What are you eating? (food porn)

[Ulysses G.]

Sounds delicious and healthy. I'm too cheap to buy all the spices though. I hate buying bottles of spices that I will probably only use once.

Edited October 28, 2017 by Ulysses G.

[Naam]

On 10/28/2017 at 12:29 AM, tutsiwarrior said:

tonight, curried cauliflower and potatoes

gone vegan?

[d123]

On 28/10/2017 at 12:29 AM, tutsiwarrior said:

tonight, curried cauliflower and potatoes...I posted a number of different ways to prepare this also including cooked chickpeas...I've been making this since the 80s using Roz Denny's recipe from 'Rice beans and pasta' from the Sainsbury's Recipe Library...

 

Roz uses fenugreek seeds which is a secret ingredient but not available in Thailand but I've got some that I brought home from saudi...gives it a whole different flavor...

 

for a medium cauli and 2 large potatoes in a soup pot:

 

one large chopped onion fried in 1/4 cup of neutral oil until translucent...add half head of garlic mashed with heaping tsp grated ginger and chiles to taste in mortar (mashing the garlic, ginger and chiles together is the best way I've found and they are a common mixture for curries), stir for a minute or two, then add (heaped tsps):

 

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp tumeric

1 tsp ground coriander 

1 tsp sweet paprika (optional)

1 tsp fenugreek seeds (optional)

 

stir fer a bit, add a splash of hot water if it begins to stick to the pot...

 

add 3 or 4 roughly chopped thai tomatoes, mix and simmer for a bit until the toms break down...splash more water if necessary...

 

toss in the cauli in florets and roughly cubed tatties and mix and simmer fer a minute, add a splash of water if necessary...

 

add chicken broth from a cube to cover the veges, adjust salt and pepper and cook until the veges are done...

 

mmmm, good...with the tatties ye don't need rice, bread or etc...ye can add flaked coconut and yogurt at the end but I prefer not...excellent in the fridge the next day...

 

sounds complicated but it's not; I can have all the ingredients simmering in less than 30mins (including washing and chopping, multi - task when things are in the pot) and ready to eat in less than an hour...what ye gotta do is think about the preparation before hand, 'grok it' so to speak, and then when you have all ingredients assembled it runs right off yer fingers like Chopin with Claudio Arrau...

 

hookin' down the cauli and tatties right now with Nocturne #3 on the box...nice glissandos....

 

 

 

 

Makro have fenugreek both in leaf and seed form. 

[tutsiwarrior]

5 hours ago, Naam said:

gone vegan?

nah...I'm makin' pinto bean chilli with ground beef (makro) tonight...it's just in the past couple of years I'm eating less meat as my creaking digestive system wears out...been eatin' the frozen salmon from tescos once per week...

 

also, Naam, you musta noticed in the middle east that the local diet is less heavy on the meat and that's where I spent mosta the last 20 years...occasionally I would get a whole roasted chicken on the way home from work (with bread, hummous and salad, 15 riyals/dirhams) or a couple shwarmas when shopping down in Balad in Jeddah...

 

 

40 minutes ago, d123 said:

Makro have fenugreek both in leaf and seed form. 

yeah, thanks...that's good to know...folks can try the cauli/potato curry both with and without 1tsp of the seeds, makes a big difference...makro also has sweet paprika...

 

 

[Naam]

8 minutes ago, tutsiwarrior said:

I'm makin' pinto bean chilli with ground beef (makro) tonight..

YUM! with hot spices?

[Naam]

apropos vegan... after our cook (she left) our maid and gardener (both live-in) became vegan. the maid to the extreme, she also stopped eating onions and garlic but loves the hottest chillies. what's wrong with these people? 

[tutsiwarrior]

1 minute ago, Naam said:

YUM! with hot spices?

 

I usually make this with red pintos the US way but I got a surplus of pintos from my last visit to foodland in BKK...was gonna use them to make frijoles refritos...

 

the spices ain't nothin' much, just some dried chile either indian chile powder or the local red flakes or a combo and a bit of ground cumin...one of these days I'll try the fresh little chiles but messin' with them makes me nervous...plus ye gotta wear thick rubber gloves to handle them to avoid flesh simmering painfully in fresh chile oil...

 

or throw them in whole with the seeds into the mortar and mash up with the garlic like the thais do then hope for the best...

 

 

[tutsiwarrior]

27 minutes ago, Naam said:

apropos vegan... after our cook (she left) our maid and gardener (both live-in) became vegan. the maid to the extreme, she also stopped eating onions and garlic but loves the hottest chillies. what's wrong with these people? 

 

local religious and traditional mortification of the flesh...

 

'here, have some A&W Root Beer...can't be beat!' and then they pretend to barf...

 

 

[Skeptic7]

7 hours ago, Naam said:

gone vegan?

Nope, he used chicken broth in the recipe...but a vegetable cube works just as well! 

[Naam]

5 minutes ago, Skeptic7 said:

Nope, he used chicken broth in the recipe...but a vegetable cube works just as well! 

you are right. i like to drink daily a mug mug of spicy hot soup and discovered a year or two ago that the vegetarian concentrate taste even better than the beef.

[Morch]

3 hours ago, Naam said:

apropos vegan... after our cook (she left) our maid and gardener (both live-in) became vegan. the maid to the extreme, she also stopped eating onions and garlic but loves the hottest chillies. what's wrong with these people? 

 

Vegan conspiracy would be my guess.

[Naam]

8 minutes ago, Morch said:

Vegan conspiracy would be my guess.

my dogs suspect it's endemic and they worry that i might be infected too which would mean terrible times for them.

[tutsiwarrior]

9 hours ago, Naam said:

YUM! with hot spices?

 

I made that chilli with pinto beans and threw in 20 whole small green chiles (with seeds) mashed in the mortar with a head of garlic...and then later, nothing, not even a tingle...

 

I had conferred with the stepdaughter in the upstairs kitchen and she went to the family fridge and extracted a handful and I recoiled: 'I don't want pet mak or pet nignoy, I want pet mak nignoy...' and she looked at me with her 'falang baa' look and I took half down to my kitchen...

 

the niece was with me as I was lookin' at about 50 chiles and trying to decide what would be a safe first effort but she was wearing tiny shorts and I had a hard time keeping my eyes off her exquisite 19 y.o. backside...I went ahead with the 20 so I could watch as she ascended the stairs with the remaining chiles...country girls and their feigned innocence...

 

ended up adding 3tsp of indian hot red chile powder and it turned out OK...much better with red kidney beans...

 

 

[wayned]

11 hours ago, tutsiwarrior said:

been eatin' the frozen salmon from tescos once per week...

It's been the old standby with me for years.  When it first came out it was 69 baht but is now up to 99 baht.  It's good, easy to fix and fast.  Although I have tried many recipes using it I usually sear it in a pan with butter and finish the sauce with capers and a squeeze of lemon.  Takes about 3 minutes for the fish and 30 seconds for the sauce.  IMHO, salmon is disgusting if it is overcooked!   I've got a piece thawing now and will most likely bake a couple of big New Zealand mussels with a little salsa and grated cheese on top to go with it. I guess that I'll have french fries as my usual side dish, Asparagus, seems to have disappeared from the market.

 

It takes 3 minutes for the fish, about 5 minutes for the fries and 15 minutes for the mussels which will really test my multitasking abilities to get them all done at the same time.  Most likely the fish will have been devoured before anything else is done. 

[tutsiwarrior]

14 minutes ago, wayned said:

It's been the old standby with me for years.  When it first came out it was 69 baht but is now up to 99 baht.  It's good, easy to fix and fast.  Although I have tried many recipes using it I usually sear it in a pan with butter and finish the sauce with capers and a squeeze of lemon.  Takes about 3 minutes for the fish and 30 seconds for the sauce.  IMHO, salmon is disgusting if it is overcooked!   I've got a piece thawing now and will most likely bake a couple of big New Zealand mussels with a little salsa and grated cheese on top to go with it. I guess that I'll have french fries as my usual side dish, Asparagus, seems to have disappeared from the market.

 

It takes 3 minutes for the fish, about 5 minutes for the fries and 15 minutes for the mussels which will really test my multitasking abilities to get them all done at the same time.  Most likely the fish will have been devoured before anything else is done. 

 

I always just thaw it and then steam it by itself...I like the taste of salmon on it's own as it reminds me of gatherings with family and friends with a whole baked Pacific salmon years ago in California...just useta prepare with butter and fresh dill...

 

there was nice scottish salmon available when I lived in the UK but rarely bothered with it fer some reason...couldn't get the then wife interested even though she grew up in Glasgow...her mum useta do a dynamite lamb stew that I tried to learn but never did get the hang of...close but no cigar, as they say...

 

 

[Ulysses G.]

18 hours ago, Naam said:

gone vegan?

I find that unless meat is particularly good, I am just as happy with leaving it out of recipes. Just throwing some in everything seems silly to me. It is healthier to avoid it and just as tasty. However a good roasted chicken, turkey or a good steak is well worth the calories.

[wayned]

50 minutes ago, Ulysses G. said:

However a good roasted chicken, turkey or a good steak is well worth the calories.

Chicken, steak or prime rib ,yes, but I hate turkey!  I cooked it when I had to, Thanksgiving, not stuffed on the spit on a Weber grill.  I always went for the thigh meat or the belly when it was roasted in a pan.  I remember when I was small, we ate turkey for a week after Thanksgiving any anything other than the thigh meat was dry and only edible with plenty of gravy or mayonnaise!.

[Ulysses G.]

I like turkey, but mostly the dark meat. I love open-faced turkey sandwiches with gravy after Thanksgiving. The Garden restaurant and Bake and Bite used to do them all year round in Chiang Mai and somehow kept the turkey moist.

[tutsiwarrior]

today down at the 'talat' with the stepdaughter, niece and niece's toddler 'Ting Li!' gettin' the usual veges and meat...and I looked up from playing with the baby and our regular vege vendor had fresh oyster mushrooms...and I thought: 'hmmm, got tomatoes, got chicken breast and now got some mushrooms...gotta do chicken cacciatore, tutsi style with available local ingredients...'

 

for about 1 - 1 1/2lbs boneless chicken breast (one whole breast, ie., 2 half breasts usually connected when bought at the talat):

 

in about 1/4 cup regular olive oil saute about 2 cups of chopped yellow/brown skinned onions until translucent then add about a head of mashed garlic and fry fer a few minutes...throw in the chicken cut into 2" cubes and brown...then add about 6 - 8 chopped fresh local tomatoes and simmer...

 

now I like adding 'italian seasoning' to this mixture and it's hard to find in nakhon de nowhere but makro has packets of thyme, marjoram, oregano and etc so ye can mess around fer a bit...also bay leaf and ye might wanna try some of the local regular fresh basil...the toms gotta have basil, also goes good with the chicken...salt, pepper and I added a heaping tsp of the local dried flaked red chile (note: this is optional as the chile makes it hot, not murderous like thai stuff but maybe not to everyone's taste)...add broth to cover from a broth cube...

 

simmer fer a bit until the chicken is almost done then add the fresh mushrooms (1/2 to 1lb) and simmer until chicken is done...

 

makes enough fer about 3 - 4 servings and would go OK combined with 1lb al dente spaghetti if served in one go...the oyster mushrooms are a bit crunchy unlike western 'button' mushrooms but vive le difference...they absorb the sauce well and that's the whole point...

 

 

[tutsiwarrior]

re: the above chicken cacciatore...I wouldn't try this with other than fresh mushrooms...I tried them dried brown things available at the market and haven't been able to render them any more edible than shoe leather after numerous attempts...

 

 

[MuntyC0re]

right not kit kat with milk

[tutsiwarrior]

a few days ago did this:

 

https://mealz.com/recipes/the-flexi-foodie-aubergine-and-cauliflower-curry

 

and added a coupla diced spuds to give some 'heft'...anymore these days I don't like eatin' rice as it plays hell with the diabetes but spuds I can handle blood sugar wise...added to the masala after the tomatoes with some broth to simmer and then the cauli (short simmer) and eggplant at the end...pretty good...

 

after a coupla days I was left with some juice with veg bits and thought 'don't wanna toss it, tastes so good...' I then saw that I had a 1/2 pound of spaghetti and so I took the plunge: pasta with veg curry sauce...and not half bad...the reheated pasta and curry sauce is a nice substitute for mama noodles fer brekkie...even better after a night in the fridge...

 

 

I havta go to BKK to get my annual income affidavit from the embassy, see the dentist and to get an eye exam and now I am afraid...I don't wanna leave my local market and my kitchen as then I have no control, over my diet, daily routine or anything...instead, confused and stumbling along broken sidewalks in the heat and pollution, drooling with snaggled teeth, etc...a terrifying scenario of anonymous and agonizing death...

 

but at the hotel they serve a nice pork chop with real mashed potatoes and gravy...and a sebben next door with plenty of vodka, ice and mixers...and plenty of pretty girls at the adjacent hair salon: 'Mr tutsi! hello!' 'hiya, doll...hiya...' debbils to the left and debbils to the right, into the valley of death, etc...

 

 

Edited November 9, 2017 by tutsiwarrior

[tutsiwarrior]

looked in the fridge today and saw that there was a surfeit of broccoli and thought: 'cauli and tatties curry well together, what about broc and tatties?' and then googled and: 

 

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/potato_and_broccoli_curry/

 

also had some bok choy that fairly screamed: 'embrace me, you fool...'

 

pretty much followed the recipe with the tomatoes, garlic and ginger and roasted almonds in the blender before adding to the pot (no onions!)...then, at the end trimmed and roughly chopped the bok choy, added to the pot, stirred and took off the heat...nice one, no need to serve with rice...I used 2 heads of broc, 2 large tatties and 7 medium local thai tomatoes and doubled the spices, garlic and ginger...

 

a word about bok choy (pak choi?)...a friend many years ago who was a health nut and amateur athlete turned me on to bok choy, he had investigated it's various nutritional properties and said that it was the best leafy green veg that you could eat...and that stuck with me as I respected his judgement in these matters...combines well with most things and even stir fried briefly on it's own with some garlic...not always available at the market, ye gotsta look for it and grab it when ye can find it...

 

also got some thai chard that I was gonna curry with tatties but I may be off to krung thep fairly soon...there to immerse meself in pork chops with mashed potatoes, burgers and NYC style pizza...it's OD time again and I don't know if my old bones (or my feeble digestive system) can take much of that any longer...

 

 

Edited November 11, 2017 by tutsiwarrior

[ExpatOilWorker]

Home made breakfast.

[Naam]

4 minutes ago, ExpatOilWorker said:

Home made breakfast.

explanation please. what's the red paste on the smoked salmon and the three pieces on the lower right?

[CLW]

Home made breakfast.

I like the combination with the one slice of bread with Nutella [emoji23]

[tutsiwarrior]

2 hours ago, Naam said:

explanation please. what's the red paste on the smoked salmon and the three pieces on the lower right?

 

I believe that I'd make do with that avocado mashed onto a ritz cracker...or a local  Haitai saltine biscuit as the case may be...

 

I thought that avocados were extinct these days?...goin' the same way as beluga caviar...

 

they still gots the local ones fer cheap at the supermarket in Vietnam...nice when mashed on a fresh, crispy crusted Hanoi baguette fer brekkie...

 

 

Edited November 11, 2017 by tutsiwarrior

[Naam]

what's the red paste on the smoked salmon???

[balo]

Scrambled eggs and salmon sandwich .  I just love it. 

 

[ExpatOilWorker]

16 hours ago, Naam said:

explanation please. what's the red paste on the smoked salmon and the three pieces on the lower right?

The red'ish paste is dill dressing and is a dream made in heaven on the artesian New Sealand salmon. I haven't seen it in supermarkets here, but it is actually surprising easy to make yourself.

The other two pieces are rillettes, a kind of rustic French pate. With a kid in the household, I now finish off with a spread of Nutella.

Credit to the wife, the bread is home-made. She is growing her own sour-dough and is on a baking binge at the moment.