IslamoSophia - Food and Health

Eatocracy - food fusion and self-identity As I completed my second post this morning, my mind stayed busy.  I began thinking of how to bring the careful food preparation and skilled play of flavors of Korea into Iranian food in order to perhaps develop a favorite Iranian dish - Gormeh Sabzi. Gormeh Sabzi is a stew made with lamb, kidney beans (variation of beans are often used), various herbs (such as fenugreek, green onions and coriander).  The  flavors come from the pierced, dried Omani limes, fried onions and garlic, fried herbs and after the stewing of those herbs with the meat and beans. I started thinking about "stir fry slicing" the meat and then marinating that meat in lemon or lime mixture overnight to enhance the flavors of the lemony meat (perhaps resulting in a venison flavor) and then changing the initial preparation of the herbs to something that keeps the integrity of the herbs rather than cooking away their nutrition in the initial frying process ...

Korean tea to enhance your chi It's almost time for morning prayer here in Iran in the Holy month of Ramadhan.  After writing my previous post on far eastern food my mind went into a mode of pondering over the difference of habits of a mug of freshly brewed coffee vs a small but delicately flavored korean tea with the tastes of the season.   I began trying to see what I could find when googling Korean tea and found an interesting article about taking in the chi of the season.  I have added a link to this article but would just like to point out the respect the Koreans have for the time of year, the necessity for different energies at different times of the year and the experience of enjoying a small cup of a combination of natural herbal, nutty or fruity flavors as opposed to the sometimes large amounts of coffee that I personally am often known to consume. The article mentions, in addition to pine nuts, apples and jojoba flavors and a variety of other fruits of t...

Image from http://www.lifeofguangzhou.com/node_981/node_989/node_994/node_1024/2010/11/01/128859593081739.shtml With everything in life that we flood our energies and thoughts into, we notice that the knowledge with which we started off with begins to not only expand but diversifies into new dimensions of appreciation.  So the story is proved true with my discoveries in the health and culinary field. Recently, my questions have been how to incorporate variety and flavors into my kitchen and table experiences and due to a rediscovered appreciation I have recently redeveloped of the far eastern people; their culture, attention to detail, variety, color, rich and various flavors and philosophies of food, I have made a natural shift (if not just temporary) from Indian and Iranian cuisine where I tried to bring in as much whole grains, pulses and beans into my families diet to the delicate, artistic and variety methods the far east (particularly China and Korea) use to brin...