What's for dinner?

[Sorus]

Sounds fair to me. About time the 21st century started living up to expectations.

[Savor Dam]

hahahaha .. tonight Ill go either butter chicken or thai green curry .. mmm ... maybe the latter.

Got a big weekend .. eating several lunches and a few dinners out .. so looking forward to that ... cos it means .. no cooking.

I just want to have a partner who will make food for me and send it to me by transporter technology .. is that really too much to hope for???

That would be the second instance of butter chicken in a week, if you chose it over the green curry. Must be good; do tell!

I'd certainly not hesitate to scale up for another appreciative diner...but Seattle outskirts and New South Wales are distant enough from each other that piping-hot delivery would be a challenge, and I have no working transporter, despite the fact that my community of Redmond is where James Doohan (Montgomery Scott) hailed from.

In a bit under a week, you'll be back home and Trev can resume pleasing your palate.

[Avatar]

So it ended up being steak and chips. Damn good steak.

Tonight...no idea...

--A

[Menolly]

SD made steak and roasted asparagus tonight.

[Avatar]

Bleh. I don't do asparagus.

--A

[Skyweir]

Oh I do .. I love asparagus

Maybe you should come down under SD .. and run some of that delicious cooking by me

Either that or I might have to slow boat myself to the US and insinuate myself into your home .. .. near the kitchen .. cos your place is cooking .. what with Menollys home cooked breads and all your excellent meals sounding pretty good to me.

Yeah I went green thai but should have gone butter chicken cos .. yeah yummy. But had butter chicken tonight.

Its an indian dish SD and it is divine .. but you have to have it with mint sauce .. and I just discovered .. cos at home I would pick fresh mint and chop it finely and add it to plain greek yoghurt .. that its sooo much easier than that .. the place Im staying had a jar of mint jelly .. so not having all the bits of bobs Id have at home .. I added mint jelly to sour cream and it was the bomb. and tastes JUST like the ones you get at an Indian restaurant .. so they MUST do that

[Menolly]

huh.
The recipe I plan to use for butter chicken tonight calls for cilantro (fresh coriander leaves). Mint is not mentioned in any way.

[Skyweir]

Its an accompaniment Menolly .. and yes cilantro is perfect with it.

You have to try it next time with the mint sauce .. you make a small pot and spoon it on the side or on top of the dish .. just a bit .. and it makes it sing

[Skyweir]

Actually to really enjoy an Indian dish .. you got to have a range of accompaniments .. like raita, thats a staple, some of the chutneys, though Im a fan of those in moderation, though mango chutney is nice .. the mint sauce is a basic, some nice naan or papadams can be a nice add. I love butter chicken .. as its a mild dish.

The hotter curries, like beef madras, vindaloos etc are especially nice with accompaniments as they add an interesting level of flavour that compliments the heat and spice of the curries.

You should definitely whip up a few to serve with your main dishes. you will not be sorry

[Menolly]

I like raita and chutneys with lamb vindaloo, one of my favorite Indian dishes. But I had never heard of this mint sauce, so I asked in a Facebook international recipe group page I follow. They offered up the following recipe. Sounds...interesting.

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/429390145715019550/

[Skyweir]

Yep thats about right ... thats how I usually make it but I found a very cool hack with the mint jelly ..

[Savor Dam]

Menolly made butter chicken last night in the instant pot. Rice to accompany, rather than naan - she stacked both the rice and the chicken/sauce containers in the pot and did both at the same time. Along with this, she served freshly-picked peas in a butter-dill sauce. Absolutely delicious, although she kept the heat level moderate since Dam-sel doesn't always care for hotter curries.

Next time, we may try a slight increase in cayenne. Also discussed adding an initial saute of the chicken to build flavor through the Malliard reaction. The recipe she was following did not call for this, and she likes to make new things by-the-book before indulging my habit of experimentation.

On the other hand, we may go with extra-firm tofu the next time, rather than chicken.

We didn't try the mint sauce idea, but since we have mint jelly and homemade greek yogurt, I may whip up a small portion to go with the one leftover butter chicken serving.

[Linna Heartbooger]

mmmm, I love cilantro.

Cooked up a big pot of great northern beans.
Then fried some onions, added half a jar of tomato sauce we had around, and that was that.
with white rice.

I am not impressed with my tomato-ing choice...
...but enjoying the flavor of great northern beans.. haven't had them for so long.

I have a request:
Could someone rave about having happiness in cooking?
(or direct me to an existing post(s) of that description.)
I have this weird thing where I am anxious about cooking, and avoid it unreasonably... and yet I have inner conflict about that...
...but once I start it sometimes I'm content doing it... sometimes.

[Skyweir]

We didn't try the mint sauce idea, but since we have mint jelly and homemade greek yogurt, I may whip up a small portion to go with the one leftover butter chicken serving.

Let me know what you think of it with the dish proper

And sounds like Menolly aced the dish .. and one always serves it with rice and as an optional extra add naan as well and of course as many accompaniments as you can be bothered with.

mmm .. definitely one of my faves.

[Skyweir]

mmmm, I love cilantro.

Cooked up a big pot of great northern beans.
Then fried some onions, added half a jar of tomato sauce we had around, and that was that.
with white rice.

I am not impressed with my tomato-ing choice...
...but enjoying the flavor of great northern beans.. haven't had them for so long.

I have a request:
Could someone rave about having happiness in cooking?
(or direct me to an existing post(s) of that description.)
I have this weird thing where I am anxious about cooking, and avoid it unreasonably... and yet I have inner conflict about that...
...but once I start it sometimes I'm content doing it... sometimes.

Hahahahahaha .. cooking is fun Linna .. you CAN have happiness in cooking. I now mainly only love cooking if I am feeding others, like the kids or friends popping by. I cooked my whole life and thats why Im not so fussed with cooking much for no especial reason .. even for me now .. daily meals are no incentive to me.

SD and Menolly et al .. seem to have a very cool set up with so many eager cooks in the house. I love the experimentation aspects of cooking .. and am not one to follow a recipe if I think I can adapt it or enhance it in some way. That is a little more fun .. for me. But I get bored with eating and some days Im just over the whole deal .. making a meal.

Dont be anxious sweet Linna .. focus on the ingredients you love .. like cilantro .. we call it coriander and I love it too. So I like making dishes that have coriander in them. Of course too much of a good thing will naturally need shaking up a bit. But growing herbs is fab and good for the kids to go and pick veggies and herbs for meal making. So fresh herbs are just so tasty ... and umm .. fresh

So for me coriander inspires thai dishes, mexican dishes, asian dishes and indian curries. So theres a lot to play with. Also if you dont want to slave over a recipe there are great hacks that make delicious meal preparing easy and doable. I in the past made all my own curry pastes .. they are quite delicious its true. But like me when working shifts .. not always convenient. I have since found you can buy ready made pastes .. that you just need to add coconut cream to etc. So browning meat, add your paste and pour in coconut cream and wammo you have a pretty decent meal .. and if its indian .. you can add a few nice accompaniments to sweeten the deal. All in all you can serve up a meal to the family that tastes as good as if you went out and had it in a restaurant.

So thats that .. asian is sooo easy as its all wok tossed everything .. so start out with onion, garlic and your choice of spices, add in whatever meat or tofu toss till brown, add in all manner of veggies. When I was working I always kept bean sprouts in the fridge as theyre great fillers and taste great .. on top of your carrot, broccolini and whatever veg you like.

Thai is super great and easy .. and you can get top curry pastes etc .. to make up a pad thai, a noodle dish with egg meat and veg. A delicious thai curry of varying heat options, a laksa which is basically a soupy noodle dish .. but with Thai yes you want your coriander but add fresh basil for that extra level of flavour. I make thai malaysian satays which my kids absolutely adore. Its super easy again .. I use the best satay paste ever .. Jimmys satay paste. So its a paste not a premixed sauce .. you throw it into a sauce pan for a couple of minutes only to melt down, add regular peanut butter and melt it down also .. with the paste and starts to make the most amazing nutty scent .. then add coconut cream and blend it over the heat ... add a few teaspoons of brown sugar and a splash of fish sauce .. and your done. You can serve it with meat or veggies or whatever you want .. all these dishes require cooked rice

With laksa again .. you can get really good laksa base paste, tom yum pastes etc .. I always keep some won ton soup mix in the cupboard as its a great additive to an asian soup or well anything tbh.

The other things I always keep in the house besides olive oil of course .. but as I do make a lot of asian style dishes .. sesame oil is the bomb .. and light soya sauce and youre pretty right. Other basics are oyster sauce, fish sauce which keeps forever in the fridge .. though be careful not to spill it .. cos fishy

I always have peanut butter and a variety of base pastes to start from. And truly this was just a way of enabling me to cook up a quick feed on the go.

The other basics are of course Italian .. so spaghetti bolognaise, lasagne, one of my fave Italian dishes is chicken, avocado, garlic and cream .. and boom .. add to cooked pasta and serve with bread and or salad on the side. So delish.

If Im up cycling I will cook some garlic in a pan with fresh cut parsley add prawns cook .. then pour in a splash of brandy then add cream .. serve with home made bread or crusty bought loaf.. yum.

Now my kids are all vegetarian bar two .. this has created some challenges but I fall back on my asian dishes and just dont add meat.

ALSO what are great northern beans? Are they fresh green beans or podded beans .. that you bake in a tomato sauce? Please explain

[Savor Dam]

Great Northern is a white bean larger than a Navy, but not as large as a Cannelli.

I also find happiness in cooking. Since my RL profession was being a glorified cat herder / noodge, there wasn't a lot of day-to-day accomplishment I could point to; other people did the real work after I had made sufficient pest of myself. Creative satisfaction came from planning/shopping/cooking/serving...or more often, seeing what jumped in the cart and then treating those groceries as the culinary equivalent of an impromptu standup comedy cue. A more apt description might be a Masterchef mystery box challenge, but I've been a extemporanous cook far longer than that show has aired.

Yes, there are times when I am not feeling it. We are fortunate to have another skilled and enthusiastic kitchen artist in the household.

Oh, that's right. It's Saturday Night and someone is off gaming. Dam-sel and I tried a local Sichuanese place we'd not been to before. So very good! Hot and sour soup, Mongolian spicy fish, hot beef chow mein (with thick noodles made in-house), and dry cooked green beans.

We'll be back there, hopefully on a non-Saturday next time so all can enjoy.

[Skyweir]

So what did you do in RL SD?

[Savor Dam]

Excuse the off-topic post as I answer Sky's question.

I spent most of the last 35 years doing technical program management. 13 years as a NASA contractor (where Dam-sel and I met), a few as the IT director for a healthcare organization, and a few more as a "hired gun" consultant doing Year 2000 remediation and wireless telecom consolidations. Almost a decade with largest savings-and-loan in the US, before the 2008 crash destroyed it and turned a nice nest egg of incentive stock into so much wastepaper. Another year or two of "hired gun" consulting, five years with Amazon Web Services, and three months with the place that hired me away from Amazon, then let me go when they decided to reverse the initiative they hired me to implement.

While I enjoy and am good at planning out complex efforts and figuring how to streamline and standardize repetitive processes, having to nag people to deliver on their commitments and try to keep all the different teams pulling in harness got very tedious, especially in firms with toxic management cultures.

The bus commute into and out of downtown Seattle (90 minutes each way at minimum) became the last straw. Retirement suits me just fine.

[Menolly]

Hot and sour soup, Mongolian spicy fish, hot beef chow mein (with thick noodles made in-house), and dry cooked green beans.

I got to have a taste of everything, reheated via the microwave, for lunch. Except for the fish. I just can't do microwave reheated fish...

:shudder:

What I had reheated was good. The rice is how I like it, i.e., individual grains with a bit of chew to them, rather than soft and a bit mushy. The house made noodles for the chow mein had a great bite, although I'm not a fan of wokked meat, so the beef wasn't to my personal liking. But the sauce and noodles were nice.

The dry cooked green beans were good. Hyperception had perfected such a dish making frozen green beans in a saute pan. I had never gotten it down before I came out here. But it was a good flavor to be reminded of.

The hot and sour soup had good heat to it. I almost always ask for chili oil and black vinegar to add to hot and sour soup when I order it. Unless SD and Dam-sel added some chili oil themselves, which I highly doubt, this soup came with plenty of kick. However, the sour aspect was nearly nonexistent for me. My current cooking guru, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt (at least until Alton Brown's Return of the Eats starts airing), says the vinegar in hot and sour soup tends to fade quite quickly. So, it may have been because the soup had been refrigerated overnight, and then reheated. But, if not, I can always ask for some black vinegar when I try it fresh made at the restaurant.

What bothered me about the hot and sour soup was its goopiness before being reheated. It thinned out as it got hot, but the broth was still thicker than most hot and sour soup I've had lately. Again, this might be because it was refrigerated overnight and reheated in the microwave. But, I suspect the restaurant cook has a heavy hand with a corn starch slurry. Nothing wrong with that, but I think I would prefer a slightly less thickened broth.

Still, I look forward to giving them a try. Particularly any tofu dishes they may have.

[Skyweir]

SD you are EXCUSED

Eeewww rice should never be mushy unless maybe rice pudding ... maybe

Glad you enjoyed your microwaved left overs