mediterranean Sea, as Italy or Greece.

A typical lunch in Spain includes two dishes (one main and bigger dish and a second one) and a dessert. The main dish use to be a stew ("Potaje" in Spanish), some stew examples are: lentils, beans, rice, chickpeas and other.

Personally I like lentils, beans and rice dishes very much. A famous rice soup is "Puchero", which is made of carrots, chickpeas, potatoes, celery, and 1/2 chicken.

While you heat up the celery, carrots, chickpeas in a pot...

... you are preparing the 1/2 chicken and other meat. Later you add all into the pot.

When the "Puchero" soup has boiled 2 or 3 hours (depends on the pot), you can add the rice in a separated pot, and heat up until it is soft. Finally, when rice is ready to be eaten, sometimes you add little pieces of ham and cut a boiled egg.

The second dish in a Spanish lunch can be some fish or meat: the fish use to be fried and meat breaded, but other styles are also popular. Finally, for a dessert you can eat some fruit (apple, banana, pear, orange, melon, watermelon) or a yogurt.

Emilio