sartoric

Dinner last night was tuna patties, oh how I love thee with fresh tomato chutney. Still damn hot here, so served with salad things, pickled mushrooms, pickled chilli, beetroot, balsamic tomatoes and a few green leaves.

Dinner last night was a new to me dal (details on the curry cook off thread) leftover drumstick and potato curry, leftover okra and fresh rice with pickle. I spoke to my Indian grocer friend during the week about drumstick vegetable. You never get the skin tender, it’s meant to have the flesh scraped off after cooking. Now that I know, I’ll definitely use it again. A fantastic flavour hard to describe. Funny how they look like okra on steroids.

I found a new (to me) dal this week. It’s called val dal and is a kidney shaped white bean (split and skinned). My Indian grocer said it’s popular in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Some dals are so specific to their area, she never tried some until she married and moved. I gave the val my favourite dal treatment. Rinsed and boiled softly with a pinch of turmeric. Mise for the flavouring. Chopped red onions, chopped tomato, garam masala, chilli powder, turmeric. Please don’t laugh, I love my $4 kiwi brand cleaver, frills and all. In ghee I fry off the onions, add spices, tomatoes and salt and cook until melded well. I add this to the cooked dal, then prepare a tadka. A dried chilli, half a tap of cumin seeds, a few cloves, a pinch of asafoetida, then crushed garlic, in that order in smoking hot ghee in a small pan. The coriander is for later. The idea is to tip the smoking contents of the pan onto the dal, cover and let the aromas absorb into the dal. Garnish with coriander. Ta da. Full meal is served over on the dinner thread.

Pies from the bakery in Canungra on our way home from NSW....eaten on the tailgate. One chicken and vegetables. One seafood mornay, we shared. I have berated my hand model for holding it upside down.

“Meat”loaf with cheesy mash, fresh tomato sauce, caramelised onions and @HungryChrispickled mushrooms. The loaf was made with plant based mince, grated carrot and sweet potato, grated onion, garlic salt and other spices including smoked paprika. I added hard boiled eggs in the Italian polpettone style. Only the first slice (pictured) held together, the rest was a crumbling mess. The taste was okay, but I think this meat substitute might work better in other dishes.

Dinner last night - ghee rice, indeterminate veggie curry from the freezer, a mix of kachumber and raita, okra and the last of the kali dal. We both tried to figure out what that freezer curry was.....nope, no clue, but it has spurred me to update the freezer inventory.

A spicy Moroccan root veggies soup, with potato, butternut pumpkin, sweet potato and a little (too much) harissa. The toasties had a smear of chermoula, grated vintage cheddar and bits of feta.

Dinner last night was drumstick vegetable and potato curry. I’ve never cooked these before, actually never seen them for sale here. These guys were 65 cm (29”) long. They are supposed to be very beneficial to health...but even after a long cook, they are fibrous and stringy. The best way to eat them was like an artichoke leaf, dragged through the teeth, then discard skin. The flavour is great though and they made the potatoes into champions. The start. The finish The plate, with rice, kali dal and kachumber. Not sure they’ll become a regular feature, but I don’t regret this attempt.

A lemon chicken tray bake with potatoes, red onions, garlic and peas, plus pan scraping sauce with white wine and a little reduced stock.

Dinner last night featured kali dal, named after my favourite Indian goddess, Kali, the mother and destroyer. Also mushrooms with spinach curry, ghee rice and cucumber raita.

Gee, can’t you guys buy chilli tuna ? It’s regular tuna, canned with a chilli which flavours the oil and the tuna. I nearly always buy the chilli tuna. My favourite brand is Serena, but all brands have a chilli option

Dinner last night was going to be a mixed salad with grilled haloumi, then a large storm rolled in mid afternoon and the temperature dropped by many degrees. So, plan B was enacted. Boiled casierici pasta mixed with a cheese sauce, chopped beer butter mushrooms and a can of chilli tuna. More cheese on top, (vintage cheddar and parmesan), then baked in the oven. Served with a small salad.

Reverting to form...spiced veggie patties with tomato chutney, okra, dal with spinach, rice and paratha. On the meatloaf discussion...I used to make one with hard boiled eggs lined up in the middle. Each slice of meatloaf comes with a slice of egg !

The star of this show was the mushrooms in beer butter....I bought vegetarian sausages, err that was a mistake. Served with mozzarella mash, fresh tomato sauce, a smear of hot English mustard and a salad of baby leaves.

Speedy recovery to Moe, will miss your fabulous food @Ann_T. Happy travels @Dejah, I hope you get to Georgetown and Ipoh in Malaysia, don’t miss the chicken rice. Dinner last night was falafel pockets with hummus and tabouli.

Last night was linguine with vongole, mushrooms and garlic, plus a salad.

Our avocados have a bit of growing to do. There will be plenty though, this is a small section of the tree. I’m really looking forward to the ideas this cook off will provide. Love the baked arancini @blue_dolphin, toasting the crumbs is brilliant. I used to think bacon and avocado was a heavenly match, nowadays I go avocado and chicken sandwiches with mayo on soft white bread. Or this, at a cafe in Kyogle, smashed avocado, feta cheese and herbs with toasted bread.

We bought a property in the country. It’s a multiple occupancy or community. Each second Friday of the month we have a gathering of the community where everyone brings food to share. I’ve written about it in the off topic forum....”Going off grid/escape to the country “.

Sure. Sauté finely chopped red onions, add chopped mushrooms and sweat until all water evaporates, set aside to cool. Mix with beaten egg, chopped parsley, quick cook oats and flour. Season well. Roll into balls and refrigerate until firm. Pan fry, then plop into your favourite tomato based sauce.

I made these mushroom “meat”balls to take to the monthly Friday feast. They were shroomy good. Served with toasted olive sourdough for juice mopping.

Did you know that in Sri Lanka avocados are called butter fruit and found in all kinds of desserts ?

Tuna croquettes with a beetroot and yoghurt dip, salad stuff.

You know how an old cookbook automatically opens to a certain page, right ? This is from that page, succulent chicken breasts with a burnt butter, lemon, wine reduction. Served with mash potatoes and garlic green beans. I was in two minds whether to post this in the freezer challenge thread. The chicken had been in there since September 2016, was still surprisingly good. The last piece of meat has left the building.

Masala omelette which didn’t quite make the fold in half. Stuffed with red onion, spinach, coriander, mushrooms and cheddar, served with fresh tomato chutney. Easy, tasty, satisfying.

Thanks for this challenge. I have a huge tree that’s full of baby avocados. No idea when they’ll ripen, but I’m hoping for a glut. Smashed avocado (basically avo on toast) is blamed for the inability of millennials to get into the housing market here. Love the idea of cubes in dal.