The weather is changing. Garden cleanup is in progress. I am picking it up in the kitchen.

Our resident groundhog did not seem to favor poblano peppers and left us a good amount for a few dinners.

Here we got chiles relenos stuffed with a mix of chorizo, rice, and queso Oaxaca. Acidity of red onion and carrot escabeche offset the richness of the stuffing beautifully.

For the borracho beans, instead of traditional pinto, I used black ones. Refried with smoked bacon, white onion, and garlic, the beans were spiced with toasted and crushed cumin, coriander, and fennel seeds. Instead of beer, the broth had a touch of tequila.

All of the above was my interpretation of the ideas from the second oldest and best book in my collection — Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen. Probably in hopes I’d learn something about cooking, my husband gave me this book thirty years ago shorty after he came home from work on a 106°F July afternoon to be greeted by multiple fire alarms. Unfazed, I was roasting potatoes in the kitchen of our second floor apartment that did not have air conditioning. That was the only thing I knew how to cook.

I took note of the book.

#food #cooking #kitchen #mexicanfood #homemade #onmyplate #myhappyplace

Have you ever started cooking without reading a recipe to the end? Just the list of ingredients. And after proceeding through the first two paragraphs, when it’s a few minutes until dinner, to stumble upon something like: now place in the low oven for three hours or marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Well, I reached the new low — or high? — started the recipe without reading even the list of ingredients — just the title: corn pakoras.

Corn seemed good enough to give it a go — five ears were asking to be used. Two cups of kernels.

What could go wrong in my well stocked kitchen? Chopped red onions, minced cilantro, Kashmiri powder, ground coriander, cumin seeds. Until the last line tripped me — chickpea flour. There was none.

Dilemma: with everything chopped and mixed — should it be now regular flour or a falafel mix that happened to be on hand? With regular flour, they will no longer be pakoras. With falafel mix, liquid and the process should be completely different.

Since the taste buds were already leaning towards cilantro and tamarind chutneys in went falafel mix and a cup of hot water instead of half of cold seltzer.

To my surprise, I got lucky and my modified corn pakoras — or was it now falafel with corn — held their shape in hot oil and turned out great.

#food #cooking #corn #pakoras #falafel #homemade #onmyplate #cookingexperiment

A few weeks ago, from a friend, I learned about the existence of yóu miànjīn, fried golden balls of gluten. Light and brittle when in the store bag, once cooked they acquire springy and bouncy Q texture.

This recipe of yóu miànjīn sāi ròu, fried gluten balls stuffed with meat — 油面筋塞肉 — comes from the Woks of Life.

Twelve balls slightly larger than golf ones are stuffed with a mix of 1/2 lb ground pork, 1/2 lb chopped shiitake flavored with ginger, garlic, scallions, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper. These are basically meatballs wrapped in a jelly like coating of gluten film, if you’re into texture experiments.

The recipe is interesting to test your dexterity. It recommends to fill the balls twice to let the inside settle after the first round. As a first timer, for a first timer, I would suggest to go even slower — it took me four times but the entire meat mixture fit in. To the last drop.

Unable to eyeball anything even if my life depends on it, I weighed my filling and divided it equally in twelve — there were twelve balls in the bag. To fill the balls I used a handle of the baby spoon that is about 1/3” wide with a little scoop shape. When cooked in a wok, none of the balls collapsed, none teared. Beginner’s luck?

They paired beautifully with rice and a smashed cucumber salad. And great lunch for the next day.

#food #cooking #chinesefood #youmianjin #meatballs #gluten #smashedcucumbers #homemade #onmyplate #cookingtherapy

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Flavors of last Saturday: karaage, nasi goreng, and sammies

#food #OnMyPlate #MakanApa #TootSEA

Yesterday was more adventuresome than I expected, but Easter Dinner was had. Leftovers in sandwich form for today’s lunch - Slow cooker pulled pork sandwich and slaw.
#Leftovers #OnMyPlate #Mastonom