My Kitchen, My World: Make-up Time

While I was on vacation, touring across the western US, I missed two of the countries from My Kitchen, My World: Lithuania and India. I did my best to catch up this past weekend, so here is what I created.

Lithuania

I must admit that I had to do some searching for the best of Lithuania cuisine. Typically, the choices are meat, beets, cabbage, rye bread, buckwheat, and eggs, a fairly standard eastern European-type diet. But one recipe stood out from the rest – Omelet with Cottage Cheese. Sometimes, when I make scrambled eggs, I’ll add some cottage cheese for texture and flavor, and since this was so similar I thought I would give it a try. After searching several grocery stores for dry cottage cheese (farmer’s cheese), to no avail, I just used regular cottage cheese, and it didn’t seem to make much difference. Because this bakes in the oven, it makes a quick meal, especially when paired with a salad and vegetable, so I will definitely make this a standard item.

OMELET WITH COTTAGE CHEESE
Kiauðinienë su varðke

6 eggs
200 g (3/4 cup) dry cottage cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
50 g (4 tablespoons) butter
pinch of salt

Beat eggs with salt, add sour cream and cottage cheese. Mix well. Melt butter in a baking dish, pour egg mixture and bake in preheated oven at 325F/165C, for about 15—20 minutes.
Serve with chopped onion greens or green salad. Also delicious for breakfast.

India

I’ve had some delicious Indian meals over the years, both in the US and Europe. My all-time favorite experience was at a restaurant in Frankfurt, Germany, where the owner chose the menu for our group, and we weren’t disappointed. Unlike most restaurants in the US, our dinner consisted of unique and very delicious items, and while I can’t remember all the details, I do remember it was a special meal.

Looking through the fridge, I decided to make a version of Tandoori Chicken, since I needed to use up some yogurt. I marinated chicken breasts for 24-hours in a yogurt spice mixture, then baked it in the oven (still no grill). The resulting chicken was very tender and had a lovely, spicy taste – not hot spicy but floral/fragrant spicy. (I’m eating the leftover piece tonight!) My recipe is based on the version below, except it was baked and not grilled.




Chicken Tandoori-style

4	Chicken Breasts
1	Diced onion
2 tbsp	Crushed Ginger
5 cloves	Crushed Garlic
2/3 cup	Plain Yogurt
1/4 cup	Lemon or Lime Juice
1/2 tsp	Turmeric
1 tsp	Chili Powder
1 tsp	Cumin Powder
1/4 tsp	Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp	Ground Cloves
2 tsp	Salt
1 tbsp	Oil
1/4 tsp	Garam Masala
1/4 tsp	Coriander
1/4 tsp	Corn Starch

• Remove skin from chicken parts. Make deep slashes in the meat with a sharp knife.
• Mix all of the ingredients together to form a marinade. Blend it thoroughly and then pour into a leak-proof plastic bag. (I just used a bowl.)
  
• Add the chicken pieces, squeeze air from the bag, and seal. Knead the bag to rub the marinade into the slashes. Place on a plate and refrigerate for 12 - 24 hours, turns the bag occasionally.
• To cook, lift the pieces from the marinade and wipe off the excess
• Grill/broil with a hot flame for about 5 minutes per side to seal in juices, then continue to cook over a lower flame until the meat is cooked through
• Garnish with side of lettuce, sliced onion rings and lemon.