Fare Exchange: Foreign Exchange: Dishes from India, Thailand, Spain

Good morning January friends. Hopefully you are reading this with something like a comforting serving of oatmeal in your belly or have a steaming soup or stew on the evening horizon. As always, we can promise some bright ideas for the meals ahead.

Today we challenge you to turn up some answers: recipes for a healthy bread-machine bread using chopped dates, a warm hummus dip for crackers topped with feta cheese, a carrot casserole with Velveeta cheese and some precise temperature guides for homemade bread.

The first request came from Lucy Boyd, who received a generous present of chopped dates. “Do you or your readers have a recipe idea for me? I was gifted with a huge bag of chopped dates and I would like to use them to make bread in my bread machine. Ideally, I would like to make a healthy bread with some whole grains or nuts, seeds or extra fruits, anything to make it healthier.”

The next two requests are from A.E. of Rising Fawn, Ga., who sampled a tasty creamy dip topped with feta cheese at one holiday celebration and, at another, discovered a casserole of cooked carrots in a Velveeta cheese sauce. If you will help her, she will prepare both for company at her house.

Finally, Elsie Keith had a bread question from LaFayette, Ga. “I bake wheat, white, rye and cinnamon-raisin breads and wondered if any of the bread bakers out there know if there is a temperature for telling when bread is done. I have not found such in any of my many cookbooks and just got curious.”

Beverly Rice has help for the reader who wanted to doctor up her supply of tikka masala cooking sauce. It makes sense to consult the website of Sharwood Foods, producer of the sauce. In her kitchen, Rice adds her own ingredients to the bottled sauce, getting inspiration from other recipes she has used. One of the recipes on the website follows, and you will find a great variety there. The recipe that follows is a loose definition of pizza, but it looks mighty good.

Sharwood’s Chicken Tikka Pizza

1 tablespoon oil

4 chicken breasts (cut in 1/2-inch cubes)

14-ounce jar Sharwood’s tikka masala sauce

2 four-packs Sharwood’s mini naan bread

5 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat oil in a large frying pan and fry chicken for 3 minutes. Add Sharwood’s Tikka Masala sauce and simmer for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through thoroughly.

Place the 8 Sharwood’s mini naan breads on a suitable baking tray. Spoon the chicken tikka mixture evenly over the 8 naan breads. Sprinkle with cheese and place in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until piping hot and the cheese bubbles.

Serve with mixed salad.

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Deborah Gleaton saved a page of recipes from an out-of-town trip over the holidays and thought the recipe that follows looked good and healthy. Bacalao is a fish stew served in Spain, Portugal and Puerto Rico, among other places, and this recipe is attributed to a South Carolina food columnist named Anna Rumsey.

Bacalao

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound flaky white fish such as haddock, tilapia or cod, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces

1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 Anaheim or poblano chile pepper, chopped

1/4 cup packed chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons sliced pimiento-stuffed green olives

1 tablespoon capers, rinsed

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup water as needed

1 avocado, chopped (optional but definitely recommended)

Heat oil in a large high-sided skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

Add fish, tomatoes and their juices, chile pepper, cilantro, olives, capers, oregano and salt; stir to combine. Add up to1/2 cup water if the mixture seems dry. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat. Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with avocado.

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Mr. and Mrs. Sunday, whose culinary adventures are a team sport for them, have a few words about curry, an addendum to their earlier discussion of Thai and Indian food.

“The best curry is a choice unique to each individual. The excitement is due to the HUGE range of ‘curries’ available to try. To find the best is a very personal journey into what kind you like. For starters, check out the Wikipedia article – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry – for a brief overview.

“Thailand alone has a score or more curries even before you vary the proteins, and India can make Thailand look like a sandwich shop. There is a vast world of flavor waiting for your correspondent.

“Before we start, let’s address spice heat as both cuisines like that a lot. The active ingredient that tastes like volcanic magma is capsaicin (chile pepper extract), a resin found in peppers. There are three recognized ways to tame it: scrape it off your tongue (eat rice, bread, etc.), dissolve it away (eat fat-containing things like dairy because capsaicin is fat-soluble) or confuse your taste buds by eating sweets.

“In local Thai restaurants (and in most of the U.S.), you get mostly southern Thai choices with a lot of coconut in the mix (the fat helps American palates cope with the heat). Arranged by spice heat, start with massaman (Muslim) and work up through penang, yellow, red and green curries. They’re usually identified that way but a good restaurant (Sweet Basil is one) will help you.

“As for Indian, start with (the buffet at Sitar restaurant) and notice the names of the dishes you like. The staff is friendly and will explain if you ask nicely. The dishes will be cooked to order with your protein of choice when you order from the menu and (they’ll) be far more flavorful; the buffet is calculated to not chase away people who aren’t familiar with Indian flavors.

“If you want to start with the menu, try a korma (your choice of protein) and then ask for help in trying something else. Be sure to try papadums (thin crisp lentil pancakes with a variety of sauces) and, if you’re spice-heat tolerant, try the achar pickles as side dishes. Both are usually available on the buffet as well. Sitar will advise you as to how spicy the food is and most can be made to your request.”

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We had a fabulous meat loaf at the home of a hunter’s wife; she added a little venison to the meat mix and it worked very well. And that reminds me: We have had little discussion of good game cooking. If you’ve got ideas, please share. And whatever is on your cooking mind, we’d all be glad if you would pass it on. You know where to find us.