World Cuisines

2017 195 Country Project

Trinidad & Tobago: Callaloo Soup

Cooking Time: 45
Callaloo is a spinach-like leafy green common in the Caribbean.  You can find it canned in some specialty stores, or on Amazon. You don’t even need a salad with this soup because the whole salad is in the soup: callaloo, celery, okra, bell pepper, spinach. Seriously, talk about getting your veggies (and your fruits...

Tunisia: Shakshuka

Shakshuka is a popular breakfast food in Israel.  It’s often thought of as a Middle Eastern dish, but it actually originates in the North African country of Tunisia.  It’s common that the influences of other countries are adopted and you forget where they came from to begin with, only remembering how much you...

Laos: Laab / Larb

Cooking Time: 30
Laab – sometimes spelled larb, but pronounced without the ‘r’ – is said to be the national dish of Laos.  It’s also common in Northeast Thailand.  All sorts of meats can be used to make laab including beef, pork, chicken, duck, fish – I’ve even had an alligator version from the...

Vietnam: Pho Ga

Cooking Time: 2.5 hours
Pho (pronounced “fuh”) is one of the best known Vietnamese dishes outside of Vietnam, and also one of the most commonly eaten dishes within.  According to my cookbook, “bowls of pho are the hamburgers of Vietnam: incredible popular, eaten every day by a majority of the population, young and old.”...

Cambodia: Fish Amok

Cooking Time: 45 minutes + 15 minutes for fish to marinate
Welcome to Cambodia!  I’m excited to introduce you to Khmer cuisine, because it’s some of the most dynamic, flavorful food I’ve had – salty, spicy and bitter all at the same time.  This is much thanks to Kroeung, an aromatic blend of spices and herbs mashed together into a paste that is...

South Korea: Bibimbap

Cooking Time: 90 minutes
Bibimbap – translating quite literally to “mixed rice” – is perhaps one of Korea’s best known dishes, and something I’ve been meaning to make since my trip to South Korea.  Bibimbap has become increasingly common in the U.S. in recent years, and I don’t doubt that this is in part...