h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Your way sounds yummy, too.

Omelets and such are definitely on the menu as often as possible this time of year. K keeps finding things at the grocery store that need to go in the oven for an hour or more... when the air conditioning is running pretty frequently. We don't keep it that cool in the house- 70 F (21 C) at night and 75 F (24 C) during the day- but the oven just offsets all its work.

Tonight I'm going to have a go at stir-frying some marinated tempeh. I'll probably marinate it in tamari, lime juice and honey.

I've two ideas for stir-fry accompaniments. I can add red and green pepper, broccoli and cauliflower florets, and perhaps a bit of pineapple, with a little sweet and sour sauce and chili garlic sauce?

OR

I can go with sliced jalapeno, cilantro, green onion, and mango. I could encrust the marinated tempeh in coconut flakes and brown it a little first, and add a touch of green or yellow curry paste?

The second idea sounds a little busy... what do you think?

I was having difficulty making a decision. Or was I?

Either way, I made it easy on myself, and we ordered in.

Today's treats:

Lunch-
potato rosti with marinated tofu and tomato ginger sauce

Marinade: tamari, honey, fresh minced garlic, fresh grated ginger, dash of sesame oil. Marinate the tofu (sliced or cubed) for one hour.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Parboil four potatos till nearly tender. Grate, season with salt and pepper, and form into little cakes. Spread tofu out onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 20 minutes.

Cut four large tomatoes in halves. Heat some olive oil in a sauce pan, add tomatoes and reserve marinade, simmering until tomatoes break down into a sauce.

Cook potato cakes in frying pan until browned on both sides. Place cakes on serving plates. Sprinkle the tofu over cakes, then cover in tomato sauce. Sprinkle with roasted sunflower seeds.

Dinner:
tempeh curry

cocnut milk, shredded coconut, sliced green onions, sliced green chillies, diced green bell pepper, tamarind pulp, fresh garlic, mustard seeds, turmeric, fenugreek, fresh basil leaves.

I'm sure you can figure out how to cook it all.

Tempeh is *gorgeous*. Te wholefood shop that sold it closed down - but the other week I found some in a Chinese supermarket.

My standard tempeh dishes are either simmered in coconut milk with onions, chilli, garlic, ginger, soy souce...or stir-fried with rice.

I've just made waterecress and potato soup. I'm waiting for it to cool so that I can serve it chilled.

>I've just made waterecress and potato soup>

It's in te fridge. I'm planning on serving within the next 15 minutes.

I was a good girl & made a real meal Just For Me.

Aloo Sag, ie: spinach & potato curry, used your spices PC, murky buckets! I have to say that the chili powder is rather on the mild side for my tastes, but maybe i have destroyed my taste buds by years in Pakistan!

Anyway, i beefed it up by chucking in some Harissa paste & 'twas jolly good; it will undoubtedly be even better tomorrow; "a good curry festers o'ernight"

zdt

> have to say that the chili powder is rather on the mild side for my tastes<

I bought myself a bag of the same stuff at the time, and found it rather mild as well. I've got a spicier one to send you the next time.

It's weird how "chili powder" can vary so much isn't it?

Do you get harissa paste there? It's sorta middle eastern, Tunisian/Moroccan/ Algerian, the stuff they use for couscous.

zdt

I get a brilliant harrisa paste that comes in toothpaste tubes and has really cool retro Arabic packaging. It's hot as , so best not to leave it lying around in the bathroom.

Actually...it could potentially be confused with my neem toothpaste, which comes from Abu Dhabi. Now *that's* a bizarre product. Clearly tastes differ between cultures because it tastes more like a skincare product than a toothpaste. I think the dominant flavours are sandalwood and mastic.

Having said that...in the US/Canada you can get Wintergreen flavour Lifesavers (UKanian = Polos). Over here, wintergreen is a scent associated with toilet cleaners. They remind me of the chapter in American Psycho where Bateman has his girlfriend served with a urinal block.

I feel a Flaming Pie coming on...

I think I'll subscribe here, if you don't mind, Psychocandy
Because I'd like to learn a bite more cooking. Your recipes always sound wonderfully exotic, so I hope it's okay if I sometimes interrupt and ask a description of an ingredient I don't know .

Of course it's okay!

I don't think I've ever seen harassi paste. I'll have to look for it the next time we're around the Indian/Pakistani shops. Since I can't always read the labels, hopefully I can just ask someone.

What does it taste like, besides hot?

I like neem toothpaste, myself. I switched several years ago because I'm not supposed to use SLS. I actually don't really like minty toothpaste. Cinnamon flavor is even worse. I've recently been using a lovely propolis and myrrh formula, which is also fluoride free.

You'd be more likely to get harrisa in an Arabic shop...although I get mine from Pakistani guys who cater for the entire umma. Sometimes it's just hot...but good ones contain lots of ingredients (coriander, caraway, fennel...) and I even know of a rather tasty rose petal one. There'll be lots of recipes on the dubya cubed, if you want to experiment with your own. Mind you...they'll doubtless require ras-al-hanout, and any shop that sells that is bound to have harissa too.

(Umma? Look it up!)

Thanks for the clarification- the Arabic shops are actually closer to home, so I may even be able to glom some over the weekend. There's a little grocery shop about a mile and a half away which specializes in middle eastern and Arabic condiments.

The rose petal one sounds nice. I'll consider picking up more than one, if I have the option.

It'd be nice to get to that shop again. Their chili powder is hotter than hell. And they sell a homemade coriander chutney that it totally .

I made a pan of Nasi Goreng today. It was frozen and pre-fabriced , but I added some yellow paprika, parsley and lots of cayenne pepper, which seemed to fit together. Now I've got the other half of the frozen packet for tomorrow - any suggestions, maybe a sauce as a good addition or some other ingredients?

I've made "prefabricated" Nasi Goreng before. Some days you just don't have a lot of time for meal preparation. I found it to be quite tasty, with the addition of a litle extra garlic, and heating it up with some good quality olive oil.

We made it to an Arabic grocery shop yesterday before we started the trek down to the 'burbs. They didn't have harissa paste in tubes, only in cans, and only the one. I bought a couple of the small cans. I might have to try several shops.

Also got some of the picked turnips. K absolutely does not like them. He's not terribly fond of briny or vinegar-y things. I'm sort of the opposite (where most people eat French fries with ketchup, I drown mine in malt vinegar). I can't quite get "into" kim chee, though.

Anyway, I also got some green cardamom. And found that they stock enormous boxes of that chili powder from hell.

A3100168

What a well-written entry!

It's sometimes a little confusing for me, reading about "pickles" on here. Here in the states, when one refers to "pickles", one is speaking of pickled cucumbers. Otherwise, you tend to hear them referred to as "picled such-and-such", or "relish".

I love pickled things. And I did get hooked on Branston's Pickle (what an unhealthy substance) while visiting the U.K. a few years ago... it was unfortunately the only positive aspect of that particular trip.

>Pickled beetroot<



I'm going to make some of these soon. With lotsa onion and garlic.