Recently in the kitchen...

[anivre]

Since I have been entirely unoccupied this summer, I have taken the opportunity to do some cooking and baking. Haven't taken any photos; these days it's more satisfying to see the husband enjoying himself than to have pictures to prove to myself that I once cooked this or that. I take this as a sign of becoming more comfortable and mature in this

Comments

[anonymous]

wah sounds so nice.... a herb garden sounds super wonderful... u can make like thai fish cakes/prawn cakes! they're yummy! prob using similar paste as ur curry... but with minced fish/prawn...

- eun

[anivre]

I'm so obsessed with herbs! I would ideally like a herb lawn or an edible one anyway, as opposed to simply grass. That will take ages to develop though and I'm already short of time and motivation to tidy up the big back garden as it is...

Hmmm fish+prawn cakes sound lovely. But can I use frozen? We don't really get fresh prawns here...

[dajie]

I had bought oxtail on a whim thinking that I'd like to make the oxtail soup like Eva's. When I got home, I hunted after a recipe online but found nothing like Eva's tomatoey soup. Besides, all the recipes were super time consuming, taking 2 days (!!) to complete. So I stuffed the oxtail into the freezer and decided to ignore them for a while. I took them out the other day, tried to find a recipe that would suit me and ended up with a soupy oxtail stew instead. Haven't had it yet although I did taste a piece of meat that fell off the bone. Ummmmm... very nice. All the while, I was thinking this is Lik and An's type of cooking- slow and stewy. And I admit I didn't have home-made chicken broth but still, it took time. Simmered for 3 hours at least! So I completely identify with what you wrote about gleaming from the internet... in my case both Swedish and English recipes of oxtail soup and oxtail stew

[anivre]

Nice long comment! :)

Yes coincidentally I just put "chicken frames" on the shopping list. It isn't always available but I like to buy it when I see it and normally I make a stock that for the last few times I turn into a roasted pumpkin and roasted carrot pureed soup which freezes well and is filling and quick to reheat.

What I like about slow stewing is that you can 1) leave it and forget about it for ages and it only gets better 2) cheap cuts of meat are turned into something delectable, tummy filling and heartwarming!

Curries are easy to make from scratch if you have the standard dry spices (cumin, cardamom, fennel, fenugreek, coriander seed, turmeric, chili etc). If you look on internet you'll find heaps of recipes.. (Oh try manjulaskitchen.com for lovely vegetarian indian dishes and great videos I really enjoy!) and you just add what you want in each curry. The spices last for ages too, and can be used for all sorts of other recipes. Good luck!