Returning to the Roots

Longing for some "comfort food" ... so put together a curry party. S and B Japanese box curry over: rice, potatoes, carrots, fried tofu, tonkatsu and pickled red ginger. Sides included cucumber and crab salad, somen salad, ginger-sesame chicken, and mochi.

Here's the fried tofu recipe. Take some firm tofu, slice into 1/2 inch thick rectangles and drain on newspaper/paper towels all day. Cover in flour, coat in beated eggs, then cover in panko mixed with salt/pepper (parmesan if you want to go Italian style) then fry until golden brown. Can be covered in curry, dipped in ginger-soy sauce or with marinara.

another persian stew

here is one with quince and prunes and chickens. sautee onions and chicken, add tumeric, salt pepper. let chicken simmer for 30 minutes. then sautee quince for 10 min or so, add quince and prunes to chicken and let cook together for another 30 minutes. enjoy!

a persian dinner spread

so i made two persian khoreshts ( or stews) one with celery, parsley and chicken and the other with beef, tomato sauce and fancy peas. recipes can be found by googling khoresh karafs and khoresh ghemeh.

Kabob koobideh

Clearly persian cooking isn't my area of expertise (though I'm learning). Anyway, was feeling creative and decided to try out a very simple type of kabob. here's how you make it:
- 1 lb lean ground beef (not too lean or else it won't taste good)
- half an onion
Grind it all up together in a food processor. mix in a little pepper and salt. Then stick it onto flat kabob skewers while keeping your hands moist with water to prevent it from falling off. put on the bbq till it looks cooked. you can add sumak if you like. goes particularly well with one of my favorite persian rice dishes (rice, lima beans and dill).

Junior francophile

Alright Ramin...its my first post.

I'm just beginning my "French phase" . I'm almost embarassed to admit it, because it is so cliche, but I'm a francophile. Here's another one of my attempts at French cooking. Don't think I'll be doing it everyday though, too much butter and cream.

Halibut with mushroom cream sauce
1. saute halibut with tbsp evoo on hot pan to get a nice crust and remove
2. add pat butter to pan and one minced medium shallot
3. add pack of baby bellas (precut/prewashed) + 2 cloves minced garlic and couple of branches of thyme then remove all from heat after cooking
4. add 1/3 cup sherry and reduce scrapping up all the brown bits
5. add about 1/3 cup cream and reduce by half
6. mix back in mushroom/shallot mix and serve over fish
- halibuts a bit too buttery and absorbant of a fish and makes this dish really rich...I think swordfish might be better next time

Roasted herbes de provence pommes frites
1. 3 rustic potatoes peeled and jullienned soak in cold water
2. drain and let dry on paper towels
3. mix with ~2tbs evoo and ~1tsp each herbes de provence (parsley-sage-rosemary-thyme)
4. coat and roast 500 degrees, stirring frequently until browned and crisp ~ 25 min
5. salt and pepper to taste

Sugar snap peas and onions
1. 1 pat butter in medium pan
2. add 3 cloves garlic and ~ 1 Tbsp dry parsley
3. add onions when garlic golden and when beginning to soften add sugar snap peas
4. saute until crisp tender
5. salt and pepper to taste, top with more dry parsley

Fulfilled my first part of the deal R

;)