Recipes

Xinjiang Lamb Rice

Ingredients: 2 cups uncooked jasmine or long grain white rice, 2 pounds fatty lamb, 4 cups water, 3 slices ginger, 3 tablespoons oil, 1 medium onion diced, 1 teaspoons salt, 2 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 teaspoon cumin powder, 1 pound carrots, 1/4 cup raisins optional

1. Soak the rice for 30 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. While the rice is soaking, blanch the lamb by boiling 4 cups of water in a pot along with the lamb and ginger. Let it boil for a couple of minutes, and then turn off the heat. Pick out the lamb pieces and set them aside, making sure to drain off any excess water. Then use a strainer to strain the cooking liquid. Keep that liquid to cook the rice.
3. Now heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Add ONLY the fatty lamb pieces, and stir-fry to get a nice crust on them. Turn the heat down to medium low, and render the fat until the pieces start to turn golden brown, about 6 to 8 minutes.
4. Turn the heat to medium, and add the onion. Cook until the onion is translucent. Now turn the heat back up to high and add the blanched lamb in a single layer so as to brown the meat on all sides. This will take a few minutes. Add 2 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid you reserved earlier, along with the salt, soy sauce, and cumin, and mix everything well. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Now add in the carrots and raisins (if using), and cover for another minute to bring the mixture back up to a boil. Turn off the heat. (Don’t worry, the carrots will finish cooking in the rice cooker. Also, at this point, the taste will be on the salty side, but remember that it will mellow up once mixed in with the rice.)
6. Pour everything into the rice cooker (or a pot), and add the rice. The rice should be spread out evenly. There should be enough liquid to see peeking through the rice grains (you may need to add more water if needed), but the liquid level should not be above the rice. Cover and start the rice cooker. If you are using a pot, turn the heat up to medium high to bring the mixture to a simmer, cover, turn the heat down to low, and cook for 15-20 minutes.
7. Once the rice is done cooking, open the lid, mix everything together, add salt to taste.

Suassat Recipe

Ingredients: 2-3 pounds of seal meat (or lamb or venison), bone in cold water, salt, pepper, 4-5 handfuls of white rice, 1 large white onion, chopped 5-6 potatos, spicy mustard

1. trim excess fat from seal meat
2. fill a stock pot 2/3rd full of cold water and place seal in the water
3. season with salt and pepper and bring it to a boil for around 30 minutes
4. the blood and fat from the seal will rise to the top of the top and create a foamy layer. Stir the pot occasionally
5. add the rice and onion to the boiling pot and allow to boil for 10 more minutes
6. add the potatoes and allow the stew to boil for 20 minutes. After 1 hour of cooking, the suassat should be ready!
   

West African Fufu recipe

Ingredients: 2 pounds of yam/cassava, salt, black pepper, 1 teaspoon olive oil

1. fill a pot halfway with cold water
2. Peel the yams/cassava, be careful with the yams as they can be slippery
3. cut the peeled yams into chunks and place them in the pot
4. bring the yams/cassava to a boil over high heat and continue to boil until the yams are soft (around 25 minutes)
5. take the yams out and allow the yams to cool (preferable in a strainer)
6. place the cooled yams in a large bowl with salt, pepper, and the olive oil
7. mash the ingredients together with potato masher and place the mixture in a food processor or blender using a low speed setting (do not let the mixture puree)
8. place the mixture back in the bowl. At this point the mixture should be sticky and elastic.
9. shape the fufu into balls using your hands and voila! You have made fufu.

Gravlax Recipe

Ingredients: 3-4 pounds of salmon fillet, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 salt, 1 teaspoon dill seeds, 1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper, 2 bunches of fresh dill

1. Obtain salmon. Purchase frozen salmon and thaw before use or wait and freeze completed gravlax at no higher than -10F for 7 days. This will kill any harmful microorganisms in the fish.
2. Combine the sugar and salt, then cover both sides of the fillet with half of the mixture.
3. wash and chop the bunches of dill. Sprinkle the flesh side of the fillet with half the dill seeds and ground pepper
4. place one fillet half, flesh side up, in a dish and place the chopped dill on top of it, then cover with the second half of the fillet, with the second half flesh side down. It should look like a large fish-and-dill sandwich.
5. Cover the dish lightly with plastic wrap and marinate at room temperature until the sugar-salt mixture as melted into the fillet (but no more than 6 hours.
6. Place a small pan or plate on top of the gravlax and refrigerate the weighted gravlax for at least 2 days and up to a week.
7. Every 12 hours, turn the fish “sandwich” over in the brining liquid that has accumulated to make sure both sides are evenly marinated.
8. After curing the fish for two days, remove the gravlax from the fridge, remove a lot of the dill and seasonings, and pat the salmon dry
9. using a sharp knife, cut the cured gravlax into thin slices
10. Serve the gravlax on a piece of rye bread or crispbread. Enjoy!

Mexican Chile Recipe

Ingredients: 2 lbs red or green chiles (roasted and skin removed), 2 to 3 garlic cloves, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, juice of 1/4 lime, 2 teaspoon oil, 1 to 2 jalapenos seeded (for additional spiciness), 2 cups drinking water

1. After chiles are roasted and peeled, cut the stem area off, and make a cut down the side of the chile. Open it up, and scrape the seeds out with a spoon.
2. Blend chiles in food processor until chunky.
3. Add in remaining ingredients and process until smooth.
4. Use the finished sauce immediately, refrigerate it for 2 to 3 days, or freeze it for up to 6 months as desired.