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What have you been eating, drinking, and cooking?
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
What food and drinks have you been enjoying (or not enjoying) recently? Have you cooked or created anything interesting? Tell us about it!
I grew up with a family recipe I knew as "kedgeree" (kehd-GEER-ee). In more recent years, I had begun trying to figure out where this came from. I don't know where our family got it, but I think the name might be based on the Indian dish "kedgeree" (KEDG-er-ee), which is a breakfast rice dish with smoked fish and boiled eggs.
My family's recipe was essentially onions sauteed in butter, add S&B Japanese curry powder to warm it, then add a can of tuna, can of evaporated milk, raisins and let simmer for a bit to plump the raisins, then mix into a pot of rice.
The recipe I think this must have come from is a Japanese dish that I believe is basically known as fish curry rice, and it is essentially as above, sans the raisins. I don't remember the exact details, but it seems rather similar.
Well, I realized a few year ago that while I'm fine with tuna, my wife might prefer this with chicken, so I upgraded to the chicken thighs and never have looked back.
I typically skip the onions because I have limited energy these days, and while they're good, the dish works without them. However, when I do have the energy, I saute the slivered onions in butter until translucent, then add a bit of water and let the water simmer down - this makes the onions super soft, which gets rid of the raw heat and chemicals in the raw onions that makes me literally gag. Yay, stupid bodies. But other than that, the one I made yesterday:
Griddling the thighs: https://ieh.im/s/Telegram_hByfVzsLYl.jpg
Chopped the thighs - don't care about being done, just nice browning. Then melted butter in the skillet and warmed the S&B curry powder, then mixed the chicken in: https://ieh.im/s/Telegram_WYlNEJyuA1.jpg
Added 16oz heavy cream, can of baby peas, half container of raisins: https://ieh.im/s/Telegram_9vzJhI5ORa.jpg
Simmer to meld the flavours and plump the raisins: https://ieh.im/s/Telegram_zymdbDcsli.jpg
Serve over rice, or as I still do, mix into rice. I prefer basmati, but any will do.
Meanwhile… a note on the curry powder: Amusingly enough, in Indian cooking, there basically is no such thing. I think garam masala might be about as close as they get. But as the British brought some of the cuisine back to London, and as that spread out to Japan, well, curry powder became a thing. And Japanese S&B curry powder is amazing. It does not compete with Indian cooking, but it is such a delight in its own right.
I grew up eating two dishes using it, kedgeree being one, "Indian chicken" being the other. Basically similar, a whole chicken browned, into a dutch oven with evaporated milk, raisins, sauteed onion, some chicken stock, and raw rice - so the rice cooks and absorbs all the flavours, and it's just so amazing.
so in my recipe, I've sort of brought these both together.
Oh, and I didn't mention, but salt - and most importantly MSG - make this dish so damn amazing.
I normally serve the peas on the side, but thought i'd put them in this time. Absolutely worked, but I could have used a second can.
I don't generally measure most things, but if anyone wants, I will take the time to try and approximate measurements if you'd like :)
Still doing some simple meal prep in my apartment as I settle in and finish up this "performance improvement plan" at work. Last week I made some really nice chicken pita pockets. So far, they've been my favorite thing I've made in this apartment and don't require too much effort.
The meal prep portion is the chicken. This way I can use them in a variety of meals. I used some chicken thighs and seasoned them with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne pepper, oregano, and cumin. Slathered them with oil and baked for 30 minutes at 350F, flipping halfway through. With a standard pack of boneless skinless thighs, I can make enough to last me 3-4 days.
To make the pita pockets, I take a single pita, heat it up, cut it in half, and then open its pocket. I spread a thin layer of hummus and then stuffed it with a handful of salad greens. For each half pita, I'd slice up one chicken thigh and put it inside. Two half pita's are perfect for me. I made a sandwich with the same things, minus the hummus, but found it a bit much. I think the thin pita's are just perfect here.
Since it hasn't snowed in nearly 3 weeks, it's Grilling Season here in Ontario! I guess to be fair I'll grill until there's 2 feet of snow on the back deck. Last night I grilled some eggplant with barbecue sauce, and it was great. I love the texture of grilled eggplant, and how eggplant absorbs the sauce and the flavour, but still doesn't lose it's eggplantiness.
Bah, you're slow on the draw! We've been grilling here in Waterdown since late April. :P
Incidentally, now that we're in a condo we have had to switch to an electric grill, which we were worried about since we're so used to using propane BBQs. But after a bunch of research we got a Webber Lumin, and couldn't be happier with it. Unlike a lot of other electric grills, it can actually get up to 600℉! It takes about 25min of preheating to get there though, and if you open the lid too much you it won't maintain it. But it still works great for that initial sear.
So far we have already done burgers, half a trout, asparagus, and kebabs, and they all turned out surprisingly great. We were especially impressed with the asparagus though, since it actually got a nice tinge of char but without overcooking it, which is difficult to do without high heat. The real test of the grill will be steaks though, which I don't actually eat, but the rest of my family does. So I'll report back when they actually give steaks a try on it. ;)
That looks like an awesome unit! I've never used an electric one, but that looks fantastic. One aspect that I imagine you'll love is no longer having to deal with Propane tanks, which has been my favourite part of the gas grill.
Ah, nice we were considering getting a natural gas BBQ in our last house since there was a line for the fireplace in the room next to where our propane BBQ was. However, when our last propane BBQ died we got an amazingly good deal on a brand new one off kijiji (an old lady supposedly won it in one of those charity sweepstakes) so we just stuck with propane.
Dealing with propane tanks wasn't too bad though. We always had two tanks and just swapped them out as needed. The PITA part was when we forgot to refill the backup tank and ran out of gas on the main one. :P Then it was usually a scramble to go get more before the food got cold again. But yeah, the electric grill is definitely a lot easier and far more convenient!
I just realized that I haven't had a propane barbecue since I bought my first house in 2007 so maybe I'm assessing the annoyance of propane based on how often my dad runs out of propane, which seems to be every fucking time I'm there for dinner. Also he makes me do the barbecuing when I'm there and he blames me if it runs out, so maybe it's a non issue for someone with a functioning brain.
LOL, yeah for someone that's forgetful or doesn't plan ahead, propane is probably not the best way to go. :P
I've been on a bit of a gnocchi kick with pesto.
My salmon intake is high. Steamed or fried in a pan, it's great.
We picked up some fake meatballs and they're great. I'm eager to eat them again.
The theme of all these meals is I can prepare them really fast. I swear my eating habits are dictated by what I can create in a short amount of time.