I've just made a spicy, party-in-the-mouth potato curry with 2 large potatoes I cooked last night (with others for last night's dinner). It is a simple recipe really, with the usual culprits - mustard seeds and channa dal tadka; ginger, green chilli, red chilli powder, onion, tomatoes, curry leaves, lime ju, coriander, .... but goodness, so good.

I was just saying to @EllenInEdmonton that when an Indian recipe says "mash", as this recipe does, it probably doesn't mean to mash to a smooth consistency, like we might do. A quick fork mash is probably enough, leaving lumps, chunks and thus texture.

Recipe is from #RukminiSrinivas' book Tiffin.

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Special Miso Sauce

This recipe is one that Taste published some years ago ( https://tastecooking.com/special-spicy-miso-sauce-not-special-home-cooking/ *) and a friend pushed me to have a look at it. I was very sceptical – for several reasons including cooking lemon juice changes its flavour and it can become bitter.

But I do like to test recipes, especially if prompted or recommended by friends. So one Saturday afternoon when I was roasting some broccoli and needed a sauce for it, I set about making this special miso sauce.

It has only 6 ingredients – red or brown miso, sweet components (a lot of sugar and some mirin), sour ingredients (sake or rice vinegar and lemon juice) and a lot of heat (dried red chillies).

The result was precisely as you imagine. Dark. Rich. Bright. Chilli-hot. Sweet.

** These days this is a bit too much sugar for my tastes, but today I am going to mix miso, chilli crisp, and some rice vinegar to have with some baked potatoes.

*Click through at the bottom of that page for the actual recipe.

*The recipe is from Hiroko Shimbo’s Hiroko’s American Kitchen.

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The kitchen is tidy. The chickpeas are soaking, making cracking sounds. There will be miso made tomorrow.

The apples are dehydrated. I leave them out until morning to cool so I can feel if they have any moisture left in them. But I reckon they are done. There are enough apples left for another batch, altho they look beautiful in their golden greenness in the large Moroccan bowl.

I picked some more bay leaves, about 50, rinsed them and they will dry overnight before being added to the pile on the large tray for complete dehydration. I don't put them in the dehydrator, they dry on their own pretty quickly. Ditto for some curry leaves that are on another tray.

There is gentle jazz in the background and the crack crack crack of the chickpeas.

The apple vinegar, fermenting on the bench, is bubbling well. I made a beet-celery fermented salad mix, kraut style, which will ferment for 4 or 5 days at a guess.

An Indian cookbook lies open on the lounge.

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🍏 The apple vinegar is bubbling nicely. it is perfect weather for fermentation - not too hot, not too cold. I am always amazed how quickly ferments start to ferment. Less than 12 hrs after chopping the apples, they are fermenting in the jar.

🍎 The apple slices in the dehydrator - 5 trays - are perfectly dehydrated. They don't take very long.

🌿 Curry leaves are drying on a large tray. I powder the dried leaves and use for sprinkling.

🌿 Bay leaves, picked and washed, are drying for a friend, on a large plate.

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I picked up a whole lot of green beans this morning for almost nothing, so I'm making fermented Dilly Beans. I've not had them before but apparently they are a lovely pickle.

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I've just jarred a large lot of capsicums that have been fermenting. It's a mix of red and green capsicums so very colourful. They'll be lovely for quick stir fries.

The shiso leaves are still fermenting - another couple of days should do it in this weather. They are so aromatic, and every now and again there is a wave of their perfume through the kitchen/dining room. It must be as some CO2 escapes.

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I am making a 5-lentil dal for breakfast, called Dal Punj Rattani (The Five Jewels). I often have some sort of grain or lentil for breakfast - millets, chickpeas, kitchari, etc. This one really hits the 3-grains-lentils-etc-per-day goal that Michael Greger advocates 😄 (I don't aim for this, just a mix of grains, lentils etc across the week.)

Recipe is from The Complete Indian Regional Cookbook by Mridula Baljekar.

I am not cooking enough Indian atm - time taken up with fermentation - so I am planning my next one. Stuffed Peppers, Indian Style, by Das Sreedharan who has this recipe in a couple of his cookbooks.

A spicy marinated tofu is out of the freezer for this evening's meal. I love having these packs on hand, and I vary the marinade every time I make packs for the freezer.

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