Antonettes Chicken Curry

Sorry i wanted to add this picture to show you what consistency i simmered the curry on. So i tried to keep this amount of liquid throughout. At the point of this picture, the chicken is almost done and the potatos are 3/4 the way cooked through.

Sorry i'm not good at describing things :[

Antonette's Chicken Curry

So we made chicken curry today. The hardest part is cutting up all the stuff but its not that bad if you are drinking and have a friend to cut stuff up with (you can split the work). So cut up chicken (3 thighs), potatoes (we did 4, by the way, potatoes are 1.97 for 10 lbs at vons. stock up), 1/2 onion, 4 cloves of garlic, and chilis (we used 2 jalapenos and 1 habenero).

Heat oil in a shallow sauce pan (i'm not really sure what kind of pot i use, it kicks ass though). Add cumin seeds (i added too much, its really dependant on what kind of taste you want. Cumin is probably the taste you think of when you think of curry) and mustard seeds (so for the first time, we crushed the seeds first, i'll bring up how this affected the taste later). Once the mustard seeds start popping (wear sleeves!) add the onion. Before the cumin starts burning add the chilis. You are trying to get all four flavors into the oil. Once the onion starts to brown add the meat. Add cardimom (interesting sweet flavor, tastes great on meat, you have to crush the seeds and i used like 16 seeds), turmuric (1/2 a teaspoon), ginger powder (1/2 a teaspoon), and garlic (finely chopped) to the meat and cook til 1/3 way done. Add i'd say add 1/2 cup of yogurt (you can use what ever you want here, water will be more liquid curry and yogurt is creamier curry. Any flavor yogurt works because all the other flavors will mask the taste of fruit). And cook the meat till 1/2 way done. Add the potatos (you need liquid to cook the potatos til soft). Basically simmer (keep adding water) until potatos are cooked to your liking. Add tomatos at the end cuz tomatos are good. Serve over rice.

The important thing about liquid is if you do it in small amounts you can always add more. If you add too much liquid, just boil it off. But you have to be patient. Just watch a laker game in the background or john tucker must die or something. But just realize that its easier to add small amounts of liquid at a time you are bound to get the consistency you want.

So normally our curry has a real cumin taste which is kind of a bitter, indian curry taste (you'll know if if you try it). But crushing the mustard seeds really released the flavor from there so our curry had an amazing american taste (like mustard, what do you know). It lost the curry taste but had the consistency so it looked a lot like curry. The chilis added a lot of spice which i think makes everything taste good. Cardimom was lost as was ginger but we wanted it that way to test the taste of mustard. The spice and mustard completely dominated everything.

All in all real good meal. Cheap, tasted great, and we fed probably 3 people. The best part of curry is that the ingredients i mentioned up top are the base of curry so changing one can totally affect the overall taste (we learned that today!). Next time we are going to try Chicken Tikka Masala so we'll see what we can do.

come over tomorrow, we have to finish a keg before saturday so Ziggy can't steal it for a party and if she does that i actually have to go out and i don't want to do that.

peace!

Antonette's Pork Tacos (que?)

So we made pork tacos today. We used about 2.7 lbs of meat (pork, not sure what the cut was but it was good quality) just put chunks of meat in and the salsa will take care of tenderizing it, close to 1 1/2 full bottles of salsa verde sauce (safeway select makes the best salsa), and a shitton of chili pepper, half a shitload of garlic powder, and half a shitload of pepper, 1/2 an onion (cut in cubes). Put in the crockpot for 4 1/2 hours on high (idealy you'd want in on low for 10-11 hours but i had work and Cory didn't wake up early enough). Once close to done start grading cheese, cutting some raw onion, cutting some raw tomatos, and start heating up some tortillas. Cut up meat and serve as tacos.

The tacos were really mild (for our tastes, ;] ). The salsa verde and meat dominated the tastes, which was fine but i donno i like spicy food ("hope you got some hot sauce, somethin real hot"). Cork disagrees but he's a cubs fan so what can you do (Go Cubs!). You couldn't taste the pepper or garlic, but i donno if the garlic would have been that good with the salsa verde. Definately needed more pepper. The meat was really tender, cut very easily, and tasted great.

All in all great meal. We fed 4 people comfortablly and 2 with a snack. There's still 2.5 lbs of meat left too so we'll be doing this again soon.

Els on the other hand seems to think all we did was put pork in a pot. All i have to say is:

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."

so suck my balls if you got shit to talk!

peace!

i'm excited!

Whattup!

"anyone can cook." me and cory are here to show you that we kick ass and cook some damn good food. i'd say we have a competition but its unfair because we eat a lot of meat and i think you guys are mostly vegetarian except for Mahi who is a whateversheisaterian (Meg, what was the word you used? i forgot, i just remember it made me laugh). "One can get too familiar with vegetables you know."

Anyway, just wanted to give you guys a heads up on our cooking resume and wanted to get suggestions from you what to cook. We have seen Ratatouille more times than anyone. "we don't just like food, we love it; if we don't love it, we don't swallow." We've explored curries, stir frys, barbeque dishes, crockpot stews, pasta (the sauce, not just boiling water :] ), and different breakfast dishes. No desserts yet, but mostly because dessert is really treating yourself and we live on a budget (i baked brownies once but i think only Rosie got to eat them). But its ok, "food will always come to those that love to cook."

we should plan a potluck, our last one was awesome.

and i leave you with my final Ratatouille quote:
"How can I describe it? Good food is like music you can taste, color you can smell. There is excellence all around you. You need only to be aware to stop and savor it."

peace!

Called Out

This is my request for all of you so-called contributors to step up. Here are some suggestions of what each of you could write your first posts about:

• Maytag- peanut buttery chocolaty delicious thing
• Jean- joint carrot cake post, peanut sauce
• Quito- butternut squash soup, other interesting vegetarian stuff, maybe explain the concept of a dehydrator
• Katie- I don't know much about Costa Rican food, but I feel like you have something to offer here
• Rosie- bread pudding, vegetable curry
• Ultra- cobblers

Meg and Karishma are off the hook since they've been strong contributers so far, but here's what I'd like to see from each of them in the future:

• Meg- muchie food selection and preparation insight, including which order to eat them in, apple muffin recipe
• Karishma- more Indian food, how to mix everything together with style

Veggie Pizza

I took Rosie's advice and baked the crust before adding the toppings, and it worked great! Thanks! This time, I used the TJ's Whole Wheat dough, the same pizza sauce but more of it, mozzarella cheese, red onions, zucchini, red and yellow bell peppers, and Italian seasoning. It was a great combination of toppings. The crust wasn't doughy in the middle this time, but still chewy on the edges like before. Has anyone had any luck baking a crust that is light and fluffy with whole wheat dough?

Mixed vegetable subjhi

Over the weekend, I prepared a delicious Indian meal. I started by letting jeera (cumin seeds) and rai (mustard seeds) simmer in olive oil. This first step is crucial to achieving the best possible taste because the oil seeps wonderful flavors out of the seeds. After that, I sauteed onions, tomatoes, spinach, yellow squash, and zucchini. I let the vegetables cook to perfection, and then added roughly one teaspoon of amchoor (dry mango powder). This spice adds zestiness to the dish. Another spice that adds good flavor is heeng (asafoetida). I added about two teaspoons. Haldi (turmeric powder) adds a beautiful yellow color to the dish, and also has numerous proven health benefits. It has been used in Indian cooking and medicine for over 2500 years. The final spice to sprinkle in is chili powder. If you are a spice-lover, add half a teaspoon. If not, use a little less. Be sure to satisfy your taste buds by adding a smidgen of salt.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

Over winter break, I made a chicken tortilla soup in my Dad's slow cooker and was incredibly pleased with the result. Before I made it, I researched recipes in a couple cookbooks and online, but didn't find anything ideal. Not using a recipe gave me some freedom to make my own creation, and it made my success feel way better. After I made it, my mom asked me to write out the recipe for her, so I had a copy of it to play around with. I hadn't tried to make the soup again because I had no pot to cook it in. However, on Friday, Rosie brought over a stockpot big enough to make it in, so nothing was holding me back anymore.

There were a couple of alterations I needed to make to the first version of my recipe. First of all, I wanted to be able to share the soup with my vegetarian friends, so I cut the chicken out of the ingredients list and substituted chicken broth for vegetable broth. Additionally, since I would be working on a stove instead of in a slow cooker, I'd have to strategically add ingredients, instead of just throwing everything in and cooking it for five hours. Here is my revised recipe:

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 can diced tomatoes, with juices
3 cans vegetable broth
1 small can green chiles, diced
1 can yellow corn, drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
8 corn tortillas
4 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon salt
Sour cream (optional)
Cilantro leaves, chopped (optional)
Green onions, chopped (optional)
Cheddar cheese, shredded (optional)
Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 ºF. Add onion, garlic, and a splash or water to a large pot and cook at low heat until soft. Add tomatoes, corn, beans, chiles, vegetable broth, chili powder, garlic salt, and pepper to pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes. Brush canola oil onto both sides of each tortilla. Cut each tortilla in half and then cut each half into 1/4 inch strips. Place tortilla strips on a baking sheet, sprinkle with salt, and bake for 15 minutes. Pour soup into bowls and garnish with sour cream, cheese(s), cilantro, green onions, and/or tortilla strips. Add additional salt and pepper to taste if desired.



As a warning, I couldn't find my measuring spoons on Friday, so the quantities of chili powder, salt, pepper, and oil might be horribly inaccurate. Follow your heart when you approximate the amounts of these ingredients.

I prefer my first version of this soup because the chicken added a lot that more beans couldn't quite replace. However, I'm very happy with how this recipe translated into a vegetarian version. Katie floored me when she told me the next morning that it was better than any drunk burrito she had ever had.

Brownie Sundae

I started the weekend on Friday morning with a glorious ice cream sundae: vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, a brownie that I had been saving crushed up and sprinkled over it, and whipped cream on top of that all. I was satisfied with it for the next 5 hours or so.

I spent the rest of the day in the kitchen. I made some risotto, a carrot cake, and a tortilla soup, which I will write about once I find my camera that has all of the pictures on it.

First Post

A blog introduction is coming soon, but I wanted to get the ball rolling, so here goes the first post. Last night, Pumba came over for dinner so I made a pizza and a salad. The pizza was inspired by Trader Joe's Garlic and Herb dough, which sounded delicious in the first place, but I got excited when Rosie told me about how it's Eeyore's favorite.

I followed the directions on the package and let the dough sit for a while before I started stretching it out onto the pan. After I lightly oiled the pan, it was good to go. I thought the dough would be the life of the party, so I aimed to keep the toppings somewhat simple. On top of your basic pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese, I put on some sliced tomatoes, mushrooms, red onions, chicken, and parmesan cheese. The chicken seemed like a good idea because Pumba had just come from a track workout and some protein would be beneficial for muscle recovery. I usually avoid meat when I'm cooking for myself since I've been leaning towards vegetarianism for the past year or so and because most things are so much easier to make when you take meat out of the equation. My mom calls me a flexetarian, and she says it's an actual type of diet, even though it sounds like a term she could have made up. I waited a few minutes before tossing the pizza into my preheated oven in an attempt to get the timing right, and then left it in until the cheese was bubbling and browning nicely on the sides, which took about 12 minutes. When I checked out the bottom of it, I found that it was still soft and kind of doughy, so I stuck it in for about five more minutes, and then decided it was done.


I never ended up getting rid of the doughy middle. I was too worried about it being overdone on top that I sacrificed the bottom. Next time I try making a pizza, I think I'll start it in on a baking sheet, then take it out of the oven when it's almost done and put the pizza straight on the racks without the pan. Also, the crust was kind of chewy, but that's probably just the sacrifice you have to make to get the health benefits of dough made with whole wheat. The tomatoes might have been better diced than they were sliced. I think most pizzas that have sliced tomatoes on them are the ones that have a non-tomato based sauce, like pesto, or no sauce under the cheese at all. Lastly, there wasn't enough sauce on it. I was worried that I would put too much on and the cheese would slide around, making it harder to eat. It was hardly even noticeable though. Despite these criticisms, I was pretty satisfied with the pizza overall. The dough had a nice flavor and the pizza would have been too bland without it. I was proud of myself for holding back from putting bell peppers on it, even though they're usually my favorite topping, because it would have considerabley changed the pizza vibe. It was really easy to make and I'll probably do it again too, maybe with zucchini on it. Thanks Trader Joe's for doing all the real work for me.


The salad I made wasn't too interesting. It consisted of Romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, green onions, and grated carrots with a roasted red pepper Italian dressing. There wasn't anything wrong with it, but it also wasn't worth reading about.

It was a good night overall and very little of that had to do with food.