Report on the Tibetan Dinner/Recipes: WOW!!!

R

richard-in-cincy

Well-known member
This dinner was an absolute smash success.

Everyone absolutely loved the flavors, textures, colors, presentation, novelty, etc. etc. Total slam dunk of a dinner party. If you're looking for unusual, big, bold, colorful, and extremely delicious, give this menu and recipes a look.

Some notes:

I tested the recipes in advance and for my taste, I doubled all of the spices, garlic, and ginger in these recipes. That really spun the meter for the bold tastes.

The soup. Ahh, the soup. What a wonderful recipe. I added homemade chicken stock instead of water to increase the tastieness and it really elevated the finished product. I will be making this again and again. I also added diced cooked turkey to the leftovers to make a complete dinner. Yum. Yum. Yum. A drizzle of sesame and/or chili oil was also a big hit when serving. Also, the spinach is tired in the leftover soup, so drop in some additional frozen chopped spinach to pop the color again. Or add some frozen green peas. The bright green is very welcome in the soup and makes it look so healthy.

For the cream cheese cake, the size pan is not specified in the recipe. For the cooking time, this would have to be a large cake pan. I used a 13X9 baking pan and doubled the baking time listed in the recipe. Just look for the just starting to turn golden brown top and you'll be fine. Also, I loved the golden raisins, cashews, and almonds so much, that I doubled them in the final cake. As an added treat, I used homemade cream cheese made from organic raw unpasteurized and unhomogenized milk. This added an earthy depth of flavor that I will never achieve with store bought cream cheese and I would like to think is closer to the original Tibetan since they would probably ferment whole raw milk and make cream cheese the same way.

I did the entire dinner in courses with everyone in the kitchen and put people to work. I did the soup 2 days before and heated.

I made the momo fillings the day before and had everyone filling and shaping dumplings as they sipped their cocktails. Everyone really loved doing this and participating.

I did the stir fry as they were forming dumplings and served it with rice. Then I put the dumplings on. It's a little early for Swiss Chard, so I subbed fresh spinach and it worked beautifully. Just don't over cook it so it doesn't deflate too much.

I didn't include a recipe for the rice, but after doing some research I used this method: whole-grain brown rice cooked with 2 whole cloves per cup and a big pinch of saffron. The rice received as much raves as the other dishes!

Everyone absolutely LOVED this dinner and they are still talking about it. This one is going in my T&T files to pull out again.

http://www.finerkitchens.com/swap/forum/index.php?action=display&forumid=1&msgid=82012

 
What a comprehensive report. Thank you Richard. Nice to have guests that can give lots

of help. Did you select them for that reason (or one of the resaons?)?

 
What a great menu!! I am sure your guests were excited to be participate in a menu that we really

do not have to much exposure to. Sounds like alot of fun! Thanks for the details.....
I am sure it is a dinner party that your guests will not forget!

 
Marg, I'm just trying to relax at dinner parties. LOL...

I had a discussion with Joe about easing stress levels of a "everything has to be hand-crafted and served just as it reaches perfection" dinner party monster that I had become. I was not having fun because I was functioning more like the hired help than a guest at my own party. So, using the "Molto Mario" model as my inspiration, that's what I did (and my kitchen layout is very similar to his set). I prepped things that could be prepped, but then we cooked and put the dinner together, with me giving people tasks, and we ate and drank through the entire progression, so everyone was always happy and not "anticipating" or "waiting" on something.

After we had completed dinner, we retired to the solarium for comfy chairs, coffee, cordials, and lots of discussion about how much fun we'd had putting dinner together.

I think this is my new model for a dinner party.

 
You know, Marilyn, I thought about the Yak Butter Tea, but...

the Yak had the night off with the help.

I looked long and hard at the recipe, but just never got around to trying it and I wasn't going to spring it on anyone without trying it beforehand. LOL

So since one of the guest came bearing a nice bag of coffee beans as a host gift, I opted for that instead.

 
so glad you got to relax. And since the Dalai Lama wasn't there (he wasn't, was he?)

I think coffee with Barfi {I still can't help snickering} was an excellent second choice.

PS: Doesn't Coffee with Barfi sound like the sequel to Tuesdays with Morrie?

 
This is what I did...

I put the raw milk in large plastic sealed containers, added 1/4 cup of buttermilk, shook, and let set out until it seaparated into curds and whey. This took about 3 days for me. Because of this time, I had a very strong flavored (think earthy-sour cream like) cheese.

If you're using homogonized commercial milk, you'll want to get some rennet and stir that into your milk so that you can speed up the process and do it overnight.

Afterwards, drain off the whey (which you will keep and use since it is filled with amazing enzymes and nutrients). Place the curds in a cloth lined strainer (all dipped in boiling water). Let the curds drain into another container.

Gather up the corners of the cloth over the curds, twist to seal in the curds and tie. Gently twist the cloth every so often to force more whey out.

I then put the curds between two cutting boards, put a weight on top, and expelled more whey as well as compacting the cheese.

A lot of mess and effort, but with raw milk, it is sublime and very rich.

The whey can be added to breakfast smoothies. I drink a little every day as it is so good for digestion and the other goodies it contains.

Also, I now soak all my grains the night before cooking, adding a couple tablespoons of whey, and if I don't have whey, some lemon juice, to the water. This drastically shortens the cooking time and it also converts starches and develops healthy enzymes for much better digestion of the grain.

 
WOW - can't wait to try it. I make cottage cheese but had never done cream cheese

and I always throw away the whey. Now I'll have to try your trick and start incorporating it into my diet.

I haven't been able to get the fresh milk but even though it is pasturized and homogonized, the taste and quality is SO much better. One of these days I am either going to find a source or find a way to bribe this guy for completely fresh virgin milk.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top