Oh, it was just a kitchen experiment like most things I do. I generally cook by 'picture' (equivalent to 'playing by ear').
What I made was basically vegetarian chili without the chili (meat). I'm positive you can find much fresher and tastier ingredients! Because all I did was add a can of corn, can of diced tomatoes and black beans with a 'a lot' of Frank's hot sauce and about '4-5' table spoons of paprika with 'sprinkling' of salt and basil.
Chili. A staple food of the Midwest. The first time I made chili was when I was 12 or so.
If you need a fast food example. In the middle of the country, we have this fast food chain that most Canadians I know who've heard of this place just love - but I think it has more to do with the name- Steak'n Shake.
[a href="vny!://www.steaknshake.com/menu/genuine-chili"]vny!://www.steaknshake.com/menu/genuine-chili[/a]
I'd suggest trying to emulate the 'chili 5 way' with adding a 'vancouver' flavour to it by replacing the pasta with rice (be local with food as much as possible if you're going to go off the beaten path). Pasta reflects the urban Midwestern Italian influence. Example: I bet you don't eat homemade macaroni and cheese with steak or fried chicken (southern staple with bbq food that I need or a bbq dish isn't complete)
And then try this:
It's from the 'casual-fast food' (which has the highest market share in U.S. for eating out - equivalent to your local cafe in style)
[a href="vny!://www.qdoba.com/MenuFlavors.aspx"]vny!://www.qdoba.com/MenuFlavors.aspx[/a]
"Mexican Gumbo"
- I can't find pictures of this food on the net --but really you don't need to see it-- you have the ingredients, which is all you really need.
When I say I had eggplant curry - it looks like this:
[a href="vny!://www.nibbledish.com/public/images/cached/567x/recipe_images/01167d8b76709e0dd03e15ee9f6e67d3tia_eggplant-curry-1.jpg"]vny!://www.nibbledish.com/public/images/cached/567x/recipe_images/01167d8b76709e0dd03e15ee9f6e67d3tia_eggplant-curry-1.jpg[/a]
Lil Me tried Hungarian chicken paprikash once if I recall.
You can easily find a million recipes for that, but I'd strongly suggest finding two kinds of paprika (that might be difficult around here) along with cloves of garlic for it. There used to be a high concentration of Hungarian restaurants/shops on Kingsway, but they're all gone now. But I've ran into a few of the '56ers on the bus, though. Good times.
Has anyone made Moussaka? That was my goal this year in cooking. I haven't done it yet, but would still like to try. However I heard it is a pain to make.
