Breakfast:

coffee with a bowl of creamy banana oatmeal.

Treats and Snacks:

I took chai iced tea (treat) to-go in my thermal. The pic below was the extra that I chugged down quickly. Later during the day, I had a small banana (snack).

Lunch:

"Turkey" sandwich. I hate saying the word Turkey when describing my food. That's what the company calls it, so in order to give an accurate description of the food I ate, I guess I have to use their lingo.

Along with my sandwich I had chips and homemade salsa. Low-fat graham crackers (treat).

Dinner:

Immediately after slurping a little bit of this yellow liquid, a huge smile formed across my face. I finally made a curry dish that I liked! Like always though, I have to give my critique. Here I go....The color is a little off, but I think the taste is pretty darn close. I tried toning down the spice level by adding less peppers, but my self-dried peppers were way too potent. If anything, this curry experiment was a little spicier than the last.

Another Treat: Late night treat. dulce de leche ice cream dipped in walnut pieces

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

Breakfast: Trader Joe's Honey Nut O's with plain soy milk and a cup of coffee. Later, as a snack, I had lemon soy yogurt.

Lunch:

Yves "turkey" sandwich (lettuce, "turkey," ketchup, mayo, and pickled peppers).

treat: caffeine kick with chai iced tea.

Dinner:

Pho on a hot night. It's so weird how I crave hot foods during warm weather. But, No matter what temperature it is that day, a bowl of pho will always make you sweat. I look at it as clearing my pores. (pores and food--gross I know).

Dessert: A little bit of dark choco.

Probably the biggest change I've noticed is that I tend to snack a little less. I seem to be less hungry between meals this week, and I think that can be put down to a change in habits: I can't snack as easily, so I tend to eat more of what I've cooked at meal times. The absence of easily edible snacks has left me in the position of eating more at meals, so avoiding snacks in the first place has let me avoid them further, if that makes sense...

I'll be cooking in a different way next week - this week has focused a lot on foods which either had meat analogues or were not specifically vegan - that is, they may have been incidentally vegan but not so on purpose. If you see what I mean. In the coming week, I'll be doing more food which is specifically and deliberately vegan. Basically delving a little further into vegan culture.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="84" caption="Blue Dragon Wholewheat Noodles"][/caption]Yesterday I ate a stir fry of green peppers, onions and garlic, with wholewheat noodles and soy sauce. While I'm not in the business with this blog of promoting an organic or wholewheat-only diet, I do like wholewheat pasta generally. It has more texture to it and a greater depth of flavour than plain old white pasta, and I find that it tends to be easier to keep al dente when cooking. I had the Blue Dragon variety, which are very tasty indeed.

I've had a few cravings for stuff in the last week, I must admit; it's been difficult not to eat bacon, for example. I don't think I'm atypical in that respect; anecdotally, it seems everyone knows someone who used to be vegetarian but who strayed from righteousness went back to eating meat because of bacon. I've also been thinking a lot about faggots in gravy. Now, I know there will have been a certain amount of sniggering from American readers there, but stay with me. Faggots are a traditional variety of meat ball/dumpling, made from liver, heart etc and baked in gravy. The usual traditional ones are a little harder to find these days, and the usual ones seen in supermarket freezers are Mr Brain's, which are made from chopped liver and onions. They're still bloody good, though, and I could kill for some of them right now.

Tonight's dinner will be curry. Specifically, cauliflower curry with rice and masoor dal.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="105" caption="Masoor Dal"][/caption]You may not know what dal is if you don't usually eat Indian food. The term refers to any kind of hulled split pulse, like lentils, yellow split peas and so on. The name is also applied to a kind of thick stew/porridge made from the same. Dal comes in various kinds, such as chana dal, which is made from split chickpeas; toor dal, made from split pigeon peas, similar to yellow split peas; and masoor dal, which is made from red lentils.

The way to make the stew is usually pretty simple, as it's a staple among much of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It starts with boiling the pulse in water with some salt and turmeric until it becomes soft (with red lentils, until they break apart) and then adding a tarka, which is a blend of fried spices and flavourings when it is cooked. While that's the usual way to cook it, I often can't be bothered with the process and chuck the lot in all at once. This is also known as inauthentic cookery.

The curry's going to be pretty bog standard - onions, peppers, spices, cauliflower, left to simmer for a while. I may add a handful of lentils to thicken it up. The rice I usually cook plain, sometimes with a little onion in it. The dal is my favourite, probably because I like lentils.

That's about it for now. I hope you've enjoyed reading the first week of my experiment, and I hope you come back for more.

Crossposted at Thirty Day Experiment.

Probably the biggest change I've noticed is that I tend to snack a little less. I seem to be less hungry between meals this week, and I think that can be put down to a change in habits: I can't snack as easily, so I tend to eat more of what I've cooked at meal times. The absence of easily edible snacks has left me in the position of eating more at meals, so avoiding snacks in the first place has let me avoid them further, if that makes sense...

I'll be cooking in a different way next week - this week has focused a lot on foods which either had meat analogues or were not specifically vegan - that is, they may have been incidentally vegan but not so on purpose. If you see what I mean. In the coming week, I'll be doing more food which is specifically and deliberately vegan. Basically delving a little further into vegan culture.

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="84" caption="Blue Dragon Wholewheat Noodles"][/caption]Yesterday I ate a stir fry of green peppers, onions and garlic, with wholewheat noodles and soy sauce. While I'm not in the business with this blog of promoting an organic or wholewheat-only diet, I do like wholewheat pasta generally. It has more texture to it and a greater depth of flavour than plain old white pasta, and I find that it tends to be easier to keep al dente when cooking. I had the Blue Dragon variety, which are very tasty indeed.

I've had a few cravings for stuff in the last week, I must admit; it's been difficult not to eat bacon, for example. I don't think I'm atypical in that respect; anecdotally, it seems everyone knows someone who used to be vegetarian but who strayed from righteousness went back to eating meat because of bacon. I've also been thinking a lot about faggots in gravy. Now, I know there will have been a certain amount of sniggering from American readers there, but stay with me. Faggots are a traditional variety of meat ball/dumpling, made from liver, heart etc and baked in gravy. The usual traditional ones are a little harder to find these days, and the usual ones seen in supermarket freezers are Mr Brain's, which are made from chopped liver and onions. They're still bloody good, though, and I could kill for some of them right now.

Tonight's dinner will be curry. Specifically, cauliflower curry with rice and masoor dal.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="105" caption="Masoor Dal"][/caption]You may not know what dal is if you don't usually eat Indian food. The term refers to any kind of hulled split pulse, like lentils, yellow split peas and so on. The name is also applied to a kind of thick stew/porridge made from the same. Dal comes in various kinds, such as chana dal, which is made from split chickpeas; toor dal, made from split pigeon peas, similar to yellow split peas; and masoor dal, which is made from red lentils.

The way to make the stew is usually pretty simple, as it's a staple among much of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It starts with boiling the pulse in water with some salt and turmeric until it becomes soft (with red lentils, until they break apart) and then adding a tarka, which is a blend of fried spices and flavourings when it is cooked. While that's the usual way to cook it, I often can't be bothered with the process and chuck the lot in all at once. This is also known as inauthentic cookery.

The curry's going to be pretty bog standard - onions, peppers, spices, cauliflower, left to simmer for a while. I may add a handful of lentils to thicken it up. The rice I usually cook plain, sometimes with a little onion in it. The dal is my favourite, probably because I like lentils.

That's about it for now. I hope you've enjoyed reading the first week of my experiment, and I hope you come back for more.

Crossposted at The Odd Blog.

Primero que nada debo declarar mi pasión, como buen valenciano, por toda clase de arroces. De cualquier forma y tipo, el arroz es uno de los alimentos más agradecidos y variados, al igual que la pasta. Lo puedes hacer con lo que quieras que nunca te dejará tirado. Bien es cierto que hay que pillarle el punto, pero eso ya es cuestión de práctica. 

En este caso no voy a hablar de arroces locales, si no de risottos. El risotto no es sólo cómo preparan el arroz los italianos, es un plato distinto, con su propia personalidad y textura, que enamora al primer bocado. Para los puristas locales será un sacrilegio (¿¿¿arroz con queso???) pero os aseguro que merece la pena probar. Digamos que es otro rollo, ni mejor ni peor, distinto. 

En este caso me he saltado aún más las normas y no sólo he preparado un risotto, si no que además le he importado raíces indúes. Os lo cuento.

Ingredientes (para 2 personas):

200 gr de arroz arbóreo*

Una cebolla grande o dos pequeñas

Un ajo bien picado

50 gr de mantequilla

100 ml de vino tinto

Dos cucharaditas de curry

Una pastilla de caldo de pollo

Un par de filetes de pechugas de pollo (150 gr)

Sal marina y pimienta recién molida

Parmesano recién rallado (o no)

Una hoja de laurel

Agua (1L)

En un cazo ponemos el agua, la pastilla de Avecrem y el laurel hasta llevarlo a ebullición y lo mantenemos a fuego lento durante todo el proceso. 

En una sartén grande (o cazuela baja) ponemos la mitad de la mantequilla y la cebolla muy picada. Cuando ésta vaya quedándose translúcida añadimos el ajo picado y el pollo cortado a tiritas o taquitos y lo salamos, hasta que se dore un poco. Tras esto añadimos el vino tinto (que cubra) y subimos el fuego para que se vaya el alcohol. Añadimos el arroz y el curry y vamos esperando a que vaya secando el guiso. Éste es el secreto del risotto: durante los siguientes 16 minutos iremos añadiendo el caldo que tenemos reservado en el cazo a medida que el arroz se la vaya consumiendo, hasta que se acabe. Es un arroz meloso, que no nos preocupe que no quede seco del todo porque de eso se trata.

Bueno, y ahora la guinda: cuando el arroz termine de consumir el caldo y consideremos que está cocido añadimos el resto de la mantequilla, la pimienta y el parmesano rallado y removemos ágilmente para que todo el guiso se impregne de ambas cosas y el queso se derrita bien, y a la mesa**! 

*El arroz arbóreo es el más indicado para risotto. Es un arroz de grano corto que libera suficiente almidón como para que el plato quede muy cremoso, pero permaneciendo al dente en el eje del grano. No obstante alguna vez he tenido que utilizar el arroz habitual en esta zona y no he tenido demasiados problemas, sale igual de bueno. 

**Es imprescindible comerlo inmediatamente y en caliente; y se le puede añadir más queso en la mesa! 

INGREDIENTS:

One small chicken, chopped
2 tbsp yogurt
3-4 tbsp chicken masala powder (deepens how thick you want the gravy to be)
1 tbsp of ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
one big onion sliced
curry leaves
2 bay leaves
1 cinnamon
few cloves, star anise
1/2 tsp of big & small jeera
2 green chillies
2 tomatoes
3 small potatoes (optional)
Small size of Tamarind
salt to taste

Method:

1. After washing the chicken with salt, marinate it with lil bit of salt,  yogurt, masala powder, ginger-garlic paste, tumeric and chilli powder for 30 mins.

2. In a pan, add in some oil and temper the cinnamon, star anise, cloves and jeera. Quickly add in the chillies, curry leaves and bay leaves. Once the curry leaves splatter, add in the onions and stir fry.

3. Once the onions are soft, add in the marinated chicken and fry in pan for few mins. Then add in abt 1/2 cup of water and close the lid. There will be water from the chicken, so watch out how thick you want your gravy to be.

4. When the chicken is half cook, put in the cubed potatoes and tomatoes (i like my tomatoes to be very soft so you can opt to put the tomatoes last min.) In less then half cup of water, crush the tamarind and pour in the juice. Add in more water according to the thickness you like.

5. Chicken curry is ready once the potatoes are cooked.

3. Remove from heat and add: 1 T. curry powder (masala), 1 ½ tsp. chili powder, 1 dash turmeric powder, ¼ tsp. coriander powder, ¼ tsp. cumin powder, 1 tsp. crushed ginger and garlic
4. Heat together till aroma of spices comes out; be careful NOT TO BURN spices
5. *Add 1 kg (2lbs.) bone in chicken or lamb and 1 tsp. salt; brown meat (adding oil if needed, careful not to burn spices) until sauce thickens and changes color.
6. Add water to cover the meat and ½ chopped tomato
7. Simmer covered for one hour or until meat is almost tender; adding salt as needed to taste.
8. Add 3 lrg. (4 med.) cubed potatoes, water just to cover. Cook another 30 + minutes (until potatoes are soft/mushy); stir to combine and further thicken gravy
*Vegetarian: use kidney or sugar beans. Steps 1-4 and 8-9 remain the same. Steps 5-7 Add 1 cup beans, water, tomato and salt and cook until the beans are almost done.

To make one bunny= spoon curry into hollowed out end of a quartered loaf of bread.

Indian Peas and Cabbage (Mattar Gobi) (serves 4)
Brown in 1 T. oil: 1 clove garlic, minced
Add: 1 c. frozen peas, ½ tsp. ground cumin; stir briefly
Add: ¼ c. water; boil until water evaporates.
Add: 1 lb(500g/approx 5 c.) cabbage, shredded, ¼ tsp. ground turmeric, ½ tsp. salt, dash of ground red pepper or to taste
Stir and cook over medium heat 10 minutes. Cover during last 2-3 minutes.
-from Extending the Table

So there's primer on the walls and baseboards cut and leaning against them. The neighbors both work on Monday and the baby goes to Grandma's, so I might end up nailing the baseboards to the wall then, unless Husband just gets it done tomorrow sometime. He's got a lot of walls to paint, though.

My stepfather came over today to help with all the cutting and placing and painting, and it's a relief that so much progress was made. Just having primer up makes the walls look so much better. After being told by Home Depot that blinds would take three or four weeks, and then being told by Lowe's the exact same thing, I took my entourage to 3-Day Blinds. That was a pretty little showroom, with toys for the kiddies and lots of help, including someone's idle father or grandfather along for the ride while the women be shopping for window treatments who played with F&F while I talked to the salesperson. I picked myself some beautiful cellular blackout blinds--Christian Lowe: Steamed Oatmeal--that were light-blocking and insulating and would have made a huge difference in the heat and light of this room. The price was $744.

Dude. This is for a kids' room set-up where they are sharing a window that has a two-by-four board up against it. These are blinds that would look white from the street and that would spend most of their time up and that would have to be thrown out when this quasi-temporary wall gets taken down. I really wasn't expecting that kind of price tag. I could have dropped it to $627 if I'd gone with the crappy, ugly store brand, and I could have paid for regular shipping if I didn't want my blinds in three days. So it looks like we're going to do something with blackout curtains instead. Now I'll be prepared in the event of a housing market collapse, Rapture, or the Luftwaffe. Theoretically, these curtains could be thrown together in a day after a quick morning stop at Jo-Anne's, but I don't really sew stuff that well (just quilts) and I would hate to ask my mother to do it for free, even though she could do it in an hour. I do like going to Jo-Anne's, however, and she always seems to have a coupon... Stepfather will be leaving tomorrow morning for an extended business trip. Maybe I'll catch her with some free time. It's not like the room is even ready to move into yet anyway.

Husband isn't really that thrilled with the way the handyman finished everything off. He thought it was sloppy and all the different stages of wood and drywall didn't really show the results to their best effect (he used to work as a painter). One of the pocket doors is causing trouble, too. It's got these bubbles in the middle of it on each side. It's on Filly's room, and I'd assumed that she was having trouble sliding the door because, well, she's a baby, but it actually sticks. You look at it edge on and there is almost an S profile to this part in the middle, and you can see scuff marks were the bubbles have been hitting the frame. I had to call Mike to tell him to come back, and it about made me throw up. First the neighbors, now this... it's harshing my buzz about the room. Add to that the fact that I'm pretty sure I'll be unable to get tiny little pieces of carpet to patch where the old and now busted built-in vanity used to stand in the alcove. I did get a hold of a very nice local carpet warehouse guy, who suggested that we pull some carpet out of a space that doesn't get a lot of traffic. We've got the same texture of carpet in our living room, but a different color, and there's a big piece of that different color in the garage. I think I'll pull the patches from the master bedroom closet and fill those holes with the green. I'll have to track down carpet padding somewhere, but that shouldn't be too difficult--I still have the original order form from our carpet installation and it's got the weight on it. I need two pieces 18 inches by 24 inches. INCHES. You wouldn't think it would be this complicated. I guess I'm going to learn how to look up online how to patch a carpet so I can read the instructions to husband while he does it.

The rest of the day I slaved away folding laundry while watching Project Runway: Season 1 on the computer. I didn't think I'd ever seen it before season 3, but I know I've seen the wedding dress episode, and this swimsuit one that follows. But the characters don't seem familiar at all. I also watched the finale of Swingtown. I caught all the episodes this summer and thought it was entertaining summer fare. I don't really care if it comes back. I would totally watch it if it did.

Poor Fella couldn't sleep in his room with all the pounding, so he finally conked out in the living room in Filly's pop-up butterfly tent. He slept a long time--I was shocked. I mean, we were in the living room going in and out of the front door to get stuff from a car, messing around getting food and drinks in the kitchen, going up and down the stairs... there was a lot of commotion. Filly got a little bored playing in the bedroom with me, because I didn't let her climb onto the bed where I was making my piles and she was prevented from joining in the paint fun in the other room. The cats seemed reasonably untraumatized by the goings-on today. We had Thai food for dinner. I love me some Massamun curry with the mock dock. I know I've said that before. but it bears repeating.

Massamun curry with mock duck. And Boddingtons. We have eclectic tastes.

• ½ taza de mayonesa
• 6 papas sancochadas enteras
• 3 huevos cocidos sin cáscara y picados
• 1 cdta. de curry en polvo

PROCEDIMIENTO:

Parta las papas a la mitad, saque la pulpa aparte y aplástela hasta formar un puré. Mezcle todos los ingredientes incluyendo la pulpa.

Rellene las papas y caliéntela de nuevo en el horno por unos 10 minutos.

Rinde: 12 porciones

Versez 50 cl d'eau dans une casserole et ajoutez-y le cube de bouillon émietté. Portez à ébullition, puis incorporez la poudre d'amandes. Otez du feu, couvrez et laissez infuser 5 mn.

Remettez la casserole sur feu doux. Mettez le lait et le lait de coco dans un saladier, délayez-y le curry et ajoutez le gingembre. Versez le tout dans la casserole. Amenez à frémissements puis laissez cuire 10 mn environ en tournant régulièrement.

Pendant ce temps, faites chauffer une poêle antiadhésive à sec sur feu moyen. Dorez-y les amandes effilées 1 mn environ, en remuant sans cesse.

Rectifiez l'assaisonnement de la soupe, puis répartissez-la dans quatre bols de service. Décorez avec les amandes dorées et servez aussitôt.

Pour épicer cette soupe à votre convenance, utilisez du curry plus ou moins fort.

Ich möchte heute eine Lanze brechen für die Berliner Currywurst. Kulinarische Leckereien hat ja jede Gegend in Deutschland zu bieten. Ich bin gerade beruflich in der Hauptstadt und da war natürlich Currywurst angesagt. Die erste Wurst aß ich gleich an der Bauruine am „Palast der Republik.“ Das Parlament der DDR wird derzeit „zurückgebaut“, wie es im besten Amtsdeutsch heißt. Der Pommes-Anhänger verkaufte eine Curry-Wurst, die ganz ok war. Leider riss die Dame vom Grill die Wurstverpackung des Supermarktes vor meinen Augen auf und legte die Wurst dann auf den Rost. Da vergeht einem die Lust auf den Curryzauber. Ich wollte eigentlich eine Wurst vom Metzger/Fleischer. Ein alter Kollege von meiner früheren Zeitschrift, der MACup, gab mir den besten Curry-Wurst Tipp. Er sagte: „Die beste Curry bekommste bei Konnopke, wah.“ Und mein Kollege musste es wissen. Er stammt aus den Ostteil der Stadt und kannte jede Ecke. Und er hatte Recht. An der S-Bahn-Haltestelle Eberswalde ist die Bude von Konnopke. Hier wird die Currywurst ohne Darm serviert, Pommes rot/weiß - oder auch Schranke genannt - gibt es auch. Hier geht auch der Berliner noch essen. Gemischt mit Touristen steht er an, um seine Wurst in Empfang zu nehmen. Schlange stehen, fast schon wie zu DDR-Zeiten. Aber es lohnt sich. Die Currywurst bei Konnopke ist einmalig. Also vorbeischauen, wenn man mal in Berlin ist. 

Ingredients:

4 medium thick green chillies (Slit them anad take out the seeds if you don't want it to be too spicy but make sure it stay's one piece)

1 small onion cut into chunks

2- 3 bite size pieces of coconut

1/4 tsp coriander seeds

1/4 tsp poppy seeds

1 tbsp tamarind paste

1 & 1/2 tsp peanut powder

1 & 1/2 tsp sesame powder

Chilli powder and salt according to your taste

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 cardamom

1 clove

1/4 inch cinnamon

1/4 tsp jeera

1 small red chilli

Method:

• Heat 1 tbsp of oil
• Fry onion, poppy seeds, coriander seeds, red chilli, cardamom, clove, cinnamon and coconut.
• Fry until onion becomes little bit brown and grind everything into a paste.
• Heat 4-5 tbsp oil.
• Fry chillis two at a time and keep them aside.
• Add jeera and above grinded paste.
• Fry until raw smell goes.
• Add ginger garlic paste.
• Fry for a minute and add turmeric.
• Mix everything once, add tamarind and 5-6 tbsp of water.
• Keep the lid on and let it come to a boil.
• Add the green chillis.
• Allow them to cook with lid on medium heat for 5-9 mts.
• Mix every 2 mts.
• After 9 mts remove the lid and add the water if  you think it is necessary. Don't make it too watery. It should a thick gravy.
• Enjoy with biryani, naan or paratha an plain rice.
• We had ours with hot parathas.

This goes to mona's RCI hyderabadi cusine: http://zaiqa.net/?p=318

Ordinary guy I should say what I am really, nothing spectacular about how strong I am and I walk just as an ordinary person here in Kuala Lumpur.

I am beginning to like the plain truth about our society, the behavior of each group or race has come out openly, the heart within the heart.

It's an open society. Very open. Even each group has come out with a lot of frankness, full of open mind.

I am beginning to stop buying from Chinese shops, neither do I go in mamak cafes for any drink. I prefer to drink in a Malay shop which serves my favorite foods. If I need to buy clothes or blouses I would prefer to buy in a shop whose owners are pure Malaysian, those favorites investments that PNB, EPF or LTH would invest their money in. Or those that are owned with majority share of pure Malaysian.

I am afraid that if I buy things in a Chinese shop an by doing so that make me spent my money with someone who really hates me. I am a Malay. Looking at the blog most Chinese hate Malay. I don't repair my BMW at Chinese shop either because there are Malay shops which can repair the car better and cheaper.

When I do a deal, I don't really do a deal with other races. I don't help these groups of people anymore. I wonder why I so obsess with that after the election.

I never want this to happen but it has happened to me and has spoiled my brain. I usually help and assist a lot of guys especially Chinese when they came for help. But, now, I reject most of them even to the extend of not answering their calls.

It is funny though I thought I wouldn't survive in the market, but after all this while I make my life much more easier and get better income by not doing jobs for these group of people. I have less problem with money instead and that has changed me a lot better and I have become much more happier than before at the time when I used to have a lot of Chinese and Indian friends.

I travel to any place and have weekends in Cameron every week. The weather is nice and the food is fantastic. I cook myself. I buy fruits and vegetable from Malay stall and I feel safe because I never had been cheated in any way as I used to when I bought the same at Chinese or Indian shops, pennywise.

These groups of people are nice when they want your money from you, but when they get what they want, they say bad things about me at the back. The truth about what I am saying is now available in most anti government blogs.

I don't know about politics, but of course whoever rules the country that doesn't matter, because I would still do the same thing and I am among the many people who stand on our own from childhood.

Cheerio for now. I will be back in Kuala Lumpur 2 hours from now.

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Ingredienser:
2 gula lökar
2 vitlöksklyftor
2 msk olja
kryddor såsom curry, koriander, kardemumma, salt, persilja och citron
2 st äpplen
2 dl buljong
2 msk tomatpuré
6 dl kokta adzukibönor

Gör så här:
1. Hacka lök och vitlök. Fräs i oljan tillsammans med kryddorna.
2. Tillsätt de hackade äpplena och häll på buljongen. Smaka av med tomatpuré och salt.
3. Låt puttra i 10 minuter.
4. Blanda ner de kokta bönorna och låt bli varmt. Servera med kall yoghurt och/eller ris.

Tips:
Hetta inte upp olivolja; då förlorar den så mycket av det nyttiga den innehåller.
Kom ihåg att du enkelt kan göra egen buljong: använd bara avkoket från exempelvis de bönor du nyss kokat till det här receptet och tillsätt någon krydda du gillar. Billigt, enkelt och miljövänligt.

I know, I know: it's been forever since I last wrote. But, in my defense, I did offer pre-emptive apologies some time ago, and a lot has come up in the last little while. I was scrambling to get my paper in, of course. It's a mediocre at best. I premised things beautifully, but everything sort of unravels as you read on. I ran out of time. The summer sun called. The boy got sick. I had a birthday to celebrate. Excuses, excuses, I know.

I just find it hard to dedicate myself to more than a few things at once, so, with so much to do in the past couple of weeks, there was a lot of cereal and soy milk, half-heartedly steamed vegetables, and uninspired legumes going on. It was a shame, especially with all of the gorgeous specimens at the farmers' market, but I think Jordan and I more than made up for it last night with our Indian feast.

Picture us from about five until eight chopping, dicing, stirring, sighing, spooning, scouring, laughing in my small, sweltering kitchen. From Tahera Rawji's Simply Indian, we made chapatis (an unyeasted flatbread, tortilla-like but denser), raita (a refreshing yogurt sauce with cucumber, mint, and cilantro), a complex but mild mung bean curry, and the most incredible pakoras ever. If you've never had them, pakoras are a north Indian appetizer made from a batter of chickpea flour, spices, and various finely chopped vegetables shaped into balls and then deep-fried. We were well aware of the fact that the goodness of spinach, cauliflower, and potatoes in the batter couldn't counteract the litre of canola we were frying in, but the pakoras were irresistible right out of the oil, especially with a little mango chutney. What can I say? Cooking is a lot of hard work. You get hungry.

While we laboured, we couldn't help but complain about how much patience Indian cooking seems to require. You chop and chop and chop. Then everything simmers for inordinate lengths of time. We weren't even making anything that elaborate, but, even between the two of us, there was still a lot to do. We shuddered to think of the days before instant biryanis. We couldn't imagine spending this much time in the kitchen on any kind of regular basis. In short, we were pretty happy about gender equality in the 21st century. No one is going to relegate us to tending to pots if that's not what we want. In fact, kitchen toils of an Indian-feast scale are strictly a luxury these days.

I don't have a recipe for you today, but don't worry, there is food in the works.

2008-09-07: see here for the actual pakora recipe. I just got permission from Ms. Rawji to reprint it today.

Ingredients:

1/2 bottle gourd

2 medium tomatoes cut into chunks

1/4 cup onions

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

2 curry leaves

3 green chillies slit lengthwise

1/4 tsp jeera

1 elachi

1 clove

1/4 inch cinnamon

1/4 tsp turmeric

1tbsp chilli powder (adjust according to your taste)

1/2 tbsp dry coconut powder

salt according to your taste.

You will need a  pressure cooker for this.

Method:

Heat 7-8 tbsp of oil in a pressure cooker.

Add cumin seed, elachi, clove and cinnamon.

Add onion, chillies and curry leaves.

Fry them until onion becomes translucent.

Add ginger garlic paste.

Fry for a minute and add turmeric.

Add tomatoes and fry for a minute.

Add bottle gourd and mix everything once.

Fry for a minute and add chilli powder , salt and coconut powder.

Mix everything once and add 1/2 cup water.

Close the lid and give one whistle.

After the pressure is gone, open the lid, taste and see if it needs anything.

Garnish with coriander leaves and enjoy.

Perfect with rice.

I did bloody well for over a week, even going so far as to actually enjoy sober nights out with pissed-up mates and break the nightly ritual of glugging booze in front of a keyboard pretending to be some stylish lush writer somewhere approaching the hobo-drunk splendor of Charles Bukowski.

By five on Friday I was fucking dying for a drink.
Had a pint and a chaser. Lovely stuff.
That night, I sat in chatting with a pregnant female friend of mine.
We drank cocoa. Bed (in fairness) 2AM.

Saturday night, I stayed in with my significant other watching a tv series on DVD.
I had a cocoa. Bed 11PM.

Sunday night, I stayed in with my significant other watching 'Soupy Norman' on the youtubes (watch them all - your life will never be the same again) and followed that up with more of the tv series.
And cocoa. Bed 10.30PM.

Monday, I headed back out to hers for a roast dinner, more Soupy and more dvd tv series.
...And more cocoa. Bed 10:30PM

Tuesday.
That's quite enough of that old-man shit.
Pub. Pint of black.
I wasn't quite into the tame atmosphere and decided cans of beer would be money far better spent.

I drank one can of the stuff.
I made a lentil curry.
I then hankered after a lovely cup of tea.
I drank a cup of lovely tea.
I considered another beer. But I felt a bit sleepy.
I filled a pint glass with water, took a sip and turned out the lights. Bed 9:50PM

Sick.

Sick and fucking twisted.

The recipe calls for a long list of ingredients but making of this curry is no more different or difficult than most Indian curries that we make on a daily basis.

2 table spoon oil

2 cups gwarphali/gavar/gorikayi/cluster beans pieces

2 tomatoes

1 tea spoon garam masala

1/2 tea spoon dry mango powder/amchoor

1 tea spoon red chili powder

tea spoon coriander powder

1 table spoon wheat flour

1 tablespoon fresh grated coconut (optional)

2 table spoon peanuts

1 table spoon chopped cilantro

a few curry leaves/kadhi patta/mitho limdo

1/4 tea spoon haldi/turmeric, 1.5 tea spoon salt

For vaghar/tadka: 1 tsp mustard seeds/rai, 1/2 tsp cumin/jeera & 1/4 tsp hing

1. Snip off ends of gwarphali and cut each into 2 pieces. Boil these beans in about 3/4 cup of water until they are just about cooked. Don't overcook them. Once cooked, take them off the stove.

2. Heat oil and do vaghar/tadka with mustard seeds, jeera and hing. Add curry leaves and peanuts.

3. Add chopped tomatoes, turmeric, garam masala, red chili powder, mango powder/amchoor, salt and coriander powder. Cook on low heat for about 3 minutes stirring a few times in between.

4. Add cooked gwarphali and fresh coconut to the above mix and sprinkle about 1 tea spoon of wheat flour. Mix well and let the curry simmer until most of the water has evaporated. Spread chopped cilantro on top.

You don't have to use fresh coconut but I thought it really added to the taste of this curry.

]]> http://uaoo.wordpress.com/?p=311 Wed, 03 Sep 2008 05:34:06 +0000 ering1 http://uaoo.wordpress.com/?p=311 Ok, I know. Technically it's not day two anymore. But since the sun hasn't risen yet and I haven't yet had my morning 250ml. of smoothie, I figure it's still ok to post a day two update.

Today was the first time I have ever weighed my food. I could have just had the 1/2 can of decent soup, but I'm having trouble with the whole idea of slaving over a hot stove to give my family a delicious meal, only for me to get stuck with a measly half can of soup.

I made roast beef on Saturday, so dinner for Monday and Tuesday were devoted to using up the leftovers. Monday was beef stew and dumplings and come on. Noone could realistically expect me to forsake that.

Tuesday was beef curry. Admittedly the sauce was from a jar but still, the smells coming off the stove were delicious. And throw in a bit of naan bread? There was no way the soup was coming out of the cupboard. But I had to be serious. I couldn't just heap a bowl full and say "to hell with it, there can't be that many calories!" Because then it wouldn't be so much a diet as an exercise in futility.

So with my friend Google I worked out the amount of calories in 100g of roast beef (136 I think), and white rice (alot), the curry sauce, and the naan bread. With the use of the calculator, my husbands brain and frequent trips to the kitchen to weigh things, I figured out that I could have 64g. of roast beef (approx. 4-5 9-12g hunks),67.5g Curry sauce,1/4 cup cooked rice(not enough!), and 30g. Naan bread. And I did. And it was delicious.  I had 281 calories left for dinner and after sneaking two extra hunks of meat afterwards, I probably used about 290-300. So, slightly over, but not a big deal.

How am I feeling? Well, ok so far. I'm not anymore tired or worn out than I normally am. I do tend to get very irritable and gouchy when I'm hungry so I'll need to keep an eye on that. But so far, I'm finding that right when I'm getting to that point of "hungry,HUNGRY,HUNGRY,FEED ME!!!" It's time to eat again. The problem with that, I'm discovering, is that, I'm not being filled up. And if I'm getting very fidgety waiting to eat again and what I eat doesn't fill me up, I will probably become very cranky.

I sound as if I spend all day thinking about food. I don't really. It's not the hunger so much, and I'm not craving specific foods, but what annoys me is that I'm hungry and I can't fill the hole. It's not what I can or can't eat, it's just not being able to grab or make something and eat it because I'm hungry. That is what bothers me. I don't like that gaping hole in my belly, I want to fill it up.So, it's not eating or food I miss, it's just getting rid of that empty feeling in my stomach.

Using my 1lb. weights on the uphill walk to the office and enjoying the resistance on my arms. Taking my multi-vitamin.

Time for breakfast, roll on day 3.

I followed Carmen Cooks' tofu curry recipe, and got it underway as soon as my tofu was thawed out.

There is my cornstarch and salt coated tofu, waiting for the frying pan.  And in it went.  I let it get crusty in the pan and instead of canola oil I opted for the vegetable oil that I had in the cupboard. It sizzled up nicely, and when complete, I set it aside.  When cooked through, I put two medium sized onions from an old CSA box in the frying pan and let them caramelize, glaze and become translucent.  At that point I added 2 Tbs of jarred red curry paste to the pan, then a whole cup of coconut milk.  I let it simmer for a bit in an effort to thicken it up.

Two onions, 14 ounces of tofu, 2 tablespoons of curry paste, 1 cup of coconut milk, and 1.5 cups of dried rice (I don't know how many cooked cups) later, I had three lunches ready to eat for the week.

I had my first edition this afternoon.  I would give it a solid B rating.  It could have been higher had I eaten it right away, but I don't like the chewiness of microwaved tofu, and prefer the crisp out of the pan texture.  Also, I wish I had done something in order to turn the heat up on this dish.  I understand the milk lowered the intensity, and the curry I bought is sold purely for Midwestern babies, but I had higher hopes for Thai brand!

Where can a gal get hot curry paste in this city?

We start with cubing up a bunch of beef, we prefer round steak for this.  Then we cubed up potatoes, carrots and celery, as well as onion.  Proportions are entirely up to taste. we just make sure there's enough to fill the casserole dish.

The veggies are microwaved with a bit of water until they are just tender.  If this step is skipped, the pie comes out a bit crunchy (as we unfortunately discovered when we served it the other day).  Then we add frozen peas and mix all the veggies together.

At the same time, we brown the beef in a frying pan.  Coating the beef in flour first helps it to brown up quickly and nicely.  Next we use the beef browning to make a gravy.  Generally I need to add butter, then mix in the flour to make the roux.  To this we usually add beef broth, and milk if we have it to thin the sauce to the desired consistancy.

We then flavour the sauce with salt, pepper, pureed thai chili peppers (i don't know exactly what kind, the market we go to simply calls them "hot peppers" but they are very hot) and lots and lots of curry powder and some cumin.  The sauce should be yellow.  We also add a dash of worcestershire sauce, and sometimes a bit of hot sauce depending on the flavour.

The final step is to buy some Tenderflake brand puff pastry, roll it out, and put it over the top of the pot pie.  Cold from the fridge we find a large one of these bakes in about an hour.  We usually cover the pie with something for the first half-hour to keep the pastry from getting too browned.

The Jamju Pie (working title) is the glorious east meets west combination of curry, pastry and mash! After a long discussion about how mashed potatoe could breathe new life in as the alternative to rice the fruition shall be born.

As I am intensely lazy I decided that quick fixes such as take away Chicken Bhuna, pre rolled pastry and (much against my love of mash) some M&S pre made mash spud were involved in this recipe to increase speed. I suppose I could include the cheese here as well seeing as I decided against milking a cow months ago to produce my own.

As I let the over pre heat I started to prepare the dish and instantly my dream turned to nightmare as the pre rolled sheet of pastry that I was promised cracked like an egg in front of me. Clearly I had been led up the wrong path by this quick and easy golden egg. Or something. Anyways I moved swiftly on to my second horror as I laid the pastry strips carefuly into the dish and pressed them down before realising I had not greased the damn bowl. 5 minutes and much swearing later I had extracted all pastry, greased and replaced said pastry. As the pastry needed to cook but the rest needed to warm I decided to slip it in the oven for 5 minutes or so to get a head start.

After taking it out of the oven I poured the warm Bhuna into the pie to which it fitted like a glove, having breathed a sigh of relief at dodging that bullet I started spooning the mash on top - no fancy pants moulding of the creamy white goodness I went for good old fashioned splodging. A generous grating of mature cheddar to finish the job and a slap back in the oven til it looked ready - about 15 minutes I'd say.

I realised after a few moments that I had omitted the fresh red onion I'd bought. Both from the meal and also the list of items I hadn't grown myself.

Well the spoon has been put down, the bowl is empty and the stomach is probably too full. What a tasty treat... I don't know if I'll be able to rice ever again now... that was truly amazing even with my intense bias. Now I shall have to settle down and see what The Mighty Q comes up with... especially with his feta cheese tactics... I regret nothing of the vintage cheddar and am more certain than ever that it was the right choice.... in fact I think it needs more melty cheddar goodness.

From now on I think this needs refining and testing to discover the best type of curry to combine this with... looking forward to more experiments

lunch was a lot better. i had a mixture of brown rice + multigrain rice, and some instant japanese curry with vegetables. by vegetables they mean potato, carrot, and onion.

curry is comfort food for me. i think japanese curry is like making spaghetti, or mac & cheese to koreans. whenever there are a lot of kids to feed or there was a casual church function...japanese curry and rice would be served.

since i think of curry as a comfort food and i was eating an "instant" version at that, i thought it would be totally unhealthy and calorie laden- but it's not...the entire box is one suggested serving at 340 calories, but half a box is all you really need over rice.

the box suggested serving over mashed potatoes....i'm going to pretend i never saw that...could be dangerous.

]]> http://veglchf.wordpress.com/?p=279 Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:33:52 +0000 Raring http://veglchf.wordpress.com/?p=279 En varm och kryddig soppa som man står sig länge på.

Till 3 lagom portioner

200 g inlagd strimlad paprika
4 dl kokosmjölk (1 stor burk)
1 tsk cocosa pure kokosfett
1-2 msk thai röd curry
2 tsk sambal oelek
300 g quorn - filéer eller bitar
½ liten gul lök
Smör/kokosfett till stekning

Gör såhär

Smält smör i en stekpanna och tillaga quornen enligt anvisning på förpackningen.

Mixa paprikan och löken med mixerstav. Tillsätt kokosmjölken lite i taget, fortsätt mixa tills soppan är så slät du önskar. Häll över i en kastrull och värm försiktigt. Vispa i kokosfett, curry, sambal oelek och kokosfett.

Servera i värmda tallrikar med quornbitar strödda i mitten.

Variation

Det går lika bra med stek/grillad tofu.

(Källa: Raringens variant på Greensis paprika-kokossoppa)

7:25am: some nuts, raisins, cereal and 1/2 mini-pineapple pastry before my run. pre-run snack = 125 cals.

7:40am-8:20am: 35 min run, 3 miles. exercise= -300 cals.

8:50am: 9 oz bowl of six-grain oatmeal with egg (200). 1/4 triple berry wheat waffle with 1 tbsp of pb (225) breakfast with mom = 425 cals.

11:30am: 1 banana and 1 tbsp of pb (200). Other 1/2 of mini-pineapple pastry (75) snack = 275 cals.

2:05pm: Lunch date with a couple girlfriends at Panera! I got 1/2 Turkey Artichoke ("Smoked turkey, spinach artichoke spread, Asiago-Parmesan cheese, tomatoes & caramelized onions, grilled hot on our Focaccia.") and 1/2 Orchard Harvest Salad ("Field greens, crisp romaine, dried cherries, fresh pears, Gorgonzola, toasted pecans & our cherry balsamic vinaigrette.") The sandwich was 370 cals, and a whopping 20 g of Protein!! No wonder I am so full as I'm writing this now 3.5 hours later :-P. The salad was 210 cals, but I think I ate about 190's worth since I used only a taste of the dressing and didn't finish the leaves or pecans. Panera lunch = 560 cals.

Let's Talk Protein

I'm in a bit of a predicament now. The plan for dinner is to go out for sushi, which is usually a protein-packed dinner for me too, with all the fish. But I feel Iike I've had my fill today though!! According to Harvard School of Public Health, "The Institute of Medicine recommends that adults get a minimum of 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight per day". That means my protein target should be around 46 g a day. On more active days, I think the range would be 46-50g. Let's take a look at today's eats...

Today's Protein Intake

• about 10 nuts, at 0.1 g each: 1 g
• wheat waffle protein estimate: 2 g
• pineapple pastry protein: 1 g
• soymilk and oatmeal: 8 g
• 2 tbsp of peanut butter: 8 g
• Panera sandwich: 20 g
• Panera salad: 3 g (website said 5 but i didn't finish the pecans)
• TOTAL = 43 g!!!

Wow, that means if I ate a serving of fish tonight, I'd be adding about 20 g of protein, putting me over the edge at 63 g. Is that dangerous?? It's so interesting that even though I'm at a net of 1085 calories now, which is relatively low, I could go overboard with protein.

With that in mind, I think I'll order the: Salmon, Oyster Mushrooms, Mashed Potato and Fungi Porchini. It comes with salad and soup so I'll definitely finish that, and I'll just have a few bites of the salmon (so maybe around 5 g of protein). Perfectly in the range, and the meal is balanced out with carbs, healthy mushrooms, and salad. Ooh, and it comes with dessert too!

EDIT*** It turns out that Yoshida was CLOSED, beginning today until September 22nd! So there went my worries, and we decided to go to Layang Layang, a delicious Malaysian food place. I had some Roti indian bread with a spoonful of curry sauce, malaysian noodles with bean sprouts and spices, celery, green beans, a bit of white rice, and some sauteed ong choy for greens. For dessert, I had a DELICIOUSLY CREAMY mango popsicle!! My mom bought this brand Hellados Mexico from Costco. O-M-G it's a must try!!! :-) I'd estimate dinner and dessert= 550 cals.

Also about protein, since I obstained from meat at this meal, I'd estimate it was about 5 g total, from the curry sauce/noodles and actually 2g from the Popsicle. That puts me at 48g total, which is on target! :-)

total cals = 1635

Our team name was the Peshwari Nuns, our mission to raise as much money as possible for Cancer Research. And our strategy? Well, that was to sell curry and naan bread at a stall as part of the Relay for Life event being held at Kibworth, Leicestershire, last weekend.

The Relay for Life is a 24-hour sponsored walk,  which the Peshwari Nuns team members tackled in pairs, each assigned a half hour shift of walking and then passing on the baton, or in our case the Holy Cross, to the next pair. And we had to do it dressed in nun's habits. Tres amusante.

There were all sorts of fancy costumes on show over the weekend-long event - pirates, women with bras on over their tops, the pink leggings brigade and many more. But we stood out by a mile. It made me chuckle when people kept wondering onto the walk track and bumping into my pal Tim, who is 6ft 7ins tall. How can you not notice a giant nun!!!???

Anyway, the curry and naan breads (actually pitta breads but no one noticed) went down a storm and we did a roaring trade most of the day and well into the night. While some manned the stall, others were walking and some tried to get a bit of shut-eye. I had shifts at 12.30pm, 4.30pm, 9pm, 12.30am, 3.30am and 8am and having to set your alarm every few hours, pull on a nun outfit and drag yourself round a misty circuit with sleep in your eyes was a tad on the torturous side. It seemed like the kind of punishment you'd inflict on war enemies. I'm precious about my sleep and kinda lost my sense of humour when, at the stroke of 10am when the 24 hours was over, the DJ guy on stage requested that we all hold hands and skip round the circuit, then run a lap and then listen to a boring speech. Aaarrggghh!

Anyhoo, it was all for a great cause and, not being one to boast, the Peshawri Nuns raised by far the most money - £7,500 in total - by holding a few fundraisers throughout the year including a volleyball tournament, ceilidh, quiz night and coast to coast bike ride. The nearest to us was about £2,000 - not that it was a competition - but we were chuffed with our efforts.

What was nicest about this event was the people I did it with, led by "survivor" Gordon who's keen to forget his illness and move on. The Peshwari Nuns were a jovial bunch and, even though sleep deprived, managed to smile and joke their way through the whole 24 hours. We may not every eat curry again (I can still smell it) or volunteer for a 24-hour walk again, but it was certainly worth it.

Well done chaps!!!