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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 7, 2022 15:17:10 GMT -5
@imp That curry paste has some heat, but can be made very mild - the best chile peppers I've found to use in my red Thai curry pastes were just mild Numex. I've used guajillos, anchos, and some medium and hot Numex varieties, and the mild were the best. I also made some with just very hot Thai peppers - some of the first varieties I made - and they were the worst, as I just couldn't use as much in a dish, to get the other flavors. I use 3 oz dried mild Numex, plus 10-12 of the small Thai peppers, just to add heat, and even with that much in about 1 3/4-2 c of paste, there is not much heat using that 2 tsp of paste. But you can leave that out, and just use the Numex, with little heat, even using 3/4 c in a curry.
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Post by spike on Aug 7, 2022 16:12:52 GMT -5
My inner Hispanic isn't ready to step back just yet. Having chicken enchiladas for dinner!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2022 16:56:03 GMT -5
Thanks pepperhead, it does look delicious with the okra in particular.Besides the numex peppers, how and with what do you make your red curry paste with?
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Aug 7, 2022 18:52:48 GMT -5
rdback, I love me some fried cabbage! As The Macho Man would say…..Oh Yeah!
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Post by spike on Aug 7, 2022 19:41:42 GMT -5
rdback , I love me some fried cabbage! As The Macho Man would say…..Oh Yeah! Fried cabbage ROCKS!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 7, 2022 20:30:27 GMT -5
Thanks pepperhead, it does look delicious with the okra in particular.Besides the numex peppers, how and with what do you make your red curry paste with? Here are copied pages from my "Black Book", which is where I've been putting my favorite Asian recipes since back in the 80s (my "Blue Book" is for all others). While the recipe calls for putting everything in the Food Processor, I never do it that way anymore, and I know you have a Vitamix, so that's another way you can do it! I found that you have to add about 1/2 c of water, so the mixture can just barely circulate, while easing it around with the pusher - you know the way I'm talking about! But my favorite method for making these is a method in which I cut the various ingredients up across the grain with the lemongrass and galangal (I even do this for the VM, for these two ingredients), and put it all in a vertical container, that came with the Immersion Blender, then just work the Immersion Blender back and forth through the mixture, with it slowly liquifying, but not as smooth as the VM, and closer to what you get in a mortar and pestle (only did it this way once!). I did an album of photos showing how I did a green curry paste this way, but I can warn you, that one would be hot! www.flickr.com/photos/91097628@N06/albums/72157709648103957/with/48284689927/I found out early on that the FP just didn't grind the pepper skins and seeds up enough, even letting it run for 5 minutes! Either the immersion blender, or Vitamix are my two choices. The VM makes extra - a little less than a pint mason jar, for freezing, plus a quarter or a third of a cup extra, due to the half cup of water added. The second page has the weights of the various things at the top - makes it much easier to get the number of garlic cloves, shallots, shrimp paste, and other things. As for that shrimp paste, I would always roast a bunch of those in foil outside (as described in the recipe), and have about 3/4 c of it pre-roasted, in the fridge, for these, and many other recipes. Most of the bad aroma is driven out by this treatment. Any questions about any of it, let me know. My Thai curry paste recipe in my black book. by pepperhead212, on Flickr More of the Thai curry paste recipe, showing weights for the various ingredients. by pepperhead212, on Flickr As I told you before, we sampled many types of chiles in the beginning, and another thing we did was made a small batch in which we toasted the chiles, like when making Mexican! In a side by side taste test, however, curry made with the toasted ones didn't taste as good, which surprised both of us! However, we figured that if toasted chiles would make it better, they would have started doing it long ago, like much of the Mexican food does. They do toast the coriander, which makes that better.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2022 22:05:43 GMT -5
Thank you !!
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 7, 2022 23:47:08 GMT -5
You're very welcome! Let me know if there are any more questions.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 8, 2022 21:12:32 GMT -5
I made a sort of gumbo dish tonight, using many things out of the garden, plus a few things from Aldi's. I started by liquifying a lot of tomatoes with some fresh marjoram and thyme. Then starting a sauce, in the Instant Pot in sauté, with a large chopped onion in olive oil, followed by a large chopped bell pepper and 6 finely chopped jalapeños and a few stalks of celery, chopped. Then I added about 1/2 c finely chopped garlic scapes, and 3 tb tomato paste, and cooked about 2 minutes, then added the tomatoes. I also added 6 fresh bay leaves, some ground cloves, some more thyme, and let it simmer while getting all the rest of the things ready - peeling and cutting up the bottle gourd, cutting up the okra, and cleaning and pre-cooking the pound of cremini, and pre-cooking the pound of sausage (did those in a wok, so this wasn't a one pot dish). The gourd is added on slow cook high for about 10 minutes, then the okra was added and cooked for 10 minutes, then the mushrooms and sausage was added, and about a half cup of red lentils, to thicken the sauce, and cooked about 20 min. I also stirred in the 2 c of Mizuna, that I chopped up and spun dry. The night before I had cooked 1 1/4 c of brown rice, with 5 bay leaves, then cooled, and refrigerated it. That was broken up, and added to this, and I let it sit for about 10 minutes, before serving a bowl of it. A type of gumbo started up, with bottle gourd, okra, and eggplant added to the tomato sauce. Cooked mushrooms and sausage go in last. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Added about 1/2 c red lentils to the gumbo, to thicken - cooked rice goes in last. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Hard to believe that this mizuna still hasn't bolted, in this incredible heat this summer! Mizuna, chopped up and added to the gumbo, to cook at the end. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Finished gumbo, after resting the stirred in, cooked rice for 15 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 11, 2022 10:11:54 GMT -5
I harvested my first eggplant so it was time to make one of my favorite summer garden meals - ratatouille. For those of you who may not know what this is, it is a French meal of stewed veggies and everything in it except the olive oil & salt came from my garden. It contains onions, garlic, red bell pepper, zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh thyme. It involves lots of chopping but it is super yummy and I just love the flavor of the fresh herbs. I made enough to freeze 3 meals for the future. I also had a couple of Poblano and Anaheim peppers so I topped them with cheese as a nice side dish. The other side dish was honeydew that I bought at the store. I do not grow melons. Ratatouille by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Aug 11, 2022 12:47:42 GMT -5
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 11, 2022 19:50:42 GMT -5
Several years ago DH's cousin visited and she is diabetic. I wanted to make something nice for dinner but don't know much about diabetic diets so I came up with zucchini lasagna that uses grilled zucchini slices instead of pasta and it was a hit. I have lots of zucchini right now so tonight I made zucchini lasagna I started out with zucchini slices cut with my Mandolin 20220811_151527 by Brownrexx, on Flickr I brushed the slices with oil and grilled them to remove moisture and add grilled flavor. 20220811_152716 by Brownrexx, on Flickr Here is the finished product. I made the sauce using home grown tomatoes. 20220811_173645 (2) by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by september on Aug 11, 2022 23:18:02 GMT -5
brownrexx , that looks sooo good! I mislaid my zucchini seeds and they got planted very late, not even a blossom yet.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Aug 12, 2022 17:26:15 GMT -5
Fried pork chops, red beans, turnip greens, cornbread
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Post by spike on Aug 12, 2022 19:03:29 GMT -5
I was gonna say that today is the sort of day where I want to live next to pepperhead212, or brownrexx, cause I am done in but I could go for hairymooseknuckles, spread today also. Since I was doing yard work all day Hubs made dinner He went to Burger King. So basically I ate grease for dinner but he did stop at Arby's and get me a Jamocha shake <3
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Aug 12, 2022 20:32:20 GMT -5
spike, It was good, but mighty heavy. I don’t normally eat as much as I did today, but it was pretty tasty! Breakfast was good too. I had Ham, Biscuits & eggs. So basically, I was a big ol’ glutton today.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Aug 13, 2022 17:54:17 GMT -5
I was a better boy today. I had a white cheddar baby bel for breakfast and watermelon for supper. I don’t have any apples for baby girl tonight. Every damn one I bought this week was rotten! I know exactly what they did too because it’s the second time it’s happened. They are feezing them, then putting on the shelves. They look fine till you cut into one, then they are all dark inside. I noticed they felt cold to the touch, but I figured they had them in the back where it’s cool. Both times that’s happened it’s been the variety Envy.
Baby girl will be mighty upset with me tonight. I’ll have to give her some blueberries instead. She will Protest, but it’s all I have tonight. Punky Brewster won’t eat BB’s, so I’ll give her some cheddar cheese.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 14, 2022 23:31:12 GMT -5
spike You got me thinking about that butternut flour, so I looked up a recipe that I had made with it before, that called for 15 oz of canned pumpkin. Here it is. I didn't make the frosting, but I have made something like that before, with a cream cheese, that was delicious. www.straightupfood.com/blog/2012/10/28/pumpkin-pie-squares/You can see the butternut paste - I made it with 1.25 oz of flour, with water stirred in to make 16 oz, and that made it very thick. Actually, the texture is more like a pie, than a cake. Butternut flour/water paste, added to a variation on pumpkin cake. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Butternut flour cake, ready to blend, before blending, and mixing with oat flour and spices. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Finished butternut cake. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 15, 2022 10:17:16 GMT -5
Last night we had the last of the zucchini lasagna and I made creamy tomato soup with fresh tomatoes, oven fried okra and jalapeno poppers using the Nardapano peppers which have the jalapeno flavor but no heat. I liked them but DH thought that they tasted flat without the heat so tonight I will use the rest of the filling that I made and stuff some Tam Jalapenos which are similar but they have about half of the heat in regular jalapenos. I find it interesting when I look at this meal and realize that every part of it came from my garden. 20220814_171416 by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 16, 2022 21:30:09 GMT -5
Today I halved over 3 lbs of cherry tomatoes (there are a bunch more ripe, out there, so I had to use these!), and made a large batch of that pasta dish I make many varieties of every season - the one where the hot pasta is mixed into the cold tomato mix. This time, besides the garlic, basil, and olive oil, I stirred in some of that kalamata olive paste and a bunch of chopped up anchovies. I also cooked about 3/4 c kamut berries, and 2 c of dried Northern Beans (which I soaked about 5 hrs), both together in the Instant Pot, and it worked out well (I cooked 16 minutes, let pressure release 15 min, then let the rest of the pressure out, and drained). I drained them, then cooked the pasta, and poured it over those, so all would be hot. When well drained, I poured it all on top of the tomatoes, and mixed well. I got a 4 qt bowl of it, plus 2 more cups of it, plus the bowl I had for dinner. A variety of that favorite raw tomato pasta I make several times each season. by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by brownrexx on Aug 17, 2022 16:44:27 GMT -5
Tonight I made another one of my summertime favorites. It is called Eggplant Caponata and is an Italian salad eaten at room temperature on toasted bread. I grill and chop the veggies (eggplant, red bell pepper, onion and tomato) then they are tossed with a handful of golden raisins, capers and fresh oregano leaves. Finally it is drizzled with olive oil and white wine vinegar. Tonight I used toasted Calabrese bread from the bakery. I just love this meal. It has so many fresh flavors. On the side DH wanted a tomato sandwich and we both enjoyed 2 ears of our own corn. Eggplant Caponata by Brownrexx, on Flickr
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 18, 2022 16:26:31 GMT -5
This wasn't dinner, but a snack, after having another helping of that tomato salad. I made an okra dish today for a friend and I to snack on, based on a thoran dish - a dish from Kerala, made with many kinds of vegetables, sometimes combinations. The recipe in the lastest Milk Street Magazine was with broccolini, and it gave me the idea to use the okra this way, since I had a bunch of it I had to use. I based it on some recipe I had made before, using beans. This was a quart of okra, about 3 c, once trimmed and cut into pieces. The half cup of coconut - what makes it Keralan - was pounded to a paste, with 2 cloves garlic and 3 red chilis, and a half tsp salt. And I measured out a tsp each of mustard and cumin seeds, plus urad dal. I heated up about 2 tb of coconut oil in a wok, on medium, and added the spices - heated until spices crackled a little, and a dozen curry leaves were added, and cooked briefly. And a large chopped scallion was added, and cooked 2 minutes. Then okra was added, and cooked about 6 minutes, stirring frequently, and deglazing 3 times, by adding about 2 tb water each time. Then the paste was added, and mixed well, and cooked 2 minutes, stirring frequently, then deglazing one last time, with the a little water. Makes 2 large helpings, or more, served with more dishes, as part of a meal. Getting ready to pound the smashed peppers and garlic with the coconut, for the Thoran by pepperhead212, on Flickr A little coriander cumin powder (dhania jeera) added to the paste. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Finished paste, for okra thoran. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Mustard and cumin seed, and urad dal for the okra thoran. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Sputtering the spices in the coconut oil by pepperhead212, on Flickr Curry leaves added to spices, for a few seconds by pepperhead212, on Flickr Okra added, to cook on medium for about 6 minutes, adding a couple of tb water, if anything is sticking - did about 3 times. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Paste added, to cook about 2 minutes, stirring frequently. I added another 2 tb water and scraped the bottom, before serving. by pepperhead212, on Flickr Finished okra thoran by pepperhead212, on Flickr
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Post by spike on Aug 19, 2022 11:09:10 GMT -5
pepperhead212, okay the question needs to be asked. Where did you learn to cook?
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 19, 2022 14:23:55 GMT -5
spike I haven't answered this before? I probably did, and both of us forgot. I learned some early, from my Mom, and other sources in my youth. It was very early on that I saw her do some things like homemade bread, as she was into Adelle Davis, and similar "health foods", but this rubbed off more on me, than others in the family, and eventually, she lost interest in cooking, after I left. And even early on, just about everything was made the same way each time - my Dad wasn't really one for trying new things, though years later, when they were eating in restaurants on a regular basis, he started trying new things. And I learned a lot about trying different foods when we were over in Spain, from '63 to '66, and we traveled a lot. I was always trying weird things, partly to gross out my sister, but also I just liked trying! There have been very few things I have tried that I didn't like, as far as weird ingredients. However, it wasn't until I was 18, and went away to school, that I started learning how to cook bigtime! There was a co-op I joined, that was selling all kinds of dried beans, whole grains, organic flours, as well as 8 and 16 oz bags of active dry yeast, for baking. They also sold spices, some of which I would buy by the pound (and still have a couple of the jars I got them in, that I just keep refilling!), and that was the first time I had spice that fresh! I soon started trying all sorts of these things, plus I started getting some cookbooks dirt cheap, at those frequent book sales they would have on weekends. The first bread CB I got for a quarter was a standard pocketbook, back then, and it was Bake Your Own Bread, And Be Healthier (don't remember author, offhand), and it had a lot of whole grain breads, including that potato rye bread, I referred to recently. I learned early on - some of those usual cookbooks that my Mom had (after her Adelle Davis craze), like Betty Crocker CB, and the like, called for things I didn't want to use, like cans of soup, cake mixes, and the like. I was trying to make things from scratch! So I would search through the books they would bring to those sales (usually they had 4-6 semi-trucks filled with books each time), and I found some NYT cookbooks, and a few others, that had incredibly simple, but delicious recipes. And, the main thing I was trying to do, I learned early on, cooking from scratch saves money! Unless you are using an expensive main ingredient, usually it's prepared food that is making something cost more, though, I will admit, one of the things we did back then, to save money on something, was buy batches of 10¢ each macaroni and cheese, for the 7¼ oz of macaroni - the cheapest pasta sometimes was on sale for 49¢/lb, so this was a steal! We'd give those cheese food packets to people who would eat them. Eventually, I accumulated a bunch of cookbooks, as well as cookware, and by the time I bought my house, in '83, I was totally obsessed with eating, as well as cooking what I was eating. Growing a lot of it, would slowly come about, starting out with tomatoes, my first year! I always taught myself about different cuisines when I would go through a period when I'd accumulate all of the essential ingredients I needed, then start cooking! Through the years, sources for these things weren't even over in Philly, except the Italian Market, and a few Chinese stores, so I'd have to go up to NYC to stock up! Later, stores started showing up in Philly for a lot of these things, and now, over in Jersey. And now there's that Mexican grocery/restaurant right here in my town! How things change. Things like Chinese, Thai, Mexican, and Indian, are where someone else can tell I'm obsessed! But when you try to make some of these things without the essential ingredients, they just aren't the same. OK...I'll shut up now.
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Post by spike on Aug 19, 2022 14:33:41 GMT -5
NO! I loved reading that!
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Aug 20, 2022 10:53:26 GMT -5
Well It’s Saturday, I’m craving something, but they don’t sell it anymore. Back in the 80’s, Pizza Hut made something called Priazzo Italian Pie. It was deep dish, but the crust was thin. It had Bacon, beef, pork, pepperoni and Italian sausage topped with mozzarella and cheddar cheese. That stuff would make you slap the person next to you! After about 2 slices, you were so full you couldn’t move. We can make regular pizza, but we have never been able to duplicate it even though we have a recipe. Maybe I’m just remembering it better than it actually was. I dunno, but I feel ancient today.
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Post by paulf on Aug 20, 2022 12:19:53 GMT -5
My wife just mad a large bowl of pasta salad with lots of garden grown peppers, tomatoes, zucchini. Plenty of cheese and dressing. Along side will be local bratwurst for the meat dish.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Aug 20, 2022 15:04:02 GMT -5
It’s supper time here. I don’t have a clue what the women folk are cooking. I may have to go to the kitchen and shake my stick. I have to throw my authority round ever now and then. Hahahahaaa!
I’m joking of course. I’m meek as a lamb round them womenfolk.
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Post by bestofour on Aug 20, 2022 15:18:09 GMT -5
Little lucy okra doused with a little bit of olive oil and cooked in the air fryer; cherry tomatoes also doused with a little oil, salt and pepper and roasted in the oven; salmon doused with a little oil and paprika and baked, sliced cucumber. Yummy.
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Post by pepperhead212 on Aug 21, 2022 12:11:48 GMT -5
I didn't have a hot dinner, for National Hot and Spicy Day, but definitely a spicy one! I went over to my Indian friend's house, and we had a dinner with a dal, which she made with things from the garden - eggplants, a squash, and tomatoes, and spices, though she doesn't put as many in as I do! I made up for it with a thoran I brought over everything for - like that one with the okra I made a few days ago, but with a bunch of Thai red beans, along with a huge green pepper, cut up to about half inch pieces. This one I put no heat in, but I made the coconut/garlic paste, and got the spices I needed for the dish, and cooked it there, in a large CI skillet, which worked great. I also took over one of those green chutneys, made with mint and cilantro, which I left the green chilli out of, but separated some, and put some in that, for those who needed heat. The son made some roti - a flatbread, in which he put a little nigella and ajwain seed. We had some rice on the side, but nobody even ate any! Definitely filled with spices!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot - she opened that pickled melon I made almost a week ago, and loved that, as a side with the dinner. It wasn't hot at all - had some whole black pepper, but that's all. I told her it was something I made using a recipe for watermelon rind, so she could probably make that, and get something similar, instead of waiting to grow this stuff.
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