Recipe: Scarpaccia

This very simple Italian flatbread is just made from zucchini, onion, and flour and it has a dense chewy texture that makes it a great side dish that is perfect for dipping in soup. You can add some garlic or herbs or sprinkle a little cheese on top towards the end of baking to give it some punch but otherwise it’s a nice replacement for crackers or bread because it kind of sits in the valley between those two things.

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Recipe: Dum Aloo

This is a delicious and comforting dish that is made with things I always have on hand (mostly spices, potatoes, and yogurt) but it does take a little bit of babysitting and foresight since the potatoes have to be boiled ahead of being fried. If you boil and peel potatoes the day before though this is a pretty quick and easy dinner. You can serve this with naan or rice and a salad or pickled vegetables to round it out into a full meal.

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Recipe: Halloumi Curry

Since I can’t buy paneer here and I haven’t really had a lot of success making paneer that doesn’t immediately fall apart on contact with things I jumped to make this halloumi curry when I saw it. It seems obvious in retrospect to replace paneer with halloumi but sometimes the most obvious things mean that we overlook them. This is a very satisfying curry with a creamy, spicy base. Next time I will probably add some spinach and maybe do a base with some red peppers just to up the flavor. I added more spices to it since I skipped making the tarka but I just did it with my heart so I haven’t included them in the recipe, sorry!

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Recipe: Lentil and Orzo Pasta

This extremely easy one pot wonder can be made into a perfect week night meal by prepping the vegetables earlier in the week or using a bag of chopped frozen vegetables and a can of already cooked lentils. Since this is made of shelf stable ingredients and possibly frozen vegetables its great for making a meal when there’s little left in the house. Swap in any vegetables you have and spice to taste and this makes pasta stretch about twice as far as it would plain.

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Recipe: JoJo Potatoes

I’d never had Jojo potatoes until I moved to Seattle and then I forgot they existed for 10 years but actually they’re really good and easy to make. I’m sure the original ones are fried but this baked version is easier and just as good. You simply shake wedges of potatoes in flour, fat, and spices and cook until the inside is fluffy and you get jagged flavor edges that really hold on to sauce well. Definitely worth the very minor extra effort it to shake up your oven potato routine.

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Recipe: Vegetable Tom Yum Soup

This is a fantastic meal that can be prepped ahead of time so that it only involves dumping some things is a pot and coming out with a delicious, spicy, tangy soup on the other side. I make this at least twice a month because it’s just so satisfying. You can customize the vegetables to your personal taste but you need mushrooms or tomatoes if you want it to have that extra umami in this meatless version. The tom yum paste I buy (from Lobo) doesn’t have shrimp paste so this dish is vegan as well!

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Recipe: Pasta with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce

I’ve actually been making this pumpkin sauce with pasta for almost two years and figured it might finally be time to post it. You can use any type of squash or pumpkin and then adjust the flavor but personally I like red kuri squash (sometimes called Hokkiado squash) quite a lot for this sauce. You can easily make a large batch of this and freeze the sauce in cubes or in a large tub for future use as well.

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Recipe: Village Chicken Stew

A very simple and hearty chicken stew that is especially good with bone in dark meat cuts of chicken. This stew is cooked long, low, and slow and results in a very gravy-like stew with just enough flavor from onions and seasoning to make it hearty. This is in the Zambian style so serving with it nshima (corn meal porridge) and repu (collard greens) is traditional but you can make any type of carb side and vegetable want and it makes a really satisfying and mostly hands off meal if you have the time, perfect for a weekend dinner.

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Recipe: Kewa Datshi

This is a homey and simple dish that is basically a cheese and potato stew. While a lot of Bhutanese food relies on many chilies this is only uses a few to flavor the dish with just enough heat to give it a light, almost sweet flavor. I found this dish very humble and simple but unfortunately that also meant it isn’t very flashing or tempting. I boiled it down a little more I think it usually is (as it seems to be served pretty watery) and added a little less cheese and found myself wishing that it had a little bit more flavor. I think this is an interesting template I might play around with in the future for how to cook potatoes though and its so easy that you should try it for yourself as well to taste a little bit of Bhutan at home.

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Recipe: Pisto Con Huevos

I’ve seen people characterize pisto as “Spanish ratatouille” but I guess to me its more like Spanish shakshuka. You can make the eggs separate for the pisto by frying them in a pan if you prefer that but I did kind of just make it like shakshuka. Unlike shakshuka though it has basically no heat and is a very simple flavor but that can be kind of refreshing or comforting. This is a fairly easy dish that is mostly hands off so it’s perfect for a midweek meal especially if you have already chopped the vegetables ahead of time.

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