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SPAGHETTI ALLA NORMA (Italy)

flour

olive oil for frying the eggplant
tomato sauce (your own recipe, or see below)

6–10 basil leaves
200 grams of crumbled ricotta salata (salted ricotta) which is what makes this recipe authentic, available in the best Italian groceries

Preparation:
Cut the eggplants into fine slices after cutting off the stems (if you prefer you could also dice them up). Spread the slices in layers on a cutting board and cover each layer with salt. Place the board at an angle in the dish rack to allow the liquid to run directly into the sink. Cover the eggplants with a weight (for instance a pot filled with water) and leave standing for two hours.
Meanwhile prepare the tomato sauce. Fry an onion and two cloves of garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add a large can of tomatoes (preferably imported from Italy) or 700 grams of diced fresh tomatoes, a pinch of sugar, salt and freshly ground pepper. Cook for approximately 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Once the sauce has thickened, pass it through a grinder (or a blender if you’re not Italian). Pour the sauce back into the pan and reduce for another 5 minutes.
After the required time, rinse and dry the eggplant slices. Cover them lightly in flour to prevent the vegetable from soaking up oil. Boil the water for your pasta and warm up the tomato sauce if necessary. Meanwhile fry the eggplant slices in hot olive oil (about 400°F/205°C) a few at a time, about two minutes on each side. Wipe off the excess oil from the slices and keep them warm.
When the pasta is ready (al dente!), place it in a large serving bowl. First add the cheese; mix well before adding the tomato sauce, the basil and the eggplant. Mix and serve right away. Buon appetito!

Ingredients (serves 4):
1 chicken (ca. 1 kg)
4 onions
1 kg tomatoes
50 gm butter
3-4 cloves garlic
½ bunch of parsley
½ bunch of kinza (herbs)
½ of bunch dill
1 teaspoonful red pepper
1 teaspoonful hmeli-suneli (spice mix)
1 teaspoonful of kinza seeds

salt

CHAKHOKHBILI (Georgia)

Preparation:
Wash the chicken well and cut it into large pieces. Heat a large frying pan (with a lid), put the chicken in and cover the pan until the chicken gets brown. Add the butter, the onions and the garlic. Stir in the open pan and let the onion get brown. Peel the tomatoes, cut them in four pieces and add them in the frying pan. Cover the pan again and leave the mixture to boil. Five minutes before taking it from the fire, add the vegetables and Chakhokhbili is ready. Served hot.

Ingredients (serves 5):
1 kg meat (veal or mutton)
200 gm carrots
200 gm onions
700 gm potatoes
300 gm tomatoes
50 gm butter (or oil)
50 gm parsley
50 gm celery
pepper (red or green)
spices from Uzbekistan

DIMLAMA (Uzbekistan)

Preparation:
Cut the meat into pieces, put it into a pan, brown it in butter and then add (in layers) the potatoes (cut into slices), the vegetables, the parsley and the celery. Add salt and pepper and in the end sprinkle the spices all over it. Leave the dish to boil slowly for about 30 minutes.

MOI-MOI & DODO (Nigeria)

For Moi-Moi:

2 cups Dried Black-eyed peas
1 medium Onion coarsely chopped

1 Egg
1/4 cup Water
2 teaspoons Chili powder
1 teaspoon Salt
4 4" squares aluminum foil
Salsa for serving

For Dodo:

4 plantains
Vegetable Oil

Preparation:

For Moi-Moi:
Place the black-eyed peas in a medium bowl with water, and soak the peas overnight. Drain off the water. Place the peas, onion, egg, water, chili powder and salt into the bowl of a food processor or blender. Process until the ingredients form a smooth paste.Place 2 heaping tablespoons of the pea mixture on a square of aluminum foil. Tightly fold the foil around the mixture. Place the foil packets in a medium pot and cover them with water. Boil for 1 hour, until the moi-moi is firm.
Serve hot or warm with spicy salsa.

Ford Dodo:
Put oil into a frypan/saucepan, about 1½ centimeters high, and place on fire on low heat. In a bowl or plate, slice or dice each plantain. Place the cut pieces into the hot oil, spreading over the bottom of the pan.
Turn over when the bottom sides are golden brown in color. Let the other side get brown to the same consistency as the first side. Remove using a spatula or large spoon. Depending on the ripeness of the plantain, you may want to put the fried plantains on some napkins first to soak up some of the excess oil.

SVÍČKOVÁ OMÁČKA S KNEDLÍKY A BRUSINKAMI (Czech Republic)

Preparation:
Cut meat into long slices, fill it with bacon, salt it, let it at a cool place. Get onion tanned (on slices), add spices, vinegar nad cut lemon. Put meat into this mixture and stew it on quick fire in its own sauce. When there's no sauce anymore, pour with water and stew it under the dish-cover in an owen till it's done. During cooking pour it with boiling water (i it's needed) and turn meat. Take finished meat out of the dish, thick a sauce with a roux, add water again. Cook slowly at least 1 hour. Before the end add milk and cream, sugar, vinegar, salt. Boile it over and STRAIN it THROUGH a smooth strainer.
For Dumplings: Put whole-meal flour and baking powder (or yeast instead) into an empty dish through a strainer. Add salt, eggs and milk. Make a dough and put little cubes of white bread into it. Devide this dough into parts - cca 800 g each and make rolls - cca 5 cm diameter. Cook it in boiling salted water for 5 minutes, then move it in order not to stay at bottom and cook it for next 20 minutes. When it`s done, cut dumplings immediatelly for thin slices.

LEEK WITH MEATBALLS (Metsovo)

Preparation:
Wash and cut the leek. Brown them in the oil and leave them on the fire for a while. After kneading the minced meat with the rest of the ingredients, make meatballs, put them into the pot and boil together with the leek. When they are done, put the leek and meatballs in a clay cooking-pot and bake in the oven for ca. 15 minutes.

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