Pictures, Jan-Feb 2013

My mom came over and made me fried rice. I was obnoxious by taking photos and a video of her cooking. The video is for my own reference, but here are a couple of pictures.

Last weekend was the blizzard. One side of my house had a dusting. The other side of my house (where my driveway is) had four foot drifts.

And today, I was experimenting with black rice. I boiled 1/2 cup of black rice in lots of water for about 20 minutes. And then, to the boiling rice, I added 1 red bell pepper, cut up. After a few more minutes, I added slices of Chinese sausage (leftover from my mom’s fried rice visit) just to warm through. The whole small pot of rice, bell pepper, and sausage was drained, and then left to rest 10 minutes. I garnished with sliced kumquats, and called it lunch. Not bad for someone who couldn’t think of anything better to make! (^_^)

Not bad looking, right?  You can barely see the sausage.  It absorbed the coloring of the rice.  (That is one potent purple!)

Mystery experiment, part 2 of 2

So! Hi. Yeah, this follow up post is much later than it should be. Part of it was because the fermentation period in my cold New England apartment ended up being ten days. And then I wanted to experiment with it before posting anything.

The original post?
https://awesomesauceeats.wordpress.com/2012/11/19/mystery-experiment-part-1-of/

The leftovers of leftovers

… AKA corned beef and leftovers, part 3

Leftover idea #2? Corned beef hash okayu.

Wait, okayu? Yes, okayu (also known as jook, juk, congee, rice porriage, etc).  This idea is completely my brain child, and it’s one of my better ideas.  (One of my bad ideas?  Purposely swapping 1/3 of the oil for extra virgin olive oil in a brownie recipe out of pure curiosity… yeah, don’t do that.)

Rice with Green Peas and Almonds

See that photo? I took the photo, but I didn’t make the rice. My friend Dawn did for Tammy’s dinner party. Dawn dropped the rice at my house earlier that day because she knew she was going to be late for dinner. I really can’t complain though – this gave me time to whip out the heavy digital camera and a chance to smell the rice all afternoon.

And when I say this smells amazing, I mean it smells AMAZING.

The recipe for this dish comes from a Hari Krishna book (seriously!). No, Dawn is not a Hari Krishna. She is very, very Italian American. However, she is a “part-time vegetarian” (as I like to call it). Stealth_eater is also a part-time vegetarian but for very different reasons. Dawn loves fish and chicken, but doesn’t really care for the taste of red meat at all. Stealth_eater does it for “health” reasons… but seeing as her health hasn’t changed for the better , she is thinking about putting some red meat back into her diet (the omnivore and the cook in me rejoices). But anyway, since Dawn is a part-time vegetarian, she loves the recipes in her Hari Krishna book. And it didn’t hurt that the book only cost her a couple of bucks.

Rice with Green Peas and Almonds
source: The Higher Taste
serves 4-5

1 cup basmati rice
3/4 tsp salt
4 green cardamom pods, slightly crushed
2 cups water
1/4 tsp turmeric
2 tsp ghee or oil
1 cinnamon stick, about 1 1/2″ long (but Dawn used a 3-4″ stick without problem)
6 whole cloves
1/3 cup sliced raw almonds
1 cup fresh or frozen peas

Bring the water, salt, and turmeric to boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Keep the pan covered.

Heat the ghee/oil in another medium saucepan over low-medium heat. Fry the cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamom pods, and almonds until the almonds turn a pale golden-brown. Add the rice and saute for about 2 minutes or until the grains turn translucent.

Pour in the boiling water, and if using fresh peas, add them now. Stir, increasing heat to high, and bring the water to a full boil. Immediately reduce the heat to low, cover with a tight-fitting lid, and gently simmer (no stirring) for 15-20 minutes, or until the water is all absorbed and the rice is tender. If using frozen peas, quickly sprinkle them over the rice halfway through the cooking time. Turn off the heat, and allow the rice to steam for another 5 minutes.

Serve while hot.