Comments | melissagay: Cooking and musing

melissagay

Cooking and musing

Jul 11, 2007 18:33

Today I made my personal best-yet rendition of chana masala. I think the key was not letting powdered coriander seed anywhere near it, for a change. I've been trying to change up my recipies a bit lately, as all my mainstay Indian dishes were beginning to taste alike. I count this one as a rampant success and have recorded it for posterity ( Read more... )

Comments 8

rknop July 11 2007, 23:52:28 UTC

I am so utterly clueless as to have to say:

are these beverages you're talking about?

P.S. : e-mail me images of trumps and I'll pretty up the R.Press webpage (which has nothing on it and a blah design right now).

melissagay July 12 2007, 02:17:26 UTC

Hee! Chana masala is a spicy stew of curried chickpeas, potatoes, tomatoes and onions. But iced coffee with cilantro stalks is my own personal madness. =)

Re: Trumps-- will do! Huzzah!

whirl_twirl July 12 2007, 15:51:04 UTC

This is off topic, but sanba38 pointed out that I don't have you on my friends list. Since we have several things in common (GTU, Sewanee, food & creativity) I thought your journal would be a great one to read.

I photograph (many things) draw (figures from life mostly) and have just gotten back into painting with a mixed media class. While I don't LARP, I have many friends who do. Take a look at my journal if you'd like.

On topic: I love Indian food! And your coffee-cilantro combination sounds intriguing. I often put cardamom pods into my coffee. Iced cilantro latte, though - mmm!

melissagay July 12 2007, 16:08:05 UTC

Friend added, huzzah! Nice to meet you. :-)

Oooooooh, do you just drop the pods into the coffee cup, or do you put them in with the grounds when you brew it? I Looooooooooooove cardamom, and am fully supportive of its title as "Queen of Spices!"

One note on the cilantro thing-- to my personal taste, the stalks are heavenly when munched along with brewed coffee, but the leaves, mehhhhh, not so much. Then again, I could probably learn to love it, kinda like celery leaves.

whirl_twirl July 12 2007, 17:31:04 UTC

Thanks for adding me!

I take green pods and crack them open, and drop a few into my cup, pouring hot coffee over them. I've also put them into the pot so they steep a bit before I pour a cup.

melissagay July 12 2007, 17:43:03 UTC

Awesome! I'll try that with my very next pot!

Cardamom is so great. I just don't have enough opportunities to say that. :-) Thanks for giving me another excuse!

agnosticprophet July 12 2007, 16:08:50 UTC

I forgot what cilantro stalks tasted like, so I just ran out and grabbed some from the garden, weedy as they may be.
As a garnish on the side of a caramel pie or something similar, I can see it working, too. I think it's just that like yellow and purple (ugh, bad example!), cilantro crunch and coffee uh, liquidness are perfectly opposite, so they are complementary. Sharp vs. smooth flavors, sort of, except both of them do seem to have a bitter element, too.
I think that's why mint goes so well with coffee, too.
I don't think there are enough herbs in sweet items in general, like rosemary and basil. Hmm. That stuff does linger on the fingers. Wow. My whole house smells like cilantro, now... :)

melissagay July 12 2007, 16:22:43 UTC

Mmmmmm, that's a problem I'd love to have! :-)

Truth is, although my sense of taste seems fine, I have a terrible sense of smell, possibly due to lifelong allergy problems. One of my favorite parts of cooking curries is that first step where the oil is hot and you throw in the cumin seeds to let them fry for 20 seconds and then dump in the onions and diced cilantro stalks. This DELICIOUS aroma fills the kitchen, but I can only smell it for a few precious seconds before my nose tunes it out ( ... )