Side Dish

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Being Inspired…

August 19, 2010 in Grains and Rice, Side Dish | 6 comments

I love my blog!  I love the fact that it pushes me to try new recipes in an effort to share them with you.    Lately I’ve been having alot of failures I must admit, but I keep trying.  I revisited old favorites, recipes I haven’t cooked in a long time and the results weren’t always great.

Today I revisit Dhal.   Originating in India, dhal is a soup made with the yellow dhal/yellow split peas and seasoned with warm spices such as curry, tumeric and cumin.  To finish it off  you “chunkay” garlic, which is a process where you brown the garlic  in oil to bring out a slightly burnt flavor and you add the hot oil and garlic to the dhal.

Soup? Sauce? Dip?  We Guyanese can admit that dhal fits into every category.  There is no right way to eat it.  I’ve had it in a mug by itself as a soup, used it as a dip for my roti or poured it over my rice to use as gravy.  You can’t go wrong, either way its very delicious.

A favorite dish of using  is Dhal and rice with sauteed saltfish and baigan choka or Aloo with coconut milk on the side….seriously authentic, seriously delicious!!  As I wrote that last line, I had a vision of myself and my siblings sitting Indian style on the floor and eating this with our hands to much disdain of our mother.  But we loved it, it allowed us to mimic a part of our culture that we didn’t practice.  How could a child not enjoy eating with their hands??  Especially when our mom forbade us?? Today I will use a spoon, but I will enjoy it just the same and I hope you do.

Dhal

1/2 cup Yellow split peas

5 cups water

1 cup chicken stock*

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp curry powder

1 hot red pepper

1 tsp salt

3 cloves garlic

3 tbsp vegetable or canola oil

Boil split peas with 4 cups water on a medium fire for 1 hour or until peas are tender.  Remove from heat and pulse in a blender until smooth.  Return to a medium fire and add chicken stock, 1 cup water, cumin, curry powder, pepper and salt.  Cook for 1o mins.  While dhal cooks, in a sautee pan, heat 3 tablespoon oil and add sliced garlic.  Fry until dark brown, do not burn or the garlic will add a bitter taste to the Dhal.  This process should take no more than 3 mins.    Add garlic and oil to the Dhal, stir ;cook for an additional 10 mins.

*To make this meal vegetarian, simply omit the chicken stock or replace it with vegetable stock.


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My right to curry

July 9, 2010 in Seafood, Vegetable | 3 comments

It is my right as a Guyanese to curry anything that is edible.  Yes that’s right, we curry everything….think I’m joking??  Almost any type of meat or vegetable I’ve eaten in my life I’ve had it in a curry.

From time to time I have conversations with my husband about exotic meats I’ve eaten growing up in Guyana and his question is always “How was it cooked?”  And I will always reply “Curried of course.”

Today I felt like having shrimp curry with spinach cooked in coconut milk for lunch, but alas…I forgot to buy coconut milk.   As I whined to Borderline Mommy about my misfortune, she said “Hey, why not curry the shrimp and the spinach?”   I present to you Shrimp and Spinach curry.

Shrimp and Spinach Curry

1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 inch piece of ginger crushed

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1 onion, chopped

10 sprigs thyme

3 scallion, chopped

2 tbsp curry powder

1/2 tsp garam masala

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 lb frozen spinach, defrosted and drained of all liquid

Place shrimp, ginger, garlic, black pepper and salt in a bowl, mix will and set aside.  On a medium fire heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil.  Place curry, garam masala, scallion, garlic, thyme and 3 tbsp spoon of water.  Mix well.

Add curry mixture to hot oil and stir well.  Allow to cook for 7-10 mins, stirring frequently to keep it from burning.  If curry gets dry, add about 2 tbsp of water at a time.  Add Shrimp and cook for 2-3 mins.  Remove from pot and set aside.

Add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil to the pot and add spinach.  Cook for 5-7 mins then add shrimp back to the pot.  Add salt and pepper as needed.  Stir well to combine and cook for an additional 3 mins.  Remove from heat.  Serve with white rice.

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Jehan can grill

June 22, 2010 in Vegetable | 6 comments

When it’s hot outside, I love to  fire up the grill and cook as many of my meals outdoors as I can.  Usually with lemonade in hand, you will find me poking at the fire and trying to control the flames from burning my food to a crisp.  We all have memories of going to a BBQ and every piece of chicken is so burnt that it’s completely black and tastes like charcoal.  Well that’s not the kind of food you will eat at my house.  There will be gourmet meats, vegetables dressed with fresh marinades and items you didn’t even know could be prepared on the grill.  In the past I’ve always grilled with gas but recently I’ve started using a charcoal grill and boy has it been challenging.  My first day I was guilty of preparing that aforementioned chicken, but it was the last.  With the advice of a very good friend and a few grilling books, I can finally say that I know my way around my charcoal grill.

Mixed vegetable grill.

Today I decided to toss a few vegetables on my grill and get cooking.  I had 1 portabella mushroom, a few spears of asparagus and 4 ears of corn.  I gave the mushroom and asparagus a simple drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper, but the corn received special attention.  I prepared a compound butter ladened with parmesan cheese and parsley and slathered it on.  One bite and I was in corn heaven.  This will be an excellent side dish for the fourth of July and a great way to dress up boring corn on the cob.


All the goodness coming together

Grilled Corn on the Cob with parmesan parsley butter

4 ears sweet corn

1/2 stick butter

1 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tbsp chopped pasley

salt and black pepper to taste

Heat grill.  Mix room temperature butter, chopped parsley, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper with a fork.  Mix until well combined, set aside.

To prepare corn for the grill, pull back husks but leave attached to base; remove hairs.  Its is up to you if you want to keep the husks on, I like it on because it’s a nifty handle.  If grilling with husks, soak corn in water for 20 mins.  Remove corn from water and pat dry with a paper towel to remove some of the water and brush with butter.  Reserve some butter for brushing after corn is cooked.  Over direct medium heat cook corn for 15 mins, turning occasionally.   Remove from grill and brush with reserved butter and serve immediately

Can you resist? I dare you!

yummy times 10!

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Amy