Dejah

Instead of raw vegetables for salad, I sometimes mix lightly blanched cauliflower, carrots, celery, and broccoli in olive oil, vinegar, and Montreal Steak spice. I use purple top turnips as a substitute for potato. Peel, chunk and boil until just tender. Drain well, sautee in non-stick pan with a light spray of PAM and again, Montreal Steak Spice. Cook them slowly and I can get a "crust" on the cut sides so it ends up by pan-fried potatoes.

Congratulations, Shelby! Last night, I rubbed chicken breasts with a little dab of olive oil and commercial Cajun spice. These were grilled on a non-stick pan. Eaten with cauliflower "steak" and steamed carrots. A large side order of sliced jalapeno peppers added more ooomph. For snacking, I made kale chips. Substituted Pam spray for the olive oil. It's much easier than trying to distribute the olive oil! Used the Cajun spice for seasoning. I was a little too heavy-handed with the seasoning, but they were still good. Got me to drink up my quota of 8 glasses of water.

Trying to get on the 17-Day Diet again before Xmas. It's been a slippery-slope since our travels to Asia this past spring. For tomorrow's lunch, I made my Mock Curry Chicken Fried Rice with grated cauliflower: For supper tonight, I used part of the steamed grated cauliflower along with steamed chicken breast with smashed fermented black bean sauce. Blanched gai lan completed the meal. Forgot to take a picture, but it was satisfying. Had a large mug of hot water before supper and during supper. Dessert was plain yogurt with Caramel Krisda sweetner.

Here ya go, Franci: This was sent to me by my friend in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. She and another friend took us over (across the bridge) for the day. As we had been staying with Muslim friends, that day was pork, pork, and more pork: Coffee Flavoured Spare Ribs This dish is both sweet and slightly bitter (because of use of the coffee granules). Choose the spare ribs carefully, select those that are fleshy (also known as the soft bone) and you will get a very meaty and rich and aromatic dish. Ingredients 1. Spare ribs 1 kg, cut into pieces 2. Oyster sauce 1 tablespoon 3. Sugar 1 teaspoon 4. Salt 1 teaspoon 5. Sesame oil 1 teaspoon 6. Egg 1 7. Plain Flour 2 tablespoon 8. Custard powder 1 tablespoon 9. Bicarbonate of soda 1 teaspoon 10. Water 200 ml 11. Corn flour 200 gram 12. Maltose 2 tablespoon 13. Sugar 2 tablespoon 14. Worchestershire sauce 1 tablespoon 15. Instant coffee granules 1 teaspoon 16. Water 100 ml Method 1. Combine ingredients 2 to 11, add ribs and marinate for 3 hours. 2. Heat oil in wok until very hot and deep fry ribs until golden brown. Drain. 3. Mix ingredients 12 to 16 and stir in clean wok for 2 minutes until thicken. 4. Put in fried ribs, mix quickly and serve.

Memories of a wonderful meal we had in Singapore last April: Coffee Flavoured Pork Spareribs: Then we got brave and bought a previously frozen durian. The first time we tried one, it was so foul we couldn't get it past our nostrils. It was opened in the garage and then went directly into the dumpster. Poor neighbors. The second time, we had it at a cousin's house, squeezed our noses closed, and got it into out mouths - really enjoyed it! Then, we had it fresh in Malaysia last spring - really strong aroma, but it didn't bother us, and it was absolutely delicious! So, when I saw them at the store yesterday, I picked one up. Expensive - $5.98 for 3 lobes, but really good. I wonder if being frozen that the odour is reduced?

Anna N : Next time please?

I guess the commercial tandoor is hotter than my Big Easy. The top of the naan is blistered and golden, and I bet the bottom is perfect too, without having to flip it over. Mine flattens because I turn it over and cook it some more. I still do enjoy mine, but so envious of the ones in East Indian restaurants. The ones we get here at the restaurant are quite thin / delicate.

Hope it works for you, Anna. BTW...who has the Big Easy? You or Kerry Beal?

Made Guisado de Pollo (Chicken and Potato Stew) from July 2012 issue of Saveur. I get these emails from the mag and get inspired to try something new every so often. The recipe called for boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I used both breasts and thighs. It also called for shredding the meat after the browning, then adding the shredded meat to the sauce for the final simmer. I am not a great one for shredded meat in sauce, so I opted to leave the meat in chunks. Hindsight, I think the meat would have picked up more of the flavour if shredded, but it was still delicious. I could just eat the sauce!

I think your topic title says it clearly: A year of DINING... I am envious and want to work at YOUR kind of business, basquecook! Loved all the dinners you posted. Really gives me another perspective of the China I left as a toddler. More, please, Sir?

The insert canister is metal, and comes with a separate fitted lid in addition to the screw-on lid on the crock pot, which is plastic and has a handle. I use it most days, and will more now that "winter" is settling in.

I love both the Hong Kong egg tarts and English custard tarts...way too much. There is, however, a difference between them to my taste. The English one is denser? Creamier? More like the texture of creme brulee, as one blogger suggested. I think the non-homogenized milk in England made the difference when we ate them there. Vive la différence, I say!

This is the same as my recipe except for 1/2 cup of mashed potato. This addition gave it a bit of a chew texture. My potter friend told me about this addition. She uses a large unglazed bowl that nicely fits into her oven to make naan. The bowl is heat to 500F and the dough is slapped onto the sides. The clay bowl retains the heat better when the dough is added. I am patiently waiting for her to try her hand at making a liner for my Big Easy!

If you can afford the custom tandoori oven, you should! This, however, is working well for me as I can cook other foods in it. I can see where YOU would get a lot of use from a custom one, percyn. I encourage you to invest in one so we can all see the wonderful food you would turn out from the oven!

jsager01: Thanks for the suggestion on "denature". I will try that next time. Could find maltose in any of our stores, so I sprinkled sugar on them, as one recipe suggested. The next batch - which won't be for some time, will be with maltose. I like your process and will definitely try it for comparison.

Paul: The ice bath makes the feet puff up, wrinkled and bloated. I think the contrast in temperature "pulls" the skin and tendon away from the bone? I drained the feet from the ice water, then simmered them in a pot of fresh water with star anise and ginger. That's all the recipe called for, but I added Thai chili peppers, a couple tbsp soy sauce, and some whole fermented black beans. I really wanted the flavour to go thru' the feet. Then the feet were drained and covered with a marinade for overnight. They were spicy, garlicky, black bean saucy, but not as much chew as I would have liked. The smaller bones were quite edible, but I generally spit them out - part of the fun!

Thanks, andiesenji!

I haven't made these for a long time, but a friend just gave me 10 lbs of cleaned plump chicken feet. Cantonese dim sum style Golden Phoenix Palms is not easy to come by in our small city. I love these and decided I needed to make a pile and have ready in the freezer for a treat anytime! The set up for deep frying outside. Once brown and crispy, the feet were tossed into a pot of ice water. Sizzling in the wok of hot oil. I had the flame on high. There was a lot of splattering, but I didn't care - nothing to clean up in the house and I stayed far away after I first put them in: The feet were simmered for 1.5 hours The simmered feet were drained, cooled then coated with a marinade to sit overnight. Steamed for 15 minutes and ready to enjoy!

Picked up a slab of "country cut ribs" for $5.99. I brushed on some commercial BBQ sauce and suspended it full length into the Big Easy. Full heat for 1 hour and it was just done. Not as much char as I'd like, but was running late. The meat was tender and juicy. The little knobs of rib bone was charred and tasty chewy bits. I forgot to take a picture of the slab as it was pulled from the BE, but here it is, half of it cut up. Pretty cheap meat for a couple of meals.

Dang me, Bruce! You've got such a knack of getting that beautiful char on all your chicken dishes!

Thanks, ermintrude. I should plan on making lemon meringue pie on the same day to use up the egg whites!

Thanks, Ann:-)

The memory of silky English egg custard tarts linger forever from our trips to England. I have tried my hand at these, but they never seem satisfactory. Some questions: Is regular pie pastry used? My recipe calls for lard and butter, and always turns out flaky for other pies and tarts. Should the pastry be baked half thru' before the custard is added? The recipe I used last night said to brush the shell with beaten egg then baked at 375 for 20 minutes before adding the filling. Can whole milk be used for half of the full cream a recipe calls for? I used half whole milk and it appears to have "separated" - a layer of beautiful smooth custard and one that looks more like steam eggs... The recipe calls for grated nutmeg from TWO whole nutmeg. I only used half of what I collected and found it to still be too much. Would any other spice work in this sweet treat? Does anyone have a traditional recipe to share? Please feed my craving!

Ann_T: That looks like a fabulous griddle! I have a paella pan of the same material and am amazed at it's versatility. I was wondering if you'd be able to serve the fixings right from the griddle - that is, placing the griddle on the table while it is still sizzling. I was just thinking of the sizzling hot plates restaurants use when serving fajita.

I love chicken feet dim sum style. A friend just dropped off 10 lbs of clean frozen feet. Any ideas for these other than as stock and braised dim sum style would be appreciated. A manicure will be needed before any recipe!