Try These Recipes!

Straight from the mission field, delicious recipes you can try at home. You should get your parents’ help or permission to make this recipes.

Pâté de riz (rice pâté)—Benin, West Africa

By Suzy Baldwin

Ingredients:

• 6 C cooked sticky rice
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 C chopped green veggies of any kind
• 1 C water
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 chopped tomatoes or 1 C tomato paste
• 1/4 to 1/3 C peanut butter
• Salt to taste
• Hot red pepper (optional)
• Ginger (optional)

Start rice cooking with plenty of water (2.25 cups water to 1 cup dry rice works for me) so it will be soft and sticky.

In a pot, sauté the onion in the oil. When the onions are cooked, add the veggies, garlic and water and bring to a boil. Add tomatoes or tomato paste. Add optional hot red pepper (fresh tastes best, but dried is okay). Add the peanut butter to taste, stirring constantly, or it will stick to the bottom. When the peanut butter has cooked through, the sauce is done. Add salt and ginger to taste.

Turkish Potato Salad

By Barnabas Hope

Ingredients:

• 6 medium potatoes
• 3 eggs
• 1 bunch of green onions
• 1/3 bunch of fresh parsley or dill
• Salt, red pepper, sumac (or lemon juice) and cumin *½ C olive oil

Boil potatoes and eggs. Peel them. Chop the potatoes into a bowl. Add the chopped green onions and parsley. Add salt, red pepper, sumac (or lemon juice) and a little cumin to taste. Mix together. Dress it with chopped eggs and pour the olive oil on top. It is ready to eat!

Albanian Baked Leeks

By Kelli Wilcox

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. leeks
• 1/2 C oil
• 3/4 C chopped onion
• 1/2 lb. ground vege-meat
• 1 tbsp. tomato sauce
• 1 tsp.
• mild red pepper
• salt

Cut off and discard the green leaves from the leeks. Wash and cut the leeks slantwise into 1-inch-thick slices. Sauté in a little oil and place in a baking pan. Sauté the onion and the ground vege-meat in the remaining oil. Add imitation beef stock, tomato sauce, red pepper, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Pour vege-meat mixture over the sautéed leeks. Bake for 1 hour at 375 degrees F. Serve hot.

Turkish Baklava

By John Smith

Ingredients:

• 1 package filo sheets
• 1 lb butter, melted
• 1 lb walnuts, chopped
• 3 C sugar, white granulated
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon or 1/4 tsp. ground and 1 stick cinnamon

Chop walnuts medium fine and mix with 1 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves. Melt the butter and cut the filo in half so that each sheet fits the bottom of the baking pan.

Generously butter the bottom and sides of the baking pan and place the filo one sheet at a time in the baking pan. Generously spread butter on each sheet of filo as you place them in the pan. Every 6 to 8 sheets of filo, spread a layer of walnut mix. Continue layering filo sheets and walnuts until filo is used up. Pour any remaining butter over top of the baklava. The secret to good, flaky baklava is to have each sheet of filo well buttered so that the sheets do not stick together. With a sharp knife, cut the baklava diagonally to form diamond-shaped pieces.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake the baklava for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

For the syrup: Mix one cup water, two cups sugar, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves and either 3/4 teaspoons cinnamon or the cinnamon stick in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes. Pour the boiling syrup over the cool baklava and allow to cool completely again. When cool serve individual pieces with hot drinks and dried apricots for an exquisite dessert.

Nepali Dal Ra Palungo

By Angie Burton

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp. oil or ghee (clarified butter)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tsp. cardamom
• 1 medium onion
• 1 tbsp. fresh ginger, chopped
• 1/3 tsp. turmeric
• 2 C yellow lentils
• 4 C water

Wash lentils and drain well. Boil 4 cups of water in saucepan. Add lentils and return to a boil. Add half of the turmeric and salt. Cook for 30 minutes.

Fry bay leaves, cumin, cardamom and garlic in oil. Add onion and ginger. Cook until golden brown. Add rest of spices and spinach. Cook until spinach is wilted and soft.

Combine spinach, spices and lentils and cook for 5 minutes. Serve with rice or chapattis.