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The spices arrived! The ones KQ sent me are here, and it's so exciting! I've entered them all into an Excel file and saved it and I'm going through them and yay! Now I have to buy some cooking equipment (not much) and find some time ASAP!
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I used some garam masala tonight, and quidscribis, you were right. Curry powder is nowhere in the ingredients, and it doesn't smell or taste like curry. I don't know why I was under that impression.
Hey, Hobbes, have you used any of those spices yet? Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Um, kq, I'm glad you had a positive garam masala experience. Just cuz I don't wanna get skanky and say "I told ya so." Nope, don't wanna do that.
Hobbes, you lucky boy. How's the Indian cooking going?
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quidscribis, if you say "I told you so", I won't send you chocolate and tahini. (Which I will eventually get around to; how's the post office working there?)
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quid, I know I'm a little slow, but on those Butter Chicken recipes on page 1, the first recipe: is it spicy hot with those two chili peppers in it? It sounds wonderful, but I'm a little leary of putting chili peppers in it. You've tasted Mexican food in Bellingham -- it's so mild I've lost all my Denver Mexican food spice callouses on my tongue. Plus my kids have to eat what I fix and they won't eat it if it's too spicy.
I made slow cooker chicken curry earlier this week and it turned out excellent. I was just sorry I didn't have time to make naan. I want to try making it sometime. My mother came over and attempted something approximating roti. My kids liked it much better than the curry. Posts: 5948 | Registered: Jun 2001
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I would just like to say that my 10-month-old ate a full half a cup of the spicy lentils and rice I fixed tonight.
It may have to do with all the Indian food I ate while pregnant; I've read that strong flavors can flavor amniotic fluid. I'm so glad my family will eat spicy Indian flavors with me.
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I made my second dish tonight. I'm not sure what it's called, I kind of improvised and combined, but it was chicken in a yogurt marinade with a variety of spices, plus some fryed Naan. It was most excellent, things are going great!
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KQ, but I didn't say "I told you so." I didn't. Really, I didn't. Post office is working like normal. Pretty much everything here is. I mean, if I didn't know the tsunami had happened, I wouldn't know it from going out and about. Everything is business as usual.
quote: it's so mild I've lost all my Denver Mexican food spice callouses on my tongue.
Jeniwren, that's the best description yet!
Two chillies being hot will depend on the chillies and on the tastebuds. I can't really say. I mean, if you were using unripe jalapenos, no way, at least not to me. But then, I could add ten of our chillies and it still wouldn't be hot. Um, I'm a freak of nature - nothing is hot to me. When Fahim and I eat out here, we ask for as hot as possible, and they're always stunned that a. I can eat it and b. that it's not hot to me. At all. I honestly can't tell when something is hot.
I think the best thing to do really would be to buy a couple of green chillies, chop off a tiny bit, and taste it. Alternately, use milder chillies or omit them altogether. There's no problem being flexible.
Do you have a good naan recipe? If you don't, let me know. I have one that is fabulous.
quote: I would just like to say that my 10-month-old ate a full half a cup of the spicy lentils and rice I fixed tonight.
It may have to do with all the Indian food I ate while pregnant; I've read that strong flavors can flavor amniotic fluid. I'm so glad my family will eat spicy Indian flavors with me
I wouldn't be at all surprised. After all, kids here start eating curries at a young age.
I miss Mexican food. We can get salsa here - was I ever surprised when I saw that! But tortilla chips? Nope. Soft taco shells, yes, surprisingly. Huh. What the heck is my problem? I'm going to do it - next time we go shopping!
But the biggest problem here is the cheese. Not many varieties, and those that do exist are so wet that they don't grate very well. At all. They end up resembling a sodden mass of processed goo. Ick! Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Hmmm. What are you allowed and not allowed to send from the US, do you know? Are there rules on what kinds of food products can get there?
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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No idea. Chocolate makes it in perfectly fine, as do other forms of candy. With the huge provision that "Candy" or "Chocolate" is NOT written on the outside of the box - that just guarantees that someone will steal the box or open it and steal the contents. Um, I have friends who've received care packages with soup, pasta, cake mixes, spices, and all sorts of other things in it, so I'm guessing there isn't really much of a limit, except perishables, but those are generally not a good idea to send, anyway.
If anything edible is sent, say "Food" or "Gifts" on the outside - NEVER EVER EVER say "Candy" or "Chocolate". EVER. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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We have a new stove with a special pizza stone and setting - I have a suspicion it will make *great* naan (and other breads) as well.
Posts: 4393 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I would just like to personally thank you for helping make my wonderful meal with Hobbes tonight possible. You're the best!
Posts: 119 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Yes, I want this wonderful naan recipe as well. I'm not good with breads generally, but naan seems easy enough, and it doesn't matter if it's flat.
We got a pizza stone for a wedding gift. I opened it up and said, "Great! Now I can make naan!" My mother-in-law said, "...Or pizza." I said, "I don't really like home-made pizza, but I love naan..." Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I totally am! I'm using the method you described, but I still am not doing it perfectly. With patience comes true learning.
Wow, umm, I kind of changede the recipe in the book and instead of using the oven (like you're supposed to) I fry them. I'll post the recipe and link it here.
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Oh, quidscribis, I thought of you at the grocery store the other day. I was looking at the Indian food and Middle Eastern food sections, and I found tahini in a plastic jar (non-breakable is good!)
Would it be more or less likely to get through if I declared the contents as "supplementary nutritional materials"? Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Noooo! That makes it sound expensive!!!! I'd be charged more for sure. Calling it "food" is much better.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I've got a good Garlic and Coriander Naan recipe.. I'll have to post it on the recipe site once I'm home (currently at work). The dough can be easily assembled in a bread maker (if you have one) and then you roll out the individual Naan and quick cook it under the broiler. Very eay and very good. Especially with some nice Balti Chicken Madras.
Posts: 512 | Registered: Jun 2002
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Aloo Ghobi. Yum!!!! Tamatje, the Indian restaurant down the road, makes it most excellently! We get takeout from there about, oh, once a month, maybe more. Probably more. *drools*
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I went to the market today and picked up some stuff. Mortar and pestle for example. And it's incredibly close, I had no problem walking back with 20 pounds of rice.
They do seem to have all the necessary spices, but they are much more expensive than the ones KQ sent me. Are the spices you sent me KQ, twice as cheap as normal, or are these very expensive?
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The ones I sent are much, much cheaper than is normal. I'm rather proud of myself for figuring out where to find them at those prices. (It's certainly made my husband's life better.)
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Sure! For most basic spices and spices used in Mexican food, the cheapest place is Sack and Save. You can get whole cloves, for instance, for 79 cents per 1/2 oz. (as opposed to $7.99 for 1 oz. in the McCormick's bottle). At the Sack and Save near us, at least, spices are at the end of an aisle right near the produce. (They have an aisle with the expensive spices; you don't want that. You want the spot with all the Mexican brand and store brand spices in little bags.) For everything I can't find there, I go to World of Spices, which is a little grocery shop/ Halal butcher shop at the corner of Buckingham and Audelia. (It was walking distance from our old apartment, that's how I found it.) It's so much fun to get spices really cheap.
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Cool, thanks. I love Sack & Save, it's my grocery store. I'm going to have to check out the other store someday when I'm in that part of town. Posts: 862 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I used to love Sack and Save until I found out that Fiesta carries more specialty foods I love, has overall cheaper prices, better produce (at least the one here does compared to the S&S here), and besides, it's walking distance from our new apartment (less than 1/2 a mile). I still go there for spices and the occasional sale, though.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Post office is working like normal. Pretty much everything here is. I mean, if I didn't know the tsunami had happened, I wouldn't know it from going out and about. Everything is business as usual.![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
Jeniwren, that's the best description yet! ![[Cry]](graemlins/cry.gif)
We can get salsa here - was I ever surprised when I saw that! But tortilla chips? Nope. Soft taco shells, yes, surprisingly. Huh. What the heck is my problem? I'm going to do it - next time we go shopping!![[Grumble]](graemlins/grumble.gif)
