Georgia -Khachapuri
Recipe from https://georgianrecipes.net/2013/03/29/acharuli-ajarian-khachapuri/
Georgia's national dish of khachapuri comes in many different regional variations, but the most common is Acharuli / Ajaruli khachapuri, in which the khachapuri is formed in a gondola shape (as shown above). Most khachapuri are filled with meltable cheese, but what sets apart Ajarian khachapuri is the addition of egg and butter to top. The dough is simple, just flour, yeast, egg, milk and oil, which is allowed to rise for a while, before being baked in the oven along with a egg and cheese mixture in the middle. This used two types of cheese previously unknown to me; Sulguni cheese (a little like mozzarella) and Imeretian cheese (for which the closest common cheese I think would be feta?). An egg was then cracked in towards the end of the cooking process to just begin to cook. The outer bits of the bread could then be dipped in to the runny egg yolk and melted cheese, in a slightly fondue like fashion. I chose to top with paprika and coriander.
Qatar - Chicken Machboos
Recipe from https://dohafamily.com/healthy_living/a-taste-of-qatar-chicken-machboos-recipe/
The first chicken dish of this week, Qatar's chicken machboos is a very fragrant dish, with a spice mix of garlic, ginger, cardamom, peppercorns, cinnamon, cloves, curry leaves, turmeric and Qatari spice blend, which as far as I can tell, is the same spices, with the addition of black lemon and saffron. The chicken is cooked in simmering water along with the spicer, and then served on rice, with fried tomatoes and coriander.
Phillipines - Chicken Adobo
Recipe from https://panlasangpinoy.com/filipino-chicken-adobo-recipe/#recipe
My favourite chicken dish to date, chicken adobo is the Phillipines national dish. The chicken was marinated for a few hours in soy sauce and garlic, fried off and simmered down along with bay leaves and peppercorns, then the sauce is finished off with vinegar and sugar. The result is ridiculously tender chicken with a very well balanced glaze, the saltiness of the soy playing against the sharpness of the vinegar and the sweetness of the sugar. Definitely one to make again.
Niger - Djerma Stew
Recipe from https://www.theinternationaltable.com/post/193-niger-djerma-stew
Niger marks my first African country with a peanut and tomato stew, though I know this will be far from my last. Chicken drumsticks are cooked down for a long time (4 hours according to this particular recipe) in a stew of diced tomatoes, peanut butter, carrots, herbs and spices. I did enjoy the dish, though I can definitely think of ways to lift it from the way this recipe cooked it, I felt that the herbs were smothered by the overwhelming peanut taste, but this could be easily rectified by changing the ratios.
Holy See - Fettucine alla Papalina
Recipe from https://memoriediangelina.com/2009/07/06/fettuccine-alla-papalina/
Whilst there is no official national dish of Holy See (which you may well know as the Vatican City), but the general concensus of people who've attempted this challenge before me is that this is a good alternative; a dish created for the Pope in the 1930s. The pasta, naturally, is fresh egg pasta, though I cut it a little small, so I think this is officially closer to a tagliatelle. Similarly to carbonara, the sauce, made of egg, heavy cream and parmesan, is not cooked per se, but added to the warm pasta along with peas and prosciutto, then topped with more parmesan.