This was actually supposed to be a red curry (ie., with a stew-like consistency) but I had to improvise quite a bit since I ran out of certain ingredients. It was supposed to use only red curry paste, but I had to supplement it with some green paste, which is much, much hotter. Then I had to adjust with additional coconut milk and also water, and a prolonged cooking period to reduce the hotness. Very improvised, and a bit embarrassing. But it did taste great.
I think I've seen recipes that combines the red and green pastes, and that I might have cooked a dish like that. Whether I have or not, those two pastes actually creates a really interesting taste.
Clearing out the last remaining tomatoes, I decided to completely improvise. To the point that I don't clearly remember exactly what I did. It was just a standard mirepoix with tomatoes added, plus typical Thai things like fish sauce and kaffir lime leaves — and plenty of other things, I'm sure. I've got some in the freezer, that I will add coconut milk to when I thaw it, because this soup was a little too sharp. It would probably be much better when rounded off and softened a little with the sweetness of coconut milk.
Well, that'll teach me to wait so long before updating my blog. My memory of this meal has long since faded. Obviously, salmon fillet, baked/broiled, along with a rice mixture with carrots and peas — but I have no idea what the sauce might be. It could be some left-over curry sauce that I froze, but I'm not sure at all. The old camera died, so I'm trying to get used to another one right now, but the damn thing doesn't use the flash, so I get these distorted, warm colors. Ugh.
As much as I've obsessed about making my own burger buns, I guess it's a bit funny that I've become so fond of using toast instead. Yet, the first hamburger ever made, used toast, so I think I'm fine with that. The reason I tried toast was that I wanted to taste the meat itself — not the bun, not the sauce, not the accouterment. And this setup works great.
Bison meat has very little fat content, so you have to take care, to make sure it doesn't dry out. I seasoned the patties with salt and pepper, as well as some grated onion that I sautéed over high heat, while stirring constantly. The onion adds flavor, but it also helps prevent the patty from drying up.
A really nice mixture of cumin, coriander, chiles, cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric, coconut cream and kaffir lime leaves. The cashews were both roasted and added as a garnish, as well as being ground to a paste and used as a thickener, as well as a flavoring. Very nice, hot and sweet.
And happy Halloween.
Nothing much to say about this one — except that although making soup can be pretty time consuming, it's well worth it because the frozen leftovers makes for an extremely easy meal...
Dagnabbit, that doesn't look good at all. It tasted great though. I've been making Szechuan chicken and Kung Pao chicken (there's a certain overlap) for a long time, and decided to try it with shrimp. It worked a treat, even if it doesn't look too impressive.
This Norwegian dish obviously gets its name from the French au gratin — with bread. Its really a seafood version of a shepherd's pie, except that the Bechamel, veggie and seafood mixture is made firmer by adding a couple of eggs to it, with the whites being separated and beaten to stiff peaks. It creates an almost souffle type texture. Great food. Although in this case I used too much breadcrumbs, mind you.
Sorpotel comes from the same spot as the Vindaloo: the former Portugese colony and current-day hippie hangout of Goa (hey, the Beatles went there, even). It is traditionally made with pork innards, which I avoided. There's a broccoli dish that I can't remember. And of course, raita. Ugh, this doesn't look too good.
