A Taste of Home - Jen

THREE OF OUR  FAVORITE RECIPES FROM HOME

We have tried to make many of our favorite recipes while in Dushanbe.  So far, these three have been the easiest to adapt to the available ingredients. 

I thought I would share them with you...

Lentil Soup   from Linda Loy (Fort Belvoir 2010)

  

2 TBS extravirgin olive oil (or available oil!)

1 ½ c finely chopped onion

½ c finely chopped carrot

½ c finely chopped celery (no celery in Tajikistan)

2 garlic cloves, minced

5 ½ cups water  (distilled or bottled!!!!)

1 ½ cups dried lentils

2 TBS chopped fresh dill divided

2 bay leaves

8 oz tomato sauce (canned or puree your own)

1 dried red chile pepper (crushed red pepper or cayenne works well)

1 TBS balsamic vinegar (I found white wine vinegar - YEA!)

¾ tsp salt

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

¾ cup crumbled feta cheese (or something that looks and tastes like salty cream cheese!?!)

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add onion, carrot,celery , and garlic, cook 10 minutes until the vegetables are tender, stirring frequently.  Add water, dried lentils, dill bay leaves, chile, and tomato sauce.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until lentils are tender.  Stir in dill, vinegar, salt, pepper, discard bay leaf.  Sprinkle with cheese.   Great with a piece of hot bread! 

Linda is an excellent cook and has shared many wonderful recipes with me.  Everyone loves this soup. 

John and Angela Fravel’s Spicy Potatoes    (Garmisch, Germany 2003)

Potatoes

Carrots

Mushrooms (if you can find them)

Onions

½ cup BBQ sauce

1/2 c Italian Dressing

1 TBS oregano

2 cloves garlic minced

1 tsp crushed red pepper

1 Tsp salt

Garnish with sour cream (“Smetana”)

Root vegetables are in abundance at the bazaar.  Although, we don’t have BBQ sauce or Italian dressing, I just try a variety of sauces and spices and it usually turns out great!  This dish reminds me of the nightly family BBQ’s at the gazebo in Garmisch.  Fun times...

Emma’s Jewish Apple Cake!       from  Nancy Martineau (Fort Belvoir, 2010)

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1 cup oil

4 eggs

½ c orange juice

2 ½ tsp vanilla (we have been able to find powdered vanilla that works well)

2 tsp cinnamon

5 TBS sugar

4 Granny Smith apples (or any apples)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat first six ingredients together; add vanilla.  Combine sugar and cinnamon in a separate dish; set aside.  Peel apples, shredding half for the middle and slicing half for the top of the cake.  Put ½ of the sliced apples and ½ of the cinnamon and sugar in the bottom of a greased bundt pan. (The Pampered chef stoneware pan is fabulous! - Thank you Loren Blackmon).  Pour half of the batter in.  Put shredded apples in.  Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on the apples.  Cover with remaining batter and place a layer of sliced apples on top.  Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes.

Emma has made this cake 5-6 times for functions and events.  She is an expert at it.  It turns out perfectly every time (even when the power goes out and the oven is turned off and on several times during baking!)


We always receive many compliments on it.  


Thank you for sharing it with us, Nancy!

This has become one of our "signature dishes"