old-fashioned food post

[xfer]

dinner tonight:

hearty pigeon pea and eggplant stew with lots of fresh dill stewed into it

buttery red cabbage with cumin, tomato, and ginger

paratha

rice


i was really keen to make the pigeon pea stew because so little indian food has dill in it (which is my favorite herb/spice). and in this it's used as a green, not as a flavoring so much, so there's huge pieces of it. surprisingly it's not overwhelming at all.

the cabbage was supposed to be white/green cabbage, but i always use red cabbage in its place when i make indian cabbage stuff. i just like red cabbage more and i have it around a lot and i grew up eating it. a polish twist on the indian stuff, i guess. but it came out delicious--fried the cabbage with spices in ghee and then let it slowly cook with a little water for twenty minutes.

the paratha came frozen dough pieces and came out DELICIOUS. i think from now on i'm buying it and frying it instead of heatnig up frozen naan in the oven.

both julie sahni's recipes, one from Vegetarian, one from the basic cookbook. both vegetarian though.

 

[avi]

I do a variation on fried cabbage with tomatoes and mustard oil (and seeds) that's amazing.

 

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yeah, i used mustard seeds in the pigeon pea stew--i kind of love them. i love doing simple broccoli or spinach fried in mustard seeds/oil.

so hard to find though! there are five indian and two pakistani markets within striking distance of my house, and only two (one indian, one pakistani) carry mustard oil! and the pakistani market that carries it is the shittiest market otherwise, has absolutely no stock/variety.

i rearranged my spices over this vacation--took two hours, and i still need about five more empty jars (or more) for legumes and seeds and stuff.

 

[mindspell]

I bought a large electrical component/nails and screws organizer at my local hardware store for my spices, it works well and when I need something I just take out the whole thing.

 

[mindspell]

Something like that:

 

[xfer]

i need individually sealed containers, some of them VERY big (pickle jar size or larger).

i buy stuff like cumin by the pound!

 

[mindspell]

I do too, I just keep the rest of it at the back of the cupboard still in the bags..

 

[Nut Butter]

you guys are my heroes.

 

[inkybmistro]

cous cous much?

 

[Nut Butter]

with lamb merguez baby

 

[mindspell]

Not a fan of couscous.

 

[xfer]

i actually dislike couscous kind of, but (predictably) i love the Israeli kind (called "toasted couscous" by bitter leftists). the much-bigger balls make it a lot better for some reason. whole foods sells a delicious prepared concoction of Israeli couscous, pecans, cranberries, turmeric, orange juice/zest, garlic, and some other stuff--awesome cold.

 

[inkybmistro]

couscous is one of my top five favorite grains.

 

[mindspell]

I prefer bulghur.

 

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run whitey run