Anonymous wrote:Someone mentioned Cava on another thread, and it reminded me that I usually make all of that type of food from scratch too — tzatziki, tahini sauce, falafel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an south asian expat. I knew how to cook basic stuff of my own cuisine and some of the cooking I learned when I was exposed to multiple cuisines here.

1) Rice, quinoa, millets, lentils and beans - On stove top using pot/pressure cooker. I don't have. a rice cooker because I don't have space in my kitchen for more stuff.

2) Set yogurt from milk and starter in a casserole dish. No yogurt maker.
- I make my own hung curd for SA sweets (shreekhand, mishti doi, and also greek yogurt).
- Ghee from Kerryland butter
- Make my own paneer, ricotta, mozzarella, chenna.
- Cream cheese. Various flavors.

3) Knead dough by hand. Roll out and make tortillas, pooris, roti, dumpling wrappers etc by hand. No machine but just a regular rolling pin and marble base.

4) I fry my own fritters, donuts, nacho chips, papdi for chaat, dumplings. No frying machine. Just a heavy bottom pan, oil and slotted spoon.

5) Hummus, baba ganoush, tzatziki, various raitas, various north and south indian chutneys (mint, coriander, pepper, peanut, coconut, tamarind), Thai dips (sweet-sour dip for fish cakes, peanut dip for satay), Italian sauces (basic tomato and cream sauce), American/western (Mayo, bechamel and variations, barbeque, buffalo wings sauce), salad dressings. I do not make soy sauce, tomato ketchup, vinegar.

6) Make my own dosa, idli, appam batter. Also make various - noodles, pasta and string hoppers.

7) Own pancake batter, waffle batter, cake batter from raw ingredients - flour, milk, eggs etc

8) Make custard without using the commercial custard mix.

9) All kind of baking - cakes, banana nut bread, sourdough bread, focaccia. I only buy very fancy baked goods from the bakery, because it is labor intensive for the small quantities that I need. I am sure that I can make it if I want. I do make things like cheesecake

10) All Thai cuisine food. However, I do buy my noodles, curry pastes, fish sauce, fish paste, vinegars, tamarind concentrate and coconut milk from the store.

11) Mashed potatoes at home, pasta at home. Jams with fresh seasonal fruits as well as frozen fruits. I also make fruits drinks with frozen mangos, malabar plum, sherbet berry etc.

12) I do use blocks of cheese (never shredded) to make mac and cheese, pastas, alfredo sauce, white sauce, fill - burritos, tacos, enchiladas etc, queso blanco and ema datshi.

13) All kinds of Indian curries and side dishes. I also mince/grind my own meats in my food processor.

14) All kinds of soups and broths. I even make various spice mixes for tea, buttermilk, milk, eggs, and various SA dishes.

15) I make my own candied nuts. And I also make my own chilli and cilantro salt. Both these are a hit with my friends and I usually give these out as gifts.

16) I used to dry my own potato, rice, sago papads and also make all kinds of pickles back home. Now I don't have time to do the laborious multi-day process. So mostly I make stuffed green chilli, lemons, and yam pickles now. That is shelf stable for a few weeks.

17) Meatballs, kebabs, fish cakes, samosas, patra and pakodas. I make and freeze it.

I prefer freezing rather than bottling (I have never canned). I rarely bottle stuff because I am not very confident about the process. Mainly, I try to make enough that I can consume in a couple of months, I usually distribute extras in my friend circle or use up the food when I am entertaining. When I host, I want to make sure that I use the best ingredients and have an impressive menu ... but I don't want the food to cost me too much. I also don't want to spend money on catering because I don't feel that they can cook better than me.

I don't cook beef inside home and we rarely eat it at home (except some burgers on the grill for 4th of July). But apart from that we usually eat pork, lamb, goat, chicken, duck, quail, rabbit. At one time we used to also eat venison but we do not because of various tick-borne illnesses.

You can't get tick borne illnesses from cooked venison.
But I learned a few days ago a woman I used to know well had died from Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease--prion disease, and the only thing they can think of is she contracted it from eating venison at some point.

Anonymous wrote:Tomato sauce (all pasta sauces really), pizza dough, steel cut oatmeal (no instant stuff), whip cream, granola (11 Madison park recipe), biscuits, pies, cakes/cookies/muffins (no box mix).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am an south asian expat. I knew how to cook basic stuff of my own cuisine and some of the cooking I learned when I was exposed to multiple cuisines here.

1) Rice, quinoa, millets, lentils and beans - On stove top using pot/pressure cooker. I don't have. a rice cooker because I don't have space in my kitchen for more stuff.

2) Set yogurt from milk and starter in a casserole dish. No yogurt maker.
- I make my own hung curd for SA sweets (shreekhand, mishti doi, and also greek yogurt).
- Ghee from Kerryland butter
- Make my own paneer, ricotta, mozzarella, chenna.
- Cream cheese. Various flavors.

3) Knead dough by hand. Roll out and make tortillas, pooris, roti, dumpling wrappers etc by hand. No machine but just a regular rolling pin and marble base.

4) I fry my own fritters, donuts, nacho chips, papdi for chaat, dumplings. No frying machine. Just a heavy bottom pan, oil and slotted spoon.

5) Hummus, baba ganoush, tzatziki, various raitas, various north and south indian chutneys (mint, coriander, pepper, peanut, coconut, tamarind), Thai dips (sweet-sour dip for fish cakes, peanut dip for satay), Italian sauces (basic tomato and cream sauce), American/western (Mayo, bechamel and variations, barbeque, buffalo wings sauce), salad dressings. I do not make soy sauce, tomato ketchup, vinegar.

6) Make my own dosa, idli, appam batter. Also make various - noodles, pasta and string hoppers.

7) Own pancake batter, waffle batter, cake batter from raw ingredients - flour, milk, eggs etc

8) Make custard without using the commercial custard mix.

9) All kind of baking - cakes, banana nut bread, sourdough bread, focaccia. I only buy very fancy baked goods from the bakery, because it is labor intensive for the small quantities that I need. I am sure that I can make it if I want. I do make things like cheesecake

10) All Thai cuisine food. However, I do buy my noodles, curry pastes, fish sauce, fish paste, vinegars, tamarind concentrate and coconut milk from the store.

11) Mashed potatoes at home, pasta at home. Jams with fresh seasonal fruits as well as frozen fruits. I also make fruits drinks with frozen mangos, malabar plum, sherbet berry etc.

12) I do use blocks of cheese (never shredded) to make mac and cheese, pastas, alfredo sauce, white sauce, fill - burritos, tacos, enchiladas etc, queso blanco and ema datshi.

13) All kinds of Indian curries and side dishes. I also mince/grind my own meats in my food processor.

14) All kinds of soups and broths. I even make various spice mixes for tea, buttermilk, milk, eggs, and various SA dishes.

15) I make my own candied nuts. And I also make my own chilli and cilantro salt. Both these are a hit with my friends and I usually give these out as gifts.

16) I used to dry my own potato, rice, sago papads and also make all kinds of pickles back home. Now I don't have time to do the laborious multi-day process. So mostly I make stuffed green chilli, lemons, and yam pickles now. That is shelf stable for a few weeks.

17) Meatballs, kebabs, fish cakes, samosas, patra and pakodas. I make and freeze it.

I prefer freezing rather than bottling (I have never canned). I rarely bottle stuff because I am not very confident about the process. Mainly, I try to make enough that I can consume in a couple of months, I usually distribute extras in my friend circle or use up the food when I am entertaining. When I host, I want to make sure that I use the best ingredients and have an impressive menu ... but I don't want the food to cost me too much. I also don't want to spend money on catering because I don't feel that they can cook better than me.

I don't cook beef inside home and we rarely eat it at home (except some burgers on the grill for 4th of July). But apart from that we usually eat pork, lamb, goat, chicken, duck, quail, rabbit. At one time we used to also eat venison but we do not because of various tick-borne illnesses.

May I please be invited for dinner?