This stuff lasts seemingly forever — I only recently ran out of a jar I must have bought over a decade ago 
https://www.amazon.com/Tamicon-Tamarind-Concentrate-Grams-Ounces/dp/B01MYXH0YH/
(Then I found some dehydrated tamarind powder from even longer ago… 
)
I also used the tamarind concentrate that @Saregama posted until I found this version which is a bit thinner and easier to incorporate. I bet pomegranate molasses would work as a substitute as well. Don’t tell any one I usually have both in my pantry.
Last night’s dinner was a Mashed Potato and Hamburger Pie. I modified a John Kirkwood (youtube) recipe. He used corned beef. I didn’t have any, so I substituted 1/2 pound of hamburger. At the last minute, I added some peas to the filling. I made the crust from butter flavored Crisco as that is what I had in stock (which turned out great). I really enjoyed my dinner, but Sunshine did not. Back to the drawing board (LOL)!!
I used TJ’s tamarind sauce this time and have one from the Indian market for future attempts 
That looks tasty — reminds me of tourtiere (which I am now craving) 
We had a leftover remake tonight. When we had leftover Kheema, my dad would make sandwich toast out of it. Tonight I gave the same treatment to leftover Shami Kababs from the freezer (the ones that didn’t fit into my brother’s sandwiches ).
I added minced onion and green chili and a beaten egg to the shamis to help bind the sandwich filling, spread green chutney and butter on the bread, and used both sandwich toasters (we have been boycotting the one someone bought by mistake a few years ago in desperation , but isn’t the type we grew up — it’s the one with the divider vs the domed one.
Very successful dinner. Could have used some more chutney to my taste, but the ketchup alongside did okay.
Mom had a repeat of lunch. Today was a Hindu holy day, when specific fasting food is eaten. Well, it’s delicious. There was (barnyard) millet polenta / porridge topped with crushed peanuts, sautéed potatoes, fried Suran / elephant-foot yam (yum), and yogurt (in lieu of kadhi / yogurt “soup”).
The millets are absolutely delicious and so comforting (cooked with ginger, green chilli, and a tempering of cumin seeds and whole garam masala), complemented by the tang of the yogurt and crunch of the peanuts, as well as the salty-spicy-soft potatoes and yam.
Speaking of millets, I became aware just yesterday that 2023 is the international year of millets.
I like to make savory porridge out of it but will definitely be adding fried potatoes next time.
Yessss. Motion sponsored by India It’s a Whole Thing here. Aside from the nutritional benefits, the aim is to help small farmers who are the primary cultivators of millets (look up farmer suicides – it’s very sad). There’s even a theme song.
Apparently millets made up 40% of grain production before the Green Revolution (for food security post-independence) that focused on making rice and wheat production more efficient with irrigation and disease resistance. Millets plunged to 20%.
Anyway, they’re very commonly eaten in the traditional Indian diet, and now again as urban / modern Indians become health conscious and gluten intolerance becomes more common (real and imagined). There are a lot of millet types here, with different nutritional benefits and flavor profiles., all delicious, We eat only 4 of them at home, but I’m enjoying learning more.
That TJs tamarind sauce is perfect for Bhel (or other chaat), if you haven’t gone down that path with it already!
That looks amazing! That orange yolk!! 
I gotta say the crunch of the peanuts makes it for me!
Tartare deluxe with a healthy contribution from somebody’s hen (or a Babybel wax cover). Mother introduced us to steak tartare at a young age.
Your mom reared you right.
(I love how alliterative my reply is, even if I do say so myself. )
My delayed order of fresh-from-the-Copper- River-in-Alaska sockeye salmon came in today, so that’s WFD tonight.
A filet was low-cooked at 275° for 18 minutes (per their recommendation) and I brushed it with a combo of char siu sauce and and spicy-sweet chili sauce about halfway through.
Served simply on a bed of sauteed spinach.
There was wine. A good start to my 5-day weekend (PTO tomorrow and we have off on Monday and Tuesday for the Independence Day holiday).
Sounds great!
Happy Independence Day! Looks like you had a great start to the weekend.
I made Maunika Gowardhan’s Chettinad Chicken and Simple Pulao (from her cookbook, Indian Kitchen), along with a cucumber and radish raita (improvised - grated the cukes and radish, wrung them dry, and mixed with yogurt, minced garlic, ground cumin, and black salt).
I had dried stone flower (kalpasi) in the house, so I toasted it and added it to the spices to be ground. I need to play with this ingredient a little more to tease out its specific flavor (especially among all the other bold ones), but it was fun to try something new. I also played with the chiles a bit. The recipe calls for kashmiri chile powder. I toasted and ground 3 kashmiri chiles, and 2 each sanaam and cascabel chiles. I liked the complexity that added to the flavors!
Based off a recipe from the New York Times, Sumac Scented Eggplant and Chick Peas. This recipe has so many of my favorite things - eggplant, chickpeas, sumac, pomegranate molasses, tomatoes, and mint. The recipe called for frying eggplant cubes but I roasted them instead. The rest of the dish came together quickly and was very easy. It also suggested serving over rice with Greek yogurt but I had some toasts left over and tzatziki. A blob of zhug added some heat and extra herbaceousness.
