Cooking is the art subject . Therefore , per country has a private feature . For example , the Indian food is famous for its wide variety of curries and rice made in accordance with the type of curry served. The spices and condiments used in it give it a different aroma which acts as a natural appetizer. Different dishes require different spices in more or less proportion. Indian rice and curries come in two varieties vegetarian and non-vegetarian. But the best part in it is even a veggie can enjoy dishes like biryani with vegetables as substitute. The staple food of the people in most part of India is rice and curry. Like plain rice which goes along with spicy curry. Plain rice with fish curry. The Indian curry and rice recipes are fast catching up as a tangy and staple food in the United States. Many of us go in for a variety of Indian food options which you can easily cook in your kitchen. The authentic Indian recipes are talk of the town and to understand the food better you just need to taste it once. Here we will share with you some of the easiest but tasteful Indian rice and curry recipes. Indian Rice Curry Recipe One of the simplest of the authentic Indian recipes is the Indian rice curry recipe.

This preparation will help you to prepare it in the Indian way leaving a fresh mouthwatering aroma in your entire house. Let’s get started with the Indian rice curry recipe. Ingredients for the Indian Rice Curry

Recipe 2 tsp. of olive oil 1 small onion, properly minced 1/4 cup tart apples, finely chopped 2 tsp. of curry powder 1/8 tsp. of cayenne pepper 4 cups evenly cooked white or brown rice 2 cups of canned chickpeas, properly drained 1 Tbs. of fresh lemon juice Some fresh ground pepper To start with the preparation of this dish, take oil in a heavy skillet and keep it over medium heat. When the oil is properly heated add the onion and sauté for 3 minutes. After this add the apple and sauté for 3 more minutes. Further add the curry powder and cayenne to coat the apple and onion. Add the cooked rice and chickpeas to this mixture and cook through until rice and beans are hot. Once the dish is ready sprinkle with lemon juice and serve hot to be cherished by your entire family. Another of the simplest of the authentic Indian recipes is the Indian vegetable curry recipe which can be cooked in the crock pot or slow cooker.

Whilst on your travels in Spain and pausing to take a breath from site-seeing, you have surely experimented with “tapas” at a welcoming bar.

If this is the case, it is more than likely that you have come across the small, tasty filleted fish, preserved in olive oil, sliced garlic and chopped parsley, and highly popular throughout Spain. This delectable dish is usually known as “boquerones” but, depending on the area, can also be called “anchoas”.

Boquerones are small, fresh anchovies. Accompanied by crisp, fresh Spanish bread, a glass of ruby-red wine or refreshing Asturian cider, they are a delight to eat. Moreover - as with many traditional Spanish dishes which comprise the renowned Mediterranean Diet - they are extremely healthy.

Like its friend the sardine, the anchovy is an oily fish, packed full of proteins and minerals, protecting against heart disease, and “good” for cholesterol. What s more, in many areas of Spain - in particular the Mediterranean coast - fresh anchovies are extremely cheap.

On first coming to Spain, I happily enjoyed many tapas of boquerones, completely unaware of one fact … all those little anchovies I had eaten were not cooked! For a moment, I deeply regretted asking my Spanish neighbor, Carmen, how to make them!

Fortunately, Carmen went into immediate action and saved the day! She frog-marched me to the local fishmongers, bought a kilo of the little fish, took me home and showed me “her way” of preparing them. They were so delicious that I quickly recovered my passion
for boquerones and have been enjoying them ever since!

Methods for preparing boquerones tend to vary slightly from family to family. However, the basic principles are always the same. You first have to clean and fillet the fish, which is simple enough, but rather tedious until you get the hang of it.

Next, you soak the fillets, either in white wine vinegar or a mixture of half vinegar and half water. The vinegar will clean and bleach the fish and also soften any remaining little bones.
Some people sprinkle the fish with salt; others (myself included) feel that the fish is salty enough already.

The fish has to be left for a good few hours soaking in the vinegar. Again, this tends to vary, with some Spaniards leaving them overnight in the fridge and others just waiting a couple of hours. Also, some families change the vinegar/water-and-vinegar mixture once during this process, whilst others don´t bother.

Once you have thrown away the vinegar, the bleached fillets are covered with a good quality virgin olive oil, which will preserve them. You can add as much, or as little, sliced garlic as you wish, plus freshly chopped parsley.

So … here is the actual recipe.

BOQUERONES

Ingredients:

- 1 kilo fresh anchovies.
- White wine vinegar.
- Virgin olive oil.
- Garlic.
- Parsley.
- Salt (optional).

Method:

1. Top and tail anchovies.

2. Slit along underside and discard innards.

3. Open out fish.

4. Remove central bone by lifting from tail end upwards.

5. Rinse well.

6. Place a layer of anchovy fillets in a shallow dish.

7. Sprinkle with salt (optional) and pour on plenty of vinegar.

8. Repeat with another layer, changing direction.

9. Leave to soak in vinegar for a few hours or overnight.

10. Pour off vinegar.

11. Very gently rinse fillets.

12. Cover fillets in virgin olive oil.

13. Add slices of garlic and chopped parsley.

Barbecues are not just for summer anymore, but the rich flavors can be enjoyed year-round and even in-doors. As kids head back to school this fall, a great way to celebrate is with a Cowboy themed BBQ.

âKids of all ages have an inner-cowboy screaming to come outâ says Dotty Griffith, author of âThe Contemporary Cowboy Cookbookâ and an expert on entertaining and cooking cowboy-style âWhether you are rounding up the gang for a back-to-school bash or just celebrating a birthday, a cowboy themed party is an easy way to engage children, have fun, and create an experience that is sure to be unforgettable.â

Here are a few suggestions to help you ârustle upâ a good time:

Lasso the Gang: Create eye-catching, mood-setting invitations with your kids by writing out the party details on construction paper, rolling them up in a colorful bandana and tying with twine. Also, consider finding horseshoes and attaching the invitation to them, or if the invitations can be hand-delivered attach them to a cowboy hat. At the craft store, try to pick up themed stickers or hand stamps to decorate the invitations.

Show-Stopper Props: For the truly adventurous wrangler host who wants a sure fire way to impress the kids, try any of the following rentable props to make them feel right at home on the ranch — OK Corral entrances, split-rail fences, bales of hay, long-horn steer or buffalo skulls, a covered wagon, three-dimensional farm animals like pigs, cows and lambs and a ranch scene mural for fun photos.

Character Building: Everyone loves to play dress-up, so encourage the children to come to the party donning a western-themed costume, i.e. a cowboy, cowgirl, or sheriff. At craft stores, look for straw cowboy hats and bandanas, just in case someone wants to touch up their outfit during the party.

Whatâs Cooking: As we all know, children can be very picky eaters. Thatâs why the simple cuisine of the Wild West â a true American BBQ — is so perfect, as it can be interactive and fun. To help capture the flavors of the west while putting together a down-home American ranch BBQ for the little cowboys, look for recipes and products that do double duty and will make the your job as head rancher look effortless.

Griffith suggests delighting kids with finger food appetizers like chicken strips and sliced vegetables and recommends using a bold, creamy Ranch dressing like new Wish-Bone Ranch-Up! as a dipping sauce. The dressing does its double duty with its easy squeeze bottle that is great for allowing kids to make designs on their plates and dip away. Pick an easy to serve main dish like hamburgers and allow kids to get creative when topping them with other kinds of easy to squeeze condiments, like colored ketchup or mustard. Griffith also suggests side dishes that are sweet and tangy like a coleslaw or potato salad using Western Dressing, which is known for its sweet and smooth taste. And save the best for last by serving an assortment of ice cream in spatter ware coffee mugs. (For more Wild West recipe ideas, go to www.wish-bone.com)

Serving It Up: Purchase cowboy-themed plates and cups at any craft store; set the table with white paper table cloths and allow kids to draw their favorite western scenes around their eating area. Use colored bandanas as napkins, turn Cowboy hats upside down to use as chips bowls and try to find plastic cowboy figurines at craft stores to decorate the table.

Musical Cowboy Hats: For a sure to please game, play musical cowboy hats and have kids walk around hats until the music stops. The one who manages to get a hat after each round wins.

Despite the fact that microwave cookers have been with us for over 30 years, they still tend to be treated as a secondary method of cooking in many kitchens.

Part of the reason for this stems from some ill-informed comment made about them when they first appeared, much of which persists to this day and is still often repeated by those who should know better.

First of all it’s important to understand that microwave cookery is perfectly safe. In fact, it’s probably the safest form of cooking, given that the oven never heats up and has no sharp edges. You cannot burn or cut yourself on a microwave oven.

Food is cooked by exactly the same source of power that is found in sunlight; i.e. short waves of electro-magnetic energy that, in the case of a microwave oven, are converted from electricity. And although this can be described as a form of radiation it is not, as some people seem to think, radioactive.

On the contrary, this is the same short-wave energy that is used in TV sets, some medical equipment and even FM radio. It’s also found in ordinary light bulbs, sun lamps and fluorescent tubes.

It cooks food because the microwaves are attracted by water molecules as well as those of fat and sugar. In turn, it causes them to vibrate, creating friction and therefore heat. It’s a process not unlike someone rubbing his, or her, hands together.

In many cases, only a part of the food is cooked in this way because the microwaves only penetrate up to a depth of about 5cm. Heat is spread to the rest of the food by convection and distribution, which is why stirring the food is important, as well as leaving it to stand for a few minutes after the oven switches off.

The speed with which microwaves cook has also given rise to the idea that they are unable to change the appearance of food and in particular that they fail to brown meat.

The truth is that most of the time meat is cooked before it has time to brown. This is particularly true of poultry and small joints. Using cooking bags can help to overcome this problem - if that’s what it is - as well as ‘painting’ with soy sauce, paprika, butter and the like.

On the plus side, meat cooked in the microwave will remain moist and succulent, retaining most of its nutrients, which in turn will give rise to enhanced flavor.

Sea Gold was selected as a winning product in the “Seafood Dip” category for both foodservice and retail.  Superior Gold winning products included their “Seafood & Crab Dip”, their “Seafood & Jalapeno Crab Dip”, their “Seafood & Buttered Lobster Dip” and their “Seafood & Cajun Crab Dip”.  The judging was conducted “triple blind” in Napa, California by a panel of Masters of Taste. The Chef du Jury was famed Mâitre du Goût (Master of Taste), Jesse Sartain.

“We commend the culinary commitment of the staff of Sea Gold for the excellence and innovation of their product lines. We applaud them,” commented Jesse Sartain.

The protocols of “triple blind” judging include the following ground rules to ensure accurate and fair judging results.  Evaluators do not know:
Who the manufacturer is.
What the product variety or appellation is.
What the other evaluator’s scores and comments are.

The judging was a part of the ongoing U.S.A. Taste Championships founded in 1989 with the establishment of the Chefs In America Awards Foundation, whose professional Board Members gather weekly to conduct taste tests on a myriad of foodservice and retail grocery products.

This easy crock pot meal recipe makes an easy and delicious meal for those busy weeknights. Simply start the meal in the morning and it will be ready to serve when you are. Complete the menu with hot fluffy rice and a green vegetable. This easy chicken recipe is fast because there is no need to brown the chicken before cooking, but do be sure to wash the chicken well and pat it dry. This easy chicken crock pot recipe will serve six, but you can add another breast or two without changing the rest of the recipe.

When zesting the orange, take care to only use the orange part of the rind. The white pith adds a bitter flavor to your sauce.

Chicken Breasts a l’Orange

6 chicken breast halves

2/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon cinnamon

dash pepper

dash garlic powder

2 to 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into ¼ inch slices

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 small can mushroom slices

½ cup orange juice

½ teaspoon grated orange rind

2 teaspoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons flour

Hot rice for serving

1. Rinse the chicken breasts and pat dry.
2. Combine 2/3 cup flour with the salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper and garlic powder. Coat the chicken in the flour mixture.
3. Place the sweet potato slices in the bottom of the crockpot. Place the chicken breasts on top
4. Combine the soup with the remaining ingredients and mix well.
5. Pour over chicken breasts. Cover.
6. Cook on low setting for 6 to 10 hours or on high for 2 to 3 hours, or until the chicken and vegetables are tender.
7. Serve chicken and sauce over fluffy hot rice.

Cooking is truly an experiment; what foods work with what spices, how much, the variables go on and on. For many, cooking without a recipe or even altering a recipe is a scary thing. They follow recipes exactly, worried that the cooking police might come find them if they don’t.

And so, I offer you my Spicy Shrimp Chowder recipe. You will notice the ingredients are in two categories – what you can alter and what you can’t. (Please notice which list is longer and that even the necessary ingredients have options.) What I have offered you is a choice, a sort of “experiment with a guide”. I have it listed the way I make it (although I often think my husband sneaks in more red pepper when I’m not looking) but please feel free to add or subtract, increase or decrease amounts, or whatever else you want to please your palate. For some altering hints, I’ve added a list below the recipe instructions. Enjoy!

Necessary ingredients

2- 14.5 ounce cans of diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups eight vegetable or tomato juice
1 cup white wine or water
½ cup rice

Other ingredients
2 cups celery, chopped
1 green or red bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp ground red pepper
1 pound pre-cooked, tail off shrimp

Spray 5-6 quart crock pot with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients except shrimp and rice in slow cooker, cover and cook on low 7-8 hours or high 3-4 hours. Stir in fish and rice. Cover and cook on high an additional 45 minutes.

Hints for alteration

- For soupier chowder, add an additional 1 cup juice and/or ½ cup wine.
- Make with any firm fish such as tuna steak, halibut, or haddock cut into 1 inch cubes.
- Increase or decrease celery, bell peppers, and onion according to your tastes.
- For a spicier chowder, increase garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and/or ground red pepper.