Fajitas

Norma comes from Mexico City, the capital of Mexico. She came to Bulgaria to study in the American University of Bulgaria. Some weeks ago I wrote about a Taste fest in our university. Norma prepared many delicious snacks then and I invited her over to cook something from her own country.

Norma said that the foods she prepared for Taste fest were more tasty because of the spices and additional ingredients. We made it out of chicken and pepper. You can add, of course, way more stuff. Such as beans, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes and so on. The ingredients are diced, fried and wrapped into a warmed-up Tortilla.

For me this was a very delicious meal. I was surprised at how simple the recipe is. But I have to confess that I’m eating meat again.

Maybe some of you remember that I vowed to be vegan during February. And I did! I kept that promise. By the time February was over I began using milk products now and then. On rare occasions I ate meat too. And always felt guilty afterwards.

So, what do I do now? Do I start a vegan, or at least vegetarian diet again?

Oil and bread.

Forget about dieting. Today American University in Bulgaria is having a Taste Fest. Awesome, right?

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As I was cooking the weekly “Eat. Pray. Cook.” meal, I experienced extraordinary, beautiful international cooking. Today I shared the kitchen with people from Kazakhstan. All I now about this country is an image in my mind with horses, traditional clothing, countryside…

Well, since Kazakhstan is a post-soviet country, they speak Russian very well. Indeed, they are bilingual – they speak both Kazak and Russian. They are loud, polite, smiling and warm, nice people. I got to taste some of their traditional dishes.

From Netherlands

The first time trying out my dorm’s kitchen. With my dear roommate Renèe Theodora Maria Magdalena Strik. She comes from Holland. Yes, that great land where freedom is celebrated and food is generated. (RHYME! Just in case you hadn’t noticed. Thank you.) Ladies and gentlemen, I present you the HEALTHY MEAL IN DUTCH STYLE performed by Renèe and Amalija.

• For 2 persons.
• Preparation time: about 1 hour.

The Ingredient List

• Chicken’s fillet
• 5 potatoes
• 1 broccoli floret
• Oil (any kind); 2 bullion cubs (divided); 1 garlic (minced) or 1 teaspoon of garlic powder; black pepper; salt.

The Preparation Method

1. Dice the chicken fillet and potatoes. No need to peel them. You’ll cleanly wash the potatoes instead. Grease a pan. Start heating it.
2. Place cleanly washed potatoes in cold water. Add 1 bullion cube and salt. When water will be boiling, you’ll turn the heat a bit lower. Boil until they’re quite soft, but not too soft.
3. Place the cut chicken cubs in the preheated and greased pan. They can be packed tightly. Sprinkle the chicken with garlic, pepper and salt. Bake it until the colour is slightly brown.
4. While chicken and potatoes are getting ready, wash the broccoli. Chop it and place it in water. Add the other bullion cube and salt. Boil it for about 5-7 minutes. Broccoli gets boiled quickly.
5. That’s about it. When everything is ready you can still add spices, olive oil our sour cream.

Renèe:

Yummy! We did a good job.

Writing a receipt isn’t easy and simple. You’ll need cooking terms you hadn’t even heard before. I found very useful the following sites:

• How to Write a Recipe Like a Pro
• ‘Cutting’ Terms in Details
• Cooking Terms

The Broccoli should look like this, when cut and put in water.

Potatoes boiling. *That is obvious, Amalija, people can see that. You don’t have to describe every single thing.* Sorry, guys, just talking with myself! I do that a lot.

The poor chicken should look like this. I’m on my way to become a vegetarian, by the way.

Here you can see something what our kitchen looks like.

Well roared, lion.

Ready.

Ready.

READY!

I also realized that next time I’ll be preparing a soup, probably.

I’ve got an announcement too:

I’m going vegan starting from today until the end of February!

A new experiment, which I already find hard to do. Milk products are everywhere! You wouldn’t believe it. I’m also erasing alcohol from my menu. So guys, prepare yourself for a healthy month in this blog.