I have only seen Beet dishes in South Indian Veg. Restaurants that have large Thali /Set Lunch here in the US
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Most things you see in a restaurant are restaurant food (which is a different category for Indians, who also go out to eat that food). There are some overlaps, usually in the vegetable section, but even those are heavier / spicier / oilier preps than home versions.
Pachadi - thatâs the word i couldnât think of before
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That makes sense. I love Indian home cooking, but Iâve only had it a few times.
I have found Indian home cook recipes for all sorts of winter vegetables, such as radishes, turnips, kohlrabi, etc. , and Iâve experimented with some of them. I havenât seen those vegetables in restaurants, either.
Greek home cooking tends to very different than restaurant food, too.
Interestingly, the restaurants and bakeries usually skimp on the oil and butter, compared to a good Greek home cook or home baker, when it comes to making spanakopita, baklava, and other filo pastries and pies.
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Thatâs the one which inspired me. I just find it a whole lot less effort to make the chili oil from dried flakes.
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Sure, and I just used ready chilli oil when I first made that. But I think fresh jalapaenos and serranos would give a very different flavor profile, so I might give them a shot sometime.
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Last night we had black bean soup leftover from school teachersâ luncheon, to which I added cubed ham. It was good but I may thin the leftovers with some broth. Iâm bringing a few containers of the vegan version to my fellow volunteer with the back injury â with chips, salsa, sour cream, lime and cilantro and a bagged chopped avo-ranch salad. Yep, I made a ton of soup!
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Bistecca alla Fiorentina (only because you asked @ernie_in_berkeley 
)
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Che bella!
Assorted cheeses (Cabot cheddar, Cougar Gold, Humboldt Fog), sauteed mushrooms, rosemary sourdough bread. Sauvignon Blanc for me and for Guinness him.
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Before I went on an unsuccessful Wegmans trip to get cat grass for puke boy (at least my grass was available at the dispo 
) Iâd already decided that there was no way in hell we were going to have grilled lamb without tzatziki, so I picked up more Fage, fresh dill & an extra cuke in case we needed it (we didnât).
My yoÄurtlu patlıcan salatası â roasted eggplant, lemon juice, Fage, TPSTOG, Penzeyâs Turkish seasoning & fresh parsley turned into a bit of a bastardized Greek/Turkish fusion mezze when I gilded the lily and added chopped walnuts for kronch & a little feta for salty tanginess. âtwas predictably tasty â authenticity be damned 
Terrible TJâs gigantes in tomato sauce, bc I couldnât be arsed to also make a salad.
All the lovely things togetherâŠ
Oh, right. There was a tiny bit of lamb, tooâŠ
The meat we get through our local share is very flavorful and tender, but also VERY fatty. Half of that meat mountain went directly into the garbage, but of course we still didnât finish it all. Weâre not animals 
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A frozen sockeye salmon filet from Wegmans (conveniently individually sealed and in bags of 8, so theyâre there when I want it) was defrosted overnight.
But I didnât want my usual. So I pulled out a bottle of honey-mustard dressing from Target, and mixed some with olive oil, dried thyme, and s/p, and spooned it on the salmon in a baking dish. Baked at 350° for about 18 minutes.
Orzo cooked in BTB vegetable stock, drained (reserving 1/4 cup of stock), added the stock back in with a large tab of Kerrygold butter, s/p and minced fresh parsley, and steamed green beans.
There was wine.
And while the salmon canât compare to the freshly-caught-and-shipped Copper River salmon I try and get from Seabear on an annual basis, it definitely makes the grade for those times when I really want salmon without stopping at WF for good salmon.
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Howâd the pad see ew work out @Sasha?
What a lovely idea to eat mushrooms & bread & cheese together like this â I will be copying this sometime!
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One of my favorite uses of leftover black beans is arroz congri / moros y cristianos / cuban black beans & rice. Might need to supplement the soup seasonings â at least garlic and stock/bouillon â for the rice portion.
(Itâs less carb friendly if thatâs a consideration, but a restaurant near me used to have a version with quinoa in addition to one with rice, and it was just as delicious.)
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Surely you mean compost.
ETA: I see many Onions say the same; we all need to do better, dear Onions! If not us, then who will?
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Itâs so much easier than trying to recreate restaurant dishes 
If you ever want to try something specific, DM me and Iâll gladly help.
You just need a handful of seasonings to make it taste âIndianâ â and you probably already have many of them.
For eg, if I add a pinch of cumin or garam masala to a side of roasted cauliflower to mix it up a bit from the standard, my nephew will sternly tell me that I made âsabziâ (Hindi for vegetable) instead of roasted cauliflower, so could I just say I was cooking Indian food instead of roasting cauliflower? 
I think home food of all cuisines is a lot simpler than the restaurant versions we get fond of and then try to replicate. I had a Chinese roommate who cooked us a meal in college, and it was unrecognizable to me vs restaurant food. (She also had 8-10 dishes on the table â it wasnât until years later when I delved into the cuisine that I understood that she made about as many dishes as people at the table, as my book taught.)
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Animal fat? Isnât that a no-no?
No, in Greater Boston, there are compost services (for a fee) that accepts all manner of food scraps, animal- and plant-based. I use our townâs vegan compost service (which is free).
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I am beginning to worry because the 2024 fishing season will be opening soon and we still have a lot fish left in the freezer from 2023. Iâve taken to cooking fillets to have on hand to snack on or add to salads along with using it for main courses.
Fluke fillets with broccoli and baby in corn in garlic black bean sauce. I used Lee Kum Lee brand of jarred sauce and added kepap manis, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, and sesame oil. Served over short grain rice.
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Oh, Iâve made quite a few Indian things at home, and I have around a dozen Indian cookbooks.
I will take you up on your offer re: DM next time Iâm making something and I could use some help.
I mean, Iâve only had friendsâ Indian momsâ home cooking a handful of times 
The best Biryani I ever tried, in 2002 which was cooked by a classmateâs mom, and the best samosas ever a few times from a friendâs mom from 2019-2023.
The Mom in North Vancouver would stock her daughterâs/ my classmateâs freezer in Calgary with homemade food so the daughter could focus on studying instead of cooking.
Me, I was baking and cooking to procrastinate. 
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