Red Palm Oil

I first heard about Red Palm Oil on Tuesday, when I was digging around for Angolan recipes. I am cooking with it this weekend so time to get educated! Turns out there’s been a lot of hype about Red Palm Oil in the natural foods/health food world. With good reason. Red Palm Oil … –  is popular in parts of Asia, Africa, and Latin America –  has been consumed for thousands of years –  has a high smoke point (437F) –  is red because its high in beta carotene and lycopene. –  is a rich source of vitamin A (15 times more than carrots and 300 times more than tomatoes) –  is an extremely high antioxidant –  has been shown to help prevent cancer as well as slow tumor growth –  great for lowering cholesterol and seems to reduce the formation of blood clots –  is finding its way into many commercial foods as producers struggle to replace unwanted hydrogenated oils This last bullet point cracks me up. Leave it to modern man to dig himself into a hole by making unhealthy manufactured commercial products that slowly kill us, only …

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About Angolan Food: most like it hot!

In 1992 I moved to Paris. I brought my love of brownies with me. There was just one problem. No one sold or made brownies (there were amazing croissants everywhere, yes – but brownies, no). I was only 13 years old and I was homesick. By 1995 I went to extreme measures to get my hands on some brownies. I asked any American within shouting distance for a recipe. In a strange turn of events an Irish priest handed me a recipe scribbled on a scrap of paper. I’m not sure who told him about my plight but I was thrilled! I immediately got to work. I made brownies by the boatload. I brought them to school parties, friends’ houses, picnics, and so on. So what does this have to do with Angola? Food habits follow people,  migrating from country to country. Even as years and miles add up, cultures remain linked through food habits. Angola was a Portuguese colony for 300 years. 300 years! If I could infiltrate Parisian suburbs with brownies in 3 years, you better believe that the Portuguese significantly impacted Angolan food in 300. …

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Monday Meal Review: Andorra

Hitting stride with Andorra I’m really starting to figure out this whole “dinner party” thing. Knock on wood. Of course, the first two times I did this (Afghanistan and Albania) I was all nerves and chaos. Getting a small dinner for 4 to table with grace felt unattainable. I had never heard of most of the dishes and I did not know how to pronounce many of the ingredients. I was unsure of myself and although I enjoyed eating the meals, I spent the entire day locked in the kitchen in a mad state of panic. “Honey, could you please….? Oh, no I forgot… honey would you mind? CRUD!” were about the only things I managed to mutter from my own personal tornado. The good news is my timing gets better with each meal. Also, my stress level goes down. Finally, with Andorra, I enjoyed the entire process. You want proof? Exhibit A: For a brief moment I thought I might have to remake the dessert from scratch. I wasn’t even worried. Exhibit B: I was able to go out with my husband and daughter to grab a “commercial coffee of choice” and run some unrelated errands …

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About the Food of Andorra: Andorra, the explorer

Giant evergreen shrubs make the best hideouts. Their tallest branches form umbrellas as they sweep down to the ground. When I was a little girl I used to push my way through the prickly needles until I reached the open area in the middle. I could play for hours without being seen. I loved my secret hideout. Andorra is a lot like the giant evergreen shrubs.  Tucked away in the middle of the mountains between France and Spain, Andorra survived for centuries without being noticed or impacted by her neighbors. In fact, she just got her first university in 1997. Andorra is only 175 square miles (To give you some reference, that’s 30% of Tulsa county… or 37% of New York City). Population: about 84,000. Despite her small size, Andorra is perfect for explorers.  The tiny country boasts more than 60 lakes and 65 mountain peaks. Can you imagine all of that in a place 37% the size than NYC?! Incredible. Understandably, favorite pastimes include hiking and skiing. The country’s foods are a product of the geography. Here are several points regarding Andorran cuisine: For most of the country’s …

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Monday Meal Review: Algeria

A Timeless Algerian feast “Great.” My husband smiled. “I think dinner was really great.” Our friends quickly nodded in agreement. Basic words. But their warmth was balsam after a hectic day cooking. I might as well have won an Oscar. We sipped our Ceylon tea with fresh mint sprigs, savoring the memory of the meal we just enjoyed. Although we were going on four hours of sitting around the dining room table, no one made a move to get up. If that’s not indication of an enjoyable meal, I don’t know what is. (The spell finally broke when baby Ava woke up for her midnight feast). Aside from the company, our Algerian meal was a big hit for two simple reasons: big flavor and originality. Our favorite dishes were (by a mile) the chickpea Soup and the Hot Algerian Lasagna. I will be making both of these dishes again. The Algerian Recipes: Algerian Chickpea Soup | Hummus bi’l Kammun  [Recipe] What do I like most about this dish? This soup was smoky, earthy, and downright craveable. I cannot say enough good things about this soup. If you love …

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Going shopping at the Middle East Market

“Dang it.” I muttered. After driving across Tulsa, fighting construction and traffic, I was staring at the dark “open” sign of Middle East Market (5459 S Mingo Rd, Tulsa, OK 74146). I looked at the hours of operation; they were supposed to be open another four hours! Squinting my eyes, I peered through the tinted windows. Were those lights on? Holding my breath, I pulled on the door handle.  The door opened and a cheerful bell announced my entrance. “I thought you were closed,” I said. “We get that alot,” the young man behind the counter nodded, “Several times a day, actually.” But I was already looking around, taking inventory. A case of Middle Eastern cheeses, drinks in arabic, beautiful persian teapots, glass teacups, spices, teas, syrups, pickled vegetables, several kinds of couscous. There was even a small rack of clothing. The whole place smelled like toasted spices. I walked in circles for a while, eying everything. “I could use those glass tea cups and that giant tea pot for my Global Table dinners,” I thought, knowing full well that I …

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About Algerian Food: Sand, ho! Algeria

Look left. Sand. Look right. More sand. Yep, you guessed correctly. There’s a whole lot of desert in Algeria. In fact, 80% of Algeria is covered by the Sahara Desert, forcing most of the population to live to the north, along the Mediterranean coast (source). The surplus of sand must have inspired the national dish: couscous (couscous is also the national dish of Morocco and Tunisia). Couscous is a very fine pasta shaped just like, well, grains of sand. A warm bed of couscous is the perfect base for intensely flavored dishes. Cayenne pepper, saffron, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves all make appearances in traditional Algerian cuisine. Algerian cusine comes from the proverbial “melting pot.” Olives, oranges, and figs are popular mediterranean components. Turkish Delight and other sweets are the mark of the Ottomans. Baguettes remain a staple due to the lasting French influence in Algeria. PS. In the spirit of authenticity, we’re eating with our right hand this week! Wash up 🙂

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Monday Meal Review: Albania

Exercising Restraint in the Albanian Kitchen I’ll be honest with you. I spent most of Saturday feeling a bit put out.  As I cooked my way through Albania, I rummaged through my spice drawer for nothing in particular. I picked up and put down a head of garlic at least 5 times. Cooking with just one herb or spice per dish – a trait I found in all the recipes we tried this week – felt, well, foreign to me.  None of these dishes even had garlic in them.  Exercising restraint was not easy but, as we all know, this is what I am here for! Turns out paring down the aromatics in a recipe amplifies the main ingredient, resulting in big dose of bright, clean flavor. As with a theater performance, when a bare stage allows for the star to shine, each of these Albanian dishes left room for the main ingredients to steal the show. The Albanian Recipes Tava Elbasani | Lamb in Yogurt [Recipe] What did I like most about this dish? The tangy yogurt laced with Hungarian paprika makes …

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Tidbits about Albania

1. Businesses shut down around noon for a few hours to enjoy the main meal of the day. I could get behind this. Really, I could. 2. Dessert is not common, but oranges, apples, nuts, and berries are. The question is not if, but how my husband would murder me if I removed sweets from our home. 3. Men and women traditionally eat at separate tables. I was always a fan of the children’s table, but not so much this.  Afterall, I have opinions and they need to be heard by as many people as possible! 4. Albanians eat dinner around 8pm. I’m already in my pyjamas at 8pm. This would never work in our home. 5. Heart disease and obesity are rare due to low consumption of meat and high consumption of vegetables. Yum, vegetables! Eat more vegetables! 6. Heart disease and obesity are due to low consumption of meat and high consumption of vegetables. Repeated for my husband’s benefit. Source: Albania, Enchantment of the World, by David K. Wright Lifestyle influences diet: Historically, rural Albanians spent most of their time outdoors …

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