Cuthbert

What about biryani? And the snack food is good too. Samosas, bhajis, pakoras etc.

FRED HALE SR.

Biryani is alright, I can do that and the basmati rice. Haven't really ventured into too much else. I've tried samosas, wasn't a big fan. Bhajis and Pakoras sound interesting enough. Anything fritter like with onion would probably be tasty.

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" I slashed and burned thru my 15 minutes of fame."

DwnWthVwls

Dinner tonight includes:

Half a bag of spinach, brown rice, lentils, chickpeas, and roasted red peppers.. mixed with a little bit of chickpea juice from the can and garlic oil from the peppers. Microwaved and mixed in some siracha, pepper, and crushed red pepper..

Really wish I had some sort of curry sauce atm, but it's still pretty goooood.

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I don't got a god complex, you got a simple god...

Chiomara

For amazing brownies..
Buy any Ghiradelli brownie mix and make the following substitutions:

-Instead of vegetable oil, used melted coconut oil (has to be the fancy organic kind; the cheaper kind doesn't taste the same). Since coconut oil solidifies at room temperature, it gives brownies an amazing fudgy texture. Just be sure not to overbake.
-Instead of the 1/4 cup of water, use either liqueur, wine or coffee. (The difference is subtle but it helps)

I've tried a million different brownie recipes, baked from scratch but the Ghiradelli mix is almost always better.

I also have a really great carrot cake recipe (based on an old Southern Living recipe) if anyone wants it.

Chula Vista

Welcome home. Waiting on the Carrot Cake recipe.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Chiomara

As you wish! I don't even like carrot cake (I'm firmly team pie) but others seem to, so it's nice to have on hand.

OK so preheat oven to 350 F, and in the first bowl mix:
-2 cups sugar
-3/4 cup oil (I'd suggest walnut oil if you wanna be fancy)
-3 eggs, room temperature
-1 tsp vanilla (I use Mexican vanilla personally)
-3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature

To that, add 1 cup flaked coconut, 1 can crushed pineapple (with juice), and 2 cups grated carrots (make sure to squish all the carrot liquid out).

In a separate bowl mix:
-2 cups AP flour
-2 tsp baking soda
-2 tsp cinnamon
-1/8 tsp nutmeg
-1 1/2 tsp salt

Stir the flour mixture into the wet carroty mixture and then stir in 1 cup of chopped walnuts, if you want. Don't overmix the batter (peoeple are always overmixing the batter!)

Pour the batter into three 9-inch cake pans (use parchment paper cut into rounds if you want to make it easier on yourself), or a 9x13 sheet pan. Or muffin tins. Bake for 40 minutes. It may be done much sooner than that though. Ok, next..

The cream cheese frosting:

I personally hate overly-sweet frostings, especially overly sweet cream cheese frostings so I improvised this one.

Cream together with a hand mixer:
-Two 8 oz. packs of cream cheese (softened; just put em on the counter a couple hours beforehand)
-1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

Then gradually add:
-2 to 2 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
-1 tsp vanilla
-A glug of good-quality maple syrup (I can't read my own handwriting on this recipe, so your guess is as good as mine. Just add enough to give it a very subtle maple flavor.)
-Orange zest (maybe a tablespoon? Not so much that it tastes overtly orangey-- just enough to brighten the flavor a bit.)

aand that's it. It's a little bit time-consuming.

Chiomara

This wikipedia page listing every type of soup in the world is oddly riveting.

Chula Vista

Caldo Verde is glorious. My wife is making a batch right now! We pretty much always have a big pot of it on hand. I use this recipe but add in a drained 15 oz can of diced tomatoes.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/recip...=.2f250c7cfc21

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Chiomara

Goddd that looks really good (sausage and kale always go nicely together), and easy, too.

I got Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen cookbook for christmas and I really want to make this roasted tomatillo & cactus soup: Recipe for Sopa de Hongos y Nopales by Chef Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill on StarChefs

Chula Vista

Bayless is a monster chef. I've never seen him make anything does doesn't look incredible. You should check out this:

https://www.amazon.com/Anthony-Bourd...thony+bourdain

I've made a number of these dishes and they were all ridiculously good. Plus Bourdain is such a fun writer.

My two faves are:

Roti De Porc Au Lait - Pork Loin With Whole Milk Recipe - Food.com

TIP: DO NOT step away from the stove while bringing the milk to boil and cooking on high heat. I made that mistake once and it boiled over and basically Mount Saint Helens'd my kitchen.

Les Halles's Boeuf Bourguignon Recipe | Serious Eats

I highly doubt that there's a single meat eater on the planet who wouldn't absolutely love either of these dishes.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”