percyn

V Gautam, does this recipe ring a bell/come close? This version uses lamb, but using chicken is also common.

I decided to make a very rare "curry" dish, Ambaklio Ma Gosht, which means (Goat/Lamb) Meat in Mangoes. I call this a rare dish, as it is unique to a very small sect of Indians, originally from Persia, called Parsis. If you are looking for something other than that heavily spiced gravy typically referred to as curry, this dish is for you. It has a sweet and salty taste to it. This dish is really made by combining 2 separate dishes. One of them, Kharu Gosht literally means Savory/Salty meat. This forms the basis of the curry and is often enjoyed as a dish in its own right or combined with other ingredients to make other dishes, including Ambaklio Ma Gosht. Ingredients for Kharu Gosht (serves 4-6, recipe from here): 2 lbs leg or shoulder of lamb, cut into 1" pieces. (you can also make this dish with chicken) 4 medium onions, finely sliced 1 tbsp mixed whole cinnamon, cloves and black cardamom 2 1/2" piece of ginger, ground (or use 1 tbsp ginger paste) 1 large garlic clove (I like garlic so added more) 1 tsp turmeric 2-3 tsp cumin 4-5 dried red (Kashmiri) chilies or 1 tsp chili powder Salt to taste 2 tomatoes chopped (optional) 4-5 green chilies, slit and seeded (I sent light on these) 4 tbsp ghee or oil (homemade is best, but I used a combo of regular and pure ghee) So on with the Prep... Cut 1.5 - 2 lbs of goat or lamb into 1" pieces and marinate them for 1/2 hr in the garlic and ginger. I am using shoulder blade, which is cheap and readily available in the supermarket. I also find that using your hands to really massage in the garlic and ginger makes the meat more tender and flavorful. Get your spices ready Melt the ghee in a large pot (I used a pressure cooker), add the onions and lightly brown them. Add the cinnamon, cloves and cardamom and stir on a low flame for 1-2 minutes. Add 1 cup water and stir on medium heat until water evaporates and onions are mushy. Add turmeric, cumin and chilies to the onions and cook for 1-2 min. At this time, I also move the onions to one side and add in the meat to brown it. You can brown the meat separately if you like, but this works just fine. Once the meat has been browned, add the tomatoes along with 1 cup water. If you are using a pressure cooker, cover it up and leave it on medium heat for 1 whistle (10-15 min), then lower the heat and simmer for 1/2 hr. If you are using a regular large pot, cover the pot and cook on medium for say 1/2 hr and simmer closed for 1/2 hr. If there is a lot of water, uncover and let some evaporate. The consistency you are looking for is not too think and not too watery. Voila...you are ready to enjoy Kharu Gosht with some rice, roti or bread. To make the Ambakalia (Mango sauce): 1 lg ambakalia mango (or 1 tin of alphonso slices, which is what i used) 1 lg onion sliced 1" piece cinnamon 4-6 cloves 4-6 green cardamoms (hint: don’t crush these if you are not accustomed to the taste) 100 gms Jaggery (Gur. I substituted for 1 tbsp sugar, would have used brown sugar if I had some) 2 green chilies, seeded and chopped 1 tbsp chopped corriander leaves 1/2 tsp salt 3 tbsp ghee Fry the onions with the whole spiced until light brown. Add the remaining ingredients with 1/2 cup water and if you are using tinned mangoes, 1/2 can of mango juices/syrup. Simmer for 4-5 min, until ingredients blend together. Try to keep the mango slices whole. Mix the mango mixture with the Kharu Gosht (as I have done here) or simply enjoy it by itself with some rice (traditionally khichdi) . So there you go...3 dishes for the effort of 1....easy. Kharu Gosht can also combined with other ingredients instead of mangoes to make other variations, such as eggplant, apricots (this is delicious), okra, bananas, drumsticks, etc. The recipe I followed was based one listed in Parsi Food and Customs ). In selecting a recipe, I also looked at Jamva Chaloji and Suvir's Indian home cooking. I selected this because the recipe has been requested by other Indians as well, so I thought I would kill multiple birds with a single stone. Hope you enjoy it. Cheers Percy

Was trapped indoors today due to a snow storm, so I decided to make breakfast for lunch !! Scrambled eggs with baby bella mushrooms and parmesan Always use some 1/2 and 1/2 Finished dish, with some smoked duck and chives

It was presented as bass to us and it looks like to me.

Had dinner last night with some fellow eGulleters and DDC members to celebrate Chinese New Year. Read more about this wonderful meal.

Our evening began around 6:30pm, when a group of 7 met for dinner at Mandarin to partake in a special dinner based on the menu posted up-thread, to celebrate the Chinese New Year. SaxChik, the organizer/hostess for this event, added to the theme by handing the diners with an informative pamphlet she had made up on Gung Hay Fat Choy or the Green Wooden Chicken Year (did I get that right SaxChik?). You can also view the very timely review from SaxChik, who did a great job of organizing the event and has started a new club called Chester County Foodies (chesccofoodies) whoo-yhooo, it's about time !!! Now on to the food... First Course : Peppercorn Shrimp & Drunken Chicken While the texture of the shrimp was juicy and succulent, it seemed very lightly seasoned to be called peppercorn shrimp and one might easily confuse it with cocktail shrimp. As for the drunken chicken, it left a bit to be desired. The chunks of chicken were limp and reminded me of what might have come from a can or a deli serving bad chicken salad. The asparagus was quite good though. Second Course : Essence of Chicken Soup with Black Mushrooms & Herbal Dates Things started to look up when this dish was presented. The soup was served in a covered bowl, which allowed the diner to enjoy the aroma prior to indulging in it. The flavors were what one hopes for from an essence of chicken soup - a delicate, yet unforgettable flavor of chicken, enhanced by the earthy depth courtesy of the shitake mushrooms. The addition of dates to a soup was a first for me. One of our diners identified them as jujubes (Chinese dates). I can't say that it did much for the flavor, but it added a dimension of mystique for the uninitiated. Third Course : Royal Peking Duck Boooong !!! That is the sound of the large gong that was rung right behind our table that almost made half our table spit out their wine and interrupted the conversations in the restaurant (OK, so I am exaggerating a bit). It was a sound we would get accustomed to through the course of the evening, for as we discovered, the gong was rung each time Peking duck, which is a specialty at this restaurant, was carved table-side and served. The duck was exquisite....nice crispy skin, succulent meat and an incredible Housin sauce wrapped with scallions in a paper thin pancake / crepe. Fourth Course : Mandarin Lobster Tail with Ginger and Scallions Each person was served two well cooked lobster tails which were very lightly battered and sautéed in a sauce which was almost bursting with the flavor of ginger. There was a subtle background heat (not from ginger) who's source we were unable to clearly identify, though I suspect it was from Sichuan peppercorns. Fifth Course : Szechuan Beef Tenderloin Au Poivre w/Jasmine Fried Rice The beef was almost fork tender and while that is what one expects from a tenderloin, I think this dish would have been enhanced even further if they would have stewed some chuck or sirloin or better yet, used short ribs. The sauce had scallions, which seemed to be a consistent theme through the dinner and a bit of a kick, not was not that spicy. The sugar snap peas were tender and took some of the edge off the sauce. The jasimine rice was a light, fluffy version with shrimp, scallops, peas, carrots, etc. Good, but not the star of this entree. Sixth Course : Propitious Whole Fish with Pinenuts This dish took a while to arrive from the kitchen, but we did not seem to mind the somewhat welcomed break and when it arrived, it seemed to be well worth the wait. This was probably my favorite dish of the night. The bass was fresh and cooked to perfection. It was lightly battered and fried until the skin was very crispy, but the flesh was still tender and juicy. The accompanying sauce reminded me of a cross between the sauce which would be served with sweet and sour pork and orange chicken/beef. (Un)fortunately, the eyeballs were replaced with cherries, which did not allow us to play a mini-round from fear factor . While the pinenuts were visible, their taste was completely overpowered by the other ingredients of this dish. Seventh Course : Traditional Osmanthus Dumpling in Soup The soup resembled and tasted like a sweet version of Chinese sweet corn soup, complete with egg white. The small dumplings contained sugar and Osmanthus (a flower used in Chinese teas), which tasted a bit like sesame seed. Eights Course : Red Bean / Ginger Ice Cream Just in case you were not stuffed with all of the dishes above, some of us ordered Ice Cream as well. Your choice of red bean or ginger. I opted for the red bean and it was delicious; not too sweet and it had an a mouth-feel like rubbing velvet in a reverse direction of the fibers. To accompany our dinner, we had 7-8 bottles (some of which were 1.5L) of Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir, Shiraz/Cab and Shiraz. We opened all the bottles and finished almost all of them. Dinner lasted for a good 3.5 to 4 hrs and was made even more interesting by the company we had. We all had a great time and I for one look forward to the next meal with this gang.... Viva Le Chesco Foodies !!

NulloModo, you may be thinking about the difference between sheep and mutton (which is a mature sheep, over 3yrs I believe).

If you really good cognac for the price, try Henessey Paradis

I have to ask about this dish. It looks like the crab is still in the shell. I know some people make curries with shellfish still in shell, or with chicken/fish still in the bone, but then how do you eat the result? Getting meat out of a shell or or off of the bone seems to require finger action, but any sauce seems counter-productive to this. ← Its not very pretty...but God given utensils (your hands) are the best way to enjoy this dish...kinda like cracking boiled lobster shells. Once you get used to it, it is not that messy.

Yes, it typically is goat, but that is harder to get in the US.

Bill, Thanks for the recommendations. I was thinking about Bluezoo. BTW, if you want to eat at one of the restaurants in say Epcot's world pavilion (is that what it is called?), do you need to buy a ticket to enter or can you get special access just to the restaurant? Thanks Percy

Tonight's dinner was some sushi and sashimi at my regular sushi hangout, but a few days ago I made this: Goan Crab Curry w/brown basmati rice

I don't know -- interesting question. I've only ever used leg of lamb, which I love to cut up. I also have few other options. ← I think I have seen lamb "shoulder" mentioned. Maybe it was in one of those shows with Jaffrey on FTV. I think that would be comparable to beef chuck or pork butt. I will ask around and maybe call a couple of specialty butcher shops. (Although, that will require an in-town trek.) If most of our choices of cut are so limited, what do they do with the other parts of the lamb? ← Lamb shoulder, known as "Seena", is probably more popular in Indian Parsi dishes than leg meat. It has a wonderful texture and a little bit of fat for flavor. There are usually cooked while leaving the meat on the bones, which also enhance the flavor. In India the shanks (known as "Nali") are normally cut into smaller (approx 1") pieces, which is mainly used for the bone marrow, know as "Ghur". Edited to add: Click here to see what they do with some of the "other parts" !!

Susan what a great story and meal !!

Arbuclo, do you know what kind of mangoes they use? Are the alphonsos? Thanks

Chris, Since you already set the stage by mentioning that "lamb curry" can be a very broad topic, let me start out by posting about some Lamb and Okra curry I made a while back Chop 2 lg onions and brown them in some oil or ghee. When the onions just start to brown, garlic and ginger paste, some tumeric, chili powder, cumin, and if you find it, some "Shan Meat Masala". Add the lamb shanks (you can use other pieces of the leg or even shoulder). I usually cook this in a pressure cooker for 2 whistles (you can cook it in a covered pot until the lamb is tender). Towards the end add some okra and chopped cilantro. Enjoy with some naan or basmati rice. Cheers Percy P.S : Wish I would have know about this cook-off sooner, I just made some Goan crab curry and I could have used lamb instead

Is it too late to post my first andouille and turkey gumbo I made a while back? Sauteed some andouille sausage and turkey (not in pic) Made the Roux in the same pan Added Onions and Green Peppers Added the meat, okra and file Enjoyed on a cold night with an even cooler beer. It tasted great for my first time making it, though next time I will cook the roux a little less as it had an extremely nutty flavor.

I will be in Orlando in the Championsgate area as well. Here are my current reservations and I would appreciate and input from people who have visited these places or recommend others: Sun - Emeril's Tchoup Chop Mon - Boma Tues - Roy's Wed - Texas de Brazil Churrascaria Thurs - Emeril's Orlando (Trying to see if I can swap for Primo ) Fri - Victoria & Albert's Any faux pas? Other recommendations (Dinner will be for )?

Guess I too got bit by the burger bug yesterday, so we made these: Buffalo Burger with smoker chedar, Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill BBQ sauce and homemade Aioli.

With all the discussion on this thread, there is only one way to decide....try it for yourself. This is precisely what I intended to do this past weekend, but alas had to cancel. Hope to make it there by spring. Wouldn't it be great if I could get to Per Se and Ducasse in one trip?

Dosen't quite go with the clue, but is it chicken feet?

gulai otak is BRAINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (beef albeit ) ← Ok, you can split the $10 in funny money with cakewalk

Chufi, your eggs look better, so I hesitate to post these... but since we have the day off today: Soft scrambled eggs with maitake (hen of the woods) mushrooms and onion herb cream cheese If you haven't tried these mushrooms in eggs, run to the store to get some. They are really deep woodsy flavor that goes great with scrambled eggs. Classic Eggs Benedict w/smoked duck breast I usually dont take pics of partially eaten food, but the yolks of the country eggs look so good, that I had to take this pic (thought the yolk in real life was a bit more golden/orange). P.S: Chufi, I have heard about the soy based faux caviar, but not tried it. Does it "pop" like the real thing?

Yesterday we had a late lunch, so for dinner we decided to have cheese with some roasted garlic tuscan bread Vine ripe tomatoes and fresh mozzarella topped with 25 yr balsamico, EVOO and chives (I usually do the cooking, so when my wife made this plate, she insisted that I take a pic of it and post it )

Actually Vada Pav is very popular in cities like Bombay. It is not the same Vada as the south Indian one; this one has a potato stuffing, like a samosa, but the coating is thin like a normal vada.