CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED Laos was pretty easy when it came to finding something I wanted to make and eat. Larb was the first thing I saw and, after reading through the ingredients, my choice was made! They describe the recipe as quick and easy but I consider the time you spend washing and drying and chopping the herbs and vegetables into the time it takes to make the recipe and I don't know that I would call it quick. I am a slow chopper so it might be quicker for other folks. You need shallots, scallions, a pepper, cilantro, and mint for this one. And the juice of a lime. You'll also need to toast a small amount of rice and then smash it into a powder using a mortar and pestle. There's fish sauce in the mix too but you just pour that out of a bottle. Once everything is prepped, the active cooking time is quick and easy. It all goes into a wok in stages, and you stir stuff for a bit. The active cooking time is pretty quick. The final product is delicious and full of umami goodness! I ate it wrapped in lettuce and it was so so good! I might try the leftovers with steamed rice just to see how it goes with rice but I think it will be great. I was skeptical about how mint would work in the mix but it was actually a pleasant surprise. It didn't leave the larb tasty minty, it just added another dimension to the flavor. If I didn't know the mint was in there, I probably wouldn't have realized it was in there. Anyway, I absolutely would make this again. As a lettuce wrap, it would be a great summer meal!

(Beef & Noodles) CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED This meal kept popping up in all of my internet travels related to Kyrgyzstan and, even though it seemed like it would be pretty bland, I decided to give it a shot. There are many different variations on this recipe and, in most of them, there are instructions to make your own noodles. I did not do this and I went with a recipe that made sense for someone who doesn't have the kitchen space to make noodles and/or who's really really tired after shoveling snow all day. I used egg noodles and not the linguini recommended in this particular recipe. And, after eating it, I think egg noodles are THE way to go if you don't feel like making your own noodles. This isn't super difficult but it does require some time to make. Beef and 4 onions* do the heavy lifting when it comes to the flavor of this dish and they ended up imparting a lot more flavor than I expected. The dish is also finished with either dill or scallions when served. I tried both with it and liked the dill more than the scallions. The scallions seemed to take over the dish and become the strongest flavor while the dill added a little something extra without overpowering the other ingredients. Anyway, this was much better than I expected it to be. It's not heavily flavored but the simple flavors of the beef and onion are GOOD. The broth is good! You cook the noodles in the broth and it takes them up a notch. I would make this again. It is a warm filling meal and I will happily eat the leftovers. *The only change I would have made would have been to add one more onion to the broth. I used 4 small onions and the meat to onion ratio was a little heavy on the meat side.

(Kuwaiti Curried Chicken) CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED One word: YUM! If you like curry, you will like this! You won't see curry powder in the ingredients list but you will see turmeric and Baharat spice blend - together they create a flavor profile that fits under the curry heading. It's got lots of depth and warmth. I bought a Baharat spice blend for a meal early on in this project and I have used it several times since then and have liked everything I've made with it. Might be worth checking out if you're looking for some variety! This was not difficult to make but does require some effort and time. You have to chop up some stuff, season the chicken, fry some stuff in a pan, add the chicken and water, and then let it cook for a little while. It says to serve with saffron rice but I just ate it with plain basmati rice because I wanted to taste the flavors of the chicken and sauce apart from saffron rice. I'm sure it is fantastic with saffron rice though! I would definitely make this again!

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED Have you ever had Campbell's Bean with Bacon soup? If you like that, you'd like this soup too because it is very similar in flavor profile. This was not difficult to make, it was typical of any soup/meal that involves using dried beans. Soak them overnight and cook low and slow for hours the next day. There's a lot of leeway in what kind of meat you want to throw in the pot, I went with a smoked ham hock and it added a subtle and yummy smoky flavor. Onions, garlic, and carrots are in there too. I diced the carrots into little tiny pieces and found them much better that way. Sometimes the flavor of cooked carrots (not my favorite) can overwhelm the entire dish for me but it didn't this time so maybe tiny little carrot bits is the way to go. Oh, there's also a bay leaf. You're supposed to remove the bay leaf before you serve it but I could not find it. I stirred and stirred and kept my eyes peeled as I was packing up the leftovers and that bay leaf is just gone! I ate the soup with a salad and a slice of French Bread. It was a really nice comforting and filling meal. Perfect for a chilly evening and I liked it a lot. I would make this again!

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED Kiribati is a small island country that relies heavily on seafood, coconuts, and whatever they can import. They seem to have little to no agriculture - the land isn't really conducive to growing a variety of things or capable of supporting much in the way of livestock. The cuisine seems to consist of seafood and whatever you can rustle up to go with it. So, I made this glazed mahi mahi and ate it with leftover jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk (plain and unsweetened) with garlic and ginger. I had a salad on the side because I had some produce that needed to be used up. I made what I could with seafood and what I had on hand to go with it. And it was yummy! If you've ever cooked fish in a frying pan, you can handle this. And the glaze is SO GOOD on the mahi mahi and poured over the rice. It really would be good on a lot of things. Would I make it again? Absolutely!

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED This turned out to be one of my all-time favorite International Meals thus far! It wasn't especially difficult, there's some chopping of things to do and I did have to use the food processor which is a minimal pain in the butt to clean afterward but not difficult. I opted to scale the recipe down because 3-4 pounds of chicken is way too much for one person, even if you factor in leftovers! I used about a pound of boneless skinless chicken thighs. I also used fresh tomatoes instead of canned and Serranos for the chile peppers. It turned out great! It's a slightly spicy creamy (from coconut milk) mild curry. The curry flavor is there but it doesn't overpower any of the other ingredients. It's just a well-rounded and flavorful food that was delicious over jasmine rice. I will happily eat the leftovers and I will definitely make this again.

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED Kazakhstan was a bit of a challenge for me. They eat lamb and horse and I don't like lamb and horse is just not an option. I couldn't find any poultry recipes that seemed authentic. I can only cook fish when my husband is out of town and he's not planning on going anywhere anytime soon. So, when I found a beef kuurdak recipe, that's what I opted for. Kuurdak doesn't require a lot of ingredients. Meat, potatoes, onions, garlic, water, salt, and pepper. That's it. Nothing fancy and the most difficult part of the recipe was chopping the onion into rings. It was a simple and filling meal. I was worried that it might turn out bland so I was very generous with the garlic, salt, and pepper and it turned out pretty well! I had it with canned green beans though I think a wide variety of veggies would work well with it. I will happily eat the leftovers. Will I make it again? If I have to use up beef and potatoes, absolutely. But, honestly, if I'm just cooking for myself and it's not for an international meal, I opt for a chicken meal. Beef is fine, it's just not my favorite.

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED The weather's been cold and a hearty stew was pretty appealing to me this time around. Fasoolya Khadra isn't a traditional beef stew, with carrots and potatoes, but the meat still has the same texture and the cooking process is similar. (It does take some time to reduce so it's not a quick meal.) The flavor profile is different than what we typically call beef stew - it is made with cumin and ground coriander and a nice amount of garlic. I usually add more garlic than recipes call for but I left this one alone and it was the perfect amount! The vegetables in this stew are green beans and canned stewed tomatoes. There are no starches in this stew, as written, but many different sites with this recipe recommend eating it over rice or with naan or some sort of bread. I ate it over Basmati rice but it would be really good with naan too! Some sites recommend serving it with Greek yogurt and I bought some which I promptly forgot about and did not use. I will attempt to remember it exists when I eat the leftovers. All in all, this was pretty good. I really enjoy cumin and coriander (and garlic) so it was right up my alley. I wasn't sure how the green beans would work with the spices but they worked well! Would I make it again? I don't know. I like it but it's a lot of food for one person to contend with. I might experiment with freezing it because it really is a good cold day meal.

(aka Ginger Pork) CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED I'd never heard of this prior to researching Japan and, boy, was I missing out on some good eats! This was really tasty!!! The actual cooking part is pretty easy, you just fry the pork strips and then stir in some sauce and let it reduce. The prep work, however, is time consuming. I had to buy a pork loin and slice it down into thin strips. (Partially freezing it prior to slicing made it much easier to slice those thin strips.) Grating a tablespoon's worth of ginger took a bit of time as well. Squeezing juice out of the grated ginger also took some time but it was all worth the effort! This was also the first time I'd ever cooked with saké and it was a pleasant surprise. I'm going to look for more recipes incorporating it! The recipe shows it served with cabbage, tomatoes, and broccoli and I did eat it with those but I didn't think the broccoli worked very well with it. I like broccoli but the flavor combination just wasn't great. The author of the recipes says this is always served with shredded cabbage and the cabbage* was okay but I didn't feel like it enhanced anything, it was just kind of there. The tomato and pork together turned out to be a surprisingly good combo! I also made a side of jasmine rice to go with it and that played well with the pork. I would definitely make this again but I would skip the broccoli and maybe try seasoning the cabbage a bit. *The cabbage was not as fresh as one might like so that may have been part of my issue. Living where I do, getting super fresh produce is difficult, especially in November.

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED One of the rules I set for myself when starting this project is that I can't make a dish I've eaten before so Jerk Chicken was not an option when it came to Jamaica. And that worked out fine because I found this recipe for pepper steak and one for a Jamaican chicken curry that I will be trying at some point in the future. :) This was about as difficult as a standard stir-fry to make and I did opt to order the Jamaican all-purpose seasoning that is linked in the article to make it as close to "authentic" as possible. (There are so many versions of this recipe online, I don't know which is the most authentic.) I have to admit I did skip the step that directs you to separate the meat from the marinade. The marinade actually doesn't contain very much in the way of liquid so it can't just be poured off, one would have to hand remove all of the onions and thyme sprigs. I removed the thyme sprigs and called it good. The onions cooked up just fine along with the meat. Anyway, this was good and I will have no issue eating the leftovers! It didn't "WOW" me but it also wasn't disappointing. I can definitely see myself making it again but with a few tweaks. Maybe a little more browning sauce and broth to make a little more sauce, and I might be less cautious with the pepper. I used a serrano instead of the scotch bonnet listed in the recipe and removed the seeds and membrane from it, I probably should've left the seeds in so there was more oomph in the finished product. It was still tasty!

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED I'd never heard of Genovese sauce before looking into Italian recipes and it doesn't seem like what we would typically expect from Italian food but it piqued my interest. It also calls for fresh parsley and I have a prolific Italian Parsley plant! If you've ever made beef stew from scratch, you can handle this sauce. It is very similar in flavor profile to beef stew too. It does not involve potatoes though because it is meant to be served with pasta. I served it with rigatoni (no. 24) from De Cecco. And it was good! It was hearty and very filling! It is "stick to your ribs" food! My only complaint is that the carrot made it slightly sweeter than I prefer. The recipe says to only use one carrot because more than that will make the sauce too sweet and I still found it too sweet with just the one. I would recommend using half of one carrot. I would eat this again but I don't think I will cook it again. If I'm going to put in the time and effort to make something beef stew like, I'm just going to make actual beef stew because my husband* will eat that and I won't have to make two dinners. *He would not eat this because he only likes two types of pasta. Spaghetti, which didn't seem like it was the right shape and feel for this recipe. And chow mein, which would have been ALL WRONG for this application.

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE I USED Why's it yellow? Turmeric and Hawaij seasoning. I found Hawaij on Amazon but you can make your own from spices purchased at the grocery store, if you want to. I'm currently in a low-energy state of being so I went with pre-made. If you do buy a premade blend, make sure it is NOT the one intended for coffee. I haven't looked into how the blends differ but the author of the recipe indicates it is important to get the right blend. Anyway, this was good! It's made up of chicken and potatoes flavored with the aforementioned spices, salt, pepper, and onions and cooked in a pot on the stove. There's really nothing complicated about it, just needs you to pay attention to it. Nothing is spicy or overwhelming, the flavors are simple. They won't knock your socks off but they will leave you feeling like you had a good meal. This is in comfort food territory! The prep is mainly just cutting up the onions and potatoes. I paired it with a salad made from garden tomatoes and it was just a really nice dinner. Would I make it again? Yes! And I'm going to eat the leftovers for dinner tonight. I think I'm going to reheat the chicken in the air fryer to crisp up the skin. Air fryers are fantastic at crisping things up!