"Rick Kunkel" > wrote in message
news : Hello all. Tonight for dinner, I threw some water, rice, and a
: chicken breast in pan to cook. About halfway through the rice
: cooking, I threw in some (all finely diced or minced) carrots, celery,
: potatoes, mushrooms, garlic, and onion. Also, a bay leaf. After it
: was done, I finely chopped the now-cooked chicken breast, mixed it
: back in with the other stuff, and stuffed the mixture in warm pocket
: bread. It was supposed to be kind of a quickie budget piroshky or
: something like that.
:
: Anyhow, my question revolves around suggested spicing. I added some
: chicken base, salt, pepper, and curry seasoning to this batch, but it
: just seemed a little blandish or something.
:
: Does anyone have any suggestions for what I could have used? What are
: typical Russian spices? Heck, what do you call the area that's kind
: of southwestern Russia? Asian Minor? The Near East? Anyhow...
: yeah... typical of that region.

its not only an idea of which spice, but the manner and order inwhich they are
added. Many spices are used when there is only oil/fat in the pan, to aid
extraction of the flavour. You only had water, that is why it was bland. One
needs hot fat to derive flavour from chicken and vegetables, too. Maybe you'll
like Persian cooking: chicken, rice, veg and flavour.
cheers
Wazza
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