I have a new cooking milestone! I had a Saudi roommate for 5 months and he was a really good cook! He made one dish, kabsah, a Saudi style dish of rice with either chicken or lamb or goat. It was delicious. I just made it by myself for the first time tonight and it's not as good as his but it turned out really tasty!
Saudis sit on the floor and eat with their hands out of a common dish. It feels very communal and I enjoyed that, especially when we had his friends over for dinner. Tonight, one of his friends was going to come over with his wife and his baby (I have not met them before) but had to cancel because the baby was fussy, so I ate alone but I'll see them at their place tomorrow.
I made this with goat. I'm pretty happy with it.
@UKGuy - "Now what do I do with the other 5 eggs?"
Eggs keep much longer than people think they do.
Is the pancake mix dry? If so, you could keep it in the freezer. Or invite people over for a pancake breakfast!
@PaulaDahla - " I may even cuddle while cooking just for the sheer excitement of having a man cook a wonderful meal! +
I'm with you on that! I love cooking for others and sharing good food and I really love being cooked for! My Saudi roommate really spoiled me!
"That was the extent of his made from scratch cooking and he used so many pots and utensils that the joy of him cooking was lost in my anxiety of watching my kitchen become dirtier and used items piling up in the sink or the counter!"
This is one of the amazing things about our Saudi meals: kabsah is a one pot meal (plus cutting some vegetables on a cutter board and running them through the food processor). Then you put a plastic covering down, sit on the floor (on a pad we'd put on the floor) and eat with your hands from a common plate. After the meal, you have one large plate and one pot (a pressure cooker), plus knife, spoon for stirring the pot, and the food processor. That's it to wash - no plates and utensils! You pick up the plastic (food does get dropped, especially when you are eating rice with your hands) and throw it away. I wondered about putting down something fabric instead of plastic but you'd have to shake it outside and here in the city, the idea of shaking the food into the yard just doesn't seem like a great idea.
“Saudis sit on the floor and eat with their hands out of a common dish “
Doesn’t sound too sanitary I’d be glad to wash some utensils instead
Cooking skills, no matter how rudimentary, are essential. Why? As you become older, your dietary needs can change depending on your body’s health and restaurants are pricey and restaurants that serve healthy food are sparse. As a result, it is incumbent that you take your life into your own hands. For example, very rare is the restaurant that will or knows to use garlic as a replacement for salt for someone who has a salt restricted diet. I believe parents should initiate their children into cooking basics. Too many people today believe that opening a cereal box and pouring the contents into a bowl constitutes cooking. Coming from a French family that is heresy.
Oh how fun. Cooking can be very theraputic and encouraging too love it. ??
@cuddlerforu24 - "Doesn’t sound too sanitary "
They wash their hands first and everyone eats from their side of the communal plate.
@babichev I saw the plate of food over a bedding of rice , maybe that is a one person Plate . If it is all together on a serving platter, that’s, good that you say individual portions are separated somehow , I can see someone licking their fingers as they eat , and , well , now their germs Are on their fingers and their fingers go into the plate of food . If It’s all the same To you I’ll try the cuisine and not the customs that go with it .
Happy foodie cuddles