Once or twice a year, I lead a tour of of 8-10 people through Salt Lake City’s ethnic food markets. We visit stores that are down the street, but feel worlds away in familiarity, comfort, and experience.
Category: Globally Inspired
Dirk’s Chili, Redux and the Delicious Flavors of Cocoa, Coffee + Chipotle
Almost two winters ago, I exchanged comments on food photos of several dishes shared by a man named Dirk from Germany on Google+. He commented on photos of the foreign foods I shared and mentioned that many of the ingredients I posted were unavailable to him. Thinking back to my penpal days as a child, in which…
Japanese Mushrooms: Sauteed King Trumpet Mushrooms and Greens with Soft-boiled Egg
I love mushrooms. I love their unique flavor and texture, and even how they are grown.Recently, I discovered that my favorite Asian grocery store is carrying some amazing Japanese-variety mushrooms – King Trumpet (AKA King Oyster), white and brown beech (AKA Shimeji – pictured below), and Maitake mushrooms. And, I’ve been eating them like crazy ever…
13 Flavors (including Mayan Chocolate) of Larabar-like Fruit and Nut Bars
Mayan chocolate is probably best known as a delicious, hot, and frothy drink made with ground cacao beans and corn meal and spiced with chiles and cinnamon. This rich but bitter drink – called xocolatl – has been around for thousands of years, and only became a sweet treat in the 1700s in Europe. These…
Pumpkin Pasilla Soup: Vegetarian or Turkified
Pasilla peppers are a little bit sweet, a little bit spicy…but just a bit. These dark green peppers add great earthy flavor to dishes and are a delicious addition to this creamy, roasted tomato soup. Do you still have roast turkey or chicken in the fridge? Here’s a great way to use it up and…
Muhammara – The Red Pepper, Pomegranate, and Walnut Triple Threat!
Middle Eastern dips and sauces are some of the best in the world, in my opinion. Often thick, rich in flavor, and healthy for you, they are also easy to make – and to modify – if you know what goes into them. What is Muhammara? Muhammara, a red pepper and walnut dip from Aleppo…
Eating Indian Food + Pumpkin Masala Recipe
I distinctly remember the first time I ever ate Indian food. I was 19 and had still not been exposed to many of the world’s cuisines; my tastes were pretty mundane and the spices and heat were just so foreign. It wasn’t until I met my future husband, Will, a few years later that I…
A Mexican Wedding Feast and 5 Tips for Feeding Groups
Last weekend, I hosted a wedding. The bride, of Mexican heritage, wanted food reminiscent of her childhood. The groom, a meat and potatoes kind of man, has milder tastes in food. As I was in charge of the kitchen, I opted for a happy medium that was gluten and dairy-free, without being obviously so, and…
Garlic: strength, health, protection, and flavor
Garlic has long been my favorite vegetable. I love it so much that, in college, I used to eat raw cloves. My roommate’s mother, a Taiwanese woman who rarely spoke to me when she visited, made a point to call me out on it one day. “You eat garlic like Chinese Red Army. They’re strong and healthy. …
The Joys (and how-to’s) of Shopping at Ethnic Food Markets
The first time I walked into an Indian grocery store, I couldn’t tell coriander from my elbow. It took years of reading, being introduced to ethnic restaurants, and cooking experiments to build up familiarity and confidence with coriander and the multitude of other spices and flavors this world has to offer. Today, I not only shop…
Spiced-rubbed Sichuan Roast Pork
I have a recipe for you. It’s not my own. But it is pretty delicious and inspired by the Sichuan peppers I ran across on my recent trip to China. Sichuan peppers, if you haven’t had them, are an interesting experience. I won’t say interesting flavor, simply because flavor is too simple a word for what…
Rose and Bael Fruit Tea Recipe
As you know, I love to visit ethnic food markets. Recently I discovered that my favorite SE Asian market carries dried rosebuds and something I hadn’t seen before: bael fruit. Bael fruit is known by many names: Bengal quince, golden apple, Japanese bitter orange, stone apple, and wood apple. Native to India, it is often used in a popular summer drink. The package…
Exploring China’s Street Food Vendors and Local Markets
Visiting a foreign country, to me, is an opportunity to explore much more than what my eyes can see. It means listening to the sounds in the streets – the voices and unique rhythms of a place, enjoying local music, meeting people and sharing stories and perspectives, and tasting new-to-me foods. That’s why I love markets…
China – A Feast for the Senses, But Especially Our Taste Buds
A year ago, my husband and I were invited to join some of our favorite traveling companions on a journey to Tibet. We planned, did some research, and prepared ourselves for a trip that would include both spiritual (Buddhist monasteries and culture) and adventurous (Mount Everest basecamp) experiences. Two weeks before we were scheduled to…
Broadening the Idea of Breakfast: Not just your typical morning meals
I’ve been out of it – focus, sleep, the internet, even the country. Hopefully, it didn’t really seem like I was gone. But, I was….to the farthest reaches of China near the Mongolian, Russian, and Kazakh borders. It was an amazing trip, that I will be sharing over the next couple of weeks. The only…
Crockpot Cochinita (Puerco) Pibil: Yucatecan-style Pork with a Telenovela Twist
The last place I expected to find a good recipe for Cochinita Pibil, was in the comments of an English-language website that recaps Spanish-language telenovelas. If you’re asking yourself how I wound up reading the comments on that site, I have both an easy and a more complicated answer for you. The easy answer is…
So Sweet It Is – Tasting Honey from Around the World
I’ve been on a honey kick this year. Not the kind of kick that causes me to eat honey all of the time (I don’t and can’t without heart palpitations and a serious sugar high), but the kind of kick that gets me thinking about honey, seeking out different varieties, and doing a little research….
Super Simple Stir-fry Formula
My first recipe experiments were in a shared dorm hall kitchen during my freshman year of college. Unfortunately, those meals were mostly forgettable. What I do remember is that my neighbor, homesick for her native Korea, thought I made the perfect taste-tester. She would cook dishes that were unfamiliar and exotic to my rural Utah…
Carlos’ Charro No-Bean Chili for Cinco de Mayo
My grandpa Carlos was quite the hipster in his day. He owned a nightclub called El Matador, drove a corvette, and loved his bling. Of course, this came later in life – after years of working hard for others.Less flashy, more family, he was also the cook in the house. Two of the recipes my…
Reinventing Chiles en Nogada Soup-Style
Deconstruct: To break something down into its component parts. For a recipe, this means looking at the recipe and determining the essential ingredients – the ones that make the dish unique, satisfying, and flavorful. Deconstruction is one of my favorite ways to reinvent a dish when I want to experience its flavors AND tailor the…
Super Simple Hummus – With or Without the Chickpeas
Every time I think about posting a recipe for hummus, I stop. It seems like it is one of those things that everyone covers just because it is so darned simple. And the core ingredients of lemon, cumin, garlic, and olive oil – and even the distinctive tahini sesame paste – can be mixed with…
How to Make Your Own Ghee / Clarified Butter
I’ve been on a food book binge lately: biographies, non-fiction overviews of specific foods, recipe books, etc. One that I picked up is called Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages by Anne Mendelson. It’s a strange selection for me – I don’t drink milk. In fact, I have avoided milk for several years…
Creamy spice bazaar-inspired soup
Spicy, bright, and good enough to eat every day! According to my husband, that what this soup is like. And he likes it so much he has taken it to work with him each day this week. Carrots were on sale and the snow had finally hit the mountains after several sunny weeks – soup…
Crock Pot Pork Carnitas with Cabbage Lime Garnish
Cubes of pork shoulder marinated over-night in milk and quartered oranges. A 5-gallon pot with pounds of lard and the pork chunks heated to the brink of boiling, and stirred every so often by a 3-foot, home-made wooden paddle. Pork that is extremely tender, has a slight crisp to the outside, and can easily broken…
Sweet Limes – New tastes and new friends
Think again. These are sweet Palestinian limes… When I went to the Mexican market the other day, I saw some for the first time. I picked one up and nonchalantly tossed it into my cart to try later. I looked up to see an older couple watching me. I winked and walked away. Moments later, I…
Curried cashew cauliflower and sweet potato soup and a cold, hard cider
Fall is in the air and I’ve been craving soup…warm, nourishing, and spicy soup! Last year, a friend of mine made a curried cauliflower soup that was delicious. I don’t have her recipe, and so I was inspired to create my own and to do it in the easiest way I could. This means, I…
A Bowl in One – Quick and Easy (and healthy too!) Asian Rice Bowls
When I’m in the mood for something filling but not heavy, tasty but healthy, I turn to rice bowls. They are the perfect gluten-free & easy meal. What is an Asian Rice Bowl? Rice bowls are basically meals in a bowl that are popular all over Asia. Ingredients may vary from country to country,…