Lentils can be combined with pretty much everything. The combination with fruit has been on my list for a long time already. I wanted to go with pomegranate seeds that I could not dig up, however. So I tried it with the goji berries that have been lying around in my pantry for at least a year.
If an aliment should ever be elected as the legitimate representative of the country of Bulgaria, it will certainly be yogurt. The legend tells that once upon a time, Bulgarian horsemen carried milk as a food ratio in leather bags that eventually gave a home to a lactobacillus bulgaricus — more precisely lactobacillus delbrueckii subspecies bulgaricus. The bacterium subsequently returned the favor by metabolizing good Bulgarian milk into the first Bulgarian yogurt in history.
The succulent black bread of my hometown Cologne is one of the foods that I miss the most in Bulgaria. Fortunately, you can easily bake it at home, as long as you manage to dig up the ingredients (or suitable replacements). The ones that are hard to find in Bulgaria are dark molasses, buttermilk and rye grist.
A few days ago, my garden all of a sudden was shining in lush purple. The plants were quickly identified as red dead-nettles (lamium purpureum). Great! However, the lawnmower packed up, just when I tried to get rid of the weeds and I do not own a goat. Fortunately the plant turned out to be fully edible for humans too. Mission accomplished!
Having to kill one day at the airport, on the plane, at the station and on the train always stirs the desire to cook something tasty so that I can chase away the ominpresent impressions of fast food and convenience products. The result of the last unvoluntary fasting are these chickpeas with coconut milk, pakoras, mango chutney and oriental yoghurt.
Soured milk is another fermented dairy product that can be made at home with very little effort. The German word for it is Dickmilch which means "thick milk". In Germany, it has lost a lot of its popularity to yoghurt but it can still be found in many supermarket shelfs. It is quite similar to yoghurt in taste and consistency but contrary to yoghurt it is very simple to make, even at home.
