Dolmades A Tasty Treat

 The best mezzo or snack is dolmades or dolmas. These are grape leaves stuffed with rice and meat. These are a great way to be introduced to Greek and Middle eastern food.

YOu can easily make or buy them.I've found Eradanous brand grape ;eaves at my local Lidl. They also make vine leaves (Basically dolmades) stuffed with rice and pomegranate syrup.

This was a tasty snack but with a salad could make for a good, refreshing dinner.

Dolmades ca be made at home. Most stores do sell them but they also can be bought on Amazon too.A simple stuffing is rice but you can add leftover minced lamb or ground beef. Chopped onions are  another ingredient that will add more flavor to them. Uncooked rice and the other ingredients are placed atop whole grape leaves ,then rolled into little parcels. They're steamed in water for thirty to forty five minutes. They  can be eaten hot but they  r'e also good chilled , marinated in olive oil.

Dolmades are the perfect snack,appetizer or dinner. They 're bursting with flavor . Make them for a different kind of meal.

The Flavors Of Bangladesh

Bangladesh food is hard to find even in this metropolitan area.Yet there is one restaurant that's opening the culinary door. Korai Kitchen is that eatery and it's ground breaking on so many levels.

Mayukh Sen,a James Beard award winning writer, wrote about this unique restaurant in yesterday's New York Times Food section.The restaurant is owned by Nur-E Gulshan Rahman and her youngest daughter, Nur-E Farhana Raman.It's the only Bangladeshi restaurant in the  Jersey City area and one of a handful in the New York metropolitan area.Most of this kind are found in Jackson Heights and Astoria.The Journal Square site is popular and there will be people who will be curious about it,since it is different from the many Indian restaurants doting the area.Bangladeshi food is different than Hindu and Pakistani.There is a lot of fish,thanks to the country being situated on the Bay Of Bengal.They have curries along with goat meat and potatoes.

Korai Kitchen offers a buffet to let diners unfamiliar with the cuisine, a taste of the best Bangladeshi home cooking.The family cooks bhorthas,,a mashes served at every meal.They can be made from, potatoes, tomatoes or eggplants.There is also khichuri, a mix of masoor and moong dal, the creamy lentil based dish.It is also laden with rice, onions, Chile's, ginger and garlic. Like other recipes of the region,it is also laced with cardamom, cloves,cinnamon and turmeric.Diners go mad for Nur-E Gulshan Rahman"s pumpkin shrimp curry  cut up with the traditional fang shaped blade.Dessert is the peach colored mishti doi a sweet   silky dessert made with jaggery and cardamom.

For those wanting true Bangladeshi food, go to Korai kitchen.It"s home cooking with variety.It's a trip to a Bangladesh home,where there is always love and food.