Do you like to try out foreign recipes at home?

Hi dolphin, I see that you are from Malta, I remember enjoying the food there very much with lovely fresh ingredients and the best pizza ever. It must be easly for you to experiment with Mediterranean recipes as we have the same kind of ingredients. I've never tried Japanese cooking either, or even had the chance to eat it, but my man has promised to cook some for me so I'm looking forward to trying that.

ohh you came to Malta? well the food is good here but I think the best pizza is Italian. We have Italian restaurants here and some make good pizza which should be baked in a good oven sometimes by burning wood. Here we have good bread which is not found in many other countries. Greek use a lot the white yogurt if i'm not mistaken. I didn't like it before but then I found a recipe where you mix cucumber and onions with the yogurt and it is very good that way.

Hi, the traditional way adds garlic too and it's called tzaki, it's usually served as a dip for bread. Yes I loved Malta very much, the pizza I recall was a calzone and it was superb, I presumed it was with being so close to Italy. I also remember fantastic prawn cocktails there which were just fresh lettuce and prawns with lemon juice, and the most amazing lemon sorbet.

Hi zandi, I have never tried Malaysian food in either a resaurant or at home, I'll have to see if there are any recipes in my Asian cook book. I've tried a few middle eastern recipes which are quite similar to Turkish cooking, sometimes it's a case of substituting ingredients. I also do masses of baking when the weather is cooler.

Hi dlr, I like that, you've made me smile, you cook spicy things but leave out the spicy bits. I love spicy foods myself but I have to cook that at home, Greek cooking in this area does not use spice and I often find the food too bland, but they just won't try anything new. Sometimes the local garlic dip can be very hot which is really good but at other places it's just a let down.

Im glad that i made you smile, their are spices that you can add for flavor that are not spicy. like if a recipe calls for a real hot pepper like halipino (cant spell)I will add something like a hot banana pepper (which is not as hot or spicy) but it does add some flavor.

I have to ask, what on earth is a banana pepper?

Maybe if you look online for a supply of those soya beans. You can find almost anything online now days. Thats how my daughter explains what she needs by finding it online to show it as well as trying to describe it....lol As far as the fish in your area, maybe it would be an idea to call your local fish and game department or something like that or even maybe one of the restaurants they may even know which would be good for types of recipes with raw fish.

Gosh you made me laugh, you have no idea about life out here at allIf I asked in the local tavernas, or even the fishermen who give me my fish, which would best be eaten raw they would think I'd gone insane. In Greece they cook it, they don't eat it raw, and they cook it one way, the right way which is the Greek way. The fish and game department, wonder if the sea police have a branch, what a scream. The locals still think I'm odd for bringing out my mint sauce when lamb is served. Problem with online is most places refuse to deliver to Greece and last time I was trying to order some Indian supplies from a UK site the postage was more expensive than the goods. Seems the Greek customs authorities are really clamping in on goods coming in from other countries as they like us to buy Greek.

Hi Youreyes, you are so lucky to be able to try Japanese food, I've never eaten it. My man was raving about it the other week as he tried a lot of it when abroad and even has the cook book ready but it is very difficult to get the ingredients out here. I am currently looking for a supply of soya beans so we can try to create our own bean curd but somehow doubt I'll be able to find them here. I do have a very good supply of local fish though but not sure if it's the kind best eaten raw. I do hope that if you are having a look at these discussions you'll pop into my Wiesenthal one, it is the one I had most hopes for but was a dismal flop.

Hi Downwindz, you are lucky that you have a ready supply of different styles of food available, especially the Asian foods, I used to love rummaging round in the Chinese supermarkets back in the UK. As Greeks in this area rarely eat anything but Greek food though these things are in short supply here, and when they are available they are hideously expensive as importred.

Wok cookery is incredibly easy to do anywhere and woks also have many other uses as well such as for frying foods in.

You also have issues finding them in larger cities even though they are redicously expensive because they are imported, then im suprised. Here it seems that the owners of the shops selling foreign food are most likely also from there area of the type of food they are selling. Before i moved here i lived quite close to a Bazar, which had anything from Asian to Arabian foods and spicies. Right now im going slowly through my wokbook to cook reciepes from Asia, once complete i need to start at a new cusine. What that is going to be time will show, but im a great fan of the wok.

Hi malpoa, I loathe oregano, they put it on and in everything here, salads, cheese, olives, meat, everything. Suprised they don't add it to the coffee too they love it so much. I has a tiramisu ice-cream in town the other week but it was a bit sickly in the heat, I should have stuck to lemon sorbet. It's really good to hear that you are experimenting with foreign foods as a lot of them are much easier to make than those elaborate Indian meals you prepare. You could try serving my breakfast to those 3 men of yours - Greek yogurt with honey. No work at all.

Malpoa, although I do love the Indian food I have tried I'll definitely be giving your payash a miss[em]thumbdown[/em Never heard of brown yogurt either, that sounds really strange. If you like Italian look up some Spanish tapas dishes too, lots of small dishes and really good, the same idea as our Greek mezes. Little platese of mixed things which you can share at the table.

I do not know much of greek yogurt. Here we get this sweet yogurt, very thick and light brown in colour, it is not available anywhere else. I in particular like Continental (Italian) food, I m sure it varies with countries right? Nowadays with the opening of many food chains from abroad, we get this variety of items there. I got oregano from spencers. I get to know about foreign food from the channel travel and living...after seeing the host prepare the dish, I feel like eating them ha ha..so tempting. Our desserts- the one i make are easy. In short I make only easy ones hi hi. You ever tried payash a type of sweet porridge? In my childhood I grew up eating that for every special occasion.

Hi GardenGerty, you really should try Greek yogurt, it is delicious, I eat it every day with honey in it and it is absolutely fantastic if you turn freeze it into ice cream. I also add it into curries sometimes and it is nice with mint as a dip for bread.

Hi mimpi, I'm doing fine thanks, just struggling with the heat a bit. Hope all is well with you. I love Indian food but am aware that the food we used to have in the UK was anglicised for foreign tastes, but I do try it at home from some authentic Indian recipes. You are so lucky to have your mum cook for you, I do enjoy cooking but sometimes it would be so much nicer to be just cooked for. If Indian food was availabe in this area I would eat it more often.

Hi Ms Tickle, getting hold of the right ingredients is definitely an issue especially when trying foreign recipes. And so many of the things it says we need actually have a different word for them too. Yesterday I was struggling to remember the word that Amerians use for an aubergine and now I've remembered it's an eggplant. Now I know that one isn't a problem here as I know it's a melitzana, but it can prove more difficult if I don't the correct Greek word for something, should I be looking up the word under the English or American version in my Greek dictionary. I'm currently on the hunt for soy beans as it appears the only way I'll ever get to eat silken beandcurd again is if I make my own. My friend told me he'd give it some thought what the Greek for soy beans was, he then came back with soy followed by the Greek word for beans.

I cook all the time, Thea. I just don't try out new recipes like i use to.

Hi Jo, just because you're only cooking for yourself doesn't mean you can't still enjoy a good meal. If I'm making a favourite dish I cook extra and freeze some for another day as there's still some things my son won't try yet so if I fancy cooking something just for me I tend to go with the freezer route. You still have to look after yourself and cook yourself a treat.[em]happy[/em]

Hello, whilst reading I have come across the meals prepared in Saudi Arabia and Iran and some of them do sound rather good though I have only really tried a general Middle Eastern version. I love hot food which we don't have here and often cook Thai in the house, mainly curry. I can do green, red or orange, the latter being my favourite, but I tend to use green for fish. Like your children my son has not yet adapted his palate to hot food but it must surely happen sometime, hopefully soon.

Hi indahfth, it is interesting that you say that as here in Greece the idea of foreign foods is anathema to most people I know who refuse to try anything except food from their own cuisine, which they have decided is the best in the world without actually tasting anything else. I am curious if you have tasted foreign food and it is just a wariness about cooking it.

Hi jaizhi, I responded back to you a while ago and now the comment is not there, how annoying. It's certainly good to have a taste tester for you so if by chance it is foul you don't need to try it. I cook Italian and Chinese cooking too but have no luck with my favourite Chinese food of dim sum, I think that requires proper training in the technique.

Hi jaizhi I'd love to try to make it but I just wouldn't be able to get hold of the right ingredients here.

I have had luck with dimsum... I love the taste of it. Keep practicing... My mom use to tell me try a small amount first in cooking so you can adjust the remaining large amounts taste if needed :)

Hello WebMann, I know that this will sound really ignorant but I have never once considered Canadian recipes, never even seen one, and just made the presumption that it would be either French style or like American. Sorry for that. Maybe you'd like to fill me in on what a typical Canadian diet would be It's great to experiment with different spices and things, I do that at home, but my friends here wouldn't touch it if presented with it, most of them only like to eat local cuisine and consider anything slightly foreign as beneath contempt. This is because of an inbuilt pride that their food is the best in the world so why try something which must obviously be inferior. You are lucky to have had such a good introduction to real Indian cooking.

Hi checkmail, it's good to hear you like to experiment with foreign foods, but I haven't found I need to use ready-made ingredients in doing so. I love Indian food and there were many varieties in the UK but none available here unless I try and cook it myself which I do as love spicy food. I'm wondering which foreign dishes you cooked which were a success.