Kori Gassi (Mangalorean Chicken Curry)

I was originally planning on seeking out skinless, boneless chicken breasts at the grocery store on Monday to make a Cook's Country recipe. But when I saw that they had skinless, bone-in breasts available, I decided to rework my meal plan a bit to incorporate them.

This recipe is actually written for a whole, skinned, jointed chicken. And that also would have been delicious. But that requires me to skin and cut up a whole chicken. Which, while not a hugely onerous job, does add to the overhead of making the curry. So whenever I see skinless, bone-in chicken available (especially breasts since they're a nice low-fat option), I tend to jump on it.

If you're trying to watch your weight/fat intake, opt for "lite" coconut milk, chicken breasts, and use half the amount of oil called for here. (I did all of these things and still got a delicious curry out of it!)

Also, as per TF's complaint that the per-bite sauce:chicken ratio suffers with bone-in cuts: It might be interesting to experiment with using skinless, boneless chicken for this curry in the future. I suspect that cooking chunks of chicken for a shorter amount of time would work just as well. You might lose a little flavour due to the lack of bones simmering in the sauce. But it would be easier to eat... Possibly something to consider if I'm ever making this again.

Kori Gassi

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. unsweetened dried coconut
• 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds
• 1 Tbsp. white poppy seeds
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 tsp. fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns
• 4-6 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chilies
• 7 tsp. oil, divided
• 1 large onion (or 1 1/2 medium onions), halved and sliced
• 6 large cloves garlic (or 9-12 smaller cloves), chopped
• 1/2 c. water, divided
• ~1.5kg skinless, bone-in chicken pieces
• 1 c. coconut milk
• 1 tsp. tamarind concentrate
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 15 fresh curry leaves

Directions

1. Combine coconut, coriander, poppy seeds, mustard, fenugreek, peppercorns, and chilies in a bowl.
2. Add 1 tsp. of the oil and mix to coat.
3. Heat a pan over medium-high heat and add the oiled spices.
4. Cook, stirring frequently, until coconut is reddish-brown (~2 minutes).
5. Transfer spices to blender jar.
6. Add remaining 2 Tbsp. of oil to the hot pan.
7. Reduce heat to medium and add the onions and garlic.
8. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for ~20 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, pour 1/4 c. of the water into the blender with the spices and purée into a gritty paste.
10. With the blender running, drizzle in the remaining 1/4 c. of water and set aside.
11. Once the onion and garlic are nicely browned, push them to the sides of the pan and add the chicken pieces, meat-side-down.
12. Scoop the onion and garlic onto the chicken and cook for 5-7 minutes per side.
13. Transfer the chicken to a plate and pour the spice paste into the centre of the pan.
14. Pour the coconut milk into the blender, use it the swish out the jar, and then add it to the pan.
15. Stir in the tamarind, salt, and curry leaves and mix well.
16. Return the chicken to the pan, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low.
17. Cook, turning and basting every few minutes, until chicken is cooked through (~20 minutes).
18. Transfer chicken to a serving platter.
19. Increase heat to medium and vigorously simmer sauce until slightly thickened (~5 minutes).
20. Pour sauce over chicken and serve.

This is another Hello Fresh recipe. I haven't been writing most of these up, but we all really liked this one and Alex, in particular, was highly enamored of it. And it's quite easy to make, too!

Garlic Chicken Salad

Hello Fresh

Ingredients

• 600g chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 1 tbsp oil
• 4 tbsp mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• a bunch of fresh dill, chopped
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1.5 tsp garlic salt
• 250g baby spinach
• 250g mini cucumber (or whole cucumber halved lengthwise), cut into 5mm rounds
• 2 gala or fuji apples, cored and cut into 5mm slices

Directions

1. Season chicken all over with garlic salt and black pepper.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Add chicken and cook until cooked through and golden brown.
4. Whisk together mayo, vinegar, dill, and sugar in a large bowl. Season with pepper to taste.
5. Toss spinach, cucumber, and apples with dressing.
6. Serve topped with chicken.

This is a really nice way to enjoy zucchini. My zucchini were a little larger than the recipe recommended, but it still worked out okay. If you can though, try to get zucchini that weigh no more than 250g each. (Mine were both over 300g, so a little larger than is ideal.)

Marinated Zucchini

Adapted from Cook's Country August/September 2020

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 shallot (or 1/2 onion), minced
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. za'atar
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 680g zucchini, trimmed and halved lengthwise
• 21g Parmesan cheese, shaved with a vegetable peeler

Directions

1. Combine 2 Tbsp. of the olive oil, shallot, lemon juice, salt, za'atar, garlic, and pepper flakes in a bowl and set aside.
2. Heat the remaining 1 Tbsp. of oil over medium heat.
3. Add half the zucchini, cut-side-down, and cook until browned (~3 minutes).
4. Flip over and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
5. Remove from pan and add the remaining zucchini, cooking for 3-4 minutes on each side.
6. Slice the zucchini crosswise ~5mm thick.
7. Add the sliced zucchini to the bowl with the dressing and toss to coat.
8. Let sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour (or chill, covered, for up to 24 hours and then allow to rest at room temperature for 1 hour before serving).
9. Top with Parmesan and serve.

I've had this recipe open in a tab in my browser for... probably a couple months now. It sounded delicious, but I kept just not quite having the right confluence of spoons, ingredients, and time to make it. Well, I finally got to it. And it's pretty amazing!

It's not a super light and airy loaf. It's got too many inclusions for that. I actually found that I had to add a little bit more flour than the recipe called for just to get the dough to come together properly. I think next time I'd actually put a little less tomato in as it made the dough very wet and kind of overpowered everything else. (And it occurs to me now that I totally should've weighed the tomato to make it easier to quantify next time! Oh well...) It's still delicious though. The basil and the garlic just kind of take a back seat to the tomato. Definitely glad I gave it a try.

Tomato-Basil Sourdough

Slightly adapted from Cultures for Health

Ingredients

• 250g ripe (active/fed) sourdough starter @ 100% hydration
• 6-8 cocktail tomatoes, chopped
• 28-30g fresh basil, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 300g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour
• 250g hard (strong/high grade/bread) white flour
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 100g sun-dried tomatoes, julienned
• water, as needed

Directions

1. Combine the starter, tomatoes, basil, garlic, and whole wheat flour and mix well. Cover and set aside for ~30 minutes.
2. Work in just enough of the white flour to form a soft dough.
3. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead in the salt and sun-dried tomatoes. Flour the work surface as needed with any of the remaining white flour.
4. If your tomatoes were not very juicy and the dough seems too stiff, you may need to work in a bit of extra water during kneading rather than using flour on the work suface.
5. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a covered bowl. Ferment at room temperature for 2-4 hours (may need longer if the room is cool). Stretch and fold the dough every hour or so during fermentation.
6. Once the dough has completed its bulk ferment, divide it into two equal portions and round each one. Cover and let rest for ~30 minutes.
7. Shape each round into a loaf and place in a floured banneton. Cover and proof until puffy and well-risen¹. Alternatively, cover and place in the fridge overnight. Take out about an hour before you'd like to bake the loaves.
8. Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F) and boil some water.
9. Grease a baking sheet and dust it with cornmeal.
10. Turn the loaves out onto the prepared baking sheet and slash as desired.
11. Put a pan of boiling water on the bottom oven rack and put the bread on a rack set above.
12. Bake at 230°C (450°F) until the crust is nicely browned (~15 minutes).
13. Remove the pan of water and reduce the oven temperature to 180°C (350°F) and bake for another 20-30 minutes.
14. Once loaves are done, turn the oven off and let them rest in the hot oven for 5-10 minutes.
15. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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¹ I didn't time how long my loaves took to proof. Probably ~2 hours, but I'm not entirely sure. It'll vary depending on your starter, your tomatoes, room temperature, etc. anyway. Let the dough tell you when it's done rather than relying on a specific timing. ^Back

This recipe is presented as a suggested evening main course. It's hearty and full of fibre and protein from the lentils and the eggs. We already had other dinner plans however and I thought it sounded like a promising brunch idea, so we had it for our morning meal.

I was short on brown lentils, so I made it with a mix of brown and French (du Puy) lentils. This seemed to work reasonably well. That said, I think it might be interesting to try it with another variety sometime. Honestly, it might be interesting to play around with both the type of legumes and the spice mix(es) used. What about split peas and bottle masala? Or split, skin-on mung beans and balti masala? Mapte beans (black lentils/sabud urad) and Punjabi garam masala? Red lentils (masoor dal/Egyptian lentils/skinned split brown lentils) and sambhar masala? There are so many possibilities! And you could play around with the dairy too. Simmons offers the option of either milk or cream, but you could try it with yogurt or khoya or coconut milk or some combination of two or more options.

Poached Eggs on Curried Lentils

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 1/2 c. mirepoix (or "spaghetti mix")
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. Madras curry powder
• 3 c. water
• 1 1/2 c. brown lentils
• ~3/4 c. diced potato
• 1/2 c. milk or cream
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2 Tbsp. vinegar (optional)
• 4-8 large eggs
• 1/4 c. fried onions
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium heat.
2. Add mirepoix and cook, stirring occasionally, for ~10 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two.
4. Add the curry powder and stir to coat the vegetables.
5. Add the water, lentils, and potatoes and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender (~25 minutes).
7. Add the milk (or cream), salt, and pepper and set aside until ready to serve.
8. Fill a deep pan with water (adding the vinegar to the water if desired) and bring to a boil.
9. Reduce heat so that the water is gently simmering, crack an egg into a small bowl or cup, and pour it into the water. Repeat with 2-3 more eggs (depending on the size and shape of your pan).
10. Poach eggs for 3-5 minutes: three minutes for soft, five for medium.
11. Scoop some of the lentils into a bowl and top with an egg or two.
12. Sprinkle with some fried onions and cilantro and serve.

I've made sourdough chocolate cakes before, but I always like trying out new recipes, so I figured I'd give this one from Cultures for Health a go.

It's... alright. The Kidlet loves it. And I do find it acceptably tasty. It's just not amazing. To be fair, I did fiddle with the recipe a little bit. So maybe my results are not an accurate reflection of the original recipe. That's fine. I was trying to cut the sugar and fat a little to aim for something a bit healthier.

Honestly, it wasn't that the cake tasted too lean or insufficiently sweet or anything. That was all fine. My main complaint was a lack of depth to the chocolate flavour. (And the batter was a little stiff, although the resulting cake was moist enough, so I don't think that's a huge problem.)

For this iteration, I tried replacing half the butter with a mashed banana and replaced the sugar with a mix of Splenda brown sugar blend and monk fruit sweetener. I think next time I might try adding even more banana and experiment with replacing the butter with cacao paste. The cacao paste is pretty high fat, so it should still give some richness while also boosting the chocolate flavour. As usual, I've written up the recipe to reflect these (as yet untested) changes.

Sourdough Chocolate Snack Cake

Adapted from Cultures for Health

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. cacao paste wafers
• 1/8 tsp. instant coffee crystals
• 2 Tbsp. boiling water
• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 c. Splenda brown sugar blend (or 1/2 c. brown sugar)
• 1/4 c. 1:1 monk fruit sweetener
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 125g ripe (active/fed) sourdough starter @ 100% hydration
• 1 c. all-purpose flour¹
• 1/4 c. natural (non-alkalized) cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 c. walnuts, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 20cm (8") square tin.
2. Combine the cacao paste with the instant coffee and pour the boiling water over them. Cover and set aside.
3. Combine the bananas, Splenda, and monk fruit sweetener and beat until well-mixed.
4. Check to see if the cacao paste has melted. If not stir it and give it a quick zap in the microwave. (Be careful! Don't burn it.)
5. Add the cacao poaste mixture to the banana mixture and beat to combine.
6. Beat in the egg and the vanilla.
7. Beat in the sourdough starter.
8. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda on top without mixing.
9. Add the salt and cinnamon on top of the other dry ingredients.
10. Beat until just combined.
11. Fold in the walnuts.
12. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
13. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~30 minutes.
14. Let cool in tin for ~10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.
15. Serve plain, iced, or dusted with icing sugar.

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¹ I may switch this out for soft whole wheat flour at some point, but I didn't want to make too many changes at once. ^Back

Made this out of Cook's Country a while ago and forgot to write it up. I remember it being pretty tasty though.

Corn and Cucumber Salad

Cook's Country, June/July 2017, by Ashley Moore (p. 20)

Ingredients

• 3+1 tbsp olive oil, divided
• 5 tbsp lime juice (~3 limes)
• ½ tsp pepper
• ¼+⅛ tsp salt, divided
• ¼ C sour cream
• ½ red onion, sliced thin
• 1 jalapeño, halved, seeded, and sliced thin
• 4 ears corn, raw, kernels cut from the cobs
• 1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
• ¾ C crumbled feta cheese
• ¼ C fresh basil, torn

Directions

1. Whisk together 3 tbsp oil, lime juice, pepper, and ¼ tsp salt in a large bowl.
2. Remove 2 tbsp of lime-oil mix and whisk into sour cream; set aside.
3. Add onion and jalapeño to remaining lime-oil mix and set aside to stand, at least 15 minutes.
4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
5. Add the loose corn kernels and the salt.
6. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and spotty brown, ~7-9 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and let cool while lime-oil mix is standing.
8. Mix corn, feta, and basil into bowl with lime-oil mix, onion, and jalapeño.
9. Serve topped with sour cream mix.

We have a surfeit of eggs right now, so I've been continuing to keep the egg train rolling for breakfast. And I selected this recipe in particular because I had a bunch of tomato-avocado relish left over from making my breakfast tacos a few days ago.

Eggs with Black Beans and Chipotle Peppers

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper¹, chopped
• 1 fresh jalapeño, seeded and minced (optional)
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 4 c. cooked black beans
• 1 Tbsp. minced chipotles in adobo
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 4-8 large eggs
• 1/2 c. grated Monterey Jack or mild cheddar cheese
• 1/2 c. (or more) tomato-avocado salsa
• 4-8 large flour tortillas², warmed

Directions

1. Heat the oil over medium heat.
2. Add the onions and peppers and cook, stirring often, until the onions are golden (~10 minutes).
3. Add the garlic and cook for another minute or two.
4. Stir in the cumin and cook for ~30 seconds.
5. Add the beans, chipotles, and a little salt and pepper, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for 5 minutes.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Maybe 1/8 tsp. each to start. But if the beans were cooked without salt, then you will likely need to add a bit more at this point.)
7. Make some wells in the bean mixture. You will probably only have room to cook 4 eggs at a time, but you can repeat the process a second time if you would like a higher egg:bean ratio.
8. Break an egg into a small dish and carefully pour it into one of the wells. Repeat until you've filled all the wells.
9. Sprinkle each egg with 1-2 Tbsp. of grated cheese.
10. Increase heat to medium, cover, and cook for 5-8 minutes.
11. Scoop the eggs out onto plates with as many accompanying beans as desired and top each with a couple tablespoons of the salsa.
12. The eggs and beans may be served either in the tortillas or with the tortillas on the side.

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¹ The original recipe called for 1/3 c. each chopped red and green bell pepper. I don't generally keep green bell peppers on hand because I don't really like them, so I just used a whole red bell pepper and then tossed in a minced jalapeño (with the seeds and pith removed) for a bit of colour and variety. ^Back
2 Store-bought tortillas are fine, but I was all out so I ended up making my own. They're not that difficult, they just require a little advanced planning as the dough needs to rest for 30 minutes before shaping and cooking. ^Back

Subzi Dalcha (Split Pea and Vegetable Stew)

I made some last-minute changes to my meal plan this week, which meant that I was flailing around while in the midst of preparing dinner looking for a vegetable side that I could add to the meal.

Mr. Iyer came to my rescue yet again with the perfect curry for the occasion. I've been looking for ways to use up both potatoes and cabbage and this curry uses both. Plus it adds in some carrot and green beans for good measure. All of which I actually had on hand yesterday. And it's a recipe that I haven't had a chance to try before. It doesn't get much more prefect than that!

Photo goes here.

Subzi Dalcha

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. yellow split peas (chana dal)
• 4 c. water
• ~225g potatoes, diced
• 2 c. shredded cabbage
• 1 c. fresh or frozen green beans, cut into 2-3cm pieces
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm thick rounds
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 2 Tbsp. ghee
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp. ground asafetida
• 6-8 fresh green Thai, serrano, or finger chilies, sliced
• 6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 Tbsp. toasted chickpea flour¹
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 4 slices fresh ginger² (each ~6x2.5cm and 3mm thick), julienned

Directions

1. Thoroughly rinse the split peas.
2. Place the peas in a pot with the water and bring to a boil.
3. Skim off any foam that forms and then add the potatoes, cabbage, beans, and carrots and cook for ~5 minutes.
4. Stir in the salt and turmeric, reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are fork-tender (~15 minutes).
5. Meanwhile, heat the ghee over medium-high heat.
6. Add the cumin and sizzle for 20-30 seconds.
7. Add the asafetida, chilies, and garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Set aside until vegetables are done.
8. Once the vegetables are tender, add the chili-garlic mixture to the pot.
9. Add the chickpea flour, cilantro, and ginger.
10. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened (~5 minutes).

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¹ I couldn't find my toasted chickpea flour and I didn't have time to toast more in the middle of dinner prep, so I just used untoasted chickpea flour. This seems to have worked out fine. Iyer also notes that a slurry made of 1 Tbsp. of cornstarch mixed with 2 Tbsp. of cold water will also work if you don't have any chickpea flour on hand. ^Back
2 I was all out of fresh ginger so I just tossed in 1 Tbsp. of ginger paste. It probably could've done with a little more, but that's all I had left in the jar. ^Back

Ideally this omelette would be made with fresh spinach and tomatoes, but I had an open can of diced tomatoes that needed to be used up, so I went with that plus some frozen spinach. I probably went a bit heavy on the spinach -- there was too much filling for the omelette to properly roll up around it -- but it was delicious. And having a bit of extra spinach is probably better nutritionally anyway!

Feta, Spinach, and Tomato Omelette

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 c. diced tomato
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 3/4 c. lightly packed torn fresh spinach leaves (or 1/4-1/2 c. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed/drained)
• 1 Tbsp. minced fresh dill
• 2-3 Tbsp. crumbled feta
• 3 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp. water
• black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Heat half of the olive oil over medium-low heat.
2. Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add the tomatoes and half of the salt and cook for another minute or two.
4. Add the spinach and cook until heated through (2-3 minutes).
5. Remove from pan and set aside.
6. Add remaining oil to pan and warm over medium heat.
7. While the oil is heating up, beat the eggs with the water, remaining salt, and pepper to taste.
8. Once the pan is hot, pour in the egg mixture and reduce heat to medium-low.
9. Cook until the edges are just set (~30 seconds) and then pull the cooked edges into the centre and let the raw egg flow out to the sides.
10. Cook, covered, until eggs are almost completely set and just slightly wet on top.
11. Add filling to the omelette, covering the third closest to the handle.
12. Sprinkle with feta and dill.
13. Now fold the third nearest the handle (where the filling is) over the middle third.
14. Tilt the pan and roll the omelette out onto a plate.

Mandu Jeongol (Dumpling Hotpot)

We've had a bag of pork and leek dumplings sitting in the chest freezer for a while now. I picked them up because they're tasty and convenient, but then kept forgetting that we had them and planning other meals. TF reminded me about them the other day though, so I finally set aside some space in the meal plan for them.

I was initially thinking of doing mandu guk, but my mood had changed by the time I was doing up the grocery list and I decided to try this mandu jeongol recipe instead. I appreciate how easy and flexible it was to make. And the dipping sauce was incredible!

Mandu Jeongol

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

Flavour Paste

• 2 Tbsp. gochugaru
• 1 Tbsp. soy sauce¹
• 1/2 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 1 Tbsp. chicken bouillon powder²
• 1 Tbsp. fish sauce
• filling of 2-4 dumplings (depending on the size of your dumplings)

Dipping Sauce

• 2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. vinegar³
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. water
• 1/2 Tbsp. Korean mustard (or wasabi)

Everything Else

• 2-3 c. sliced napa cabbage or black kale
• 100-150g shiitake mushrooms⁴, sliced
• 100g enoki mushrooms
• 100-150g oyster mushrooms, torn into bite-sized pieces
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 1 bell pepper, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and sliced
• 10-20 dumplings (depending on size of dumplings)
• 2-4 green onions, sliced
• 1 red chili, sliced on bias (optional)
• 4 c. water

Directions

1. Combine all of the flavour paste ingredients, mix well, and set aside.
2. Combine all of the sauce ingredients, mix well, and set aside.
3. Add the cabbage, mushrooms, onion, bell pepper, and jalapeño to a wok or pot (use a hotpot dish if you have one). Try to place each ingredient in its own section and don't place similar colours next to each other.
4. Arrange the dumplings on top.
5. Scoop the flavour paste onto the centre of the arrangement.
6. Decorate with green onions and chili (if using).
7. Take a photo and/or show off the pretty, pretty hotpot to your guests/family at this point.
8. Pour the water into the pot and bring to a boil.
9. Stir the hotpot as it cooks so that everything gets mixed and heated evenly.
10. Serve with the dipping sauce on the side. Dip the dumplings and vegetables into the sauce as you eat, then drink the broth (with a bit of dipping sauce mixed in if you like)!

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¹ I used a 50:50 mix of light and dark soy, but I think that either would've been fine. ^Back
2 I didn't have any chicken bouillon powder, but I did have dasida, so I just used that instead. ^Back
3 I just used plain white vinegar this time, but I think that black vinegar would've been really nice in this sauce. ^Back
4 Aaron mentioned that just about any variety or combination of mushrooms will work for this hotpot. He suggested enoki, shiitake, and oyster, but cremini and/or king oyster would probably also be great. And I think lion's mane or bear's head could also work, although their flavours and textures are obviously a bit different. I don't normally see a lot of other fresh mushrooms on offer here. But feel free to experiment if you have something else available locally! ^Back

This is a quick and easy salsa recipe. Especially if you opt for canned diced tomatoes rather than chopping your own fresh!

It shows up in a couple of Simmons' dishes in The Good Egg, so I figured I might as well give it its own post for easy future reference.

It's a little mild for my taste. I think next time I'd leave the seeds and pith in the jalapeño to give it a little more kick. I'd also be inclined to add a little garlic. It's fine as is, but I do generally like a little garlic in my salsa. Simmons also calls for a bit of olive oil to be added. I omitted this as I didn't feel it was necessary and I'm trying to watch my weight. Feel free to try it with the oil if you're not counting calories though.

Tomato-Avocado Salsa

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 2 c. diced tomatoes
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil (optional)
• 1 jalapeño, (optionally seeded and) minced
• 1 clove garlic, minced (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Combine everything in a bowl and mix well.
2. Cover and chill until ready to use.

The slaw for this meal is meant to be made with red cabbage, but I only had green cabbage on hand, so I just used that. It was still delicious, so I don't think it suffered any for the substitution.

Blackened Salmon Tacos with Slaw, Avocado, and Grapefruit

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country August/September 2020

Ingredients

• 2 c. thinly sliced cabbage
• 1/4 c. sour cream
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 Tbsp. lime juice
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 4 skin-on salmon fillets (~170g each)
• 2 Tbsp. blackening seasoning
• 12 small (15cm) flour tortillas, warmed
• 1 avocado, halved and sliced
• 1 grapefruit, segmented
• hot sauce, to serve
• extra sour cream, to serve

Directions

1. If desired, zest the lime and mix the lime zest into the sour cream before proceeding with the recipe.
2. Combine cabbage, sour cream, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper and mix well. Set aside.
3. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat the broiler.
4. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil or a silicone baking mat.
5. Sprinkle salmon fillets with ~1/2 Tbsp. of blackening seasoning each and place, skin-side-down on the prepared baking sheet.
6. Broil on upper rack until well-browned (~6 minutes).
7. Move sheet to lower rack and cook until salmon is cooked through (~8 more minutes).
8. Gently flake the salmon with a fork. Discard the skins (or save for another use).
9. Top each tortilla with some salmon, a little slaw, sliced avocado, grapefruit segments, sour cream, and hot sauce as desired.
10. Serve with remaining slaw on the side.

I'm not normally a big fan of breakfast tacos, but I decided to give this recipe a go. Sadly, I didn't realize that we were down to our last tortilla until I'd almost finished making everything else. So I still can't really evaluate the "taco" part of this recipe (since we gave the last tortilla to the Kidlet). But we had some tortilla chips left over from E's baby shower, so TF and I just had our taco fillings on a bed of chips. It was a bit reminiscent of migas (but harder to eat). I did like it that way though. And I think that making the tacos fresh (rather than getting them from the warming lamps of a fast food place) would probably go a long way toward making them more palatable. That, and just having really good, thin, fresh tortillas.

The recipe itself is pretty simple: just some cheesy scrambled eggs in a tortilla with lettuce, salsa, and sour cream. I think the combination works very well though. I feel like the fresh greens add a lot. We didn't have lettuce, but some shredded black kale made a nice stand-in.

Breakfast Tacos with Tomato-Avocado Salsa

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 1 recipe tomato-avocado salsa
• 8 (20cm/8") flour tortillas
• 8 large eggs
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1-3 tsp. olive oil
• 1/4-1/2 c. grated Monterey Jack or mild cheddar
• 4 c. shredded lettuce or kale
• 1/2 c. sour cream

Directions

1. Prepare the salsa and set aside.
2. Warm the tortillas by your preferred method and set aside.
3. Whisk the eggs with the water, salt, and pepper.
4. Heat the oil over medium heat.
5. Pour in the eggs and cook for a minute or so.
6. Reduce heat to medium low and use a spatula to turn and stir the eggs, forming large curds.
7. Continue to cook, stirring often, until the eggs are nearly completely set (2-3 minutes).
8. Add cheese, cover, and remove from heat.
9. Once cheese is melted, assemble the tacos: place a handful of lettuce, spoonful of eggs, spoonful of salsa, and dollop of sour cream down the middle of each tortilla and fold it up.
10. Serve immediately! (Or let each person assemble their own taco at the table.)

This is an Indian dessert, a sweet rice pudding seasoned with cardamom. Interestingly, it doesn't appear in 660 Curries; this recipe was constructed by symbol, about a decade ago, as a synthesis of several other kheer recipes found online. We lost it for a while -- it was originally recorded on a now-defunct family website, and we had no local copy -- but I was able to fish the recipe out of our chat logs and reproduce it here.

The cooking time is fairly flexible depending on how thick you want it; we generally aim for a more soupy texture, but you can thicken it up by simmering it for a bit longer. It can be served either hot or cold.

While this writeup uses white sugar (and that's how we've always made it), I think it might be interesting to try it with jaggery sometime. Similarly, we generally make it with raisins (which symbol prefers to currents for this application), but I'd like to try it with various other fruits at some point.

Kheer

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp ghee (or unsalted butter)
• ¾ C basmati rice
• ½ indian bay leaf (or 1 bay laurel leaf + 1 cinnamon stick)
• 6 green cardamom pods (or ½ tsp ground decorticated cardamom)
• 6 C milk (or 3 C milk + 375mL evaporated milk + 1½ C water)
• ½ C sugar
• ¼ C raisins (or dried currants)
• scant ½ tsp vanilla extract
• nuts (such as cashews, pistachios, or slivered almonds) as garnish

Directions

1. Heat ghee in a heavy pot over medium heat.
2. Add rice and toast, stirring, for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the bay leaf, cardamom, and milk. Carefully bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally.
4. Once the mixture has reduced somewhat, add the sugar and dried fruit and continue to simmer until the desired consistency is reached.
5. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
6. Serve hot or cold, optionally garnished with nuts.

This recipe from The Good Egg was a recurring staple years ago but hasn't seen a lot of use lately. I cooked it recently with bucatini, and that's what's depicted here, but on reflection I do think it works better with spaghetti as the original recipe calls for, and so I've written it up.

The recipe calls for four eggs; I find that it benefits from either slightly decreasing the pasta quantity or increasing the eggs or both. I have written it for six.

The recipe lists broccoli florets as an optional inclusion, cooked with the pasta in the last four minutes of boiling. It also takes well to other inclusions such as bell pepper, sausage meat, kale -- follow your heart.

The tricky part is getting the eggs and the pasta done at the same time. I find it's better to err on the side of the pasta being done first; if the eggs are done first it's hard to avoid overcooking them and setting the yolks while you wait for the pasta to finish.

Spaghetti with Caramelized Onions and Fried Eggs

The Good Egg by Marie Simmons (p. 265)

Ingredients

• ¼ C olive oil
• 2 large onions, halved and cut into thin slices
• 2-4 garlic cloves, minced
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• salt and pepper to taste
• 450g dry spaghetti
• 6 large eggs
• ½ C freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-low heat.
2. Add the onions, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden, ~15 minutes.
3. Stir in garlic, red pepper, and salt and pepper to taste.
4. Increase heat to medium low and break the eggs on top of the onions, evenly spaced.
5. Cook until the whites and set and the yolks are still runny, ~5 minutes; add more salt and pepper, if desired.
6. Meanwhile, cook spaghetti al dente.
7. Drain spaghetti, return to pot, and immediately add the egg-and-onion mixture and the cheese and stir to combine. The whites should break up into pieces, and the yolks burst and coat the pasta.
8. Serve with additional cheese.

This is a convenient way to prepare asparagus, especially if the stovetop is occupied by other cooking. We usually cook a half batch, which is what I've written up here.

Foil-Baked Asparagus

Cook's Country April/May 2020, p.12, by Morgan Bolling

Ingredients

• 500g fresh asparagus, trimmed
• 2 tbsp butter, diced
• 1 shallot (or a small onion), minced
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• ½ tbsp capers
• ½ tbsp fresh dill, chopped
• ½ tsp lemon juice

Directions

1. Arrange the asparagus in the center of a sheet of tinfoil.
2. Top with butter, shallot, garlic, salt, and pepper.
3. Fold foil over and crimp shut. (Depending on the breadth of your tinfoil, you may need to use a separate piece for this.)
4. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 400°F for 18 minutes.
5. Remove sheet from oven and let stand 5 minutes to continue baking.
6. Cut open top of packet to release steam. Extract asparagus and gently toss with capers, dill, and lemon.

This was pretty tasty and also pretty easy to make. Not an all-time favourite, but I'd make it again next time we have cabbage to destroy. It requires a bunch of ingredients, but apart from the cabbage they're all things we have on hand reliably, and half of them are just combined to make the sauce so it's not as complicated as it looks.

Tuna Cabbage Rice Bowl

Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp gochujang
• 2 tbsp gochugaru
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp mirin
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 2 tsp sugar
• 800g green cabbage, cored and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 4 green onions, sliced, whites and greens divided
• 1 tbsp oil
• 300g tinned tuna, drained
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• black pepper
• 2 C cooked rice
• 4-6 soft-boiled eggs
• toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. Whisk together the gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce, mirin, oyster sauce, garlic, and sugar to form the sauce; set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Add the green onion whites and cook until fragrant, ~1 minute.
4. Add the cabbage and onion and stir-fry until the cabbage softens, 3-5 minutes.
5. Add the tinned tuna and continue stir-frying for another 3 minutes.
6. Remove from heat. Add the sesame oil and black pepper to taste.
7. Serve over rice, garnished with the eggs, sesame seeds, and green onion greens.

I was still in an eggy mood this morning so, after a brief perusal of The Good Egg, I decided to try out one of her frittata recipes. The potatoes and rosemary were also very appealing and sun-dried tomatoes are never not a good idea as far as I'm concerned, so this recipe seemed pretty ideal. (Except for the part where it's meant to be made with leftover baked or boiled potatoes, but that's easy enough to solve.)

Since I didn't have any leftover cooked potatoes on hand, I just quickly diced and boiled a few and worked on getting everything else prepped while they were cooking. It added a little bit more overhead and one more dirty pot, but it's not like boiling potatoes is a hugely onerous task. And the results were delicious and savoury and satisfying, so I can't really complain.

Potato and Sun-Dried Tomato Frittata

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 450g russet potatoes, cooked and diced
• 1/3 c. diced red bell pepper
• 1/3 c. diced onion
• 1/4 c. chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp. fresh rosemary, minced
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 8 large eggs
• 1/4 c. grated Parmesan

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium heat. (One notch above medium worked best on my stove.)
2. Add the potatoes and cook, turning occasionally, until golden (10-15 minutes).
3. Add the bell pepper and onion, reduce heat slightly, and cook until tender (~5 minutes).
4. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, rosemary, salt, and pepper and cook for another minute or two.
5. Whisk the eggs with the cheese in a large measuring cup.
6. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and reduce heat to medium-low. (One notch below medium for me.)
7. Cook until the bottom is set (~4 minutes).
8. Use a spatula to lift the edge of the frittata and let the raw eggs flow under. Repeat on opposite side and at at least one or two other points around the edge of the pan.
9. Cover, reduce heat slightly, and cook until nearly set (~15 minutes).
10. Preheat broiler during last minute or two of stovetop cooking.
11. When eggs are nearly fully set, remove lid and transfer pan to oven. Broil (on high) for 1-2 minutes.
12. Serve warm (ideally with a light salad on the side).

I'm not normally this bad at omelettes, I swear! But, for whatever reason, today was just a flop. I don't know if it's because I tried to follow the instructions in the book rather than doing my usual method or if I just needed a little more butter in the pan or if it was just a little too thin or what. But, whatever the reason, it just was not working out for me today.

The omelette itself was still tasty. It just looked like a bit of a disaster.

So, because I'm feeling kind of tired and bummed today and because I'm not sure exactly what went wrong, I'm going to cop out on writing proper instructions for this and just give the ingredients and leave it up to individual preference how you want to cook and assemble it.

Avocado and Tomato Omelette

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp. water
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/8 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. butter
• 1-2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 Tbsp. chopped garlic chives (optional)
• 2 Tbsp. chopped avocado
• 2 Tbsp. chopped tomato
• 1 tsp. minced jalapeño or other chili of your choice
• 2 Tbsp. grated Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

Directions

1. Whisk the eggs with the water, salt, pepper, and garlic powder and set aside.
2. Melt the butter over medium heat.
3. Pour in the eggs and cook according to your preferred omelette method, adding filling ingredients as is appropriate for your method.

Chinnay Vengayam Goshtu (Stewed Shallots)

I love the flavour of the browned shallots with the tamarind in this curry. It's a really wonderful combination.

Iyer notes that this curry can also be made with red onions. If you do that, however, he recommends adding a clove of minced garlic to them to more closely mimic the shallot flavour.

Iyer also recommends serving this stew with uppama -- a savoury, spiced cream of wheat dish which incorporates green peas. I thought that sounded great, but didn't have the wherewithal to make it on the day, so I just served it over some brown rice alongside a couple other curries. Maybe I'll make it again sometime and try it with uppama to see what it's like.

Chinnay Vengayam Goshtu

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 3 1/2-7 tsp. sesame oil, divided
• 2 tsp. coriander seeds
• 1 tsp. fenugreek seeds
• 4-6 dried red Thai, cayenne, or arbol chiles, stems removed
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1/8 tsp. asafetida
• 2 c. thinly sliced shallots
• 10 fresh curry leaves
• 1 tsp. tamarind concentrate
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Heat 1 tsp. of the oil (1/2 tsp. for the calorie-conscious) over medium-high heat.
2. Add the coriander, fenugreek, and chiles and roast, stirring constantly, until the chilies blacken (1-2 minutes).
3. Transfer to a molcajete and pound until coarsely ground.¹
4. Heat the remaining 1-2 Tbsp. of oil over medium-high heat.
5. Add the mustard seeds and cook, covered, until the seeds have stopped popping (30-60 seconds).
6. Sprinkle in the asafetida and immediately reduce the heat to medium-low.
7. Quickly add the shallots and curry leaves and cook, stirring occasionally, utnil the shallots turn light brown around the edges (20-25 minutes).
8. Meanwhile, whisk the tamarind into the water and set aside.
9. Once the shallots are ready, pour the tamarind water into the pan.
10. Add the pounded spices along with the salt.
11. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the curry thickens slightly (~5 minutes).
12. Serve with uppama or substrate of your choice.

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¹ Alternatively, transfer to a plate to cool. Once cooled completely, transfer to a spice grinder and coarsely grind. ^Back

This isn't the healthiest recipe, but it is delicious! And, if you go easy on the toppings and use oven fries and/or substitute your root vegetables, it's not completely horrendous nutritionally.

Kimchi Fries

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

Bulgogi

• 450g extra lean ground beef¹
• 1/4 c. soy sauce²
• 2 Tbsp. sugar (or 1:1 monk fruit sweetener)
• 2 Tbsp. mirin
• 2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 2 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 tsp. oil

Kimchi

• 1 tsp. oil
• 1 1/4 c. kimchi, chopped
• 3 Tbsp. kimchi juice

Everything Else

• 400-500g oven fries³
• 1/2 red onion, chopped
• 1/2 c. shredded cheese⁴ (cheddar, mozzarella, manchego, or another cheese of your choice)
• 1/4 c. sour cream (optional)
• 3-4 Tbsp. nacho cheese/salsa con queso (optional)
• 3-4 Tbsp. mayo (optional)
• 1-2 Tbsp. sriracha (optional)
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
• 1 green onion, chopped (optional)

Directions

1. Combine the beef, soy sauce, sugar, mirin, oyster sauce, garlic, sesame oil, and pepper for the bulgogi. Set aside.
2. Preheat the oven and get your oven fries cooking. If your oven has a convection mode (convection bake, convection roast, or airfry), I recommend using that for extra-crispy fries.
3. While the fries are baking, heat the oil for the bulgogi over medium heat.
4. Add the bulgogi (with all of its marinade) to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the beef is cooked through and most of the liquid has evaporated.
5. Transfer the bulgogi to a clean bowl and add the oil for the kimchi to the pan.
6. Add the kimchi along with the kimchi juice to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, until the kimchi softens and most of the liquid is gone. Remove from heat and set aside.
7. Once the fries are done, divide them into four portions.
8. Top each portion with some of the bulgogi, kimchi, chopped red onion, and shredded cheese.
9. Garnish with your choice of sour cream, nacho cheese, mayo, sriracha, cilantro, and/or green onion.

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¹ You'll only need ~1/4 of the beef, but I find it easier to cook up a whole pound at once and then just save the rest for another use. ^Back
2 I used 2 Tbsp. each of dark soy and light soy, but all light soy is also fine. I wouldn't recommend using all dark soy though. ^Back
3 I used veggie fries instead of traditional potato fries. The ones I got were a mix of carrot, parsnip, and beetroot and I really liked how they worked out. I was very happy with my results. And it reduced the Points cost of the meal a fair bit. So, feel free to play around with different root vegetables for this. ^Back
4 Since we still had some vidalia onion dip left over from the baby shower, we just opted to warm that up and use it in place of both the shredded cheese and the chopped onion. Obviously, this isn't something we normally just have lying around though, so I've written up the recipe as originally suggested with shredded cheese and red onion. ^Back

Oi Muchim (Korean Cucumber Salad)

I made kimchi fries for dinner tonight. (They were delicious.) But I wanted to do an additional vegetable side dish. Something that would be nice and light since the fries, bulgogi, and cheese involved in the rest of the meal aren't exactly the most health-conscious options. So, light, but still tasty. And I wanted it to be easy to throw together since I knew I wouldn't have the energy for anything complicated. And this salad fit the bill perfectly!

I enjoy the upfront presence of chilies and sesame in the dressing. And I appreciate that it's not too oily. The dressing is mostly gochugaru and vinegar. And the oil that is there is sesame oil, so it adds more delicious sesame flavour. It's very nice.

Oi Muchim

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 1 small onion¹, quartered and sliced
• 1 cucumber
• 1 handfull garlic chives
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. gochugaru
• 1 Tbsp. sugar²
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
• 1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground

Directions

1. Place onion in a bowl of cold water and set aside for 5-10 minutes.
2. Cut cucumber into 5mm-thick slices and place in a large bowl.
3. Cut garlic chives into long pieces (4-5cm long) and add to bowl with cucumber.
4. In a small bowl, combine gochugaru, sugar, sesame seeds, garlic, vinegar, sesame oil, and salt and mix well.
5. Drain onion and add it to the bowl with the cucumber.
6. Pour the dressing over the cucumber mixture and toss to combine.

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¹ The original recipe called for only 1/4 of an onion, so I put half of a very small onion in. This was fine. But, having tasted the salad now, I think it would been better with even more onions. ^Back
2 I've been trying to cut calories, so I swapped out the sugar for monk fruit sweetener in my dressing.

This is just going to be a quick post because I am very tired. But I decided to try making some salmon tacos today. It was one of those "30 minute meal" recipe cards from Cook's Country. Except the recipe called for "blackening seasoning", which I didn't realize was a thing. I always assumed that "blackened <whatever>" just meant that you cooked it in a way that tended to result in an all-over char. I didn't realize that there were specific spices or flavours associated with it.

It turns out that "blackening seasoning" is pretty similar to cajun seasoning. There are many different recipes, of course. But it seems to run heavy on the paprika and onion. It's usually a bit spicy too with a fair dose of cayenne. Garlic and pepper (usually black, but sometimes white) also play a role. And then a few herbs to round out the mix. The recipe I was following used basil, oregano, and thyme, but noted that other combinations were possible.

Blackening Seasoning

Slightly adapted from Chili Pepper Madness

Ingredients

• 6 parts dried onion
• 2 parts black peppercorns
• 2 parts coarse sea salt
• 1 part dried basil
• 1 part dried oregano
• 1 part dried thyme
• 12 parts paprika (smoked or sweet)
• 4-6 parts ground cayenne
• 2 parts garlic powder

Directions

1. Place the dried onion, peppercorns, salt, basil, oregano, and thyme in a spice grinder and grind very fine.
2. Stir in paprika, cayenne, and garlic powder.
3. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

We have a surplus of eggs right now, so I've been going through the egg book looking for recipe inspiration. There were a lot of promising candidates, but this is the one I settled on for now. It neatly used up the rest of the kasha I'd had sitting in the pantry after making some kasha bread and it was a good use of the mushrooms that I got on spec in our last produce basket.

I was quite pleased with how this came out overall. It was reasonably hearty and filling, not too much effort, and seems like it would be very tolerant of additions and substitutions depending on what you have available. I swapped out the jalapeño for a green finger chile and added some pressed cottage cheese. I think next time I'd be inclined to add some chopped spinach and/or kale, more garlic, and use a few extra eggs. It might also be interesting to try cooking the kasha in chicken or vegetable stock instead of just plain salted water. Another interesting take could be tomatoes, basil, and bocconcini; a sort of "kasha margherita" scramble. I definitely think there's a lot of room for experimentation.

Kasha Scrambled Eggs

Slightly adapted from The Good Egg by Marie Simmons

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 c. boiling water (or vegetable stock)
• 2/3 c. kasha
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
• 225g cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 6 large eggs
• 1 jalapeño or green finger chile, minced
• 1/2 c. crumbled pressed cottage cheese (optional)

Directions

1. Bring the water (or stock) to a boil. If using water, add ~1 tsp. of salt.
2. Add the kasha to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender (10-15 minutes). Drain and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, melt 1 Tbsp. of the butter over medium heat.
4. Add the mushrooms, onion, and garlic and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned (10-15 minutes).
5. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Mix in the kasha and cook for another minute or so.
7. Reduce heat to medium-low.
8. Whisk the eggs with the chile and a bit of salt and pepper.
9. Push the kasha mixture to the sides of the pan, leaving the middle clear.
10. Melt the remaining 1/2 Tbsp. of butter in the centre of the pan.
11. Pour in the egg mixture and cook (without stirring) until the eggs begin to set on the bottom (~2 minutes).
12. Now cook, stirring gently, until the eggs are soft-set (2-3 minutes).
13. Add the cottage cheese (if using).
14. Gently stir the kasha mixture into the eggs.

Pork Do Pyaaz (Pork Tenderloin Strips with Onions and Bottle Masala)

This takes a while to cook but is very simple to put together, if you already have bottle masala handy. And the results are delicious! I've written the recipe as originally presented, but we had 900g of tenderloin and thus made a double batch.

The recipe calls for green bell pepper. We made it with red and yellow and had no complaints. I think it would work with either, but we generally prefer red bell peppers to green. The salt and oil are also reduced relative to the original recipe.

Pork Do Pyaaz

660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer (p. 219)

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 medium red onions, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 large bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 450g pork tenderloin, cut into 5mm discs and then the discs cut into 5mm-wide strips
• 2 tsp bottle masala
• 1 tsp coarse salt
• ¼ C chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Add onions and bell pepper, stir together, and cover.
3. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are deeply browned and the peppers tender, 25-30 minutes; as the liquid cooks off you will need to stir more often.
4. Stir in the pork, bottle masala, and salt.
5. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until browned, ~10 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro.

We made this for my sister's baby shower and it went over quite well with some corn chips. We made a double batch which, in retrospect, was too much; we brought about half of it back home. I've written up the recipe for a single batch here.

We served it hot out of the oven, but it's tasty cold, too.

Vidalia Onion Cheese Dip

Cook's Country April/May 2018, by Morgan Bolling (p. 16)

Ingredients

• 2 C finely chopped Vidalia onions
• ¾ C mayonnaise
• 170g sharp cheddar, shredded (about 1½ C)
• 60g American cheese or Velveeta, chopped (about ½ C)
• ¼ C thinly sliced green onions

Directions

1. Combine onions, mayo, both cheeses, and half the green onions in a 1L casserole dish.
2. Bake at 375°F until melted through, bubbly, and browned, about 25-30 minutes. (We had trouble getting it to brown and settled for "bubbly".)
3. Top with remaining scallions and serve with corn chips, pita chips, sliced vegetables, etc.

This is one of those curries that I find a bit challenging not because it's particularly difficult to make, but because it requires so many different ingredients. It takes just a little bit of a lot of different veggies and I find it can be a hassle to get them all and then to figure out what to do with the unused portions after making a curry like this.

However, I recently stubled across frozen bags of "veggie fries" at the grocery store. Sure, they contained a mix of carrots, parsnips, and beetroot and what my recipe called for was carrots, cauliflower, and red pumpkin (among many other things), but I figured I could give it a whirl and hope for the best. Having three veggies in one bag meant three less vegetables I needed to organize for dinner. And being french-fry cut already gave me a head-start on the prep!

Photo goes here.

Aviyal

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1 c. cut-up fresh green beans
• 1 c. cauliflower florets
• 1 c. French-fry cut red pumpkin
• 1 medium carrot, French-fry cut¹
• 1/2 c. frozn green peas
• 1/2 c. cubed frozen purple or yellow yams
• 8-10 pieces frozen "drumsticks"²
• 1 medium russet (or other floury) potato, French-fry cut
• 1 medium sweet potato, French-fry cut
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 Tbsp. yellow split peas (chana dal)
• 20 fresh curry leaves
• 1 c. shredded fresh coconut³
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 4-8 fresh Green Thai, serrano, or finger chilies
• 1 tsp. rock salt⁴, pounded
• 1-2 Tbsp. coconut oil or ghee (optional)

Directions

1. Add the beans, cauliflower, pumpkin, carrot, peas, yams, drumsticks, potato, and sweet potato into a pot and add enough water to just cover them.
2. Add the sea salt and turmeric and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
3. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally (be gentle), until the vegetables are tender (10-12 minutes).
4. Meanwhile, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
5. Add the split peas to the hot oil and roast them, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes.
6. Scoop the peas out of the pan, leaving as much of the oil behind as possible. Place the peas in a blender and set aside.
7. Add the curry leaves to the hot oil and let them sizzle for a few seconds, then add the leaves and oil to the pot of vegetables.
8. Once the vegetables are done, reserve 1 c. of the cooking water⁵ and then drain the veggies.
9. Add 1/2 c. of the reserved water to the blender jar with the roasted split peas.
10. Add the coconut, cumin seeds, and chilies and blend until a somewhat gritty sauce forms.
11. Return the drained vegetables to their pot and pour the sauce over them.
12. Add the remaining 1/2 c. of cooking water to the blender jar and swish it around to rinse it out and pour this into the pot as well.
13. Stir in the rock salt and coconut oil (if using).
14. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until warmed through (~5 minutes).

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¹ I substituted all three of the above ingredients (carrots, pumpkin, and cauliflower) for 3 c. of frozen veggie fries, which were a mix of carrots, beetroot, and parsnip. This produced a different result, but still a good one. ^Back
2 We're not huge fans of "drumsticks" (a slightly musky, tough-skinned Indian vegetable that looks a bit like an overgrown okra) in this household, so I swapped them out for 20 spears of asparagus that had been trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces. ^{Back 3} Or 1/2 c. unsweetened dried coconut soaked in 1/2 c. boiling water for 15 minutes, then skimmed off the water. ^Back
4 I didn't have any rock salt and I didn't want to go out looking for it just for this recipe, so I just used an additional teaspoon of coarse sea salt here. ^Back
5 I used an additional 1/2 c. of the hot vegetable cooking water to reconstitute my coconut. Plain water works fine, but why use extra water and lose the flavour and nutrients in the vegetable water? ^Back