Hyderabadi ground-nut chicken curry

 Really great!

In our toaster oven we sequentially roasted 1/3 C peanuts, 1/4 C unsweetened shredded coconut, 1 T sesame seeds, and transfered to a blender.  

In a dutch oven, add 2 T oil and saute 1 chopped onion until golden 7-8 min.  Add 1 T garlic and 1 T ginger (we used pastes), cook until no raw smell.  Add 1 tsp each: turmeric, chili powder, garam.  Immediately add 1 C water and scrape bottom.  Transfer mixture to blender.  Blend until super smooth.

In same dutch oven, heat 2 more Tbsp oil.  Add 1 tsp mustard seed, 1 tsp cumin seed and wait 1-2 min for them to sputter.  Add 10 curry leaves.  Then add the peanut mixture back along with 1 more cup water + 1/2 - 1 tsp salt.

Add 1 tsp tamarind paste (we have an actual processed paste) + 1.5 lbs chicken cut into 3/4"-1" pieces.  Simmer uncovered for 8-13 min, stirring occasionally.

We'd definitely make this again!

Crinkle cake -- Best desert of 2024

Recipe: https://ministryofcurry.com/crinkle-cake/#recipe

Maria's modification:

Half tsp saffron replaces rose water in the custard, no rose water in the syrup. This time I reduced sugar to half cup in the custard. 

Also, I preheat half the milk and steep the saffron and cardamom in it at the very start to make sure the flavor is throughout.

The cardamom settles when mixing the custard and doesn't all pour into to the cake.

Another great chole recipe!

 no photo.  This is similar to the last good one; dark rich flavor.  But this time it's a more precise recipe since it doesn't involve using the flavored cooking liquid for texture, thereby making flavor variable.

Here's the recipe: https://glebekitchen.com/chole-masala-punjabi-chickpea-curry/#recipe

Red lentil barley stew

Hearty and good!  We used farro instead of barley and only cooked the lentils for 20-30 min.  Worth making again.

 Recipe here:  https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1025128-red-lentil-barley-stew#notes_section

HOWEVER, next time maybe half the garam and omit the cinemon stick.

Different Ma Po Tofu Recipe

 On youtube here

Only modification:  I used 2 Tbsp of my own homemade chili oil & omitted green onion since I didn't have any.

Flavor is good; could be a little more mushroom imo.

Liked the can of chickpeas to simluate the ground meat.

Egg tofu with mushroom

 SO GOOD!

Followed this youtube recipe, but omitted the shallot, included a coin of ginger, and added some snow peas in the last 2 min of cooking.  Instead of weird chicken powder, we used 1 C homemade chicken broth and 1 c mushroom soaking liquid.

Excellent grown-up carrot pasta sauce

 This was one of my favorite things I've made in recent memory!  Such a wonderful, interesting taste!  It was a combination of these two recipes.

Sauce

1 Tbsp oil over med  or med/low heat.  Added 1 Tbsp brown sugar + 2 Tbsp white miso.  Stired vigorously to avoid burning.  Added 2 chopped shallots, turned heat lower, browned them for 5 min.  Added heaping 2 C carrots sliced thinly.  Cooked another 5 min (trying to brown them).

Added 2 C water, 2 bay leaf, 1/4 cup raw cashew nuts, juice from 1/2 lemon, 1/4 tsp salt, 10 or so grinds of black pepper.  Covered and simmered for 15 min for carrots to soften.  (remove bay leaf!!)  Blended until very smooth.

Added about 1/2 Tbsp dijon mustard and 3 Tbsp sour cream.  (the dijon and lemon are key flavors not to be left out).  blended again.

Pesto

Blended olive oil (2-4 Tbsp?) with 1-2 handfulls of flat leaf parsley, 1 fat garlic clove and 1/4 tsp salt in small "wet" food processor.

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Cooked the pasta for minimum time on package, reserved 1 C of the cooking water, and added pasta back together with sauce + 1/4 C of the water and stired around vigorously.  Let simmer for 1 more minute.

Served pasta with a dollop of pesto on top.  SO GOOD!

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For next time, I'll try the stick blender (so I don't have to use the blender).  I'll maybe go cashew nuts or sour cream but not both (not that it's bad but just to simplify).  The ratios of everything could be fiddled with. For example, I could imagine it sweeter, maybe 1.5 - 2 Tbsp brown sugar at the start ?