Back in the kitchen

After our business lunch spree, I rolled up my sleeves and got back in the kitchen.
Now, I proudly present to you... the first 2013 edition of на кухне!

Enjoy : )

My new favorite snack

This is the best thing ever. It's easy to make, inexpensive, and the veggies- even the cabbage- stay crisp for days. It's as satisfying as popcorn: crunchy, salty, and sweet. Source: Natasha's Kitchen.

A Blast from the Past

Kremlin Butter / USSR Highest Quality

This butter is produced right here in Ukraine! There's a factory in Khmelnytskyi as well as in Zhytomyr.

Curry, Ukrainian-style

As you may recall, we are big fans of curry. However, those pricey little boxes of coconut milk are often not in stock at the local supermarkets. Enter Sitno Seckano's take on chicken curry: substitute kefir for the coconut milk.

curry with kefir

curry with coconut milk

I tried this last night and was satisfied with the final product. It's more sour than creamy but it's still a good dish... and three times cheaper. I didn't make the curry paste by hand like she suggested, although I did throw in a handful of pistachio nuts.

Cabbage Soup

Sometimes for lunch I'll make a pot of green cabbage soup. Or rather, as I like to call it, lazy soup. Water + bullion or spice + raw cabbage + potatoes. You can top with sour cream or go the extra step and add blue cheese + a hearty bread roll.

Mushrooms in a Sour Cream Sauce

This recipe has been beautifully documented over on Natasha's Kitchen. I think I didn't drain the mushrooms well enough, because the results were kind of soupy. Better luck in the future, hopefully!

Watermelon Radish salad

Feeling adventurous, D and I picked up some mysterious vegetables at the market.

any guesses?

After consulting the Oracle of Knowledge (Google), I'm labelling the skinny white one as daikon and the fat green one as a watermelon radish. That's right, a watermelon radish. Because...

I made this salad with the radish.

D gives it a thumbs up. I substituted apple juice for orange juice so I'm going to try it again, next time following the actual recipe.

Yum

I don't know how to make these delicious pickle-flavored potato chips at home yet, but if I could... yum.

Adjika

You know that odd phenomena when you see something for the first time and then suddenly you see it everywhere? That's what happened when I saw this little tub of red paste for sale at the market. A handwritten sign exclaimed "Adjika! Very spicy! Georgian! 25 uah!"

"Very spicy"? Who eats "very spicy" things in Ukraine? People avoid spiciness here like vampires avoid garlic. I had to buy this adjika and see how spicy it really was. And as soon as I bought it, I saw a packet in the supermarket so I bought that for comparision purposes. And now I see it EVERYWHERE: next to the ketchup bags, in the sale ads, in spice packets, in jars near the pasta sauce, at markets, everywhere.

(And yes, it's really that spicy... or at least the homemade version from the market is.)

I couldn't help but notice Mom's Adjika Recipe - A Russian's Pesto on Natasha's Kitchen. Once we eat through our current stock, I may try my hand at that. In the meantime, I'll just keep seeing it everywhere.

Шиповник

This is a мучжина на кухне creation...meaning D made it himself : )

Hot H20 + dried wild rose hips (available in any pharmacy) + 8 hours in a thermos
=
rose hip tea!

D makes this a couple of times a year. It's nice to drink either hot or cold, with sugar or without.

Okay, that's it for now.

Stay hungry! : )

PS: If you're interested in more culinary daring (and failures) from my kitchen, check out the rest of the на кухне series!