What's For Dinner #75 - the " Thanks and Giving Season" Edition - November 2021

Congratulations and much happiness!

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Gorgeous!

What pie crust recipe do you favor?

So. Much. Food.

Dal dhokli - dal with spiced chapatis poached in it; comfort food.

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Dal with peanuts, cluster beans, fresh fenugreek salad. My first time eating the fenugreek salad and it was an amazing flavor bomb!

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Potato chops - ie baby (double) lamb chops spiced and then coated with mashed potato. One of my favorite childhood meals. Sides of tomato salad with paneer, fresh bread & butter.

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Fresh fava beans in a coconut gravy.

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Jhalfrezie - small-cubed meat, potatoes, and onions whith whole spices. Tiny taste of paneer version on the side.

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KULFI! Better than ice cream, always.

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Kerala stew (“ishtoo”) and appam. Appams are like dosa (fermented batter) but made in a special curved pan.

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PIZZA! Ready base (from the bakery). Roasted and fresh tomato sauce (by me). Red pies had shallots, mushrooms (sauteed and raw), and olives. White pies had thinly sliced potatoes, shallots, and herbs.

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Finger gourd, mixed (5 kinds) dal, stuffed capsicum / green pepper (stuffing of spiced rice and vegetarian kheema / ground “meat”)

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PHEW.

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I favor Trader Joe’s prepared frozen pie crust. So much cleaning, blanching, chopping, and sautéing is involved in a greens pie that I wouldn’t get around to it if I had to make the pie crust too.

A downside is that TJ’s crusts come rolled in a box and break into strips when you unroll them. It looks like disaster but a once-over with a rolling pin fixes it.

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All those meals look amazing. Those potato chops, though. :star_struck: Now that I’ve seen them I can’t stop thinking about what else might take to a potato chop treatment.

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That’s a lovely crust, but it always tastes sweet to me in savory applications…

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Aha! I believe you’re onto something.

Though it’s never occurred to me before, I now realize that the slight (to me) sweetness of the TJ’s pie crust balances any bitterness present in the fresh greens I use. The varied greens I use come from our CSA share and tend to have some bite even after blanching. And thanks to your keen palate, now I know why that particular pie crust works for me. :bulb:

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I’ll bet your bagels are way better than you think they are! And probably way better than most store bought : )

The photos I saw online almost all had whole potatoes, and I thought more texture between squishy buns might be preferable. I crushed them about halfway. We (adults) really liked it! Thanks for your advice.

ETA: maybe “vada pav” has intact-er veggies and “pav bhaji” is more mashed?

Something about honoring the cream cheese with own toil, I think. Also, I have been disappointed by the bagels in my area of late. They’re either too big and cakey, or they’re too Montreal. So even though mine aren’t that great, I prefer them to the bought ones.

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Hah! The second part is pretty much what I said to @Saregama. They’re fine, just unpretty, because I need more practice rolling them.

Interesting re pictures.

Pav bhaji is always pulverized :joy: - and often runny.

Vada pav - well the vada part - is mashed potato too (spiced, formed into balls, dipped in chickpea flour batter, and fried).

I’m trying to think about what has discrete chunks (other than aloo gobi or similar proper vegetable). Unless it was someone’s reinterpretation of Pav bhaji.

Anyway, glad you enjoyed it!

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I had some awful cakey bagels so I feel you. Montreal bagels… I’ll eat once a year when I visit family in Montreal (so they’re not offended). The lack of salt drives me a bit nuts.

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beautiful laciness on those appams!

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They are way the hell too sweet for me. And we ate them at ground zero (St Viateur). Loved the mushroom pate.

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Thanks for the clarification. I think Sodha has a misnomer with this recipe, then.

I will try mashing it more next time. Still delicious!

Not a big fan, either.

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Tonight we enjoyed yesterday’s pav bahji filling over buttered angel hair. So good.

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Love being back in Maine, everything is fresh off the farm except the broccoli (which was very fresh and tasty anyway).

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Thanksgiving Eve with mom and BF at one of our favorite restaurants. A lively crowd and live music on the biggest drinking night of the year.

Appetizers: fried zucchini and steamed artichoke with melted butter. Meals: I had my usual baked seafood combo, mom with seafood fra diavolo, and BF with a burger. There was dessert.

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