Week 2: Can Emeril Save the Tuna Fish Challenge?

I decided to stick with the theme of tuna fish as a salad, since I am hoping that a tuna melt will convince Curry Delight of the greatness that is canned tuna. 

Emeril has a "Kicked-Up Tuna Melt" that appeared easy enough (more so than some of the crazy recipes with a thousand and one ingredients just for pasta/salad).

The Month of Tuna Fish: Part 1

Carmie loves tuna fish month

As Americans we always like to re-state the obvious in our vocabulary. For example, instead of bin, we have "wastepaper baskets or trashcans" and so forth. Which is why the following attempts are "tuna fish" recipes and not "tuna". Tuna = the whole fish or a fillet. Tuna fish = canned tuna. 

For me to attempt to perfect a tuna recipe would be very ambitious, thus is why February was deemed tuna fish month (and because the first week of the month we had barely anything in the kitchen pre- and post- travels) except miscellaneous canned/dry foods.

Hungry Expat's "Tomato-Cream Pasta Sauce"

One of my New Years resolutions this year (since I actually achieved the few I made over the last couple of years, I got cocky and set a "monthly" goal), is to perfect a dish each month that I can make for any occasion.

January's attempt was a creamy marinara sauce (I've clearly been a bit slow in writing/posting). I have, of course, cooked this many times since moving abroad since the bottled marinara sauces in Kenya and India leave much to be desired, in my opinion. They are either too sweet or too ketchup-like for my taste. 

Prankster

A friend of mine invited me to lunch with her at Prankster one weekend (the day before I moved states, right before the holidays, and followed by my return to the US, which hopefully explains my very belated post). Once we met, she explained that we were going to be hosted by the ever-gracious Pawan Soni and try a little bit of everything on the menu. I had a such a great time eating and chatting with so many great, new people - I can summarize the experience with these few word: soooo.much.good.food!

Hungry Expat's "Indianized" Stovetop Scrambled Eggs

Inspiration for my next "Indianized" dish came quickly today. I am a huge fan of breakfast for dinner which is why I took my leftover "salsa" concoction from my baked potato and Indianized myself some dinner out of it. Scrambled eggs are another favorite of mine and super quick and easy.

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3-4 eggs                              1/4 c milk                           2 tsp butter 

For some pizzaaz one may also add some cheese and cilantro and definitely salt and pepper, but they're pretty bland the traditional way, even with a side of bacon and toast.

Hungry Expat's "Indianized" Best Baked Potato

Growing up, baked potatoes were my go-to meal because they were quick and easy and required pretty much zero level of skill to make. An American baked potato, while filling, comprises of very little and is easily cooked:

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potato                            butter                        sour cream                   cheddar cheese              salt                            ground black pepper

It was also common to spice it up a bit with the ever popular Bac-os (for those of you uninitiated in American imitation food - that is bacon flavored "bits" made out of soy or some such) or chives. If you were really ambitious, you could also cover lightly in olive oil and dust with sea salt for a better baking result, but I rarely exerted that little bit of extra effort and opted for the quick and dirty microwave.

Mixing Indian flavors with American tastes

I've had a parade of visitors since we moved to India almost 2 1/2 years ago. Most of my guests are expats who have/are living abroad or friends of friends who are frequent travelers, but recently my parents ventured over as well as one of my besties from the US. This is when I realized that not everyone loves Indian food as much as I do (I do miss my weekly sushi and the variety of different cuisines in my diet, but I also happily eat Indian for the majority of my meals daily). While many expats and frequent travelers love to immerse themselves in the food and culture of a new place, many Americans can't handle all of the richness and flavors. (I have a test case of a Polish-American expat (aka Buffet Queen for long-time readers!) coming to visit this week to compare - she grew up on barely any black pepper and can't handle spicy, but she has lived abroad for many years - we'll see how much Indian cooking she can endure.) 

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I think the reason that I love Indian food so much is because it's made from so many familiar flavors. I grew up in Texas eating a healthy amount of Tex-Mex and Mexican food for as long as I can remember, and those flavors of cayenne, onion, chili peppers, cumin, bell peppers, garlic, and coriander/cilantro, amongst others made Indian cuisine feel a little bit more like home. That said, there was an article on WaPo last year discussing the science behind what makes Indian delicious, and it was mostly because they combine flavors completely differently than we do in American food. Another aspect of it is the fact that Indian food isn't just a few dishes, it's literally thousands of different meals (not that our cook realizes this ... I need Curry Delight back in the kitchen). 

So all of this led me to think more about how India "Indianizes" American foods and how the US "Americanizes" Indian foods to meet individual taste expectations. Sometimes this is done successfully resulting in deliciousness (visit The California Boulevard in Gurgaon to experience a delightful fusion of flavors) and sometimes it ends poorly with an over-masala-ed mishmash of seasonings or a weird, wannabe bbq sauce/Ranch dressing. So my plan is to take my favorite American dishes and "Indianize" them. While I'm no expert on flavors, I'm hoping I can't screw up this experiment too badly since Indian food is supposedly all about combining things with nothing in common. First up is baked potato. Check back for how I changed the traditional bland American version into a more flavorful dish using Indian spices!

Experiments in Paleo

As part of my foodie adventure, I am always up for trying something new (and weight loss friendly!). When a friend mentioned to me that she recently switched to a paleo-inspired diet and was able to re-adjust to life without carbs fairly quickly I figured why not give it a try for a couple of weeks and see how it goes. After quite a bit of googling and reading, it sounds like a pretty simple diet for us since we already don't eat packaged food and have access to inexpensive farm fresh vegetables and meat. From what I can tell, we need to switch to more healthy fats and up our protein and vegetable intake. Fortunately, we live in the land of ghee so cooking with clarified butter is not a problem and olive oil isn't blacklisted. Reducing fruits might be more of challenge, but substituting antioxidant-rich berries and low-fat nuts should help with the transition. The main challenge, I think, will be cutting out the grains and legumes. Since we eat a lot of bread, pasta, rotis, rice, and daals, the first order of business was to find some satisfactory alternatives. Fortunately, I found quite a few rice and flour substitutes.

Tonight I'm trying out a recipe for cauliflower rice and pairing it with grilled chicken.

From Africa to India: Diary of a Hungry Expat

This is the story of my hungry journey, an expat diary of dining and all things foodie. After five years and nearly 80 restaurants reviewed throughout Africa, it's been quite the hungry adventure! But now, after a year in limbo and a lull in posts, African Nights is rebooting itself as a global food and dining blog for the expat set embracing local living. Be it eating out, cooking in, or a night on the town, Diary of a Hungry Expat is here to share our experiences with fellow foodies.

Now based in Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi, your hungry expat guide will explore a new continent full of new cuisine. Join the adventure as a contributor or leave us a note suggesting somewhere or something new you'd like us to share with our readers.