Primal recipes from your culture! page

[iniQuity]

(If this topic already exists please provide a link and I’ll take my recipe there)

Inspired by a post made by Malpaz about how she likes to have theme nights for herself to make cooking more fun I thought maybe we could have a topic where people from different cultures share some recipes that to them are commonplace but may not be to others. I guess it doesn’t really matter if you belong to that culture, as long as you understand the recipe. Obviously all recipes should be primal friendly.

To contribute, simply state which country the recipe stems from, and proceed to tell us how to make it!

Peru!

I’m Peruvian, since our national dish is Ceviche I have to start off with that. I’m sure many have had some version of Ceviche but this is the one I grew up with, and the way it’s made there.
Ceviche is basically a citrus marinated seafood dish, it’s made primarily with white fish, but it’s also common to have it mixed with other seafood, scallops, octopus, shrimp, etc. the fish is technically not raw. The citrus “cooks it” .. My recipe is fish only. What you need:

-Fish, tilapia is what I use.
-Salt and pepper
-Chopped cilantro
-About 12 limes (for about 2lbs of fish) squeezed, NOT LEMONS… very important
-Red onion sliced
-Your favorite hot pepper, jalapeno, yellow chili pepper, etc, my dad buys this small red chili that is a beast, we like our ceviche spicy.
-One sweet potato (optional, but the traditional dish isn’t complete without it) steamed.
-Seaweed as garnish, but definitely eat that up.

Note: Traditionally this dish is served up with steamed yellow corn and "cancha" or unpopped corn kettles... that's the best way I can explain, I'm leaving those out for obvious reasons.

To prepare, simply dice up the fish, squeeze enough limes to cover it, let it sit for at least 20 minutes to a half hour, but not exceeding 40 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste for the marinate. Chop up your onions and chilis, cut up your sweet potato, throw some seaweed on top of it all and you’re ready to go!

It’s really the easiest thing to make, you can serve it over a bed of lettuce, it’s a great source of protein and the sweet potato can be a part of your carb-refeed if you’re VLC most of the time. The lime juice marinate DOES get served up, and the juice is known as “tiger’s milk” so make sure to drink it up when you’re done with your ceviche. The only thing ceviche lacks is enough fat, I'm no expert but I assume Tilapia and other such fish is probably pretty lean. I'm not sure how to add fat to this dish without dramatically changing the taste due to the citrus, but you could eat an avocado with it or something.

I’ll see how this thread develops before coming back with more Primal Peruvian recipes. Next time I’ll be more orderly with it too.

[Lewis]

You don't want to know about what they eat in mine. ;-)

There are some good traditional dishes, of course - don't most places have them? - but they're not what most people eat.

It's a good idea for a thread. I hope you get some responses.

[PrimalWannabeGirl]

Stuffed cabbage (halushkies): ground beef mixed with sauteed onion, salt and pepper, a beaten egg. Stuffed into large cabbage leaves that have been blanched enough to be malleable. Put each stuffed cabbage leaf into a baking pan, cover with tomato sauce, sprinkle raisins over the top, bake until cooked through.

My grandmother added a little cooked white rice to the beef mixture, and made the sauce sweet and sour with a bit of brown sugar or honey, and a splash of apple cider vinegar.

Very yummy

Also----she made chicken soup with chicken feet (which I was given to eat for a treat) and her soup also had "fleishig" eggs---eggs found in the oviduct of a slaughtered hen. They were like eating hard boiled egg yolks. You can't get them anymore because most chickens are harvested before they begin laying eggs.

A local farmer told me they occaisonally find these unhatched eggs in the older birds they slaughter for their own use.

*sigh* I would so much like to eat that childhood treat. Luckily, I have been able to get chicken feet from my local farmer!

PWG

[MalPaz]

haha well I am a southern Mississippi girl

WE SMOKE OUR MEAT....long and slow...take your pick

boston butt/pork shoulder---lends itself to paprike/cumin/chili/cayenne/garlic/onion/salt

whole chicken...rosemary/salt/garlic/thyme

turkey legs...salt/pepper

chuck roast/salt pepper

[liza]

Chopped liver - Chicken or calves liver (broiled), hard boiled egg, onion sauteed in chicken fat - all ground or chopped together with more chicken fat. It's a European/Deli Jewish favorite.

[unchatenfrance]

I'm Serbian and we eat pig. ALL of it. It's hard to pick a single dish as representative of the country as a whole but these are the most primal ones out there:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pihtije
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%8Cvarci

I remember when my grandparents used to have the annual pig slaughter and would cook the cvarci... the smell is divine.

Also convenient for grossing out your North American CW friends!

[kitoi]

There's so I can think of being Filipino with Hawaiian roots...

Spam and eggs
Kalua pork-whole pig cooked in an underground oven
Lau Lau-pork, pork belly and butter fish wrapped in taro leaves
Pinakbet-meat stew with vegitables, savory and bitter at the same time
Pork or chicken adobo- spicy sour meat dish
Lechon-rotisserie cooked whole pig, the skin is the part!

I could go on and on but I'm getting hungry

[iniQuity]

Keep em coming!

[Hanna]

Swedish meat balls!
Ground meat, maybe a finely chopped onion, egg to glue it all together, some pepper and salt, roll into balls and fry!

And pickled herring! Lots of yummy fats there.

Swedish fish - not so primal!

[LAKEL.AMBERT]

To contribute, simply state which country the recipe stems from, and proceed to tell us how to make it.