This week's country is one I've heard of before, but it hasn't been on my radar in a long time, and I don't really know much about it. Because of precisely that, though, I hope it's going to be an interesting one to explore. Let's travel back to Eastern Europe and cook something from Belarus 😉

Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country, as I mentioned, in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. It spans an area of 207,600 square kilometers (80,200 sq mi) with a population of 9.1 million.

Throughout the medieval era, Belarusian lands were governed by independent principalities before coming under Lithuanian and then Polish-Lithuanian rule for roughly five centuries. Following the late 18th-century partitions of Poland-Lithuania, the territory was absorbed into the Russian Empire. After the 1917 Revolution and ensuing Civil War, it became the Byelorussian SSR and a founding republic of the Soviet Union in 1922, though it lost significant territory to Poland after the Polish-Soviet War. Its modern borders were largely settled by 1939–1945. World War II was devastating, costing Belarus a quarter of its population and half its economic output, yet the republic emerged as a UN founding member in 1945 and subsequently transformed from an agrarian into an industrial economy.

The parliament of the republic proclaimed the sovereignty of Belarus on July 27, 1990, and during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belarus gained independence on August 25, 1991.

The country has been a member of the United Nations since its founding and has joined the CIS, the CSTO, the EAEU, the OSCE, and the Non-Aligned Movement. It has shown no aspirations of joining the European Union but maintains a bilateral relationship with the bloc.

Belarusian cuisine has predominantly Slavic roots. Along with a Ruthenian influence, it is also linked with Lithuanian and Polish cuisine because of the long intermingling of these three peoples.

Modern Belarusian cuisine is still heavily influenced by its recent Soviet past, and many local restaurants feature Russian or Soviet dishes rather than true specialties of local cuisine.

The country is known for farming potatoes, and they came to be considered the core ingredient of the national cuisine. It is not surprising, then, that there are more than 300 potato dishes recorded in Belarus.

This week I decided to prepare two dishes from the country again. In part because they seemed easy, and in part because I kinda wanted to try both 😆

As a starter I decided to prepare a traditional soup: Holodnik.

It is a cold beet soup perfect for the hot summer days.

And after the soup I went with a dish with, of course, potatoes: Draniki. Also known as grated potato pancakes.

3 large cooked red beets or 5 small cooked beets

8 cups of water

4 cups of Greek yogurt

1 medium onion or 3 green onions

4 cucumbers

Salt to taste

1 tsp sugar

1 bunch dill

4–6 boiled eggs, optional

600g (1.32 lbs) of potatoes

1 medium onion

1 egg

2 tbsp wheat flour

1 tsp of salt, or to taste

Black pepper to taste

Vegetable oil to fry

Sour cream as a side, optional

First of all, I'm glad all the ingredients for both recipes are easy to get.

The hard part, at least for the Holodnik, was deciding which recipe to use, because the principle of the dish is that it's a cold beet soup, and the ingredients are pretty much the same across different versions. What changes is the way it is prepared, and the dairy base can be either yogurt, Greek yogurt, buttermilk, or kefir.

In my case I went with Greek yogurt because I had two brand-new 1-liter yogurts in my fridge that I used for another thing.

Since this is a cold soup, you have options. You can do everything the same day, starting early, to let everything cool down in time. Or you can prepare it one day before and let it sit in the fridge to enjoy the next day. That's pretty much what I did: I boiled the beets and eggs one day before, then prepared the rest the next day, so it ended up a bit warm, closer to cold, rather than fully cold, but of course not too hot either.

Entirely up to you.

Let's start with the Holodnik: I honestly was a bit skeptical of the result since I had to just mix yogurt and water, pour in the beets, and hope for the best.

Well… that faith paid off. It was a great soup!

I've already had Russian borscht, which is the hot version and includes a couple of other ingredients, but the base remains the same: beets! So I kinda had something to compare to.

My weak point is still sometimes not using enough salt, but that's easily solved by putting in some more. But besides that, it was good, and since it was warm, closer to cold, it really accomplished the goal of being a refreshing dish for the summer.

As for the Draniki: I kinda made a mess in the "remove excess liquid" step because I initially used a paper towel, and dumb me didn't think the paper would just break.

Luckily, I was able to remove the paper, save the potatoes, and try another way. The result? The best potato pancakes I've ever cooked!

They're not exactly round… but at least they're not completely amorphous. But the important thing here is that they were delicious, cooked to perfection, and with the right amount of salt.

Trust the process. In the kitchen, and in life, there are methods that may seem weird, but if they're there, it's for a reason.

Like I said, pouring yogurt into water? It doesn't really sound tasty… but it actually worked!

So yeah, trust the process and have faith that it'll be fine in the end. You could get a tasty soup ¯_(ツ)_/¯.

Again… don't fear using too much salt! 🙄

I know I'm doing better because the Draniki were perfectly seasoned. But still not quite there yet. I need to remind myself this every time I'm in the kitchen: use salt! One more pinch!

At least my problem is that I underuse, which is easy to fix, instead of overusing. But still! I should know better by now ಠ_ಠ

Another country, another pair of dishes that go by.

For my next country, it's actually one that excites me, and one I'd like to visit one day, hopefully not too far in the future. Join me next time to cook Belgium!

After a forced break, because life happens, I'm back in the kitchen doing what I enjoy the most: cooking new recipes!

For this triumphant return I'm doing the next country, which happens to be a Caribbean one: Barbados!

Barbados is an island nation in the Caribbean located in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and is the easternmost island of the Caribbean region.

Inhabited by Kalinago people since the 13th century, and prior to that by other Indigenous peoples, the island was originally named Ichirouganaim. It was claimed for the Crown of Castile by Spanish navigators in the late 15th century, who named it "Barbudos," and it first appeared on a Spanish map in 1511. The Portuguese Empire claimed the island between 1532 and 1536, but abandoned it in 1620, leaving wild boars — which they had introduced as a meat supply for future visits — as their only remnant.

An English ship, the Olive Blossom, arrived in Barbados on the 14th of May 1625, and its men took possession of the island in the name of King James I. In 1627, the first permanent settlers arrived from England, and Barbados became an English and later British colony.

On 30 November 1966, Barbados moved toward political independence and assumed the status of a Commonwealth realm, becoming a sovereign state with Elizabeth II as Queen of Barbados. On 30 November 2021, Barbados transitioned to a republic within the Commonwealth, replacing its monarchy with a ceremonial president.

Barbados's population is predominantly of African ancestry. While it is technically an Atlantic island, Barbados is closely associated with the Caribbean and is ranked as one of its leading tourist destinations.

Barbadian cuisine, also called Bajan cuisine, is a mixture of African, Indian, Irish, Creole, and British influences. A typical meal consists of a main dish of meat or fish, normally marinated with a mixture of herbs and spices, hot side dishes, and one or more salads.

Beyond savory dishes, Barbados is also famous for its rum, having the oldest rum distillery. And with it, they created the world-famous rum cake.

These Caribbean countries are turning out to be more challenging than other countries, because since they're located in the middle of the ocean, obviously their dishes are highly influenced by what can be found in the sea.

In Barbados, its main dish requires flying fish, which is a fish native to that region. And precisely that makes it so difficult to find outside Barbados. Especially in a city so far away from the sea.

So I had to choose the second most popular dish in the country, and it may seem to be simple, but it sure is special in its own way.

For this week, I cooked: Macaroni Pie!

In fact, it is so popular that it's considered the unofficial national dish, and in Barbados it's called simply "pie."

If you order a pie, this dish is what you get.

It's so popular that this recipe comes directly from the official Barbados webpage, so you can bet this is as authentic as I can get.

230 g (0.5 lb) tubed macaroni

4 cups grated cheddar cheese

1 cup evaporated milk

1/3 cup ketchup

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

1 small onion, grated

1 egg, beaten

I think this is actually the recipe with the least ingredients I've cooked 🤔.

That means it was not hard to procure all the ingredients. In fact, I'm a bit amazed that this dish, which has no fish or seafood, or even weird ingredients, is the second most popular dish of a Caribbean country.

But who am I to judge? I'm here to cook whatever is popular in all the countries in the world!

It is important to note that the Bajan version uses macaroni tubes instead of elbow macaroni! That's why I emphasized it when listing the ingredients.

And sorry Italians, you may want to look away for this part… but before you begin, you have to break the macaroni pasta tubes into smaller chunks so they look like actual macaroni.

This is not what I expected at the beginning. It is way better than I imagined, and this dish easily enters the top five favorites.

One would think mac and cheese is not a big deal, especially after seeing this version includes ketchup as an ingredient. But nothing could be further from the truth.

I can safely say this is one of the best mac and cheeses I've ever had, beyond the fact that I cooked it. And in this version made as a pie, it elevates it even more.

I can easily see myself cooking this again, either for myself, to share with my family, or for a reunion with friends.

I enjoyed the flavor and how easy it was to prepare this dish.

I was expecting to cook seafood or something fishy, and I ended up cooking something more "traditional." I was wary at first and, to be honest, not fully convinced, but it was what it was.

I was so pleased with the result that I realized I was actually closed-minded at the beginning.

Just because it's a place next to or in the middle of the sea, it doesn't mean people can't enjoy anything else other than seafood. Especially a dish that is so popular it is ranked as the unofficial dish, or the second best of the country.

Going forward, I need to be more open-minded about the recipes that cross my path, and I should be open to cooking anything.

And lastly, just because a recipe looks simple and doesn't have a huge list of ingredients, doesn't mean the result will be poor or not memorable.

Beyond the complexity of a dish, I think what makes it special is the intention you have when cooking it. It may sound trivial or a joke at this point, but love really is an ingredient when cooking, and it's not a secret.

I could make you a piece of bread with butter and sugar, and if I do it with a good intention and love, it can become the best dessert you've ever had.

I've been away so long that I can't wait to cook the next one, and for that one I'm going back to explore Eastern Europe. Coming up next: Belarus!

By now I've already cooked a considerable number of countries, and that means I've equally already bought a considerable amount of spices and utensils. And while researching this week's dish, I realized that, precisely because of that, even though the list is a bit extensive, I only have to buy four of the ingredients on the list — and that makes my wallet breathe a sigh of relief for a moment. So without any further delay, let's start with this week's adventure: Bangladesh!

By now it must be obvious to you, dear readers, that I'm enjoying this challenge because I'm learning and improving my cooking techniques. But something I haven't mentioned that I'm also enjoying is learning about the countries I'm cooking from.

There is culture, history, and geography behind every dish, and it's cool to discover those things, as well as write the extremely short country introduction that opens each post. For example, I discovered that the country I'm cooking from this week is actually an island country! Let's get started with: Bahrain!

Eleven countries down, all starting with the letter A. Thankfully the alphabet has many more letters, and the world is even bigger! This week I'm starting countries with the letter B — and it's a longer list than A, with 17!

For this first country on the B-list, I go back to America to cook something from a country made up of islands: the Bahamas!

This week's post marks the first milestone of the challenge! This is the last country that starts with the letter A. And what a better way to close this first chapter than with: Azerbaijan!