I don't care where you got your whole urad daal (black lentils) or that you're going to pressure cook - make sure you pick through first before rinsing and using
Probably about 20 years ago in Dublin my then boyfriend and I made Puerco Pibil from the Robert Rodriguez movie “Once upon a time in Mexico” and never got around to making it again as you need some special ingredients (banana leaves, annato seeds, habañero chillies) that were hard to come by where we were living after we moved away from Ireland. The other day my now husband and I watched the movie with our son and decided it was time to eat this dish again. I did the shopping and my husband cooked. This turned out so well, it was well worth all the planning and effort. The meat had turned so soft! And the spices were absolutely mouth watering. 🤤
OMG, cleaning out the fridge & I’ve made an amazing curry-ish soup. It has cinnamon, coriander, cumin, chili powder, turmeric, hot pepper pickle brine, & so many other seasonings.
But I tossed carrots, onion, & celery in bacon fat, salt, & chili powder, then hard roasted ‘em in the air fryer.
Meanwhile, I cooked out my spices with ginger & garlic, then added 2 old apples. Finished with stock & coconut milk, & a bit of coconut aminos (or soy sauce) & lemon juice. It’s magic. #food#cooking
Mapo (or Mabo) Nasu. Minced meat with aubergine in a dark sauce. Good as always but noticeably darker than when I made this before. I was so annoyed with it being so pale last time and this time I didn’t really do anything different. Maybe it’s the new oyster sauce or a slightly bigger amount of Haccho Miso that did the trick. I also used more meat but that should not influence the colour. 🤔
wanted to use up some cooking chocolate, so i made this chocolate lava cake. doesn't look as good as it did warm but tastes gorgeous for a 40 minute recipe.
I had bought some ready made cevapcici last week which I got out of the freezer last night. The name alone makes me think of 1970s style summer holidays in what used to be Yugoslavia. I never went there but Balkan style food got very popular with Germans and there used to be Yugoslav restaurants everywhere. Strangely we never went there either as far as I remember, so it took me until well into the 2020s to discover the delight they are.
I researched what to eat with the cevapcici and settled on tomato rice and a Greek style farmers’ salad with lots of feta cheese. I also made sure to have Ajvar in the house, another specialty from that region, a dip made from bell peppers and it’s supposed to be spicy.
What can I say, the family was very satisfied, my son said this felt like summer on a plate and made him happy. 🤩
The only letdown were both versions of Ajvar, neither of them were spicy, not even what Germans call “pikant”, despite both jars claiming to be just that. Next time I buy Ajvar from a Turkish supermarket. 🔥
Sooooo, is this mess going to turn into something edible? What I’ve been craving so much is hard to find in the US Southwest but I got the taste when I lived in Beaumont TX next to Lose-e-anna. Took Zatarain dry mix but sautéed sliced Andouille sausage with onions, celery and then added garlic and drained diced tomatoes with chilies. It smells amazing. Saved 3 cups white rice from last night for this. Photo is taken way early in simmering. I never tried to make it B4. #Supper#Cooking#Cajun
Starting a slow simmer, leftover rotisserie chicken and tomato sauce, red onion, poblano, garlic. There's oregano on the porch, but that's later. I'll have it over rice, eventually 😋
I wanted to make an udon soup dish and when I read that I need dashi I thought, don’t I still have some instant soup packages from one of my kokorocares.com deliveries left in the shelf? I pulled out the pack of Kyushu Dashi Hot Pot Soup from my winter box and when I red the ingredients list (flying fish, bonito flakes, shrimp and obviously more) I instantly changed my mind. No more simple udon soup but hot pot it was!
I got my induction cooker for the table out, put the four packs of concentrated soup base in a saucepan with the right amount of water and heated that up.
Of course I also got out a range of things to put in there and had prepared them:
🥢 Napa cabbage, the top of the head in one piece 😅
🥢 May turnip, sliced thinly
🥢 Carrot, cut into “flowers”
🥢 Spring onion, in 4 cm pieces
🥢 Spinach, chiffoned, to be used like a topping
🥢 Shimeji mushrooms, roughly separated
🥢 Smoked tofu with almonds, sliced
🥢 Thin pork meat rolls (from Spain!)
🥢 Chinese dumplings with tasty fillings
Yes, there were also udon noodles, and I decided to make this a little more Chinese by adding a punchy dipping sauce with sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar and chilli pul biber.
I think the whole affair cooked for about ten minutes and by that time it was perfect so I turned the temperature down and called the family.
I don’t know how but this was sooooo good and so perfect on a cold almost wintery day! I really think it was the absolutely delicious soup base that made this, we finished it all in one setting. (I remember having a flying fish based soup product from Kokorocares before and I loved that too.) But I also have to give a honorary mention to the May turnip which was exquisite and the Spanish pork that had a great taste.
made burgs. ...can't really see them but they've got pepper and jalapeno in 'em. They were really good! Juicy, probably didn't need the second slice of cheese.
Nothing fancy but I'm trying to get myself making at least something almost every day to work back into 'real' meals.
I can do the Hello Fresh recipes and they're great but getting in the mood just crushes me and then the ingredients are rotten. baby steps
Tonight's lasagna.
Ah that undercurrent of nutmeg in the balsamella, and the mushroom and umami in the ragu (robust enough that it hardly matters it's non Bolognese).
It looked good in the oven through the glass, and took quite a bit to let it sit in the oven 20 mins after switch off before taking it out.
Cued up some Rosemary Clooney and opened a bottle of wine too this fine weeknight #Food#cooking