New Years Resolution: MORE ETHNIC FOOD!
December 29th, 2009Alright, time to put to bed those unattainable, mundane resolutions that we dread. Let’s focus on a New Years goal that is fun, beneficial, and very attainable:
Eat more ethnic food! But why, you say?
In his book “In Defense of Food” Michael Pollan talks about the lost culture of food in America. One of the disadvantages to our melting pot in this country is that our food habits have become jumbled and confusing. We rely more on marketing and big food companies to dictate how, what, and where we eat and less on our cultural heritage –diets that have been refined over hundreds of years to give our bodies what they need.
For example, the typical Mediterranean diet consists of lots of vegetables, olive oil, yogurt and vegan protein sources like garbanzo beans. Traditional dishes passed down from generation to generation have been perfected over the years to give the body the balance of nutrients it needs. Also these traditional dishes have not been corrupted by unnatural and artificial ingredients. The same can be said for traditional dishes of Japanese, Mexican, Indian, Ethiopian, Thai cuisine etc–you get my point.
My recommendation is that you do an online search and add some of these wonderful ethnic dishes to your repertoire of recipes. It’s a win-win situation. You have more choices for dinner and eat healthier while you’re at it!
Here’s a couple to get you started:
Baba Ganoush: a traditional Lebanese “hummus” like dip made with roasted eggplant instead of garbanzo beans. It has a unique smoky flavor and is accompanied by cold pressed olive oil, raw garlic, fresh squeezed lemon juice, and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds. It’s beautiful and so delicious.
2 roasted eggplants
2 tsp tahini
2 large garlic cloves
2 lemons
¼ cup olive oil
Pinch sea salt
¼ cup pomegranate seeds
Preheat oven to 450 broil. Poke holes in the eggplant with a fork. Roast eggplant (skin on) until they are soft and skin is crispy. Let cool and scoop insides into a food processor. Add tahini, pressed garlic, olive oil, sea salt and squeeze lemons over mixture. Blend until smooth adding more olive oil or a touch of water if needed to get mixture smooth. Spoon into serving bowl, sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and serve with cut pita bread.
Vegetable Curry: I love curries of all types. This is a veggie one I like but you can be creative and substitute all sorts of veggies –whatever suits you.
½ a large onion
2 cloves pressed garlic
Head of cauliflower
2 large real carrots (not the precut and washed ones for goodness sake)
½ pound of fresh green beans
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons curry
2 tablespoons tomato paste dissolved in1 cup water
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
Sauté the onion and garlic in 2 tbsp of the olive oil until caramelized. Add vegetables, curry powder and rest of olive oil. Sauté for 5 minutes. Add tomato paste and water mixture, salt and pepper to taste and simmer until vegetables are soft but not falling apart. Serve over white basmati rice.

There are no excuses for not keeping and loving this New Years Resolution. Cheers everyone! J


























