Friday Food Feature – August 21, 2015 blogging 101

Recipe for lentil soup:

Ingredients:

1. red lentil–(masoor daal) 1 cup

2.yellow lentil(moong daal) 1 cup

3. onion – 1 medium(finely sliced)

4.cayenne pepper- 1/2 teaspoon

5.salt to taste

6.curry powder- 2 teaspoon

7. garlic powder-1/2 teaspoon

8. ginger powder– 1/2 teaspoon

9. olive oil– 3 tablespoon

10. tomatoes- three whole tomatoes diced

Method:

wash the lentils thoroughly, until the water is clear, put aside. Heat the oil in the pot, add onions, fry until the sliced onion pieces are slightly brown. Do not burn it. Add all the spices including the salt, fry for one minute. Add the washed lentils with the water and the diced tomatoes, let it boil for five minutes, turn the heat low to simmer. When the grains of the lentil mixes with the water and looks like a paste, the lentil soup is done taste for salt if it is salty enough, take it off the stove.

Lentil soup can be served as soup or eaten with plain boiled rice as we do in Bangladesh. They are also eaten with chapatis( Tortillas) in Punjab. Lentil is considered a poor man’s protein.

Lentil soup

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Friday Food Feature

Every Friday, I hope to feature a special food with pictures and a recipe.  This Friday, I made some ground beef curry and spicy vegetables.

Here is the recipe for spicy  ground beef  curry:

Ingredients:

1. ground beef– one pound

2. onion- two medium size(chopped)

3. garlic( Fresh)- three cloves,minced

4. ginger(fresh) – 1, 1/2 tsp. paste

5. cayenne pepper- 1 tsp.

6. ground turmeric–1/2 tsp.

7. ground coriander– 1 tsp.

8. ground cumin– 3/4 tsp.

9. garam masala- 1 tsp.

10. ground cinnamon– 1/2 tsp.

11. ground clove–1/4 tsp.

12. ground all spice– 1/8 tsp.

13. cooking oil- 2 tbsp

14. salt –1 tsp.(or use as much as you think is enough)

15. 2 Medium tomatoes(chopped)

16.– one cupfrozen peas

Method:  Heat the oil in medium high heat in a wok , put the chopped onions in the hot oil, stir it . Make sure the onions are transparent, add garlic and ginger, mix it thoroughly for one minute, add the rest of the spices, stir for a minute. Add the ground beef and mix it with the spices. Cook until the beef  does not look raw(about ten to twelve minutes). Finally add the chopped tomatoes, stir until the tomatoes mix with the beef.( lower the heat to simmer).Add frozen peas, leave it for five minutes and lastly take the wok off the burner.

Ground beef curry can be served with plain boiled rice or naan. It cooks faster if you are pressed for time, it’s an ideal dish for those moments.

My next recipe is spicy vegetables:

Ingredients :1. Mixed   frozen vegetables : one small bag

                        2. 2 tbsp oil

                        3. 2 tsp.– curry powder

                       4. salt to taste

                       5. 1/2 tsp– cayenne powder or 1/4 tsp, if half a tsp is too much.

                       6. 1/2 tsp garlic powder

                       7. 1/2 tsp— ginger powder

                       8. 1 small onion chopped

Method : heat oil in a pot , add onions , let it cook until it’s light brown, add the rest of the spices stir until all the spices are mixed,add the frozen vegetables, mix it properly with the spices, lower the heat to simmer, cook until the vegetables are tender. Serve with rice or chapati( flat Indian whole wheat bread).

Sorry I wasn’t able to post this on Friday. Next time I do hope to post it on Fridays.

365 Writing Prompt: Seconds

Describe the most satisfying meal you’ve ever eaten, in glorious detail.

Sometimes a meal can be satisfactory without the word “Gourmet” attached to it.

Here is my reason for the above claim. I was always very simple minded when it came to food. There were times my mother would cook all kinds of delicious food, everyone in the family would be dancing up and down for this meal except me. I’d complain,”Mom, please can I have some lentils and mashed potatoes with my rice?”

I wish you could see the expression on my mom’s face, she’d say: Rani I cannot believe you want lentil and mash potatoes when I have cooked so many delicious foods?”

My mom called me Rani instead of Ranu if I said something outrageous.

Here is the glorious detail of my most satisfying meal.

For lentil the ingredients are:

1. one cup orange lentils(for soup)

2. half teaspoon- cayenne pepper

3. quarter teaspoon– turmeric powder

4. salt — half teaspoon

5. one small onion(diced)

6. two tablespoon— vegetable oil

7. water –two cups

Method:

Wash the lentils thoroughly until the water is crystal clear. Drain the water, pour the lentils in a saucepan. Put the pan on the stove, turn the heat to high, add salt, cayenne pepper, and turmeric. Bring it to a boil, if there are white scum floating, gently take it off with a spoon and discard it.Lower the heat to simmer, let it simmer until the grains mix with the water. Take the stove off the burner and  place a frying pan, use medium heat to heat the pan, pour the oil and when the oil is hot put the diced onion in the pan, fry until the onion is lightly brown, next step put the fried onions in the lentil soup, put the sauce pan to reheat the soup, taste for salt if it is suitable for you turn off the stove.

The next item is mashed potatoes:

Ingredients:

1. potatoes: two medium sized

2. Onion : one diced

3. dry red pepper: two

4. oil: one tablespoon

5. salt– half teaspoon

Method:

Boil the potatoes until they are soft. Heat the saucepan on the burner, pour the tablespoon of oil, when the oil is reasonably hot put the two dry peppers, with the spoon stir it until the peppers are a bit charred, take them out and place them in a bowl. Now put the diced onion and let it get slightly brown, do not let it burn, take them out of the pan and put them in another bowl.

Peel the boiled potatoes mash them with your hand or use a potato masher make sure there are no lumps. Next use your fingers to squash the dried peppers into a powder, care should be used to wash your finger thoroughly with soap after taking care of the peppers. Put the onions , powdered peppers, salt and mashed potatoes in a  slightly larger bowl to combine them together.

Serve it with plain boiled rice, it is delicious. I consider this tastier than any gourmet food I have eaten.

: https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/02/22/365-writing-prompt-seconds/

 

DP Daily Prompt:Picky Tongues

You have to choose one flavor that your sense of taste will no longer be able to distinguish.Sweet,sour,bitter,salty, Umami,spicy( not a taste per se,but we’re generous ): which one do you choose to lose?

I know I cannot have sugar only for taste because of the damaging effect on the human body, salt is the same, excessive salt raises blood pressure,I haven’t heard anything negative about bitter, but bitter flavor alone is not going to do it for me.

Umami flavor sounds good to me. It is good for health, it is a protein which is made up of amino acids which are essential for life. I will pick umami flavor.

Cheese and cured meats have umami in spades. Photograph: Axiom Photographic/Design Pics/Corbis

Umami has been variously translated from Japanese asyummy, deliciousness .

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/06/30/dp-daily-promptpicky-tongues

Jan.10th 365 days Flavors

It is believed artificial flavors are safer than natural. Artificial flavors undergo a lot of testing before they are considered safe for consumption.

We use salt or sugar to enhance the taste of some natural foods. There are fruits such as oranges or grapefruit that sometimes are too sour for us,some of us either sprinkle some sugar or salt to make it more palatable. Does it make it better. I’d say they suit our taste buds.

Meat and fish are foods that we cook.  They can be boiled,baked,fried or barbecued. Certain kind of meat tastes better if we refrain from spicing it too much. Roast beef tastes better with least amount of spices and some or no salt. It retains its natural flavor. I like the natural flavor better.

Baked fish ,especially Cod is not that tasty. We improve its taste by adding spices, oil, and other flavorants to improve its flavor. We like food that are tasty, and we think of ways to make it palatable.

I was thinking of the vegetable Spinach,whenever I mentioned the name my little students would make a face. They disliked it . The problem is Spinach is terrible when it is just boiled.  If only we add one small section of a garlic clove, a bit of salt and fry it with a  tablespoon of  oil in a sauce pan it completely changes the taste and makes it flavorful.

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/365-days-jan 10th-flavors