April: Cooking

A lot of noodle meals this month as I try to clear the fridge before leaving town for seven weeks. A package of green vegetable noodles brought a touch of spring to the cold days. Bottom left was particularly spring-like with salmon. Top right was a kitchen sink bun with romaine, peanuts, cherry tomatoes, ham and fish balls. To the side: mussels with yellow peppers and chicken, fish cakes, cashews and cherry tomatoes.

Random miscellany: queso fresco with eggs and sweet potato chips, new to me yogurt brand Koru (liked the passionfruit flavour but not as creamy as my new favourite, Liberte), avocado with hard boiled egg on toast. 

March: Cooking

Looking at this month's photos the common theme I see is the use of ingredients from new suppliers I've found fairly recently with the noodles coming from a Korean grocery store I've seen for years but never visited before and the shrimp and chorizo coming from a new butcher/provision store that opened fairly recently.

My version of japchae with sweet potato noodles, green onions and Gulf shrimp. I've done a few versions of this recently since acquiring a large packet of the noodles. Really love the chewiness of the noodles. I've also found a regular source for Gulf shrimp so they're a weekly occurrence in one form or another. After some trial and error I've also mastered the art of slicing the shrimp sideways so they curl prettily when cooked.




Chorizo and mushroom stuffed green peppers topped with parmesan. I wish the chorizo was hotter but this was a tasty dish nevertheless. My first time cooking with parmesan purchased in a small end hunk.

Chocolate cake topped with yogurt, dried cherries and almonds. The cake is flavoured (not noticeably, unfortunately) with elderflower syrup. I bought a bottle after trying a lovely floral elderflower sparkling drink in New York, and have been trying to find new ways to use it other than adding it to sparkling water which is definitely on for summer.

I used the microwave potato chip recipe floating around the internet for these sweet potato chips. Amazingly they did become crispy and tasted just like potato chips. After all all those thousands of people on the internet could have been lying. No problem slicing the potato thin enough with just a regular knife. I'm torn about this recipe. It takes a really long time to make a tiny quantity (2.5 minutes on high for about 8 chips) but now that chips can be made at home, can I justify buying potato chips any more?

Weekend Cooking: Tamarind Fried Rice and Chicken Tikka with Focaccia

A couple of simple yet delicious lunches with an Indian inflection.

Tamarind rice spice mix was one of my finds of 2010. With some frozen mixed vegetables and fried tofu, topped with sunflower seeds for crunch this is a quick yet excellent week day lunch. Shan chicken tikka spice and lemon juice make an easy marinade for juicy chicken thighs. Served with homemade focaccia and steamed cauliflower.

Weekend Cooking: Easy meals

I like to prepare lunches for the work week on the weekend. These are a selection of some recent lunches.

Bulgar with frozen Mexican-style vegetables and spicy black bean burger

Feta-stuffed omelet with vegetables

Chicken wontons with bok choi

Bulgar with chicken tikka and mixed vegetables

TNT #7: Meyer Lemons

This is the first time Meyer lemons have been available at a reasonable price in the local supermarket. I've been saving lemon curd recipes for this happy day. Two small batches of curd later and with no difference in taste, the microwave recipe will probably be the keeper for ease of cleanup. The preserved lemons have been started but it'll be a while before the end result is ready for testing.


Recipes: Preserved Lemons from David Leibovitz
Substitutions: omitted spices for this time

Microwave Lemon Curd from Allrecipes
Lemon Curd from Epicurious

Weekend Cooking: Sour Curry with okra and squid

Easy sour curry paste from a packet with freezer supplies of squid and okra. The sauce turned out thicker and less sour than expected.

Weekend Cooking: Lahmajun

OK, this is really a bastardized version of lahmajun to use up the last packet of ground lamb and parsley. Nevertheless it was delicious, if a bit oily.

Weekend Cooking: Lamb Bulgar Meatballs

Adapted from a NY Times Lamb meatball recipe, these were delicious in a pita with parsley and feta scattered on top.

Weekend Cooking: Tom Yum soup

A healthy, quick dinner. Tom yum soup using a bottled paste with tofu and mushrooms, steamed broccoli and rice.

Weekday Dinner: Chicken and mushrooms

Chicken thighs and mushrooms, stir fried with light soy and white pepper. Very moreish.

TNT #1: Stuffed Pepper

First meal of the new year is my first attempt at stuffed peppers. Same mix as the burrito from last year.

Last meal of 2010

Fried tempeh, chives and shiitake with rice. Quick, easy, healthy. Let's hope it's a forerunner for the coming year.

TNT #37: Bread and burrito

A lucky find at the local Middle Eastern store. Huge "loaf" of bread. Makes excellent burritos or breakfast sandwich.

Burrito made with diced tomato with green chile, soy flakes, green onions and cheese.

Weekend Cooking: Assam Fish Curry

A recent find of frozen okra was just what was needed for this assam fish curry. Paste from Tean's . Very hot and redolent with spices, this made a perfect dinner for these dark, cold nights.

TNT #36: Chilean mussels with garlic and onion

As used as I am the gigantic New Zealand green-lipped mussels, these teeny frozen mussels were an easy weekday dinner. Another night the mussels and sauce were incorporated into mac & cheese.

TNT #34: Uttapam

My first attempt at uttapam from a package. Unusual in that it came with a packet of dried vegetables to be incorporated into the dough.

TNT #32: Macaroni Cheese

Finally managed to assemble all the ingredients for a classic mac and cheese (butter, milk, cheese and breadcrumbs) at the same time.

TNT #31: Scotch Eggs

Baked scotch egg with turkey turned out a little dry, but definitely a recipe worth experimenting further with.

Weekend Cooking: Pea Puffs

My version of chile pea puffs didn't turn out that well. The baked wonton wrappers were just too dry and hard for my taste. Filling was fine and will be made again. Eaten with a mug of instant miso soup.

Recipe: Chile Pea Puffs by Monica Bhide on 101 Cookbooks
Changes: substituted pepper for chili and mozzarela for the paneer.

TNT #20: Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper. Served alongside a vegetarian sausage for a quick meal.