These dishes from around the Rotary world tell of community, culture, and camaraderie
Neeps and tatties. That’s what a Rotarian mentioned he was planning to have for dinner during a virtual meeting of the Rotary E-Club of Innovation (East Anglia), and Jack Davis was puzzled. “I said what the heck is a neep?” recalls Davis, a retired police officer who is a member of the Rotary Club of Morton, Illinois, and an honorary member of the e-club that has a base in England. The explanation that it was a swede made even less sense to him. “Do you eat a swede?” he wondered. “It turns out it’s a rutabaga.” And tatties? They’re potatoes.
That simple banter in 2018 led to a yearslong project spearheaded by Davis and Caroline Dobson, a member of the Rotary Club of Inverness Loch Ness, Scotland, who is also an honorary member of the e-club, to collect and publish recipes.
“This being a Rotary club, somebody said, ‘We can turn this into a fundraiser,’” Dobson recalls. And somebody — Dobson blames Davis, and Davis blames Dobson — came up with the idea to get a recipe from every country and territory hosting a Rotary club. “What could go wrong, right?” Dobson jokes. “Luckily neither of us gives up easily.”
Davis put his detective skills to use, spending up to 14 hours a day tracking down far-flung Rotary members and trying to get copies of their recipes. In cases where finding a club member proved difficult, he tried to obtain recipes through other means. “I can give you the address and telephone of every embassy or consulate in the United States,” he says. “That’s how many we called.”
They had nearly finished the collection when they learned that a Rotary club had been chartered in Iraq. “I’m delighted Iraq is part of the Rotary family, but can you imagine how we felt?” Dobson jokes. Luckily, a member of Dobson’s club in Scotland had previously collected a recipe from Iraq that they were able to use.
It took three and a half years, but they finally collected at least one recipe from more than 200 Rotary countries and geographical areas and published the collection, Food the World Over, as a PDF in 2021. Proceeds go toward polio eradication and water projects.
On the following pages are adaptations of some of those recipes — along with the stories behind them — that you can use to create your own Rotary-inspired meal.
Isle of Man
Manx Bonagh
Howard Callow, Rotary Club of Douglas
Bonagh (or bonnag) is a traditional sweet bread served on the Isle of Man. For a number of years, the island off the northwest coast of England has hosted the annual World Bonnag Championships. “The first world champion was a man,” Howard Callow says. “Since then, the male competitors have been determined to prove the claim that men from Man make the best bonagh!”
The recipe that Callow shared came from a handwritten 1948 cookbook that belonged to his mother.
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
- Preheat oven to 325 F.
- In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients with 1 cup buttermilk. Add additional buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together into a shaggy ball. Turn out onto a floured board and form into a ball.
- Place in a round cake pan and bake for about 30 minutes. Bread should have a hollow sound when you thump the bottom with your hand.
Faroe Islands
Rabarbusúltutoy (rhubarb jam)
Annika Sølvará, Rotary Club of Tórshavn
Rhubarb is one of the few vegetables that grow well in the harsh climate of the North Atlantic. Most families make their rabarbusúltutoy from homegrown rhubarb, with their own take on the basic recipe, such as the addition of berries or vanilla, Annika Sølvará says. The jam is often served for breakfast and afternoon tea with homemade buns or scones; many also eat it on top of rye bread with cheese.
4 cups rhubarb cut into ½-inch pieces
2 ½ cups sugar
- Heat the mixture in a small pot until boiling. Let it simmer until it’s as thick as you like it, about ½ to 2 hours.
New Caledonia
Prawn Salad
Marie-Claire Gauthier, Rotary Club of Nouméa Ducos Boulari
Prawns are ubiquitous in New Caledonia, a French territory in the South Pacific. So an everyday homemade meal for Marie-Claire Gauthier is this ceviche-inspired salad. “It gives a feeling of freshness in summer,” she says.
2 pounds prawns
5 lemons
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Maggi seasoning sauce (See editor’s note.)
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pepper
- Shell the prawns and cut them into 4 long, thin strips, following the line from head to tail. Put all the strips in a salad bowl.
- Juice the lemons and pour the juice over the prawns, covering them completely. Refrigerate the bowl. Marinate the shrimp until they turn pink and are no longer translucent, at least 45 minutes.
- Give the prawns a quick rinse. In a large bowl, combine the prawns and remaining ingredients. Let sit for 1 hour before serving.
Editor’s note: If you can’t find Maggi seasoning, you can substitute tamari or Worcestershire sauce.
Turkey
Prosciutto and Mozzarella Borek
Ayca Revaz, Rotary Club of Carmel Sunset, California
Borek, a flaky, savory pastry, is a brunch staple in Turkey. Ayca Revaz’s recipe was submitted by her father, Hamdi Özcan, of the Rotary E-Club of Turkiye. Revaz, who grew up in Turkey, recalls learning to make borek with her grandmother when she was just 5 years old. “It creates amazing memories when you make it at home with loved ones,” she says. The recipe can be filled with anything from ground beef to vegetables. When filled with cheese, as it is in this spin on the recipe from the Özcan family, it is typically eaten for breakfast with a cup of black tea.
4 cups all-purpose flour
½ tablespoon salt
1 ¼ cups water
¾ cup + 1 tablespoon olive oil
7 tablespoons butter
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
12 slices prosciutto (Some shops sell lamb and beef varieties, if preferred.)
1 cup fresh mozzarella
Sesame or poppy seeds (optional)
- In a big bowl, mix the flour and salt. Slowly add water to form a dough. Knead for about 10 minutes or use the dough-making attachment on a mixer until you have a smooth dough ball.
- Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll each piece in your hands and place the dough balls on a lightly floured plate. Cover the plate with a moist towel and plastic wrap. Let the dough rest for about an hour.
- While the dough rests, melt the butter and mix with the olive oil.
- On a lightly floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll each ball to a disc about 6 inches across. Stack the discs on the plate, spreading a generous amount of oil-butter mix between each layer. Cover the plate and rest for 30 to 40 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Place one of the discs on a large surface and use your hands to stretch it into a thin, transparent sheet. It’s OK if the dough tears a little. On one end of the sheet, place 1/6 of your filling, then roll the sheet starting from the filling to the opposite side. Place the log on a baking sheet. Repeat for each layer, placing each roll side by side on the baking sheet. Or you could form the filled rolls into a large spiral.
- In a small bowl, mix the egg and milk. Brush the pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds if you like.
- Bake until the top is golden brown, about 20 to 30 minutes.
Japan
Homestyle Japanese Ginger Pork
Kaori Murai, former Rotary Youth Exchange student
2 servings
Japanese ginger pork (shogayaki) is a common home-cooked dish and easy to make. The meal takes only 15 minutes to prepare and is great with steamed rice, Kaori Murai advises in Food the World Over. “At my home,” Murai says, “we add chopped garlic and onions in order to boost its stamina — and taste!”
7 ounces pork, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
½ onion, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon ginger (or more to taste), finely chopped
¼ teaspoon garlic, finely chopped
5 tablespoons mirin (sweetened rice wine), or sake with 2 tablespoons of sugar
5 tablespoons Japanese soy sauce
- In a pan, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and stir-fry onions, ginger, and garlic until they just start to brown. Add the pork and mirin, stir, then cover with a lid and steam for 1 minute on medium heat. Add the soy sauce and stir-fry until golden.
- Serve with your favorite vegetables. Some sides are cabbage, tomato, or avocado.
Georgia
Lobio
Giorgi Maglaperidze, Rotary Club of Rustavi International
4-6 servings
Lobio means “beans” in Georgian. “Georgians like to say lobio is poor people’s food that even the rich enjoy eating,” Giorgi Maglaperidze says. “We have this saying: ‘If God gave us lobio, what did he leave for himself?’”
In the Black Sea country, lobio is an everyday dinner food, best when made at home in a fireplace and clay pot, as Maglaperidze’s parents do. While keeping the base of boiled beans, the meal can be made with different spices and mashing styles; the version here uses walnuts, and others use ham. It is generally served with cheese, cornbread (mchadi), pickled cucumbers, pickled cabbage, and accompanied by chacha, a Georgian brandy.
2 ¼ cups dried red or white kidney beans
3 bay leaves
Salt to taste
2 cups walnuts
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dried cilantro
½ teaspoon dried blue fenugreek (See editor’s note.)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons oil
½ teaspoon dried red pepper (optional)
2 medium onions, chopped
Cilantro, chopped (for garnish)
- Soak beans in cold water for 2 hours, then drain the water. In a deep pot containing 6 cups water, add beans, bay leaves, and salt. Cook on medium heat until the beans are tender.
- Using a mortar and pestle, grind the dried cilantro, blue fenugreek, garlic, black pepper, walnuts, and salt.
- Drain the water from the cooked kidney beans into a separate bowl. To the nut and spice mixture, stir in the red wine vinegar, oil, and a little of the kidney bean water.
- In a large bowl, carefully mix the nut and spice mixture, cooked kidney beans, dried red pepper, and chopped onions, reserving a few for the garnish. Do not mash the beans.
- Garnish with cilantro and onion. Serve hot or cold. Editor’s note: Blue fenugreek is a type of the herb that is native to the Caucasus region. It is said to be milder than common fenugreek.
Tanzania
Ndizi na Nyama
Jackie Brice-Bennett , Rotary Club of Marangu
Ndizi na nyama is a meat and plantain stew, most commonly made with beef. The dish is called machalari in the East African country’s Kilimanjaro region, where Jackie Brice-Bennett lives. It’s regularly cooked at home and will “always be included at any type of celebration or feast,” she says. Her Rotary club serves it and other Tanzanian dishes for lunch during training days with other clubs. The recipe can be made without beef as a side dish.
1 cup water
1 pound of beef, cut into bite-sized cubes (thin cut)
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon curry powder
½ teaspoon red pepper
3 tablespoons cooking oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup coconut milk
1 tablespoon oregano
4 plantains, peeled and sliced
- In a pot, bring the water to a boil. Add the meat, salt, black pepper, curry powder, and red pepper. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.
- While the meat is simmering, heat the oil in a separate pan. Fry the onions in the oil until golden brown. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and cook for 10 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft. Reduce heat. Add coconut milk and oregano. Cover and simmer about 10-15 minutes.
- Add the sliced plantains to the meat. Cook for 10 minutes or until the meat is done and the plantains are tender. 4. Combine the onion-tomato-coconut mixture with the meat and plantains. Stir for 10 minutes over the heat. Adjust seasoning to taste.
Brazil
Quindim
Ernesto Neumann, Rotary E-Club of Latinoamérica
Makes 4 ramekins
Legend has it that the white garments of Portuguese nuns were starched with egg whites, so sweet confections were the answer to using up the surplus of egg yolks. The Portuguese version of quindim uses almonds, but when the recipe was brought to Brazil, cooks adapted it to include abundantly available coconut instead. “Quindim is one of those desserts that embodies the essence of Brazilian culture: vibrant, joyful, and a mix of influences that come together to create something uniquely beautiful,” Ernesto Neumann says.
Popular at family gatherings and celebrations, quindim is a custardy delight known for its vibrant yellow color and its rich, sweet coconut flavor. “The recipe is relatively straightforward,” he says, “but getting that perfect texture can be a bit of an art form.” We can attest to that — it took us multiple tries to get it right. Here is the recipe as we adapted it.
8 egg yolks
½ cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
½ cup coconut milk
1 cup coconut flakes
Additional butter and sugar to coat ramekins
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Put a kettle of water on to boil.
- Pass egg yolks through a sieve. Add sugar and then whisk to combine. Add butter and mix again. Add coconut milk and coconut flakes, then stir to combine. Set aside mixture while you prepare your ramekins. Brush the insides of each ramekin with melted butter, then coat the interior with sugar. Discard any excess sugar.
- Stir up your quindim mixture and divide evenly among the ramekins. Place in a baking dish and pour boiling water into the dish so it comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 35 minutes.
- Let the quindim cool FULLY, then run a knife around the edge of each ramekin and unmold onto a plate. (If the quindims are not unmolding, dip the ramekin in hot water briefly to help them come out.) Serve cold.
This story originally appeared in the December 2023 issue of Rotary magazine