While living in Azerbaijan during my Peace Corps days, I would watch my host mothers make yogurt at home and relish the thick, creamy, sour taste alongside meals of dolma or fresh green beans and bread. When living on my own in that country, I learned to take large, clean, glass jars (bankalar) to a…
Tag: cooking
Dock Seed Crackers
I learned about the dock plant this year, and have been interested to watch it as it has grown up in various patches in our yard. Currently, it is reaching upward, showing off its deep purple/brown seeds, which, I discovered, like the rest of the plant, are edible! I decided to gather some and make…
Kitchen & Pantry Management in the Time of COVID-19
I have been trying to go to the grocery store as little as possible in light of COVID-19, which has entailed some new strategies in the kitchen and pantry that I thought might be useful to some of you. First, I noticed that a significant amount of space in the freezer was taken up by…
Qutab Bliss
I had a few bunches of greens in the fridge yesterday, including cilantro, some leftover parsley, and green onions, so I decided to try making the Azerbaijani stuffed flatbread dish qutab which was one of my favorites (I also remember it being called afar). At first, thinking of the dough, I was wary of the…
Aquafaba Trials
I cooked up a whole bunch of dried chickpeas last week in the crock pot and was left with a lot of chickpea liquid, called aquafaba. I had previously tried whipping this up into foam, as I’d heard it possible to do. The foam looked heavenly, but tasting it, was less than appealing—until, that is,…
Yogurt Success
I tried making yogurt at home for the first time this week, and it was a success! While a little more liquidy than perhaps ideal, the yogurt was also less sour than plain store-bought kinds, requiring very little sweetener to taste sweet. And hands-on preparation time was very low. I used a small crock pot,…
In Praise of Cabbage
This winter, I am surprised once again by the understated wonder of the humble green cabbage. Sold in its natural shape (by the head) with no unnecessary plastic for around only a dollar a pound, it keeps for up to two months in the refrigerator and can be used in myriad ways—nearly all of which…
Baking Local
A few years ago, I wrote an article and created a radio piece about the women millers at Carolina Ground, a flour mill here in Asheville. During the interviews and research, I was appalled to learn that, in the interest of shelf life, your standard, industrially produced flour has almost all of its nutrients taken…
Adventures in Plant Milk Making
Last year around this time I started experimenting with making almond milk at home. I was surprised at how easy it was: you basically just soak almonds, put them in a blender with water, and then strain through a cheese cloth or other fabric. I liked how empowering this felt, to be able to whip…
Veggies First
It used to be that when thinking of what to have for dinner, I would think first about what protein, or what grain or bread product, to prepare. I know that for many Americans, the tendency is to think about what meat—as in, “What’s for dinner?” “Pork chops.” Or, “We’re having hamburgers for dinner.” But…