YEREVAN, the Other PONCHIK

This is the other PONCHIK called YEREVAN or Ponchik from Yerevan that I tried.  I hope it looks close to the real ones.    It is puffy soft and quite tasty.

Happy 2012!!

What a year 2011 was !!! Lots of outings, family gatherings, and lots of cooking learning.    I really enjoyed all my cooking classes.    While I was doing just that, December 2011 ended with eye opening experiences in my Mediterranean Cuisine and Professional Cooking.    While my December blogging got slipped away without a single blog, I was enjoying 12 different dishes on Tuesday evenings and four different dishes on Fridays and Saturdays.
Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Greece, Mid-Eastern... North Africa made up the core of our studies.  For whole semester, I tasted something new and found similarities of each cuisines to something I grew up with in the Asia.   Egg Custards - Castel de Nata = DUN TA, Chinese Dim Sum egg custard; varieties of fried potato croquettes = Japanese KORO'KE.    These are couple of my favorites that I found are enjoyed as much in the different parts of the world since long ago.    My pantry are well stocked to dish up risotto, tagine, galatomboureko, tabbouleh, etc.  
Wish you all a very adventurous cooking year in 2012 and be able to share that joy with your family.

 

Homemade Ravioli

There are many different types of Ravioli, and I love homemade Chinese dumplings.    They are so much alike and yet so different, and I appreciate the differences to make my gastronomic experience so much more interesting.   While making the Siberian Pelmeni, I end up with extra meat to make them into Ravioli my way.  My ravioli is filled with 50% ground beef, 25% ground pork, 25% eggplants, some bokchoy and spices topped with homemade tomato sauce and homegrown basil.