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Jul. 22nd, 2005 07:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickDinner tonight is a cooking dinner. I'm not exactly tired of No-cooking dinners and the heat hasn't stopped yet, but tonight it was time for a cooking dinner because my next no-cooking dinner is waiting on an avocado which is not ripening as quickly as I thought it would.
Life Skills Hint (I'm a freaking font of useful information, here -- last one was, IIRC, about the flushing of toilet-incompatible items): Do not attempt to use a less-than-ripe avocado for guacamole. You will be disappointed with the results, no matter how much you want guacamole right now and no matter how much you claim that you will not care that the avocado is too firm to mash with a fork. Trust me. You will be disappointed. It is far, far better to wait on the avocado until it is ready to be used. Firm, near-crunchy avocados taste like ass. Wait for the opportune moment -- it'll be worth it.
Tonight I made tasty dal (I need more of the dal in question. The Cook's Thesaurus claims that the dal in question are moong dal. I wouldn't fucking know one way or another, but the proper kind are oval and yellow and split like split peas. The picture in The Cook's Thesaurus under MOONG DAL is exactly what they look like. Go look at the picture, see what kind they are, and get that kind regardless of what it says on the packet.) with reasonably-correct raita and chapti-like flatbread.
Tasty dal
5 and 1/2 cups plain water
1 and 1/2 cups moong dal (see above), rinsed and picked through because sometimes they have stones in them
2 coin-sized slices of fresh ginger (you pick these out before serving. I cut 'em like you'd do carrot slices for a salad)
1 teaspoon turmeric (the yellow spice that's cheaper than saffron)
Put all of this in a big pot and boil until the dal are tender enough to eat, usually 20 to 30 minutes.
In a different pan, put 3 tbsp of oil (I use a mix of olive and butter, ghee's nice if you have it on hand), 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds, three large cloves garlic (sliced). Cook until garlic slices are browned a bit. Add 1/2 teaspoon each ancho and chipotle chili powders (or your choice of chili powders, total of one teaspoon), and add 1/2 teaspoon garam masala. Stir until all the powder is wet. Tip this stuff into the first stuff (watch out because it will spatter) and stir well. Salt enough to brighten the flavors (about half a teaspoon is pretty close to right for normal people.)
Serve hot.
Reasonably correct raita:
1 large cucumber
1/2 a medium tomato OR one whole plum tomato
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
plain nonfat yogurt
cilantro
Peel cucumber. Cut in half crossways (two shorter round pieces, not two long half-moon pieces). Cut each piece in quarters lengthwise. This is easiest if you stand it on the cut end and cut downward to make the lengthwise halves, then lay the lengthwise halves flat-side-down and cut them in half each to make the quarters. Using a spoon scoop out the wet, seedy part of the cucumber from each quarter section. Throw that away or slurp it up (cook's choice). Dice the remainder of the cucumber (the firm, white flesh) into salsa-sized pieces.
Take tomato amount and cut it into similar-sized pieces. The truly fastidious will take the tomato seeds away as we did with the cucumber but I'm not that fastidious.
Chop an amount of cilantro sufficient to make guacamole from one avocado, a smallish handful. Probably like a quarter cup if you don't pack it at all but just let it be fluffy in the cup. This is an inexact measurement. I'm sorry, but I just go with what looks good.
In a bowl large enough for stirring, put cucumber pieces, tomato pieces, cilantro, spices. Glop enough yogurt on top that you think it'll hold together okay. It takes a couple of good tablespoon glops. (A tablespoon glop is the maximum amount of semisolid food item such as yogurt or mayo or sour cream you can get to stay on the spoon. It is not a LEVEL tablespoon.) Look, if you're confused, just pretend you're making egg salad. It's supposed to be about the same amount of glop-per-solids as that. Stir a bit. If it still looks too dry, add a bit more yogurt. It'll be okay.
Serve chilled, as a side accoutrement to whatever spicy food you might be having.
Chapati-like flatbread (if you liked the recipe for the raita, you're going to love the recipe for these...):
One cup (or more, as needed) whole wheat flour
1/2 cup water
small amount (1/4 tbsp? I just eyeball it.) salt
In bowl, combine ingredients. Stir well. Tip out onto floured surface. Knead until it feels like bread, adding dough as required to keep it from sticking. Let rest thirty minutes. Divide into eight pieces. Roll each piece out very thin and then cook it on a greased (I use butter), hot flat iron skillet thing until it's lightly browned on both sides. Turn it once and mash down any air bubbles it makes while cooking. Serve hot.
(Excess dough can be stored in the fridge for about four or five days without causing it any harm.)
In other news, I have killed enough flies in my house today that, were this a Stephen King novel, I'd be expecting a visit from the Lord of the Flies here directly. Fortunately, this is not a Stephen King novel.
Life Skills Hint (I'm a freaking font of useful information, here -- last one was, IIRC, about the flushing of toilet-incompatible items): Do not attempt to use a less-than-ripe avocado for guacamole. You will be disappointed with the results, no matter how much you want guacamole right now and no matter how much you claim that you will not care that the avocado is too firm to mash with a fork. Trust me. You will be disappointed. It is far, far better to wait on the avocado until it is ready to be used. Firm, near-crunchy avocados taste like ass. Wait for the opportune moment -- it'll be worth it.
Tonight I made tasty dal (I need more of the dal in question. The Cook's Thesaurus claims that the dal in question are moong dal. I wouldn't fucking know one way or another, but the proper kind are oval and yellow and split like split peas. The picture in The Cook's Thesaurus under MOONG DAL is exactly what they look like. Go look at the picture, see what kind they are, and get that kind regardless of what it says on the packet.) with reasonably-correct raita and chapti-like flatbread.
Tasty dal
5 and 1/2 cups plain water
1 and 1/2 cups moong dal (see above), rinsed and picked through because sometimes they have stones in them
2 coin-sized slices of fresh ginger (you pick these out before serving. I cut 'em like you'd do carrot slices for a salad)
1 teaspoon turmeric (the yellow spice that's cheaper than saffron)
Put all of this in a big pot and boil until the dal are tender enough to eat, usually 20 to 30 minutes.
In a different pan, put 3 tbsp of oil (I use a mix of olive and butter, ghee's nice if you have it on hand), 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds, three large cloves garlic (sliced). Cook until garlic slices are browned a bit. Add 1/2 teaspoon each ancho and chipotle chili powders (or your choice of chili powders, total of one teaspoon), and add 1/2 teaspoon garam masala. Stir until all the powder is wet. Tip this stuff into the first stuff (watch out because it will spatter) and stir well. Salt enough to brighten the flavors (about half a teaspoon is pretty close to right for normal people.)
Serve hot.
Reasonably correct raita:
1 large cucumber
1/2 a medium tomato OR one whole plum tomato
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
plain nonfat yogurt
cilantro
Peel cucumber. Cut in half crossways (two shorter round pieces, not two long half-moon pieces). Cut each piece in quarters lengthwise. This is easiest if you stand it on the cut end and cut downward to make the lengthwise halves, then lay the lengthwise halves flat-side-down and cut them in half each to make the quarters. Using a spoon scoop out the wet, seedy part of the cucumber from each quarter section. Throw that away or slurp it up (cook's choice). Dice the remainder of the cucumber (the firm, white flesh) into salsa-sized pieces.
Take tomato amount and cut it into similar-sized pieces. The truly fastidious will take the tomato seeds away as we did with the cucumber but I'm not that fastidious.
Chop an amount of cilantro sufficient to make guacamole from one avocado, a smallish handful. Probably like a quarter cup if you don't pack it at all but just let it be fluffy in the cup. This is an inexact measurement. I'm sorry, but I just go with what looks good.
In a bowl large enough for stirring, put cucumber pieces, tomato pieces, cilantro, spices. Glop enough yogurt on top that you think it'll hold together okay. It takes a couple of good tablespoon glops. (A tablespoon glop is the maximum amount of semisolid food item such as yogurt or mayo or sour cream you can get to stay on the spoon. It is not a LEVEL tablespoon.) Look, if you're confused, just pretend you're making egg salad. It's supposed to be about the same amount of glop-per-solids as that. Stir a bit. If it still looks too dry, add a bit more yogurt. It'll be okay.
Serve chilled, as a side accoutrement to whatever spicy food you might be having.
Chapati-like flatbread (if you liked the recipe for the raita, you're going to love the recipe for these...):
One cup (or more, as needed) whole wheat flour
1/2 cup water
small amount (1/4 tbsp? I just eyeball it.) salt
In bowl, combine ingredients. Stir well. Tip out onto floured surface. Knead until it feels like bread, adding dough as required to keep it from sticking. Let rest thirty minutes. Divide into eight pieces. Roll each piece out very thin and then cook it on a greased (I use butter), hot flat iron skillet thing until it's lightly browned on both sides. Turn it once and mash down any air bubbles it makes while cooking. Serve hot.
(Excess dough can be stored in the fridge for about four or five days without causing it any harm.)
In other news, I have killed enough flies in my house today that, were this a Stephen King novel, I'd be expecting a visit from the Lord of the Flies here directly. Fortunately, this is not a Stephen King novel.
