Strawberry Mango Salad with Balsamic Dressing

For this month's International Food Challenge, we are going to explore the Bordeaux cuisine from France. Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in southwest France. The historic part of the city is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as “an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble” of the 18th century. Bordeaux is also an upscale place- a city for luxury shopping, drinking, and eating. It sits in the center of the world famous wine region that bears its name and thus tourists come here come to eat, drink, experience wine, and be merry. 

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Borani Banjan (Afghan Layered Eggplant Dish)

For this month's International Food Challenge, we are visiting Afghanistan. Big Thanks to Saraswathi for giving me the opportunity to host this month's event. Researching for recipes and sharing with the group was quite a fun experience. 

Afghani cuisine has many similarities to Indian cuisine especially in the variety of spices that they use in their dishes. Afghanistan is located on the historically important trade route called the Silk route/ Silk Road which meant Afghani cuisine is influenced by the trading communities on that route. Afghani cuisine has the influences of Iran, Pakistan, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and China.

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Russian Honey Cake -- Medovik (with Eggless Custard Filling)

For this month's International Cooking Challenge, Saras @ Saras Yummy Bites is taking us to the world's largest country in the world, Russia. Russia's cuisine is very diverse just like the country and she gave us 3 traditional recipes to choose from. I picked this irresistible Russian Honey Cake from the list.

I made it as a part of my Russian meal I did earlier this month. This honey cake is very different from any cake I've ever made. The cake part is not a cake after all, it is basically rolled out dough that is baked in the oven to make somewhat like thin pancakes. These thin cakes are then layered with creamy custard filling and then chilled to make a delicious cake.

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California Veggie Pizza Recipe on Whole wheat Crust

I have missed the last edition of International Food Challenge because of summer vacation and possibly poor planning on my side. Even this post is late, but I didn't want to miss the 1st Anniversary of IFC. Hearty congratulations to Saras and Shobana for coming up with the event idea and completing 1 successful year.
For this month's challenge, Saras picked 2 dishes from each of the previous years challenges. It was quite tough picking just one and I ended up making California Veggie Pizza that Joanne T Ferguson suggested.

My son has been asking for a pizza and I thought I can shoot 2 birds in 1 shot :-) I wanted to try whole wheat pizza crust and voila King Arthur has an amazing recipe for whole wheat pizza crust. One thing to keep in mind while making this crust is that the dough has to be refrigerated overnight, at least 18 hours, so plan accordingly. Don't tell your kids you are making the pizza until you are ready to put it in the oven or you will be in a night long trouble.

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Thai Sticky Rice with Mango

We are exploring the beautiful northern part of Thailand for this month's 'International Food Challenge'. Northern Thailand is blessed with the best scenery in the kingdom, it is the region with forests and mountains, rivers and waterfalls. It is the home to Thailand's hill tribes, whose conventions and customs differ from mainstream Thai culture. 

Rice is the staple of this region and they use both ordinary and glutinous varieties. Food is seasoned with fish sauce and chili peppers. Our host for this month, Sangeetha Priya, gave us some amazing Northern Thai dishes to try.

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Cucumber & Carrot California Sushi Roll (Vegan Recipe)

We are going on a Culinary tour of California for this month's International Food Challenge. Our host for this month, Joanne T Ferguson who blogs @ What's on the list picked some amazing dishes from California. As Joanne says there are no "official" dishes of California. California cuisine is based on fusion foods, from many cultures and recipes that were adapted throughout the history.

Personally I feel California is a country in itself. One reason being it is one of the largest states in US (FYI: 3rd largest in US and when compared to New Jersey which is in the 47th place, California is HUGE) and the most populous US state. From my working experience in compliance for many years, I know US as a country has many regulations, but California as a state has many many many more complicated regulations.

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Bavarian Dumplings/ Dampfnudel (eggless recipe)

This month's host of International Food Challenge, Saraswathi Tharagaram (Sara's Yummy Bites) is taking us on a culinary tour of Bavaria region in Germany. Germany is located in Western Europe. The topography of the country is varied, and includes regions of deep forest and high mountains, as well as a wide valley surrounding the Rhine, Germany's largest river. The highest mountain peak, the Zugspitze, lies on the border with Austria. Less than 3 percent of Germans are farmers, and the country must import much of its food. Apples, pears, cherries, and peaches, as well as grapes for wine production, are important crops in Germany. 
German regional cuisine can be divided into many varieties such as Bavarian cuisine (southern Germany), Thuringian (central Germany), Lower Saxon cuisine or those of Saxony-Anhalt. For this month we going to try Bavarain cuisine from Southern Germany. 

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Iranian Jeweled Rice (Vegan recipe)

For this month's International Cooking Challenge, our host Savitha Ramesh @ Savitha's Kitchen has taken us on a culinary tour of Persia/ Iran. Iranian cuisine or Persian cuisine refers to the traditional and modern styles of cooking related to Iran. Situated in the Middle East, the Iranian culinary style is unique to Iran, but it has been influenced by Iran's neighbouring regions at various stages throughout its history.
Many foods famously associated with Middle Eastern, and indeed World cuisine have their origins in Iran, such as kebab and ice cream. Fresh green herbs are frequently used along with fruits such as plums, pomegranates, quince, prunes, apricots, and raisins. Typical Persian main dishes are combination of rice with meat, lamb, chicken, or fish and some onion, vegetables, nuts, and herbs. To achieve a balanced taste, characteristic Persian flavorings such as saffron, dried limes, cinnamon, and parsley are mixed delicately and used in some special dishes.

I made this very flavorful and colorful Iranian Jeweled Rice. It is sweet, nutty and very aromatic. I'm lucky to live in an area that is close to good Turkish/ middle eastern groceries and I have access to good quality ingredients. I bought orange blossom water on one of my so-called 'window' shopping days, which was put to good use in this recipe.

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Andalusian Courgette Tortilla (Zucchini Omlet)

For this month's 'International Food Challenge', Sharanya of Just Not the Cakes is taking us on a culinary tour of Andalusia, Spain. Andalusia is one of the most populous and second largest autonomous communities in Spain , stretching south from sunny cities Cordoba and Seville all the way to Atlantic ocean and the Mediterranean sea . The name “Andalusia” was derived from the Arabic word “ Al- Andalus”. Andalusia boasts many delicious foods offering travelers a chance to stimulate their palettes while exploring.

Sharanya gave us 4 very simple recipes from the Andalusian region and I picked the Courgette Tortilla recipe. Spanish Tortilla is typically made with potatoes, but this Andalusian tortilla is made with zucchini. It is like a frittata or a fat baked omelette. This is a simple dish that is easy to prepare and served with a salad and bread on the side makes for a filling meal.

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Austrian Vegetable Strudel

For this month's International Food Challenge, our host Briju Parthasarathy is taking us on a culinary tour of Austria. She gave us 4 Lower Austrian dishes to choose from and I picked the Austrian Vegetable Strudel.

Some wiki gyan about Strudel: Strudel is a type layered pastry with a -- most often -- sweet filling. Strudel is most often associated with Austrian cuisine but is also a traditional pastry in the whole area of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The savory strudel is filled with crisp tender vegetables and cheese. It almost sounded like the veggie pastry we used to get back home at the bakeries. Original recipe had rutabaga, parsnip etc, but I used vegetables I had on hand; sweet potato, carrots, green beans and red pepper. Also to add some protein, I added some soy granules as well.

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Atte Ka Halwa (Wheat flour Halwa)

The second dish I made for this month's International Food Challenge is Atte Ka Halwa. Big Thanks to our host Manjula for introducing us to these delicious Marwadi dishes. I really enjoyed making this quick and easy halwa. It has a chewy texture and melts in the mouth. 

We are all sweet lovers in the family, so the quantity of jaggery added to the halwa was less and it was not quite sweet for our taste buds. Next time when I make this halwa I will probably add 2~3tbsp more jaggery. But all in all this is a yummy halwa that I have been snacking on straight out of the fridge.

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Moong Dal Kachori

I'm really late posting for last month's International Food Challenge. Our host Manjula @ Desi Fiesta wanted us to explore the amazing Marwari cuisine. She gave us a wide variety of dishes from curries, rotis, halwas etc to try from. I wanted to try each and every one of her dishes, but as luck has it November got way too busy and I couldn't cook even one dish. 

Finally this weekend I made 1 kachori and 1 halwa using Manjula's recipes and loved them a lot. I made onion kachori a while back and so I tried making Moong dal Kachori this time. They came out crispy and delicious. The moong dal filling is super simple to make and tasted amazing. We had them as our tea time snack and it was perfect munching on hot kachoris and sipping the tea while browsing through my smartphone.

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Tomato & Mozzarella Crostini

For this month's International Food Challenge, Priya Suresh @ Priyas Versatile Recipes is taking us on a culinary journey through Campania region of Italy. There are various regional cuisine in Italy and Campania is one among them. Campania is a highly populated region in the southern Italy, located on the Italian Peninsula, with the Mediterranean sea to the west. Best known around the world for its Pizza.

Campania's exuberant cuisine relies on sun-kissed vegetables and herbs, salty capers, dried pasta, and fresh farmhouse cheeses, chief among them water buffalo's Mozzarella. Campania is home to over 80 percent of Italy's water buffaloes, so the Campani produce a number of delicious water buffalo's milk cheeses. Though none as wide spread or beloved as their Mozzarella di Bufala.

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Savory Kugelhopf

For this month's International Food Challenge and for this month, our host Shobana @ Kitchen Secrets and Snippets wanted us to explore the Alsace-Lorraine region. This is a multi-cuisine region which inherits partly German, partly French culture and so their recipes are influenced from both the countries. Alsace and Lorraine are separate regions in France's north-eastern corner, and share borders with Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Switzerland. Alsatian cuisine, somehow based on Germanic culinary traditions, is marked by the use of pork in various forms. Traditional dishes include baeckeoffe, flammekueche, choucroute, quiche lorraine and fleischnacka. Southern Alsace, also called the Sundgau, is characterized by carpe frite (that also exists in Yidish tradition).
Out of the many prominent dishes from the region, we were asked to pick 1 of the 3 dishes: Tarte Flambe/ Kugelhopf & Quiche Lorraine. I chose to make Savory Kugelhopf.

Kugelhopf or Gugelhupf is a yeasted soft -- a hybrid between cake and a bread. Usually kugelhopf is a sweet bread that contains raisins, almonds and is flavored with citrus. Some also contain candied fruits and nuts. A lesser known version of the Kugelhopf is its savoury Alsatian version called the Kugelhopf aux Lardons. “Lardons” is the French word for bacon, and this version is typically made with onions, ham/ bacon, walnuts and herbs.

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Vegetarian Wonton Soup

This is our first International Food Challenge and this month we are exploring Cantonese Cuisine, which comes from Guangdong Province in Southern China and it is one among the 8 great traditions of Chinese cuisine.

The basic cooking techniques of Cantonese cuisine includes roasting, stir-frying, sauteing, deep frying, stewing and steaming. Steaming and stir-frying are most commonly used to preserve the natural flavors of the ingredients. The most characteristic cooking methods of this cuisine are cooking in salt, cooking in wine, baking in a pan.

Saras @ Sara's Yummy Bites and Shobana @ Kitchen Secrets and Snippets selected 4 Cantonese recipes to try. I picked 2 dishes that I have always wanted to try -- Vegetarian Wonton Soup & Scallion Pancakes.

Wonton soup involves quite a few steps; making the filling, cooking the noodles and assembling. But the end result is very hearty and worth every minute of the time spent. I followed the recipe given to us to the 'T' and it came out yummy!! 

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Scallion Pancakes

This is the second dish that I made for the International Food Challenge. Scallion pancakes have been on my to-make list for a long time and when I saw them on the list of Cantonese dishes to try, I knew I had to make these. I found a recipe using whole wheat pastry flour in Whole Grains Baking by King Arthur flour and made them. They turned out great.

The dough for these pancakes is very sticky and that is how it is supposed to be to get nice and chewy pancakes. Recipe also requires quite a bit of oil, so don't attempt this recipe if you are on a low-fat diet or watching your calorie intake. But you need the oil to make the pancakes less sticky and easy to work with. 

I halved the recipe and made 3 pancakes. They are so addictive, that me and my husband ate them all in one sitting. The best part of the whole recipe is the dipping sauce; salty, sour, spicy and sweet.

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Event Announcement of International Food Challenge { IFC } - A joint effort of Shobana and Saras

International Food Challenge is evolved out of similar interests, passion in exploring all the cuisine from all over the world. As a result, we, Saras of Saras Yummy Bites and Shobana of Kitchen Secrets and Snippets have teamed up to welcome foodies, our talented food bloggers to join in this mission to learn, explore the world cuisine along with the heritage every country possess and get to know some ideas what every country has to offer with respect to food.

Come foodies, let’s all join our hands in this journey of crossing many virtual boundaries in the quest of finding new food, fresh tastes from around the globe through this event IFC. 

How it works: 

• The host and the founders are the one’s who will go through the cuisine of the given month and they will narrow down the results to 3 top most recipes. In the beginning of every month, say on 1st, the host of the given month will let out all the three recipes in detail along with the link and the members have to select the one they like and should submit the challenge on the said date, which is 30/31st of every month. 
• The best presented dish gets the privilege of being the cover picture of our Facebook page for the whole month along with their copyrights. How cool is that!! 

Do u have the urge to learn the world cuisine as simple as that, u want to try some new dish one at a time, then, what’s stopping you foodies, come join us let’s form a group and let’s get started.. Yay!!!

Join our FB group HERE to get in touch with the event as well as for the latest updates.