From the shores of the Black Sea to the sands of the Pacific, the foods enjoyed along the Silk Road whisper tales of connections between the cultures, histories, economies, and regions of Asia. In The Silk Road Gourmet, author Laura Kelley brings the breadth of Asian cooking to your door. Spanning more than thirty countries and including 1,000 recipes, the three volumes of The Silk Road Gourmet explore the cuisines of the countries that traded goods and shared culture along that great lifeline of the ancient world. This first volume surveys the cuisines of Western and Southern Asia from the Republic of Georgia to Sri Lanka and examines the cultural links between the countries that have led them to share ingredients, methods of preparation, and even entire dishes. This cookbook includes recipes for delicious and authentic main-course meat and vegetable dishes as well as appetizers, desserts, sauces, and condiments to grace contemporary, globalized tables. Learn how to prepare Grilled Chicken with Garlic and Walnut Sauce from the Republic of Georgia, Meatballs in Lemon Sauce from Armenia, and Cinnamon Potatoes with Pine Nuts from Azerbaijan.With fully tested recipes and step-by-step instructions, The Silk Road Gourmet brings the exotic home to you. We tried chicken with apricots in lemon pepper sauce: simple to make and assertively delicious, aromatic, and satisfying. If every dish is as good as this Afghani gem, Kelley's book will prove priceless. --Mick Vann - The Austin Chronicle The Silk Road Gourmet is one of those workhorse cookbooks, the kind that . . . will be kept on the kitchen counter while others get stored on the shelf. --Rose O'Dell King - Ft. Myers News-Post The first volume of The Silk Road Gourmet: Western and Southern Asia has been nominated for an award by Le Cordon Bleu's World Food Media Awards. --Le Cordon Bleu's World Food Media Awards For those who love to learn about history and the origin of foods. The Silk Road Gourmet is an excellent resource.It is a cross between an anthropology textbook and a cookbook. --Sarah Parkin - The Phoenix Examiner Silk Road Gourmet is not an ordinary cookbook. It is a culinary exploration of non-European methods of cooking, tastes and - to a certain extent - a different way of life. --Manos Angelakis, Luxury Web Magazine Laura Kelley is a scientist, writer and seasoned home cook who published the first volume of her cookbook, The Silk Road Gourmet Volume One: Western and Southern Asia in July of 2009. She has been lucky enough to travel widely and has experienced many cultures and cuisines from Helsinki and the Cape of Good Hope to Hong Kong and back again. She is also a serious amateur photographer and a conservatory-trained pianist who dabbles in orchidculture and rare books and prints when she can. The Silk Road Gourmet - both the book and the blog - are about sharing her experiences and passions for food and life with the world. For more information about Laura or her books and other writings, visit silkroadgourmet.com The Silk Road Gourmet Volume One: Western and Southern Asia By Laura Kelley iUniverse, Inc. Copyright © 2009 Laura Kelley All right reserved. ISBN: 978-1-4401-4305-2 Chapter One Republic of Georgia Main spices and flavors: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sweet basil, bay leaves, caraway seeds, dill, fennel, tarragon, mint, fenugreek, savory, sour cherries, sour plums, marigold, saffron, savory, turmeric, coriander, cilantro, cumin, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg Souring agents: pomegranates, white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, lemons, oranges The modern history of Georgia begins with two early Georgian kingdoms of late antiquity, known to ancient Greeks as Iberia in the east and Colchis in the west, around the shores of the Black Sea. It was to the wealthy kingdom of Colchis that Jason is said to have sailed the Argo in search of the Golden Fleece, which at that time lay at the reaches of the known Western world. Rome extended its reach east to include Georgia, Armenia, and several central Asian states by 66 CE, but before this time, eastern Georgia was strongly influenced by the Persians and western Georgia by the Greeks. Georgia remained a client state of Rome for several hundred years until the empire's ability to maintain its eastern territories disintegrated. Sassanid Persians ruled Georgia and Armenia after Rome, and their rule was characterized by cosmopolitanism and tolerance. Georgian culture and Christian religious practice were allowed to flourish, as were the cultures in the rest of their empire, which ranged from North Africa to southern Russia and into parts of central Asia. Persia and all of its holdings fell to Islamic conquest in the seventh century as Islam slowly spread. Arab rule during the hundred years of the Umayyad dynasty brought many elements of Arab culture to Georgia and Armenia, which were incorporated either by choice or by force. By the mid-eighth century, th