Easy, Delicious, and Exotic Christmas Dishes You Can Make at Home

Tired of your ordinary Christmas fare and hoping to serve something a little more exotic this holiday? Maybe you really want to prepare some exotic Christmas dishes, but you aren't sure where to start. If you don't have a lot of experience with cooking, but you still want to try some recipes for exotic Christmas dishes, here are three Christmas exotic dishes that you can try this year.

Bridget Jones and the Turkey Curry Buffet

Remember Bridget Jones' Diary and the infamous Turkey Curry Buffet where she met Mark (ala Colin Firth) in the reindeer jumper? Yes, you really can make your own turkey curry, even if you're nowhere near an expert chef. Even Bridget Jones, queen of blue soup, could prepare this recipe successfully!

The main thing to turkey curry success is starting early: you'll need two cups of cooked turkey meat, so the best thing for you, as a non-chef, to do to get that turkey is to snag some extra turkey from your family Thanksgiving. Take the extra turkey home, chop it into ½ inch cubes and freeze it in a reusable plastic container, a recycled glass jar, or a freezer plastic bag.

[This is an excellent leftover turkey recipe as well, so you don't have to wait until Christmas to try it!]

You should be able to find all of the items for the recipe in your local grocery store, but here's a few tips:

1) Yes, you can use dried garlic powder or ginger powder in place of the fresh garlic or gingerroot. Purists will want to stick with the fresh stuff, but your recipe will taste just fine if you substitute dried for fresh.

2) Can't find fresh cilantro? Look in your store's freezer section. Trader Joe's sells frozen cilantro. No luck? You can stick this ingredient without hurting anything.

3) Yes, there is a difference between coconut milk and coconut juice. Stick with the coconut milk.

4) Almost any grocery store these days will carry curry power and ground coriander. You might need to visit the larger stores in your areas if you can't find it at the first one.

5) Serve your curry over Basmati rice. No Basmati? Jasmine is an excellent second choice, and in a pinch, just use regular white rice.

Steak and Kidney Pie

Turkey curry not exotic enough for you? Why not try your hand at a traditional British dish, Steak and Kidney Pie? Your cooking skills will need to be a bit more advanced than for the turkey curry, but the recipe provided offers detailed step-by-step instructions. Why not give it a whirl?

While it might sound like something a cannibal would serve at a holiday bash, it's actually a delicious dish that you should try before you judge. You'll need a trip to your local butcher for the kidneys, and get over your embarrassment of asking for something that might feel "weird" to you: you won't be surprising the butcher with the request, and the dish will not taste the same without this vital ingredient.

Brisket with Apricots and Apples

Finally, for the expert chef or the person with the most discriminating tastes, why not experiment with Joan Nathan's Brisket with Apricots and Apples or Alain Joseph's Haitian Soupe Jaune. The recipes are listed on the linked page, and you can listen to an interview with chef Joan Nathan on NPR as well from this site.

Happy holidays!