TAMARIND CHICKEN WINGS – from Kindle
I was mainly interested in the tamarind paste and honey sauce here, so used drumsticks rather than wings. Very surprised that the chicken is not at all marinated or cooked in the sauce, just doused with it after cooking with salt and pepper and baking powder, baked and nicely browned. Then pour sauce over and yer good. It IS good, and a new flavor than my usual BBQ or chicken gravyish
TURMERIC-SPICED YOGURT WITH WHITE BEANS (Kindle)
Sabrina G. notes that this recipe shouldn’t work, but does. I agree! Couldn’t be easier or quicker – I used Navy beans (small white) rather than cannellini. Fried in oil and flavored with cumin, coriander, garlic, S&P, chili flakes, turmeric . Stir in a nice plop of yogurt, cook a bit more. I was immediately enthusiastic after a taste and gobbled more than a taste.
SAMOSA PASTA (from Kindle)
I think this is the first time I’ve ever used the pasta shaped like little bows! How my girlygirl heart has gone this long without I don’t know. Actually all pasta shapes are objectively cute, I just realized. But back to dinner-- chopped onion is cooked in oil, then ground beef, the spices include cumin, garlic, cinnamon, turmeric, chili flakes, coriander and tomato puree. This lady (Sabrina G) uses a lot of turmeric! I fear gradual yellowing of all white surfaces in my kitchen! Add the cooked (cute) butterfly bowtie pasta, S&P, a scoop of frozen peas. Heat through and you’re done. Very tasty, warming. I would make it again, but my
level of enthusiasm for it is pretty equal to most pasta dishes I’m more familiar with like spaghetti and meatballs etc. Nice for a change, though. HE was happy too-- though absolutely clueless that the noodles were little butterflies.
CAULIFLOWER & CUMIN SOUP and
SPICED CARROT AND TAMARIND SOUP
both from “Simply” (on Kindle)
I usually like nice-sized recognizable bites of vegetable in vegetable soup, even tomato if it’s homemade. This smooth cauliflower soup is fine though. I’d certainly make it again. Enough cream to make it velvet, onion and cumin to flavor the cauliflower, a little bowl of this is
a liquid savory appetizer to make you hungry for dinner.
The Spiced Carrot and Tamarind – hmm – just okay, not for me. I think too many spices went into it. Equal amounts of cinnamon, paprika, garlic powder, turmeric, ginger – they all cancelled each other out somehow. Then I was left with carrot and tamarind which was colorful but not very exciting. So, one out of two this day.
NUT BUTTER NOODLES from Flavour (Kindle)
The first peanut sauce for noodles I ever tried is the one I still use, though I’ve experimented with many online (whew, some are spi-CEE!) Ina Garten’s is very good but I remember it as having lots of ingredients, and fiddly. So I stick to “Chinese Peanut Dressing” in the book “Asian Noodles” by Nina Simonds. This one from “Flavour” disappointed me-- bland and too sweet, can’t really recommend this one. I’m pretty sure everybody already has a favorite anyhow.
The ones I know are all some combination of Chinese sesame paste which is often substituted with peanut butter, some kind of chilli paste or oil (Sichuan doubanjiang has the most depth for my taste), a pinch of sugar, and black vinegar
The recipe calls for peanut butter. Toasted sesame seeds, sugar, soy sauce --in equal amounts. Coconut milk, minced garlic, and lime juice. Somehow it just wasn’t nice, Absolutely zing-free. No vinegar, no heat except for garnish of chili flakes. I’ve been liking her recipes in general so far, though.
This is a simple kabab formula, seasoned with onion, garlic, parsley, and chilli flakes. Plus some tomato paste and red bell pepper. I doubled the garlic and the chilli flakes after tasting, and also topped with tomato puree for a bit of sauciness as I had seen in another recipe.
Main change was using ground turkey (as I often do for kababs), as the only ground lamb I can get is too fatty for an everyday meal.
This comes together quickly and is pressed into a baking dish, so there is no need to form into kababs.
Strange thing happened — it pulled away from the sides and exuded a bunch of liquid. But I left it while I ate my salad, and by the time I served myself, all the liquid had been reabsorbed!
Very tasty — I’d definitely make this again with the enhanced seasonings. Recommend grilled / roasted onions on the side for a lovely balance.
The instructions for this say “preheat your oven to its highest setting” –
yikes, mine goes to 550F. Your supper looks very nicely browned, how high did you go?
Mine did not brown (annoyingly) for a few reasons:
(1) My countertop oven doesn’t “broil” in any real sense of the word,
(2) The meat “patty” is thin, so unless you’re blasting heat from the top, browning is unlikely.
(3) I used a ceramic dish instead of metal, so I didn’t want to move the rack to the top slot in case it shattered the dish.
My countertop oven goes to 450; I ran it at 425.
My mom suggested that it might work better to use a small pan instead and do it stovetop, where you could actually brown both sides. I might try that with the other half of the mixture (though I am really craving arayes now that I had a crappy version out, so the stovetop tepsi might have to wait).
I’m still very curious about the complete reabsorption of the exuded liquid as it cooled, if anyone has ideas.
ETA: Funny thing I remembered while describing the dish to my mom is that something almost identical is the very first savory dish I was allowed to cook as a kid – it was a pan kabab from an Indian Muslim cookbook, where the mixture is seasoned and patted into a tray and then baked (which is interesting, because home ovens were very rare back then). Then it is scored into diamond shapes before serving. I bet it’s from the same origins (ie Persian).
@JenKalb I’m replying here so it’s with the recipe report.
The recipe note says that the meat was originally chopped with the other ingredients, which is similar to what you’re describing.
I agree that her instruction on how to mix when you start with ground meat is a bit muddled.
That said, there are so many different schools of how to mix ground meat (and how not to) that I didn’t really pay attention to that part.
I was taught to barely touch the ground meat when mixing for kababs – just enough to incorporate the additions and seasonings, or they would become tough from overworking the meat.
Then when Kachka was COTM, I learned that those kababs are what we call overmixed – mixed and mixed until the fat emulsifies. The goal texture is totally different than the kababs I grew up with – spongy rather than crumbly / soft.
Asian dumpling mixtures – also a similar emulsification process.
Turkish kababs like Adana – the chopping method.
And so on.
(At this point for me it’s a mix of what texture I want vs the texture that’s intended, though i do tend to align with the cultural norm for the kabab type.)
I used the other half of the uncooked kabab mixture as stuffing for Arayes today – thin pita stuffed with the meat and then cooked (grilled / pan-fried/baked). I pan-cooked them and then toasted just before eating to crisp up.
I think I judged this too harshly based on my own expectations, but it’s another quick and tasty dish.
This is like a quicker / faster version of kheema, which I love. Ground lamb is sauteed with onions, and seasoned with coriander and cumin.
It’s eaten like tacos, with quartered tortillas – and there’s yogurt sauce and harissa oil to go on top, plus scallions and cilantro.
I found the ground meat a bit light on flavor (compared to kheema, that’s what I meant about expectations), but the harissa and yogurt at the end would have made up for it.
Still, as I was not planning to eat tacos, after tasting the meat, I decided to keep going and turn it into kheema instead, lol.
But I would recommend this as taco filling, as it’s intended! It’s a very quick prep, and the sauces are simple assembly.
I added harissa, because that sounded good, and made half of it into a Kheema Shepherds Pie.
It probably didn’t need much more seasoning than the recipe called for with harissa addition, though adding some onions while sautéing and a bit of tomato paste with the harissa would make it a saucier base.
TAHCHIN from “Simply” (my Kindle)
Sabrina G. says her mother “forced” her to learn and perfect this dish (odd detail to put in a cookbook ?) – but it got my attention. Turned out to be not so challenging, and pretty much a chicken and rice casserole with fancy additions. The recipe says that barberries are important --“key”-- to the recipe but on a snowy afternoon in Salt Lake City I used chopped dried apricots tossed with a little lemon juice. Basmati rice is mixed with saffron (I love to use my rarely used little cache of saffron!) and butter-fried onion and finely chopped chicken and eggs and yogurt. S&P of course. Half of this is put in an oven-proof dish, topped with barberries (or tart dried fruit of my choice this time) and then the other half of the rice mixture. I patted it down and baked it. Very nice, a little in need of – a chutney kind of sauce, maybe, or maybe just more salt and pepper? I like how it unmolds as a toasty shape, that’s nice on the table.
