Madzoune Telamadj Abour 

(Armenian Yogurt Soup with Pasta)

This recipe is from Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. I kept thinking of this soup, but also needed to use up some older milk. I decided to make Paneer (Indian cheese) from the milk, and then to use the leftover liquid (whey) for the base of this soup. I'd heard you could use the liquid in soup, but never tried it before. (Whenever I make Paneer, I have to figure out, How am I going to use that liquid this time?) I thought it would be similar enough, and I wanted to make sure to use up the liquid.

The soup is supposed to be an onion-flavored base of stock and yogurt, with vermicelli, sprinkled with dried mint. Instead, after the Paneer was drained, I reheated the liquid and cooked the vermicelli in that. (This was very thin vermicelli from a Middle Eastern grocery store, which is similar to that found at Indian grocery stores.) On the side, I fried some frozen, chopped onions, in a little oil; when they were done, I added them to the soup. When I served myself some soup, I stirred in some whole-milk yogurt, and sprinkled on some dried mint. The soup was very warm and soothing, especially now that the weather has tuned cold.

I have included here below, links to a few recipes of Armenia yogurt soup, which are similar to the original recipe I used.

Diasporina Website, An Armenian Soup that I Don't Like: Spas Recipes

Tourism Armenia Website, Armenia yogurt & noodle soup (scroll down to find the recipe)

The Armenian Kitchen Website, 'Spas' - Madzoon (Yogurt) Soup with Grains

Heghineh Cooking Show YouTube & Website, Armenian Yogurt Soup video & recipe

Ricotta Pizza

The other day, I felt like having pizza. Then, I thought, Why not top it with some of the ricotta in the fridge? (I don't usually eat ricotta, so this was new to me.) I topped the pizza dough with some ricotta, and baked it until the crust was done. I wasn't sure if it was odd or not, but I liked it. However, I often topped leftovers with a little pizza sauce before putting them in the toaster oven, and then sometimes also topped them with a little more ricotta after the pizza was reheated. After trying all these different ways of having ricotta on pizza, I decided that next time, I would bake the crust more first, and then add the ricotta. However, this was a pretty good result, for an experiment! 

Cheela Taco Shell 

with Pulao (Rice Pilaf) Filling

For the first time, I participated in #tacotuesday on Instagram. This "taco" is made of a protein shell, in the form of a Cheela, and a carb filling, from Pulao. The Cheela is like an Indian crepe, made with a chickpea-flour batter (which I leave to ferment for a few hours so it's lighter). When I'm ready to cook, I add the seasonings, which here were grated fresh ginger, onion powder, turmeric, pav bhaji masala, and salt. I use only a little oil for the Cheelas, and this time, I covered them while cooking. I didn't measure anything except the chickpea flour, but I liked the results, so I guess it turned out okay. 😉 The Pulao is an Indian rice pilaf, with green peas, carrots, and cauliflower, that I made a couple days ago. I was glad to finally be part of this Tuesday special! 

Traditional Rizogalo 

(Greek Rice Pudding)

This is from the recipe of Kouzounas Kitchen. I had some leftover homemade sweetened condensed milk, as well as whole milk, to use up, and decided, What better way, than with Rizogalo? I started out by cooking less rice in more water, until it was really soft. Then, I left out the sugar, as the condensed milk was already sweet. This time, the result was even better than before! It was so creamy, and the ground cinnamon turned into something more than itself. Yummy! 

Kouzounas Kitchen Facebook 

Kouzounas Kitchen Website, Traditional Rizogalo Recipe (Greek Rice Pudding) 

Bigger Bolder Baking Website, How to Make Condensed Milk

Veggie Arayis, or, 

Egg Pita/Baida Roti

This is a half-pita, cut across the diameter, stuffed with leftover Aval/Poha Upma, dipped in beaten egg, and pan-fried. (For more info on the Aval/Poha Upma, or Indian Pounded-rice Pilaf with Veggies, please see my recent post.) This was very quick to make, and very tasty. 

My inspiration was from: 1) Middle Eastern Arayis recipes, of pita bread stuffed with a ground meat mixture, and then grilled; and 2) the Egg Parathas of @theGutlessFoodie on Instagram. Once I realized I had pita bread and a stuffing, I just knew I had to try it!

Here are a couple of examples of Egg Parathas from @theGutlessFoodie Instagram: 20 May 2017 and 25 July 2017.

Baked Samosas (Indian Savory Turnovers)

The shell is a (preservative-free) store-bought tortilla, and the filling is Aval/Poha Upma (Indian pounded-rice with veggies). (For more details on the Upma, please see my recent post.) I used a flour-water paste to seal the folded tortillas, and baked the Samosas at 350 F for about 25 minutes. It's fairly easy to make Samosas like this, with ready-made tortillas and whatever dry leftovers you can find in the fridge.

Aval/Poha Upma 

(Indian Pounded Rice Pilaf)

This is a dish from Maharashtra, India, made with aval/poha (Indian pounded rice), mustard and cumin seeds, frozen peas & carrots, potatoes, turmeric, and salt and seasonings. The recipe is from Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking. It's good for a nice light meal, with yogurt. Instead of adding lemon juice to the complete finished dish, I like to squeeze some fresh lemon juice on the portion I'm about to eat. The 1st pic is the veggies before the grain was added in. Yummy!