Thai Cashew Chicken

 This was really really, restaurant quality good.

1.5 lbs thighs cut into 3/4"-1" long pieces.  Combine 1 B soy sauce, 2 T flour, 2 T water, 1/4 tsp salt and 1 tsp black pepper (I think I did 10-12 grinds); whisk until smooth.  Coat chicken and marinate.   (recipe doesn't give time; I did ~15 min).

Make sauce.  Combine 2T soy sauce, 1.5 T Thai chili paste (Nam Prik Pao), 1 T white sugar, 1 T oyster sauce, 3 T water, and whisk until sugar disolves.

Heated big pan on high (9?) with 1.5-2 T oil until nearly smoking.  Added chicken in one batch since pan is large enough.  Let sit for 1.5 min until nicely browned, then scrabbled around to brown other side.  ~2-3 min total.  Transferred chicken to other bowl.  (it's ok if they're a little underdone as they'll cook another 2-3 min in the sauce).

Toasted 1C cashews in toaster over while this was happening.  (original recipe calls for pan frying).

Chopped vegetables: green beans to 1" lengths, 3-4 celery stalks to 1" lengths and 1/4" width, carrot thinly sliced.  I blanched the green beans in boiling water for ~1-2 min until dark green and then rinsed in cold.

Large mince 6 cloves garlic.  Original recipe also calls for red onion, but I added the white parts of 4-5 scallions cut to 1" lengths and halved.

Heat 1-2 T oil med-high (7-8), toss in garlic and onion.  Recipe says to let garlic get golden.  I stir-fried everything before that could happen.  After 1-2 min stir frying vegetables, added chicken back in and poured sauce over.  Let everything simmer for 1-2 min.  At the end add green parts of scallion cut to 1" lengths and the cashews.

I left out chlies, but you can also add dried red chilies at the stir-frying step along with the other aromatics.

SO GOOD!

Shrimp fried rice

 really good!

Made egg pancake with 3 eggs, dash of soy sauce, dash of sesame oil

Marinated ~ 7-8 shrimp in dash rice wine, 1/8 tsp white pepper, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 heaping tsp cornstarch

Fried 1 package oyster mushrooms cut up on temp 6 for ~ 4-5 min.

Blanched some 1 cm pieces of green beans.

Sauce:  3 tsp chicken broth, 1 tsp soy, 1/2 tsp dark soy, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp sugar.

Put in oil and fried rice for a minute.

Added aromatics: 3 garlic cloves large mince, and 3 coins ginger and white part of 2 scallions chopped.

Added everything else.

Added sauce, and the chopped green part of the scallion.

Really really good!

Improv Singapore noodle

 Made an egg pancake (2 eggs, bit of soy sauce, bit of sesame oil)

Blanched green beans cut to 1" lengths

Had ~8-10 shell-on shrimp.  Marinated for 5 min in splash rice wine, bit of soy sauce, dash white pepper

Heated oil on 6, threw in shrimp + marinate, cooked 2 min per side.

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Had pre-cooked thin egg noodles.  Mixed it with thin rice noodles I'd soaked in hot water.

Added oil to pan, + thinly sliced red onion + 2 chopped garlic cloves + 6 ginger disks.  Added noodles.  After 30 sec added egg, shrimp and green beans.

Poured over sauce:

4 Tbsp chicken broth

1/2 Tbsp rice wine

1/2 Tbsp soy sauce

1/2 Tbsp oyster sauce

1/2 Tbsp curry powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

bit of sesame oil

bit of white pepper

Really great!

Mushroom pea potato curry

Great flavor!  Somewhat involved.

Followed this recipe. except I added 1 cubed potato that I pre-boiled.

In the future, could make the sauce one day, then do the rest another day.  Might be nice with some toasted almonds on top.

Best new recipe for tandoori chicken

 Used this recipe:  https://thegingeredwhisk.com/grilled-tandoori-chicken/

Really good!

Next time a little more salt and some chili powder for a bit of heat.

Ven Pongal

 I used this recipe.

Err on the side of less water; maybe even closer to 3 cups.  I did 5 min in the pressure cooker but then probably 3-4 more minutes letting the pressure lower, and that was more than enough.

I added a bit more salt than the initial 1/2 tsp at the end.

A little underwhelmed, but not sure what to fix.

David's standard black beans

 Just thought I'd record my standard black bean recipe.

Finely mince 1/4 to 1/2 red onion (depending on how many beans)

Saute in ~1 Tbsp olive oil for 5 or 7 minutes until starting to turn color.

Add 1-2 clove minced garlic + 1 minced chili from a can of chili in adobo sauce + 1 tsp adobo sauce and cook another minute or so.

Add black beans and a splash of chicken broth.

Simmer for a few minutes.  Add 1/8 - 1/4 tsp cumin and 1/8 - 1/4 tsp salt.  Simmer a bit more.

Mash 1/4 to 1/2 of the beans and stir to incorporate.  Turn off heat and cover to let all the flavors meld.