Sri Lankan Roasted Curry Powder

As far as I know, Sri Lanka only has two curry powders. There is the coriander-rich, lemongrass-scented roasted curry powder, which is used for meat dishes. And there is the coconut-and-rice-based untoasted blend, which is used for vegetable dishes. There are, of course, local/familial variations on each of these, but all the variants are generally recognizable as being a take on one of the two core blends: toasted or untoasted.

I had to make a few adjustments to this recipe. Mainly because I didn't have any lemongrass stalks on hand. I was working with frozen minced lemongrass. I did my best to estimate equivalents, but I think it would have worked better to just use a stalk of lemongrass as called for. That said, having the minced stuff on hand did make it easier to grind the finished spice mix to a powder!

Sri Lankan Roasted Curry Powder (for Meat)

Slightly adapted from Sri Lankan Flavours by Channa Dassanayaka

Ingredients

• 3cm piece of lemongrass (white part)
• 1 small (3-4cm) stick of cinnamon
• 1 dried Thai, cayenne, or arbol chili (optional)
• 1/4 c. coriander seeds
• 5-6 fresh curry leaves
• 5-6cm piece of pandanus (rampe/screwpine) leaf, torn into pieces
• 1 green cardamom pod
• 2 whole cloves
• 2 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 2 Tbsp. fennel seeds

Directions

1. Toast lemongrass, cinnamon, and chili (if using) over medium heat until lightly browned (2-3 minutes).
2. Add coriander, curry leaves, pandanus leaf, cardamom, and cloves and toast for another minute or so.
3. Add cumin and fennel and remove from heat.
4. Allow to sit in hot pan for 30-60 seconds to allow cumin and fennel to lightly toast.
5. Transfer mixture to plate to cool.
6. Once cool, transfer to spice grinder and grind to a fine powder.

This originated as "Pasta Salad with Tuna and Olives" in Edmonds, and is, apart from the pasta itself, served completely uncooked. I wanted something a bit more, well, warm and cooked for dinner, so I made some changes to the preparation, as well as scaling it up to use up a standard 375g box of pasta.

Tuna & Olive Pasta Not-Salad

Heavily adapted from Edmonds Cookery Book, 69th edition, p.169

Ingredients

• 375g dried pasta; whole wheat rotini works well
• 60mL olive oil
• 1½ red onions, thinly sliced
• 5 sticks celery, finely sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1½ red or yellow bell pipers, seeded and diced
• 2 tins tuna in water, drained
• ⅓C black olive slices
• 2 tomatoes, cored and diced
• 15mL yellow mustard
• 30mL wine vinegar
• salt and pepper
• parsley
  

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat.
2. Add the onion, celery, and garlic. Cook until the onion just starts to turn translucent.
3. Add the bell pepper. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Continue cooking, stirring often, until the vegetables have softened slightly and the taste of the onions has mellowed.
4. Stir in the tomatoes, tuna, olives, mustard, and vinegar. Reduce heat to low and let them heat through.
5. Meanwhile, cook the pasta al dente in salted water.
6. Toss the pasta with the vegetable/tuna mix. Serve with parmesan.

German (Faux-)Sourdough Rye

I'm still learning how to work with rye flour. I struggle to get good structure, even with rye-wheat blends. I feel like I did fairly decently with this mixed wheat-rye sourdough. It sitll wasn't perfect, but it was much better than my previous ventures into rye breads.

I will note that this isn't a "true" sourdough. It does use sourdough starter to add some flavour and acidity, but it also relies on commercial yeast for much of the leavening power.

German Sourdough Rye

Slightly adapted from the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book

Ingredients

Basic Sour

• 1/3 c. ripe/fed sourdough starter
• 60g whole rye flour
• 70g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• ~1/4 c. water

Full Sour

• basic sour (see above)
• 1 c. water + 2-4 Tbsp. water, divided
• 255g whole rye flour

Dough

• 4 tsp. active dry yeast (or 1 Tbsp. instant yeast)
• 1 1/2 c. warm water
• full sour (see above)
• 385g whole rye flour
• 450g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 3 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. caraway seeds
• up to 1 1/2 c. water

Directions

Basic Sour

1. Combine the starter, flours, and enough water to make a stiff dough.
2. Cover and allow to rest at room temperature for ~12 hours.

Full Sour

1. Soften the basic sour in the water.
2. Work in the flour to make a very stiff, clay-like dough. You may need to add a little bit of extra water, but the dough should remain quite stiff.
3. Knead the dough a little bit, working in another 2-4 Tbsp. of water to soften it slightly. Do not add so much water that the dough becomes sticky.
4. Cover and let stand for ~4 hours.

Dough

1. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
2. Combine the yeast mixture with the full sour, rye flour, wheat flour, salt, and caraway seeds to make a stiff dough.
3. Begin kneading the dough, working in up to another 1 1/2 c. of water to make a soft dough. Do not add so much water or knead for so long that the dough becomes sticky. (Rye doughs can become sticky or slimy if overworked.)
4. Cover and let rest for 10-15 minutes.
5. Divide dough into two equal portions and shape into loaves. (Round/freeform is preferable for this bread.) Use lots of water during shaping to prevent the dough from tearing.
6. If desired, you may transfer the shaped loaves to well-floured bannetons at this point. If not using bannetons, let the dough rise in greased bowls instead.
7. Cover and let rise until dough becomes soft. (This will likely only take 30 minutes for a warm rise or up to an hour for a room temperature rise. You may also choose to do a cold rise in the fridge. This will likely take 4-8 hours depending on the dough and its treatment up to this point.)
8. Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F) and prepare a baking sheet and/or Dutch oven. (I recommend using parchment paper in the Dutch oven. On the baking sheet greasing and dusting with cornmeal works well.)
9. Carefully transfer a loaf to the baking sheet or Dutch oven.
10. Bake with steam (by adding water to the Dutch oven and covering it, adding ice cubes to the baking sheet, or placing a pan of boiling water below the baking bread) for 15-20 minutes.
11. After 20 minutes reduce the temperature to 190°C (375°F). At this point you can remove the source of steam/uncover the Dutch oven. Continue baking for 45-60 minutes.

This was okay. I used fancy buckwheat and sweet potato soba noodles for it and I wasn't super thrilled with how they came out. I think it'd be better with regular soba noodles.

Soba Noodle Salad

Slightly adapted from The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

• 350g dried soba noodles
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. mirin
• 1/4 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ginger paste
• 1/8 tsp. wasabi paste
• 1 watermelon radish, peeled and shredded
• 1 green onion, sliced thin
• nori, cut into matchsticks, to garnish

Directions

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add the noodles and salt.
2. Boil, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
3. Drain noodles and rinse under cold water.
4. Toss with sesame oil.
5. Add soy sauce, mirin, sugar, ginger paste, and wasabi paste to noodles and toss noodles to coat with sauce mixture.
6. Top with radish, green onion, and nori and serve.

Somewhere between okonomiyaki and an unfolded omelette, this pancake consists largely of beaten eggs and cabbage with a few other things thrown in for colour and flavour.

Aaron's version involves adding a bit of bacon to the batter and then serving the finished pancaked topped with teriyaki sauce, bonito flakes, and mayo. I didn't have any teriyaki sauce on hand and didn't feel like making it. I also didn't have any bonito flakes. Or bacon. I ended up replacing the bacon with tinned tuna, omitting the bonito flakes, and using hoisin in place of the teriyaki. Quite a few changes from the original recipe for sure, but it still came out delicious! Great for a cheap, easy meal or midnight snack. I served it with egg rice balls, but you could have it on its own in a pinch.

Cabbage Pancake

Adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 70-80g shredded/julienned cabbage
• 20-30g drained canned tuna
• 1 large green onion, sliced on bias
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. oil
• teriyaki or hoisin sauce, to serve
• bonito flakes, to serve (optional)
• mayo, to serve

Directions

1. Combine cabbage, tuna, green onion, salt, pepper, and eggs in a bowl and mix well.
2. Heat oil over medium-low heat.
3. Pour cabbage mixture into pan and cook until underside is golden and pancake holds together reasonably well.
4. Flip and cook until other side is golden and pancake is cooked through.
5. Top with teriyaki or hoisin sauce.
6. Top with bonito flakes (if using).
7. Drizzle with mayo.

I was slightly intimidated by the idea of trying to wrap an entire boiled egg in rice, but it turns out to be surprisingly easy to do! They will fall apart a bit once you start eating them, but getting the rice to adhere for assembly is pleasingly easy. And I appreciate how simple the recipe is too. Just boil a few eggs and peel them, then wrap them in nori, and press on a bit of seasoned sushi/short-grain rice. I chose to garnish mine with a bit of furikake rice seasoning and serve with mayo, but they're perfectly tasty served plain as well.

Korean-Style Egg Rice Balls

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 5 eggs
• 400g cooked sushi/short-grain rice
• 1 tsp. seasoned rice vinegar
• 2 tsp. light soy sauce
• 2 tsp. oyster sauce
• 2 tsp. sesame oil
• 1-2 tsp. sesame seeds
• 2 1/2 sheets nori
• furikake rice seasoning (optional)
• mayo (optional)

Directions

1. Boil eggs to your desired doneness. For large eggs, 7 minutes of boiling should result in a slightly soft but not runny yolk. You may wish to adjust the cooking time up or down depending on how hard or soft you like your eggs.
2. Transfer eggs to cold water and, once cool enough to handle, peel them and set aside.
3. Stir the vinegar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and sesame seeds into the cooked rice.
4. Cut the nori sheets in half so that you have 5 half sheets.
5. Wrap each egg in a half sheet of nori. (I found it helped to slightly wet the nori to make it more pliable.)
6. Press some rice onto the nori-wrapped egg. Keep adding more nori to any "bald" spots until the egg is completely covered and no nori shows through.
7. Garnish with furikake (if using) and serve with mayo (if using).

---

Variations

Vegetarian

To make this dish vegetarian simply use vegetarian oyster sauce (this is my default anyway) and omit the furikake (which contains bonito flakes).

Murghi Jalfrezie (Chicken Jalfrezie)

I mostly see jalfrezies in the context of lamb or beef. I don't think I've ever had a chicken one before. But I needed a protein to go with our upside down stew and we had some chicken breast in the freezer, so this seemed like a good option.

This is a very straightforward curry to put together. It's quick to make and pleasantly tasty. It lacks the big, bold, in-your-face flavours of some curries. But if you're looking for something easy, mellow, and approachable, this dish should do nicely.

Murghi jalfrezie (right) and surti undhiyu (left) over rice.

Murghi Jalfrezie

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 450g skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1cm pieces
• 2 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1-2 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 2 blades mace
• 4 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil, divided
• 1 onion, cubed
• 1 bell pepper, cut into 1cm pieces
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 c. water
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Combine ginger paste and galic paste.
2. Add chicken and toss to combine.
3. Cover and chill for 30 minutes or as long as overnight.
4. Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat.
5. Add the coriander, cumin, chilies, and mace and toast, shaking frequently, until chilies are slightly blackened (1-2 minutes).
6. Transfer spices to plate to cool. (Do not leave them in the pan or they could burn and turn bitter.)
7. Once cool, transfer to a spice grinder and finely grind.
8. Heat 2 Tbsp. of the oil over medium-high heat.
9. Add the chicken and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.
10. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
11. Add remaining 2 Tbsp. of oil to pan along with onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until onion just beings to brown (2-3 minutes).
12. Remove veggies from pan and set aside with the chicken.
13. Add the tomato paste and water to the pan and whisk until smooth.
14. Scrape the bottom of the pan to deglaze and release any stuck on bits.
15. Add the ground spices and salt.
16. Return the chicken and vegetables to the pan and stir to coat with sauce.
18. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked through (3-5 minutes).
19. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve (preferably over nice).

Elambuchambu Shaadum (Lime-Flavoured Rice with Yellow Split Peas)

Apparently this is a traditional Indian wedding dish. I made it because it was suggested as a particularly good accompaniment to gosht poshto. I think next time I'd make something without the legume component. It was alright, but I found it a little heavy. I think I would've preferred a lighter, fluffier rice dish to go with the lamb. I'd be inclined to make something like palak pulao next time. I think it would go beautifully with the lamb and poppy seeds. And the spinach would give it a bit of a veggie boost as well.

Elambuchambu Shaadum

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. yellow split peas
• 2 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1-2 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 1 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1-1 1/2 c. water
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 12 fresh curry leaves
• 1-2 fresh green Thai chilies, cut crosswise into 1cm pieces

Directions

1. Soak peas in hot water for 15 minutes, drain, and pat dry.
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat or sauté "medium" if using InstantPot.
3. Add mustard seeds, cover, and cook until they've stopped popping (30-60 seconds).
4. Add the split peas and dried chilies and cook until chilies have blackened (2-4 minutes).
5. Add the rice and toss with pea-spice mixture to coat.
6. If using InstantPot, add 1 c. water. Add 1 1/2 c. water for stovetop preparation.
7. Add the salt and stir to mix.
8. If using InstantPot, seal and set to pressure cook on "high" for 20 minutes. Once cooking time has elapsed, allow for a 10-minute natural release. If using stove-top, bring to a boil (still over medium-high heat) and cook, without stirring, until surface looks dry and craters begin to form. Stir once, cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for another 8-10 minutes. Turn off heat and let pot stand, covered, for 10 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, combine lime juice, turmeric, curry leaves, and fresh chilies in a bowl.
10. Remove lid and fluff rice (for both InstantPot and stovetop).
11. Pour lime juice mixture into rice and mix well.
12. Serve on its own or as a substrate for your favourite curries.

Another backlog recipe, so not much of a writeup, sorry!

White Beans with Mushrooms and Marinara

Budget Bytes

Ingredients

• 225g cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 30mL oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 480mL marinara sauce
• 2 445mL tins of white (butter) beans
• 2.5mL dried basil
• red pepper flakes, grated
  
• 113g mozzarella
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Heat the oil in a large, oven-safe skillet over medium heat.
3. Add the mushrooms and sauté until their moisture has released and cooked off. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
   
4. Add the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
5. Add the butter beans, marinara sauce, basil, and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Stir to combine and cook until heated through.
6. Top skillet with mozzarella. Bake until the cheese has melted; give it a few minutes under the broiler for extra browning if desired.
7. Serve with garlic bread.

Paneer Hariyali (Green Paneer)

Green from the peas, mint, cilantro, and chilies, this makes a really flavourful and pleasantly easy dish to round out a meal. It could be the protein component of a vegetarian dinner. I ended up serving it as an accompaniment alongside gosht poshto and elambuchambu shaadum. It definitely held its own against the lamb and I'd be hard-pressed to say which was my favourite. Definitely a recipe worth hanging on to!

This recipe worked out particularly well since I had a bunch of expired whole milk that needed to be used up. (It wasn't bad, it was just past its "best before" and I wanted to use it up quickly before it actually spoiled.) I figured that a direct-acidified cheese like paneer was a shoe-in for the job of using up a large quantity of old milk. And picking a recipe that specifically called for crumbled paneer meant that I didn't have to worry about pressing it; I just drained the curds and left them in a container in the fridge until I was ready to make the curry. Very convenient!

Paneer Hariyali

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds, cracked
• 2 c. frozen green peas
• 225g paneer, crumbled
• 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh mint
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. Punjabi garam masala
• 2-6 fresh green Thai chilies, minced
• 1 c. water

Directions

1. Heat ghee over medium-high heat.
2. Add onion and cracked cumin and cook until onion is transluscent (2-3 minutes).
3. Add the peas (it's fine if they're still frozen), cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender (~5 minutes).
4. Add paneer, cilantro, mint, salt, garam masala, chilies, and water and bring to a boil.
5. Serve with rice or flatbread of choice. (Iyer suggests rotis.)

Another recipe from the backlog that I don't remember much about. We used feta instead of cotija for the cheese, and we couldn't find pre-made tostada shells so we made our own; this recipe reflects that. If you have access to tostada shells skip all the taffing around with the tortillas and just use those.

Mexican Street Corn Tostadas

Isabel Eats

Ingredients

• 8 medium tortillas
• Corn oil
  
• One 15 oz tin whole kernel corn, drained
• ¼ C mayonnaise
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• ⅓ C fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• Juice of half a lime
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp feta cheese, crumbled, plus more for serving
• One 15oz tin refried beans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Lightly oil and salt the tortillas; place on a baking sheet (or multiple baking sheets) and bake until crispy, 5-10 minutes per side.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix together corn, mayo, onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and feta.
4. Heat the refried beans in the microwave until warmed through.
5. Once the tostadas are done, spread each one with refried beans, top with the corn mixture, sprinkle over more feta, and serve.

Gosht Poshto (Poppy Seed Lamb)

Even before I started reducing my meat intake, lamb was pretty rare in our kitchen. Now it's almost unheard of. I ended up with a small amount a few weeks ago though. With it being such an infrequent and special thing, I wanted to make sure I put it to the best use possible. I spent quite a while flipping through the curry cookbook looking for the perfect recipe to make with it. I ended up settling on gosht poshto, a Bengali specialty full of toasted white poppy seeds.

Iyer suggests serving this curry with elambuchambu shaadum and Kutchi paneer. I made the rice dish, but I substited the suggested paneer curry for a different one: paneer hariyali. The green paneer worked much better for my purposes as it calls for crumbled paneer and I felt like the mint would complement the lamb nicely. Plus it was a recipe we hadn't tried before whereas we'd already done the Kutchi paneer previously.

I think the rice actually ended up being the weakest part of the meal. The lamb and the paneer were both excellent! I would definitely make either one of them again. Except, realistically, if I get more lamb, I'm going to try out a new recipe rather than repeating something we've already made. But the sentiment is there.

Gosht Poshto

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. ginger paste
• 2 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 450g cubed lamb (boneless leg of lamb or stewing lamb)
• 2 Tbsp. mustard oil
• 1 Tbsp. panch phoron
• 1-4 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 4 bay leaves (Indian/cassia or bay laurel)
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 1/2 c. water, divided
• 2 Tbsp. white poppy seeds
• 1/2 tsp. Bangala garam masala

Directions

1. Combine ginger paste, garlic paste, cilantro, and lamb and mix well.
2. Cover and cill for at least one hour. (Overnight is best.)
3. Heat oil over medium-high heat.
4. Add panch phoron and chilies and cook for 15-20 seconds.
5. Add the lamb, onion, and bay leaves and cook, stirring, until meat is beginning to brown and the onion is softened (8-10 minutes).
6. Stir in the salt.
7. Add 1 c. water and degaze the pan.
8. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the lamb is very tender (30-35 minutes).
9. Meanwhile, heat a small skillet over medium-high heat.
10. Add the poppy seeds to the small skillet and toast them, shaking frequently, for 1-2 minutes. They should be lightly browned, but not burnt, and smell rich and nutty.
11. Transfer poppy seeds to a plate to cool. Do not leave them in the hot skillet or they may burn!
12. Once the poppy seeds have cooled, grind them and set aside.
13. Once the lamb is tender, stir in the ground toasted poppy seeds and the garam masala.
14. Add the remaining 1/2 c. water and stir once or twice to combine.
15. Serve over rice.

Panch Phoron (Five Spice Blend)

This is the easiest spice blend there is. Not only are the spices not toasted first, they're not even ground! You simply add the appropriate quantities of each seed and give it a quick stir to mix everything up. It doesn't get much easier than that!

Panch Phoron

From 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp. nigella seeds
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and mix well. That's it! You're done.

Bangala Garam Masala (Eastern Indian Warming Spice Blend)

I was very surprised at how short and simple the ingredients list for this garam masala were. Not everything has to be bottle masala, of course, but I'm used to most blends containing at least five or six different spices. This one has just three!

Bangala Garam Masala

From 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 tsp. whole cloves
• 1 tsp. cardamom seeds from green pods
• 4 (3") cinnamon sticks, broken into smaller pieces

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients and grind in a spice/coffee grinder until the mixture reaches a coarsely ground black pepper consistency. (This may take several passes and the cloves and cinnamon are fairly difficult to break down.)

We cooked this half a year ago, so I remember very little about it except that it was tasty.

Vegetarian West African Peanut Soup

Cookie and Kate

Ingredients

• 4 C low-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 C water
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 tbsp minced fresh ginger or ginger paste
  
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ tsp salt
• ¾ C unsalted peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
• ½ C tomato paste
• 1 bunch kale, ribs removed and chopped into strips
• 1 brick methi
  
• sriracha to taste
  
• ¼ C roughly chopped peanuts, for garnish

Directions

1. Combine broth and water in a dutch oven. Bring to a boil.
   
2. Add the onion, ginger, garlic, and salt. Reduce heat to medium low and cook, uncovered, for ~20 minutes.
3. In a heat-safe mixing bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, tomato paste, and 1-2 cups of the stock mix. When smooth, pour back into the dutch oven.
4. Add the kale and methi and simmer, uncovered, for another 15-20 minutes, stirring often.
   
5. Season with sriracha to taste, garnish with peanuts, and serve over rice.

I honestly did not have high hopes for this recipe from Hello Fresh just because the Kidlet has been very averse to mushrooms in recent years, but -- possibly due to the generous helping of brie -- she loved it!

Unfortunately, like most Hello Fresh vegetarian dishes, it is very short on protein; you definitely want to accompany it with something.

Brie & Mushroom Sandwich with Spinach & Green Bean Salad

Hello Fresh

Ingredients

• 56g whole cashews
• 30+30mL oil, divided
  
• 340g green beans, trimmed and halved crosswise
• 113g baby spinach
• 30mL whole grain mustard
• 2.5mL sugar
  
• 450g cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 small onion, sliced
  
• 60mL tbsp balsamic glaze (some sort of balsamic vinegar/sugar mix, I think?)
• 250g brie, sliced
  
• 4 ciabatta buns

Directions

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Toast the cashews until golden-brown, stirring often, 4-5 minutes; remove to a plate.
2. Add 30mL of oil, the green beans, and 60mL water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender-crisp, another 4-5 minutes.
3. While vegetables are cooking, slice ciabatta buns. Cover bottom halves with brie. Toast or broil until top is toasty and brie on bottom has melted.
   
4. Remove the green beans to a bowl, season with salt and pepper to taste, and toss with the spinach, mustard, sugar, and cashews.
   
5. Add the remaining oil to the skillet, along with the mushrooms and onions. Cook, covered, until the mushrooms release their moisture.
6. Uncover and continue cooking until the moisture has cooked off and the mushrooms soften, ~5 minutes.
7. Stir in balsamic glaze and cook until thickened, 1-2 minutes.
   
8. Top each bun with some of the mushroom-onion mix.
9. Toss any remaining mix with the green bean and spinach salad. Serve.

This Hello Fresh dinner was a huge hit with the Kidlet, who declared it her favourite that she wanted to have for every pasta dish forever. symbol and I enjoyed it, but were not that enthusiastic about it.

I've adjusted the recipe slightly to reduce the number of moving parts; in particular, more things go straight into the sauce rather than being added as a garnish at the end.

Bocconcini Romesco Pasta

Hello Fresh

Ingredients

• 340g cavatappi
  
• 200g bocconcini, cut into 8ths
  
• 30mL parsely, coarsely chopped
• 2.5-5mL red pepper flakes
  
• salt and pepper
• 10+30mL oil, divided
  
• 56g almonds, finely chopped
  
• 340mL roasted red peppers in glass, drained and chopped
  
• 4-6 garlic cloves, minced
• 30mL smoked paprika
  
• 740mL crushed tomatoes
• 2 large shallots, finely chopped
• 30mL red wine vinegar
• 60mL butter

Directions

1. Begin boiling and salting the water for the pasta -- you'll need some of the pasta water.
   
2. Combine bocconcini, parsley, red pepper flakes, 1mL salt, and 10mL oil in a small bowl; set aside.
3. Heat a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Add the almonds and toast, stirring frequently, until lightly browned, 3-4 minutes -- do not burn!
4. Add 30mL oil, the roasted red peppers, and the shallots. Continue cooking until the almonds soften slightly, 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the garlic, vinegar, paprika, and crushed tomatoes. Cook, stirring often, until the sauce reduces slightly, ~5 minutes.
6. When the pasta is done al dente, drain, reserving 120mL pasta water.
7. Add the reserved water, butter, and marinated bocconcini to the sauce; stir to combine and let thicken slightly more. Taste for salt and pepper and adjust as needed.
8. Toss with the pasta and serve.

Penne al Prosciutto e Pomodori Secchi (Penne with Prosciutto, Sundried Tomatoes & Cream)

More prosciutto-based pasta! We were still out of prosciutto so we used bacon for this one (and omitted all other salt in the recipe); it worked out well. We also used vegetable tortellini rather than penne to make the meal a bit more substantial.

Penne al Prosciutto e Pomodori Secchi

The Classic Pasta Cookbook, p.117

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried penne
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 oz (56 g) prosciutto, cut into thin strips
• 2 tbsp sundried tomatoes in oil, coarsely chopped
• 1 C heavy cream
• ¼ C freshly grated parmesan
  

Directions

1. Begin boiling the water for the pasta.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat.
3. When the butter is melted, add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it softens and turns translucent.
4. Add the prosciutto and cook until it begins to brown.
5. Add the sundried tomatoes and cream and cook until the cream has reduced by half; remove from the heat.
6. When the pasta is cooked al dente, toss with the sauce and cheese and serve.

 

Fettuccine al Prosciutto e Asparagi (Fettucini with Prosciutto and Asparagus)

I could have sworn I'd written this up before, but apparently not! It's basically just alfredo with asparagus, onion, and prosciutto, so if you've made any other "alfredo with ____" recipes you probably already have an idea how it's going to go.

I've presented it here almost as written (apart from switching from boiling to sauteeing the asparagus), but I can state from personal experience that bell peppers make a tasty addition to it, rotelle works fine as a pasta, and if you don't have any prosciutto, thinly sliced salami will do in a pinch.

Fettuccine al Prosciutto e Asparagi

The Classic Pasta Cookbook, p.95

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried fettuccine
• 3 tbsp butter
• ½ lb asparagus, trimmed and cut into ¾" lengths
  
• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
• 4 oz (115g) prosciutto, cut into thin strips
• 1 C heavy cream
• ½ C freshly grated parmesan
  

Directions

1. Get some salted water boiling for the pasta.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large, deep-sided skillet over medium heat.
3. Add the onion and cook until it begins to soften.
4. Add the prosciutto and asparagus, and cook until the prosciutto begins to darken and lose its raw colour and the asparagus softens.
   
5. Stir in the cream and cook, stirring frequently, until reduced by half; remove from the heat.
6. When the pasta is cooked al dente, drain and toss with the sauce and cheese.

Rotelle coi Gameberi e Asparagi (Rotelle with Shrimp and Asparagus)

Shrimp is a rare treat in this household, since the Kidlet is allergic to it, but the other day I had a chance to indulge and I took it. This is heavily adapted from tagliatelle coi gamberi e asparagi; apart from changing the pasta shape, I switched from boiling the asparagus separately to sauteeing it with the shrimp, and then boiling the asparagus trimmings to add a bit more flavour.

I was cooking just for myself, so I scaled it down; I have used the original recipe here.

Rotelle coi Gameberi e Asparagi

Adapted from The Classic Pasta Cookbook, p.98

Ingredients

• 1 lb rotelle
• ¾ lb asparagus, whole
  
• ¼ C olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¾ lb raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and chopped into ½" pieces
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp butter, at room temperature
  

Directions

1. Put on some salted water to boil, for the pasta.
2. Break the ends off the asparagus and reserve them; cut the rest of the asparagus into 1" pieces.
   
3. Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat.
4. Add the cut asparagus and garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant and the asparagus just starting to soften, 1-2 minutes.
5. Add the shrimp, season generously with black pepper. and cook, stirring often, until the shrimp is cooked through; remove from the heat.
6. Once the water boils, add the pasta and asparagus trimmings. Cook until the pasta is al dente; drain, reserving half a cup of water. Discard the asparagus trimmings.
7. Add the water to the skillet and return to the heat until it has mostly cooked off. (You can do this while the shrimp is still cooking if the pasta finishes early.)
8. Add the pasta to the skillet, toss with the sauce, and serve.
   

Rotini alle Verdure con Salsiccia

This is adapted from "Fettucine alle Verdure" in The Classic Pasta Cookbook; I've probably mangled the Italian in adapting the recipe title to add sausages. The original recipe takes a while to make, but very little effort, and is tasty; however, it's entirely lacking in protein. symbol suggested adding the sausages we had just speculatively prefetched to it, with delicious results. I cooked the sausages separately and added them post hoc, as they were a last-minute addition; this recipe has written as I would have cooked it had the sausages been planned in from the start.

If you're a bit scant on eggplant (as we were) you can always toss in an extra bell pepper. We used Beyond Meat sausages, but I expect it would work just fine with actual pork, too.

Rotini alle Verdure coi Salsiccia

The Classic Pasta Cookbook p.92

Ingredients

• 2 red bell peppers
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• ¼ C olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 lb mild italian sausages, skinned and broken apart
  
• 2 C eggplant, peeled and cut into ½" cubes
• 2 C zucchini, cut into ½" cubes
• 1 yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded, and cut into ½" squares
• salt and black pepper
• 1 lb dried rotini
• ¼ C freshly grated parmesan
  

Directions

1. Half the red bell peppers. Place them on a baking sheet and broil until black and blistered, ~8 minutes. Remove to a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let stand 20 minutes.
2. Remove the bell peppers from the bowl, scrape off the blistered skin, remove the cores, and add to a blender with the butter. Blend low until it forms a uniform red sauce.
3. While the bell peppers are resting, add the olive oil and garlic to a large, deep skillet over medium heat.
4. Once the garlic is sizzling, add the sausage, eggplant, zucchini, and bell pepper. Mix well and then cover, cooking until the vegetables and tender and the sausage is cooked through, ~15 minutes.
5. While all this is happening, start the water boiling for the pasta, and cook it al dente.
   
6. When the vegetables are done, add the bell pepper sauce, along with salt and black pepper to taste; remove from the heat.
7. When the pasta is done, add it and the parmesan to the skillet, toss together, and serve.
   

Fettuccine alle Zucchine e Zafferano (Fettuccine with Zucchini and Saffron Cream)

Another recipe from last year, this is from Guiliano Hazan's ever-reliable Classic Pasta Cookbook. I remember it being tasty, although like most cream sauces I expect it fares poorly in the fridge overnight.

Fettuccine alle Zucchine e Zafferano

The Classic Pasta Cookbook, p.91

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried fettuccini
• 4 tbsp (½ stick) butter
  
• ½ C finely chopped yellow onion
• 1½ lbs zucchini, cut into 1½×¼" strips
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 C heavy cream
• ¼ tsp finely chopped saffron strands
• ⅓ C freshly grated parmesan
  

Directions

1. In the background, begin boiling the water and cooking the pasta al dente.
   
2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
3. Add the onion and cook until it softens and turns a rich golden colour.
4. Raise heat to medium-high and add the zucchini. Cook until tender and lightly browned. Season with salt and black pepper.
5. Add the cream and saffron. Cook, stirring frequently, until reduced by half; remove from the heat.
6. Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. Toss with the cheese and serve at once.
   

These were billed as "whole wheat pancakes", but they've got a whole lot more going on than just a bit of whole wheat flour! The main bulk of the dry ingredients is made up of rolled oats and whole wheat flour, but then you also have wheat germ, oat bran, and sesame seeds as well as inclusions of raisins, walnuts, and apple. I've never had pancakes with sesame seeds in before. It made for an interesting addition. I'm not sure how well they harmonized with the other ingredients, but I found it quite intriguing. In future I might be tempted to swap out the sesame seeds for flax seeds as I think they might complement the other flavours a little better, but the sesame certainly wasn't bad, I just don't think it was optimal.

I also think it would be fun to play around with other inclusions for these. I really liked the rainsins and walnuts, but I felt like they could've done with even more goodies inside. I would've liked more dried fruit and I think a hit of orange would've played very nicely with the cinnamon and walnut already in the mix. I'd be inclined to add a little orange zest and some dried cranberries next time.

Interesting Pancakes

Adapted from The Spruce Eats

Ingredients

• 2 c. milk
• 3/4 c. plain yogurt
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 c. rolled oats
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 2 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. orange zest (optional)
• 1/2 c. raisins
• 1/4 c. dried cranberries (optional)
• 1/4 c. walnuts, finely chopped
• 1/4 c. sesame seeds or flax seeds
• 1/4 c. wheat germ
• 1/4 c. oat bran or wheat bran¹
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 apple, grated

Directions

1. Combine milk, yogurt, and egg and mix well.
2. Stir in oats and honey.
3. Cover and chill overnight or up to three days.
4. The next morning (or several days later), add flour and baking powder and stir to combine.
5. Stir in oil, vanilla, sea salt, and orange zest (if using).
6. Add raisins, cranberries (if using), walnuts, sesame (or flax) seeds, wheat germ, oat (or wheat) bran, and cinnamon and stir to combine.
7. Stir in apple.
8. Heat pan over medium heat. Oil it if necessary.
9. Once the pan is good and hot, start making your pancakes. Use ~1/4 c. of batter per pancake.
10. Once the underside is well-browned and the sides are starting to look dry, flip the pancake(s) and cook the other side.
11. Once both sides are browned and the pancakes are cooked through, remove from pan and repeat the process until all the batter has been used.
12. Serve pancakes warm with butter, applesauce, and/or maple syrup.

---

¹ I didn't remember until after I'd already started mixing up the batter that we'd finally ditched our last little bit of oat bran when we moved. I ended up just tossing in an extra 1/4 c. of oats to make up for the missing bran. Not quite as high fibre maybe, but it still seemed ot work out okay. ^Back

This recipe is from a year ago, so I don't remember anything about it. It looks similar to our pasta with spinach, sundried tomatoes, and feta, so hopefully it's tasty.

The author mentions that pine nuts, while more expensive, would also go well in this.

Skillet Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes, Walnuts, and Feta

Budget Bytes

Ingredients

• ⅓ C walnuts, chopped
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ frozen broccoli florets, coarsely chopped
• 2 C vegetable broth
• ⅓ C sundried tomatoes, sliced
  
• ½ lb farfalle
• zest and juice of 1 fresh lemon
  
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 60 g feta, diced
  

Directions

1. Heat a large, deep skillet over medium-low heat.
2. Add the walnuts and toast, stirring often, until toasty and starting to brown, 1-2 minutes. Remove from the skillet and buffer.
   
3. Increase heat to medium. Add the olive oil and minced garlic and sauté until garlic is fragrant, ~1 minute.
4. Add the broccoli and sauté until just thawed through. Remove and buffer with the walnuts.
   
5. Add the pasta, vegetable broth, tomatoes, lemon juice, and red pepper flakes, and stir to combine.
6. Increase heat to high and cover. Allow the broth to come to a boil, then stir briefly, re-cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender and most of the broth has been absorbed.
7. Stir the broccoli and walnuts back in, and top with feta and lemon zest.

I wanted dessert. We didn't have any dessert. So I made some late-night cookies. These aren't my ideal molasses cookies, but they're chewey and tasty and they hit the spot for the evening.

Molasses Cookies

Slightly adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. cardamom seeds from green pods, ground
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1/3 c. molasses
• 1/4 c. packed brown sugar
• turbinado or sanding sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Sift baking soda into flour.
3. Add cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and salt and whisk to combine.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg, butter, sugar, molasses, and brown sugar.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir to combine.
6. Form the dough into balls and toss with turbinado sugar to coat.
7. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 190°C (375°F) for 8-10 minutes.
9. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Korean-Style Beef Rice Balls (Jumeok-Bap)

I decided to try making these rice balls with short-grain brown rice rather than white. I've successfully made sushi with brown rice before, so I figured I might as well give rice balls a shot. It worked okay, but there were some issues with structural integrity. I found that it was easier to make larger balls than the smaller bite-sized ones. The rice also seemed to stick better once it had cooled down a bit. It still wasn't great though. Possibly having the beef mixed into the rice rather than as a filling interfered with cohesion. Or maybe I just didn't get the rice quite right. If you have concerns about getting everything to hold together, you can always just swap out the brown rice for white. As long as it's a sort- or medium-grain variety with a relatively high starch content it should work well.

Korean-Style Beef Rice Balls

Slightly adapted from the Aaron & Claire YouTube channel

Ingredients

Beef

• 300g-350g ground beef
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar
• 3 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 carrot, minced
• 1 zucchini, minced
• 1 onion, minced

Rice

• 1 1/2 c. short-grain brown rice
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 2 tsp. seasoned rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 sheet nori, crumbled/shredded
• 1 tsp. sesame seeds (optional)

Directions

Beef

1. Season beef with sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and green onions.
2. Heat sesame oil over medium heat and add beef mixture.
3. Cook for a few minutes until the beef is almost cooked.
4. Add the pepper, carrot, zucchini, and onion and cook for another few minutes until veggies have softened.
5. Remove from heat and set aside.

Rice

1. Add rice and water to InstantPot, seal, and cook on high pressure for 20 minutes. Allow a 10-minute natural release. (Or cook rice by your own preferred method, using an amount of water appropriate to the method.)
2. Fluff rice and mix in rice vinegar, sesame oil, nori, and sesame seeds.
3. Stir in 1/2-2/3 of the beef mixture.
4. With wet hands, form rice mixture into balls.
5. Serve as-is or with your favourite sauce. Enjoy the extra beef on the side if you wish.

Korean-Style Tuna-Mayo Rice Balls (Jumeok-Bap)

I made beef rice balls for dinner last night (write-up coming soon). We still had a few left over for dinner tonight, but not enough for a meal. I decided, now that we actually have mayo again, I'd try my hand at these tuna-mayo rice balls. They were delicious!

You can't really get much filling in each one, but I solved that by serving some extra tuna salad on the side. And they weren't as difficult to make as I'd feared. I mean, to be sure, mine weren't perfectly shaped and a few of them did fall apart. But overall, I feel it went pretty well! Especially as a first attempt at it. And the oyster sauce "glaze" really added a nice extra touch. I would definitely make these again.

Korean-Style Tuna-Mayo Rice Balls

From the Aaron & Claire YouTube channel

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. short- or medium-grain white rice (like Calrose or anything labelled "sushi" rice)
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 1 1/2 tsp. seasoned rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 (170g) tin tuna, drained
• 1 tsp. dehydrated minced onion
• 15-20 grinds black pepper
• 1/4 c. mayo
• 1/2 tsp. prepared wasabi
• 1 tsp. light soy sauce¹
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. corn syrup
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• a bit (~1 Tbsp.) extra sesame oil (for frying)

Directions

1. Add rice and water to InstantPot, seal, and cook on high pressure for 4-5 minutes (depending on rice variety).
2. Allow a 10-minute natural release, then open the valve and release the remaining pressure.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the tuna: Combine tuna, onion, pepper, mayo, wasabi, and soy sauce and mix well. Set aside until rice is done.
4. Fluff rice and stir in seasoned rice vinegar and sesame oil.
5. Combine corn syrup and oyster sauce and mix well. Set aside.
6. Pour 1-2 tsp. of sesame oil into a pan and heat it over low heat.
7. With wet hands, grab a good-sized handfull of rice (~1/4 c.) and squeeze into a ball.
8. Press your thumb into the centre of the ball to make a large divot and create more of a bowl shape.
9. Place a small amount of tuna (no more than 1-1 1/2 tsp.) into the divot/bowl.
10. Gently work the sides of the bowl up and over the tuna to completely cover it and seal it in.
11. Squeeze the ball again to get everything sealed.
12. Carefully compress it vertically and, using your fingers and thunb as guides form it into a slightly flattened triangle.
13. Brush the top (flat triangular face) with the oyster sauce mixture.
14. Place sauced side down into the preheated pan. Brush the other side (which is now facing up) with more of the oyster sauce mixture. Let it cook while you form the next rice ball.
15. By the time the next rice ball is ready to go in the pan, the first one should be ready to flip. Flip it, add the other rice ball to the pan (make sure both top and bottom get brushed with sauce as before), and let them both cook while you make the next rice ball.
16. By the time the third rice ball is ready to go in the pan, the first one should be ready to come out and the second one should be ready to flip. Remove the first rice ball, flip the second one, and add the third one to the pan, brushing it with sauce on both sides as with the other two.
17. Repeat this procedure until all the rice has been used up. (You will have some tuna left over.)
18. Finish cooking the last couple of rice balls.
19. Serve as is or with condiments of your choosing.

---

¹ We were all out of light soy sauce, so I used a 1:1 mix of dark soy sauce and fish sauce instead. This seemed to work reasonably well as a light soy substitute. ^Back

I guess maybe this is technically a crustless quiche because it's made with a savoury custard rather than straight eggs. That said, it's prepared like a fritatta and it looks like a fritatta. So I'm calling it a fritatta.

I'm honestly surprised at how well this went over. Even the Kidlet liked it. Which was a bit surprising since she's be historically against both feta and olives. But she loved this! Personally, I felt like it was a little bland. I think it could've used a few more chili flakes. But it was still good even without the extra chili kick.

Greek Salad-Inspired Fritatta

Slightly adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small red onion, halved and sliced
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 1/2 bell pepper, chopped
• 2 handfulls baby spinach, roughly chopped
• 1/2 c. sliced kalamata olives
• 1/2-3/4 c. crumbled feta
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/8-1/4 tsp. red chili flakes
• 6 large eggs
• 1 c. milk
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Heat a 30cm (12") cast iron skillet over medium heat.
3. Add oil to hot pan.
4. Add garlic and onion and cook for a minute or two.
5. Add bell pepper and tomato and cook for 3-5 minutes.
6. Add spinach and cook until just wilted.
7. Remove from heat and stir in olives, feta, pepper, and chili flakes.
8. Beat eggs with milk, oregano, and salt.
9. Pour egg mixture into pan.
10. Transfer to oven and bake for 20 minutes.
11. Slice and serve with garlic toast.

I promised the Kidlet pancakes for breakfast this morning. I already have a couple of go-to pancake recipes, but I also had a half litre of buttermilk in the frigde. Given that, I figured I'd whip up some fluffy buttermilk pancakes rather than going for one of the usual suspects. They were a big hit!

Buttermilk Pancakes

Slightly adapted from The Spruce Eats

Ingredients

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 2 large eggs
• 2 c. buttermilk
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Sift baking powder and baking soda into flour.
2. Mix in sugar and salt.
3. Beat eggs with buttermilk and butter.
4. Pour buttermilk mixture into flour mixture and stir to combine. (Lumps are okay.)
5. Heat a pan over medium heat.
6. Once pan is good and hot, pour in a 1/4 portion of batter. (Add more portions as space allows.)
7. Cook until bubbles form and sides begin to look dry, then flip the pancake over and cook the other side.
8. Once both sides are nicely browned and pancake is cooked through, remove from pan.
9. Continue this process until all the batter has been used.
10. Serve pancakes with butter, maple syrup, jam, fruit, and/or whipped cream.

The prep work can be a bit time-consuming, but if you have the veggies already finely chopped (or know someone who can do it quickly) this actually comes together very quickly and easily, and you will definitely have leftovers. The mayo and bonito are optional, but do add something. Even with the bacon, it's a bit light on protein; we served it with Spamcakes.

The original recipe was "per 80g of spaghetti". I used a 375g package of spaghetti and just scaled everything up by a factor of 5, which is close enough.

Stir-Fried Noodles

Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 375g dry spaghetti
  
• 75mL sugar
• 75mL soy sauce
• 75mL mirin
  
• 75mL oil or bacon grease
  
• 5 green onions, chopped
• 150g bacon, tofu-bacon, or similar meat of choice
• 350g cabbage, shredded
  
• 350g carrot, julienned
• mayo and bonito flakes for serving
  

Directions

1. Cook the pasta al dente. Drain and set aside.
2. Whisk together the sugar, soy sauce, and mirin.
3. Heat the oil in a dutch oven or wok over medium-high heat.
4. Add the green onions and bacon and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the cabbage and carrot and cook until they deflate and soften, ~5 minutes.
6. Add the noodles and sauce, stir together until heated through and well mixed, and remove from heat.
7. Serve with mayo and bonito flakes.

Spamcakes (Spam Pancakes)

Based on just the name I figured that these would be savoury pancakes with chopped spam in them, but no; the spam is actually structural and makes up the bulk of the cakes. And these are delicious! The kidlet would probably eat the entire batch if allowed. They're not substantial enough to be a meal in themselves, I think, but they make a great accompaniment to a protein-light dish.

Spamcakes

Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 1 tin spam
• ½ large zucchini, finely minced
  
• 1 medium carrot, finely minced
  
• ½ onion, finely minced
  
• 2 tsp minced garlic (or 4 tsp garlic paste)
• 4 eggs
• freshly ground black pepper (~40 turns)
  
• ¼ C flour
  

Directions

1. Mash the spam.
2. Mix all the other ingredients into the spam.
   
3. Heat a bit of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
4. Cook the spamcake mix as you would pancakes, ~⅓C at a time.

Adobong Manok (Chicken Adobo with Turmeric and Coconut Milk)

This one turned out a bit soupier than intended, partly because I left it covered for part of the simmer and partly because we made up a double batch of marinade (expecting to marinate the chicken in a bag) and then found out that the bag had a hole in it and had to change our plans rapidly. It's quite tasty, though; although, as always, I'm not super enthusiastic about whole-chicken recipes due to the need to eat around the bones.

We made it with fresh turmeric, the first dish we've made using it -- the flavour comes through nicely and it makes the sauce brilliantly yellow, along with all the utensils we used in the cooking.

Adobong Manok

Authentic Recipes from the Phillippines, p93

Ingredients

• Marinade
• 1 tbsp freshly grated turmeric root (or ½ tbsp dry powder)
• 10 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ C cane vinegar or cider vinegar
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 1 chicken (~2 lbs), cut into 8 pieces
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 C coconut milk
• 2-4 finger-length green chilies, whole
• ½ tbsp fish sauce

Directions

1. Whisk together all marinade ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Mix in chicken and marinate overnight in the fridge.
3. Heat the oil over medium-high heat and add the chicken (reserving the marinade). Stir-fry until lightly browned, ~5 minutes.
4. Add the marinade and coconut milk, reduce heat to low, and simmer, uncovered, until the sauce thickens and the chicken is cooked through, ~30 minutes.
5. Stir in the chilies and fish sauce and serve.

Ensaladang Pipino (Cucumber Salad)

I've always enjoyed cucumber slices tossed with vinegar and a little salt and pepper. This salad takes that idea to the next level! My only regret is not getting more cucumbers so I could make a double batch.

Ensaladang Pipino

Slightly adapted from Kawaling Pinoy

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. vinegar (preferably cane or coconut vinegar)
• 2 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 fresh red Thai chili, minced
• 2-3 black peppercorns, crushed
• 2 large cucumbers, halved and thinly sliced
• 1/2 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced

Directions

1. Whisk together vinegar, fish sauce, oil, sugar, salt, chili, and pepper in a bowl.
2. Add cucumber and onion and toss to combine.
3. Cover and chill until ready to eat.