7-1 = 6!

I got some downtime this weekend and I decided I would spend it cooking a bunch of dishes for the upcoming week. Here is a presentation of all items prepared today. I did not make the Chappathi from scratch. They were store bought. Hence, the 7-1=6 :)

I prepared the following dishes:

1. Stuffed Egg Plant Curry
2. Spicy Stir-fried Cabbage
3. Stir-friend Carrot and Green Beans
4. Spicy Mashed Taro Root
5. Potato Yogurt Gravy
6. Onion Sambar

I think I made enough of each of these items for lunch for two people, to last a week. I think it will last at least that long.


Of these six, #1, #2, and #6 are repeats, although the preparation of the Stuffed Egg Plant Curry is slightly different and I will point out the changes below. I have provided links from earlier posts for #2 and #6.


#3, #4 and #5 are adaptations from another great cook's website. I have provided links for these as well.

Stuffed Egg Plant Curry 
The preparation is very similar to that of Egg Plant Podi Curry. There are some exceptions:

• Do not cut the egg plant into four pieces each as in the Egg Plant Podi Curry recipe, but splice them as shown below instead.
• Soak the spliced egg plants in tamarind juice (take 2 Tbsp of tamarind paste and dissolve it in water; make sure you can immerse the egg plant in the water --- that's how much water you need).
• After the spice mix is prepared, stuff each of the spliced egg plants with the spice mix.
• Follow steps 2-7 of the Egg Plant Podi Curry recipe. In between steps 5 and 6, add the tamarind juice in which the egg plant was soaked to the pan and cook until the egg plant is tender.

Finished product!

 A fine close-up of the preparation!

Stir-fried Cabbage: I added lots of onions and garlic to this stir-fry!

Potato Yogurt Gravy

Boiled Taro Root

Use a potato masher to mash the lentils and the taro root together.

Finished product! Tastes as good as it looks!!

Potato Yogurt Gravy

Spice mix preparation for the gravy!

Finished product...yummy delicious :)

Carrot Green bean Stir-fry

Onion Sambar --- I love this stuff!

Bon appetit' :)

Simple Thai-ish Stir-fry

I have been busy with lots of different things and I have also been riding over the weekends, now that it has finally gotten cooler here in North Texas.

Last weekend, however, I made time to indulge in one of my real passions, again! You guessed right - I cooked :)

The dish I prepared was a simple Thai-ish stir-fry with Black pepper seared Tofu! I say Thai-ish because I didn't follow any specific Thai recipe, but I prepared it based on my own intuition of what the dish would taste like, had it been prepared Thai style. Or something like that :)

Ingredients:
1 brick of Extra-Firm Organic Tofu
Finely shredded ginger - 2 Tbsp
Chilli powder - 1 Tsp
Curry Powder - 1 Tbsp
Coconut oil - 2 Tbsp
Coconut milk - 1 can
Garlic paste - 1 Tbsp
Coarsely-ground black pepper - 1 Tbsp
Asian stir-fry veggies - 1 pack
Cilantro for garnish (optional)

Preparation:

1. Heat up the 1 Tbsp oil in a large skillet/wok. When the oil is hot, add the tofu and sear the tofu, adding 1/2 Tbsp of the garlic paste and coarsely-ground black pepper. Once the tofu is seared, remove from skillet/wok.
2. Heat up 1 Tbsp of oil in the same skillet/wok, and stir-fry the veggies with 1/2 Tbsp of the garlic paste, the shredded ginger, chili powder and curry powder. Add the coconut milk along the way. Cook until much of the milk is evaporated.
3. Add the seared tofu to the mix and stir.

Serve piping hot, with chili sauce with or without rice!

Bon appetit' :)