sartoric

Aussie meat pie, horseradish potato mash and broccoli cheese with a touch of Gorgonzola.

I do use parchment in metal pans and it works well. This is a silicon pan, so parchment kind of defeats the purpose. The bulge just below where the silicon meets the metal is the problem, I can't see how parchment would change that. Happy to be corrected if wrong.

More dosa, this time with a spicy potato filling, making it masala dosa. Seen here with eggplant leftover from yesterday, rice, sambar on the rice, two kinds of tomato chutney and lime pickle. Close up of the potato mix, a few cashews added for crunch.

I picked up this book today and have only read the introduction. Meena grew up in Bombay, had an interest in cooking from a young age and was determined to have a career in food technology. Then, out of the blue a marriage proposal arrived via her aunt. She was fiercely opposed, but agreed to consider the idea, met him, and at the age of twenty moved to the UK. Her betrotheds family founded the Pataks empire in England (they dropped the H). Worth 50 cents for that story even if the recipes aren't.

More dosa. I'd been concerned about this batter. As the weather here cools it's harder to achieve the temperature for fermentation. Anyway, it was all good, seen here with smoky eggplant, chickpea curry, vegetable sambar, fresh tomato chutney, lime pickle and green mango pickle.

Roast vegetable tortellini in a puttanesca sauce, with spinach salad. A friend gave me a packet of this commercial tortellini claiming it to be the "best pasta ever". Can't say I agree, being a detester of capsicum (the content of the torts, pumpkin, capsicum and ricotta). The sauce was good though, anchovies, capers, garlic, olives and roma tomatoes.

This was the first use of the pan, I might try something else before giving it away. Thanks !

Derr, I'm such a dummy sometimes. That yellow thing underneath the whole cake is a flexible chopping board.

I made this chocolate and pear cake yesterday. It's yummy and disappearing quickly, but I have some questions... This is the pan I used, 9 inch square, silicon fused to a metal edge. There's a ridge just below the top of the silicon sides, which made it kind of tricky to turn out. Could I have your thoughts on that ? It was picked up (still in the original packaging) at an op shop for $5, so I'm more than happy to recycle it back to them. Also, after cutting two pieces for testing, it broke in half as I manoeuvred it to the storage tub. I was using my largest spatula, about 3 inches wide. Is there a workaround I could have used to prevent the break ? Thanks...

Yesterday I made samosas. These are baked not fried, so not as brown as I'd like. Next time I'll be more liberal with the oil brush and turn the oven up a bit. Served with coriander and mint chutney.

Tandoori chicken, zucchini masala, parripu dal curry, rice, naan, fresh tomato chutney, date & tamarind chutney. The chicken was the star of this show, guess I'm not turning vegetarian.

Goat meat patties (using the new meat grinder) spiced with cumin, coriander, garlic, ginger and chilli, oven baked okra (thanks to @Okanagancook, another vegetable makes it off the avoid list), chick pea curry with radish leaves, rice, roti paratha, parripu dal curry, mint & coriander chutney, tomato chutney, lime pickles.

I love most soups and would have a hard time picking a favourite. French onion is up there, as is minestrone with a dollop of pesto. If I see seafood chowder on a menu I have to try it (we once spent two weeks in New Zealand, I think I had eight seafood chowders), vichyssoise, cream of chicken, pho, gazpacho, crab and asparagus .....I better stop now.

Shimeji mushroom and cheese omelette, well, half of one.

On the rare occasions we have takeaway, it's either Chinese from the local mom & pop restaurant near us, or pizza. If it's Chinese, I have to have the chicken chow mien with crispy noodles. Here I've tried to recreate it. Sadly, my noodles weren't as good as Mr Fongs. It was okay, but not an Indian feast (uttered by he who must be fed). Followed by a ginger and cardamom poached pear with triple choc pudding and double cream.

The tamarind chutney pictured was a commercial brand lurking in the back of the fridge. I have made this recipe for date and tamarind chutney, http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/tamarind-date-chutney-recipe-sweet-chutney-for-chaat/. It's a great website, I use it a lot. There's also another type of tamarind that I bought in my indian shop. It's called black tamarind and has a smoky flavour.

Thanks for that @Okanagancook, I'm working my way up to okra. I've only cooked it once before, it was slimy and horrible, but that was years ago. It's not very common here, but I did see some at the farmers market last week. The recipe looks delicious !

We had a using up leftovers kinda night planned, then a friend turned up. She didn't look like leaving and what would have been roti paratha (only 2 left) became fresh Lebanese pita bread. Oh well. Sambar with cooked rice to thicken, pita bread, plus assorted chutneys and pickles. Punjabi pickled vegetables, tamarind chutney (both from waaay back in the fridge) fresh tomato chutney, and the eggplant from a few days ago mashed and zapped. Not shown, a bowl of plain yoghurt as the sambar was very spicy. Tissues all round and I'm gaining control of the fridge !

OMG, I'm freezer deprived.

A Thai green chicken wing curry with zucchini and green beans. Served (untraditionally, but on a what's in the fridge basis) with mint raita and pappads. I made this curry paste a while ago and was disappointed then, and again now. Despite adding extra green chillies, extra ginger and garlic, extra lemongrass and even more chilli powder, the curry was lacklustre. The rest of the paste is going in the bin. To compensate our ordinary curry, I cracked open a triple choc pudding that came in a Christmas hamper, served with rum custard sauce (also in the hamper) and vanilla ice cream. Ahhhh, that's better.

So much for my cook book buying moratorium.

Call me a broken record - here's more Indian. Eggplant and tomato curry, steamed rice, kale curry, chapatis, vegetable sambar, mint raita, tomato chutney, lime pickle.

Oh my, that chicken looks good @Shelby. Thanks to @cakewalkfor providing inspiration and a recipe ! Japchae - stir fried sweet potato noodles with veggies. These noodles had been lurking in the pantry for a while, I added zucchini to the mix, garlic chives to the garnish and some gochujang for bite. They were delicious and will be bought again. A large bowl of fresh pineapple and strawberries with dollop cream followed.

Another day, another cake. I had bananas going south, so banana and walnut cake emerged from the oven. I subbed melted butter with coconut oil, and a recent failed experiment in making coconut ladoos became the icing. Coconut ladoos are milk, sugar and desiccated coconut boiled until dry enough to roll into balls. It just didn't happen for me, so I whacked it in the fridge hoping to firm it up. That also didn't happen. It did, however, make a perfectly acceptable icing for the cake.

Thanks for the compliment @Shelby. Not sure I can add any ideas, but I'll look forward to your experiment @Anna N.