sartoric

Another guest = another Indian feast. Rice in the blue dish, Keralan chicken curry, dal trevini, whole eggplant in tomato gravy, potato masala, tomato chutney, mint & coriander chutney, radish raita, kachumber, lime pickle and home style dosa. Our guest (a man with Chinese parents) found a new appreciation for Indian food.

I made this tart thing. Shortcrust pastry, parmesan, mozzarella, wilted greens (silverbeet, spinach and rocket) with slices of garlic and sultanas, just cooked potato cubes, slivers of olives and more mozzarella.

Thai green curry with fish and snow peas, curry paste from Charmaine Solomon's Thai Cooking. From the same book Som Tam (green papaya salad) and pan fried bitter gourd. We'd never tried bitter gourd before, liked it a lot.

A friend came to dinner, so Indian food was served family style. From the top - steamed rice in the blue bowl, roti parathas, aloo matar or potatoes and peas (from our garden), goat rhapsody (adapted from the excellent Tasting India by Christine Manfield),whole eggplant with tomato (also Christine Manfield), red onion raita, hot mango chutney, creamy dal with spinach, tomato chutney, lime pickle. Both the goat and eggplant dishes starred here. I used my pressure cooker for the goat, it was sooo tender, the sauce fragrant with cardamom. The eggplants are the Thai white golf ball sized guys. They were split to the stem and simmered in a spicy tomato based sauce until tender. The stems made a neat handle, better seen in this pic Follwed by shop bought barfi and ladu.

Anna is right, I meant the metal trays and dishes. You're also right, it's usually eaten with the fingers. Thali can also be served on a banana leaf, like this....

My never ending quest to plate the perfect Thali (minus the correct serving ware). Clockwise - lemon rice, fresh tomato chutney, chickpea curry, lime pickle, creamy spinach dal, cucumber raita, potato and cauliflower curry, roti, and in the middle date & tamarind chutney.

I'll add a belated Happy Birthday from down under ! What a feast you had.

Tandoori chicken masala, Bengali cauliflower curry (no onions, no garlic), creamy spinach dal from the Punjab, garlic naan, rice, cucumber raita, tomato chutney, green mango pickle.

Fettuccine rigate with pesto, a salad of rocket from the garden and garlic bread.

Now back to regular life, home style fish curry, dal, roti, rice, fresh tomato chutney, radish raita and lime pickle.

Arrived home Monday night (after a week away) to someone ecstatic to absolve all meal planning and little food in the fridge. This was cobbled together, onions, garlic, tomato, harissa and potato cooked in chicken stock with an egg on top and a spoon of yoghurt. Served with pocket bread as an outer case.

My honorary lady is a friend called Marc. The venue is in Victoria St Richmond (little Saigon) in Melbourne. They only do pho. We both chickened out and had the shredded chicken, minus the giblets, liver and hearts. I lied, they do spring rolls as well.

Another lunch, same eaters. The venue is the Black Hill Hotel, where the new owners were rapt in Mums stories of the pub from eighty years ago (she wasn't an underage drinker, rather friends with the publicans daughter). The meal was beer battered flathead for me, salmon for mama. The best meal I've had in Ballarat for a looong time.

The ladies were me and my nearly ninety five year old mother. The venue was the Ballarat Yacht Club. The lunch was pumpkin and haloumi tart with tomato relish and a salad. The view speaks for itself.

There's an Indian dish I've made with round eggplants about tennis ball size. You cut them from bottom to stem twice to make an x shaped opening to stuff with a mix including crushed peanuts, fried onion, garlic, ginger and ground spices, then simmer in a tomato type sauce. The Indian eggplants are usually striped white and purple, but it would work as well with yours I guess. It was like this one...http://indianhealthyrecipes.com/gutti-vankaya-kura-enne-badanekai-recipe/

More Indian food. Chickpea curry, mushroom curry, spicy potatoes, dal trevini, rice, naan bread. Served with mint raita, mango pickle and tomato chutney.

Thanks for that link @Okanagancook, I'll have a read later. Yes, definitely heat the pan. It needs to be hot enough that a few drops of water sizzle and disappear. The batter should be fairly runny, like pouring cream. I use a small ladle to spread the batter in a circular motion, cook for about 2 minutes then flip. There's lots of YouTube videos on the subject. Good luck ! Edited to add, she's the daughter of Meena, small world.

Yesterday I road tested my 50 cent op shop find, Flavours of India by Meena Patak (she married into the Patak empire). Pork vindaloo, spicy potatoes, snow pea poriyal, dal triveni (so called because it has three types of lentil), rice, served with pappads, tomato chutney and mango pickle. The potatoes were the star, although the snow peas were a close second. The book is a definite keeper.

Chicken in coconut gravy, mustard cauliflower, radish leaf saag, paratha, matar pilau, potato & cabbage curry. Alongside, fresh tomato chutney, lime pickle, radish raita. Whilst making so many different dishes is time consuming, I've got into the rhythm of using yesterday's leftovers to boost the number. In this case, the pilau, potato & cabbage and radish raita were holdovers. I've posted a pictorial lesson on the fresh tomato chutney for anyone interested - check out the Indian cooking and baking forum.

I make this a lot. Traditionally served with dosa, but great with all kinds of Indian food, even just scooped up with bread or pappads for a snack. Although it's slightly different every time, depending on the tomatoes and chillies used, plus the strength of the tamarind, it's easy, quick to make and always delicious. In a blender - half a medium red onion chopped, 7 dried red chillies broken up a bit, 2 ripe tomatoes chopped, 1 tsp of sea salt, 3 tsp tamarind paste. Whizz until purée like about 2 minutes. In a sauté pan over medium heat add 60 ml sesame oil (gingelly), when it's hot but not smoking add 1 tsp black mustard seeds. Quickly cover the pan to prevent escape and sizzle for a minute. Add 1 tsp of urad dal (black lentils, skinned and split they are light grey). Fry until golden, another minute or so. Throw in about 20 curry leaves. These splatter so cover the pan again. Lower the heat and add the blender contents. Simmer, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes, until you get a runny jam consistency. Ta da !

Matar pilau (peas and rice) potato & cabbage curry, chana dal with spinach, eggplant masala and store bought roti. On the side, radish raita and mango chutney.

Back to normal programming- Chettinad black pepper chicken, rice, roti, tomato chutney, chana dal with spinach, date & tamarind chutney, lime pickle, eggplant masala.

He who must be fed is away on business, so I rescued this minestrone from the freezer and paired it with a couple of mustard pickle cheese toasties. The minestrone was a tad uninspiring until I whacked it with a teaspoon of harissa.

Please, pretty please give me the name of the restaurant...

Looks fantastic ! Ill be in Melbourne next week, can you tell me the name of the Indian restaurant please ?