Iraq - Timman Bagilla

Well, I am officially several months behind on these posts. The cooking has been a lot of fun, but I am gathering quite the collection of photos and recipes that I haven't written about yet! Today, though, I have many hours on a train to kill, so lets get some of these out of the way, and hopefully get caught up to the most recent things I have made.

This particular dish I made back in May, and it was a lovely, summery dish that lasted me quite a while!
I had very limited experience with Iraqi cuisine, and in fact I didn't have a solid idea of what it would really entail. The goal of this project though is to experience more of the many foods the world has to offer, and learn to make the ones I already knew I enjoyed. Apparently, Timman Bagilla is a very popular dish in Iraq, and I can see why. Inspired by Persian cuisine, the dill and beans made for a very fresh and light meal which was wonderful both hot and cold. It also was fairly easy to make, which was quite satisfying as well.

While the Timman Bagilla was delicious and went very well, I won't lie, there was a second dish I tried to make for this week. Rather foolishly, I tried to make baba ganoush. Although several countries include baba ganoush in their cuisine, it is very popular in Iraq, and has been one of my favourite foods of all time. However, my attempt to make it was a complete disaster. I don't even have a picture of it because the result was so terrible. That said, it was a learning experience, and maybe one day I will try it again when my kitchen is better equipped and my skills have improved.

All in all, this week was full of learning experiences, and it was a lot of fun to try new things, even if they didn't all work out. Hopefully I can catch up a little bit on these posts on the train today, and share more of the things I've learned!

FIRSTS THIS WEEK:

• Learned about Iraqi cuisine
• Learned the difference between broad beans and edamame (I used the wrong beans)
• Attempted baba ganoush

RECIPES I USED:

• Timman Bagilla: http://www.jumakitchen.com/timman-bagilla/
• Baba Ganoush (if you want to attempt it): http://www.jumakitchen.com/spiced-baba-ganoush/