What's cooking?

Yesterday's dinner was keema dal. The recipe used ground lamb, masoor dal, and southern-style seasonings: coriander, cumin, dried red chiles, fenugreek, curry leaves, asafoetida, shredded coconut, tamarind, coconut milk. Very aromatic and very delicious.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

My head today is full of plans for tomorrow. The Chowhound dinner group we're part of meets and the theme is French. I'd initially volunteered foie gras stuffed mushrooms baked in puff pastry, and then ended up adding a vegetable terrine. The mushrooms were meant as a passed hors d'ouvre, but then it looked like two other people were bringing appetizers so I elevated the 'shrooms to something I'd serve with the vegetable terrine, which will now get topped with a duxelle layer in order to marry the two ideas on the one plate. The terrine will have layers of green beans, artichoke bottoms and carrots, plus a portion of the chicken mousseline (binder) will get blended with a watercress puree for the bottom layer. Should be colorful and delicious. The host is serving a chicken galantine for the main course.

[Robin Garr]

Sichuan eggplant with onions and a bit of local Sour Power fresh sauerkraut filling in for Sichuan preserved vegetable. 

[Jenise]

Today, still in euphoria from last night's shrimp provencale, I'm all about shrimp. I've had it in the back of my mind for ten years to recreate the shrimp and grits I had at Magnolia in Charleston, South Carolina, and tonight's finally the night. Am making a shrimp paste per Edna Lewis' recipe to blend into the grits and create the basis for the flavors of what's going on top vs. just making plain grits, and will use a bit of hot Italian chicken sausage and a little bacon to give the sauce bold flavors. Report tomorrow!

Indonesian Style Vegetable Curry

No cooking tonight: I just cut the top off a Rush Creek Reserve cheese, put out some plates of crackers, sliced apples, lavender honey, etc. and dug in.

[Robin Garr]

Indonesian Style Vegetable Curry

I could eat that.

What makes it Indonesian, though?

It was cold last night, so I warmed up with some Thai mahogany fire noodles. Thirty red Thai bird chiles in the sauce--definitely hot enough to make a tiger cry.

-Paul W.

Indonesian Style Vegetable Curry

What makes it Indonesian, though?

Peanut butter, shallots, sambal, tomato, garlic, tofu. Along with the potatoes, onions, and sweet potatoes. So, it was the idea of Indonesian.

Robin, when I go out for lunch with my Malaysian friend -- we go to a Malaysian restaurant and she's always saying "Oh, this is really Indonesian" or "this soup is made the way it's made in Ipoh" or "this curry is Singapore style."

I can't keep up with it all -- often it has to do with how much coconut milk is used in the dish or how hot the curry powder is, or does it contain shrimp paste.

I see Cynthia has answered -- hmm, I wonder if the peanut butter makes it more Indonesian??

At any rate you see those distinctions made a lot. She also knows which waiter is Indonesian and which one is from Kuala Lumpur. The languages are evidently similar but different.

PS -- it looks like in Indonesia they use more tofu than in Malaysia, as well as a lot more coconut milk and peanut sauce...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_cuisine

[Robin Garr]

Indonesian Style Vegetable Curry

What makes it Indonesian, though?

Peanut butter, shallots, sambal, tomato, garlic, tofu. Along with the potatoes, onions, and sweet potatoes. So, it was the idea of Indonesian.

Sort of pan-Southeast Asian then? In other words, if I made the same thing (and I might well have), I could have called it Thai style? Not picking at you, just seeking a definition here ...

Sort of pan-Southeast Asian then? In other words, if I made the same thing (and I might well have), I could have called it Thai style? Not picking at you, just seeking a definition here ...

Yes, you could, but there is no Soap Weed in it. And I have found that Thai curries tend to have more liquid and thus be thinner than this one, which was quite thick.

[Robin Garr]

Soap Weed

You mean Essence de Crayole?

Tonight was arugula salad with homemade ciabatta garlic toast, vegetarian onion soup (yes, I was originally a skeptic, but it's the best I've ever had, and I've had plenty!), and Boston cream pie.

The wine (with the onion soup) was 1964 Bodegas Palacio Rioja Glorioso Gran Reserva. One of the best wines I've ever had.

Getting caught up here -

Sunday night was a pork roast rolled up with mushrooms, shallots, and garlic and served with mashed potatoes. Also had a very yummy soup made with broccoli, mushrooms, and just a little cream.

Thai red curry for dinner last night, using homemade red curry paste from Muoi Khuntilanont's recipe (posted elsewhere in this forum).

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Tonight was arugula salad with homemade ciabatta garlic toast, vegetarian onion soup (yes, I was originally a skeptic, but it's the best I've ever had, and I've had plenty!), and Boston cream pie. The wine (with the onion soup) was 1964 Bodegas Palacio Rioja Glorioso Gran Reserva. One of the best wines I've ever had.

Wines like that are a privilege to taste, aren't they? Glad you had that.

Tell us more about the vegetarian onion soup. The beef element in it is so integral to me, I'm impressed that you could plant

such a compliment on a non-beef version.

[Robin Garr]

A quick omelet made with local free-range eggs and filled with browned onions and garlic. 

Seafood packets: Basically, a nouvelle-style Coquille St Jacques wrapped in phyllo and baked in the oven. (The recipe called itself nouvelle. I suppose the distinction was that it called for a chiffonade of spinach as a thickener instead of beurre manié or a roux.) I served it with a simple side of sauteed spinach.

We bought big scallop shells back in the 70's because we both loved the classic Coquilles St Jacques so much. And we still make it occasionally. But the cholesterol is huge with all the cream etc. in that dish. It would be nice to try an alternative.

Today I bought a bunch of curly kale and then I borrowed a dehydrator from my tenants.

I made up a mixture including a bunch of Lan Chi sauce and tossed the leaves with it, and I will probably leave it in the dehydrator over night.

I ate a few of the kale leaves raw, nice and HOT. Will report in a different topic when I find out what they are like.

Robin, your pictures are always very bright and clear with very good definition. What type of camera do you use?

Made the Caramelized Onion Tart from Once Upon a Tart today. I added a few tablespoons of black olive and truffle tapenade just to make it interetsing. Yum.

Caramelized Onion Tart.jpg

Caramelized Onion Tart1.jpg

A few days ago I made crescent cookies that has kept my family entertained, except my husband doesn't like the powdered sugar snowing all over his jacket when he eats them. My son doesn't seem to mind.

Crescent Cookies.jpg

Jo Ann-
Those look maaarrrvelous!

[Robin Garr]

Robin, your pictures are always very bright and clear with very good definition. What type of camera do you use?

Drew, actually it's just the internal camera in my iPhone 4S, using the alternative Camera+ applet and sometimes additional tweaking with the Photo Forge applet on the iPad.

I do have a Nikon D100 DSLR, but it's generally overkill for food photography unless I'm shooting for print publication.