The gastro guide will take you to Germany and give you a chance to meet Mariam, the author of a colorful, healthy and bold blog “Marili” (salt).
Mariam Meskhishvili has been living in Frankfurt for 4 years. She is studying business administration, loves art, fashion, music, painting and culinary of course.
Why Culinary? How the idea of making a blog has come up?
During the pandemic, I often had to stay home, and since I have a strong tendency to create things for some reasons, I decided to make a food blog with my sister Kate and Patrick, who initially actually agreed for my sake.
We are all gourmets and we love culinary and experiments. Aesthetics are very important to us and we can cooperate easily.
As for the name of the blog, when I was 6 - 7, I loved the fuss in the kitchen very much. My dad liked how I cooked. He was just was complaining about too much salt. So he decided that since my name was Mari, my better half’s name should have been Li, thus together we would be Mari-Li, i.e. salt. I always kept in my mind that I should have definitely call something salt. Hence the blog name “Marili”, i.e. salt.
What is your source of culinary inspiration?
My source of inspiration is always colors. I love to play with colors and when it all turns into a game of tastes, I can hardly leave my kitchen. I get inspiration mostly when I wake up at night or in the morning.
I’m most attracted by vegetarian food and I’m very passionate about creating veggie burgers. I have found out that when I use only plant products, my imagination and creativity increases. Moreover, the dishes are extraordinarily beautiful and colorful.
Which part of Germany do you live in and what dishes are typical for this region?
Frankfurt belongs to Hesse region and is famous for its Frankfurt green sauce, which is very tasty and is usually eaten with boiled potatoes and boiled eggs. Potatoes in any forms, as well as sausages, meat, fish dishes are typical for this region as for German cuisine in general.
The dish we have chosen is very typical for German and we think it is not unfamiliar for Georgian cuisine. The fish is made slightly different, which, as we think, should fascinate our reader. I first tasted this dish about 9 -10 years ago and in fact it was my first contact with German cuisine, which, as you can see, developed in quite a friendly manner.
Roasted herring with fried potatoes
Ingredients:
Preparation:
1. Peel off 4 onions and cut them into rings.
2. Pour 1/2 liter of water, vinegar, 1.5 tbs salt, sugar, bay leaf, mustard and pepper seeds, put on the oven and boil for 5 minutes when boils.
3. Add onion rings and continue boiling for about 2-3 minutes. Then leave marinade to cool.
4. Wash the herring well and dry it.
5. Put salt on a plate. Salt the herring inside and outside and dip into flour.
6. Pour oil on a pan and fry herring on both sides until golden. When it gets cool, put it in the sauce, cover with a lid and leave it in a fridge for 24 hours.
7. Day 2: Wash the potatoes and put them in boiling water. Boil for about 20 minutes. Let cool, peel off and cut into rings.
8. Cut 1 onion into cubes.
9. Melt the butter on the pan, add the potatoes, fry and mix at the same time. Then add onion, salt and pepper.
10. Serve with dill
