Cooking with Me (Pics Included)

worldwatcher your recipes sound delicious especially roti. I'm going to try some for the Thanksgiving dinner this year. I won't tell you how many Turkey's I've cooked, over the years. I worked with chefs in my college years, as a work study. Actually, I washed their dishes, but I watched 'em cook! I was their guinea pig. If I liked it, They would serve it! No complaints except for the heads being left on the trouts. I told a chef to whack off the heads, but that just wasn't done. Some people don't like their food looking at them. It wasn't my fault.

Hey worldwatcher, is garam masala a type of salt? Just wondering, because 'garam' means salt in Malay.

By the way, the roti looks good. Crunchy? I like my roti crunchy. Dipped with chicken curry + dhal. Yumm. I eat the same breakfast 3-5 times a week. Why not? After conversion, that works out to about 25 cents a piece. When I get bored I swap it out for Tosai, as it's called locally... not sure what it's called elsewhere. It's kind of like roti, but it's a little sour, and you eat it with a dip called chatni. But nothing beats roti, especially roti telur (roti where the dough is mixed with a whole egg per roti). What is it called elsewhere?

When I order it from a stall, I insist that the roti be a hexagon. Confuses the hell out of the mamak. This is so that they make a fresh batch there and then, instead of reheating the old one as they do sometimes. There was one stall I went to that had something like 50 different versions of the roti. Amazing. Strangest was something called 'Roti Twin Towers'. They made the roti paper-thin, then rolled it up into a tall cone, or in this case, two tall cones.

Ahh.. roti, they call it 'Roti Canai' here. That along with something called 'Nasi Lemak' are Malaysia's National Breakfast. Everyone has one or the other for breakfast here. Hell, it's probably also a national dish. I don't know of a single soul in this country who doesn't enjoy a good roti, especially if the curry or dhal is right.

reply to post by MountainStar

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funny, my aunt always makes chicken curry and roti for thanksgiving in addition to turkey and in her house, the chicken curry and roti is always gone before the turkey is even touched.

We do traditional american thanksgiving dinner. maybe I'll do my thanksgiving feast for you guys.

beach.... you're right, there are so many variations of roti, in Trinidad, they make one call "Buss up Shot". It is HUGE!!!! me and my kids barely can finish one.

oh and garam masala.. no salt involved, it just roasted and grounded up spices like cumin, coriander and others..
here's the wiki entry on it Link

I don't make my own garam masala, it will make your house and everything in it smell for days and days. I use store bought or when any of my relatives make, they'll usually send some for me.

Recipe for Sawine or Vermicelli, it's a dessert dish, popular in among the Indians in the Caribbean, very easy to make... great for cold winter nights or anytime actually. This is our regular I have a craving for something sweet version of the recipe. I'll provide another version if anyone's interested.

Ingredients:
1 package of vermicelli

2 cups of milk
2 cups water
2 tablespoons of butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
raisins, nuts, maraschino cherries all optional additions

Break up the vermicelli in small pieces
Over medium high heat, toast the vermicelli in the 2 tablespoons of butter.
until you get a nice golden color with darker pieces.

Add water bring to a boil
Add milk, sugar, spices, allow to boil over medium heat for 5-10 minutes

depending on how tender you like your noodles and how much liquid you want. Add your raisins during the last few minutes.
My sons like their's "wet" lots of liquid, with no raisins or nuts
.
Dish out in a bowl and serve hot.

There is another variation to this recipe and it's actually what I do with whatever is left in the pot. After I remove their portions and allow the remainder to cook for an additional 5 minutes in order for the milk to reduce. Once the vermicelli begins to stick together and liquid thickens, dish it into a waxpaper lined pan and allow to chill for a few hours. You'll end up with a cake that you can cut and eat cold.




[edit on 11-6-2007 by worldwatcher]

reply to post by worldwatcher

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A good fish curry would be fun ww. Seafood sells well. What type of fish do you usually use? I carry haddock, shrimp, scallops, occasionally salmon,halibut,char and lobster.

I curry different fishes, I use salmon, tilapia, kingfish and other fishes common to the Caribbean like gilbaka and hassa (don't know the american names for those) but you may not be able to find those.. Personally I like red snapper or tilapia the best.

Blimey, this takes me back.

An ex g/f was from trinidad, and pretty much all I miss is her cooking - especially the roti.
I like it with skinned, spiced aubergine or curried black eye beans.

But it's pretty good with any curry, or even spicy stew

I missed it so much I had to teach myself to make it, but really need a proper tawah.

budski, I use a griddle pan like this one
external image

it works just as good as my heavy iron tawah

oh and I'll be doing some of those requested dishes this weekend and next week, since my husband will finally be home to eat

reply to post by worldwatcher

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Thanks WW
This is a great thread, I've read some of your recipes and they sound great.
Do you buy powdered mixtures for curries or make fresh ones up from raw ingredients, and if so, how much of a difference in taste is there?

Looking forward to more recipes

WW, I was wondering if you had a recipe for Tandoori Chicken? It's one of my all-time favorite dishes from the region. I have plenty of good Southern-style and Italian dishes, please let me know if you're interested in a trade

(I'd also be greatly interested in a recipe for Vindaloo Lamb or Chicken)

Thanks!

Loki I do , just wait till after the holidays though...we're cooking American with a twist

I have quite a few recipes that I've worked on lately, but getting them organized, pics uploaded and still keeping up with the cooking load is a little hectic. I'm cooking for 20 people this year, which is actually not too bad, came down a notch from last year.

Our Menu:

Turkey
Chicken Wings
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes
Potato Salad
Corn on the Cob
Sweet Potatoes with marshmallows
Yellow Rice
Steamed Veggies
Baked Macaroni & Cheese
Cold Macaroni Salad
Biscuits
Devilled Eggs
Assorted Pastries, Cookies and Cakes
Ambrosia aka Creamy Fruit Cocktail

(phew....that was a mouthful...) I'll be sharing my dry turkey rub in a bit.

What's everyone else's menu looking like?

My family does things very well, but I have to admit worldwatcher, that's pretty mouth watering.

On Deck:

Freshly made Bagna Calda
(we also have another salad that's really great, has fresh mushrooms and grapefruit in a mix of several greens and avocado chunks.)
7 Layer Salad
Green Bean Casserole
Croissants and Baguettes
(Ugh, I know it's bad for me, but so delicious!) Deep Fried Turkey
Candied Yams
Cranberry Sauce
Stuffing
Mashed Potatoes

We generally have 2-3 different wines as well.

sound delicious too Loki, oh and that reminds me, I have to pick up wine later this afternoon!!!! Budski, I do store bought curry, it's too much work to make it from scratch, but whenever any of my relatives make, I definitely get from them. The fresh made home stuff is always better.

and now for a Traditional Recipe from me.....

Delicious Dry Rub for Turkey

6 Tablespoons of Adobo (or any all purpose seasoning mix such as Lawry's, Mrs Dash)
2 Tbs Oregano
2 Tbs Rosemary
1 Teaspoon Sage
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1 Tsp Nutmeg
1 Tsp Black Pepper
2 Packets of Goya Sazon with cilantro and achiote (annato) (colored box)
2 Packets of Goya Sazon (white box)
1 or 2 whole Bay leaf(s)
1 medium size onion (peeled and quarterd halfway thru)

Combine all the dry ingredients except onion and bay leaf in a small bowl. The above is enough to season a 20lb turkey.


Wash and pat dry your turkey. Be sure to remove the packets of the neck and gizzards which can be found in the neck cavity and in the inside cavity. Untuck your turkey's legs and Liberally apply rub over and inside the bird. Lift the skin on the breast and apply seasoning under.

Sprinkle remaining rub over the entire bird and assorted parts, retuck the legs. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and return to the fridge until time to cook.

You can season your turkey up to 3 days in advance, just be sure to promptly return it to the fridge after seasoning.


Right before Baking your turkey, place the whole onion, the bay leaves and 2 tablespoons of butter in the cavity of the turkey then follow the baking time directions for your particular sized bird. Enjoy.

oh and be sure to thoroughly clean your kitchen surfaces after preparation of the turkey.

Here's the turkey after cooking for the recommended amount of hours based on it's size. I recommend covering the breast, legs and wing tips loosely with foil paper during the last hour of cooking.




[edit on 5-16-2008 by worldwatcher]

that looks great WW

Another question - do you have a recipe for hot pepper sauce?
At the moment I'm using Encona, but it's just not as good as home made.

reply to post by budski

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Can you get Scotch Bonnet Peppers in your area? If you do, then yes I have recipe for you.... but be warned it's HOT!!!!!

1lb of scotch bonnet peppers
1/4 cup of salt
1/2 cup or more of vinegar.

very simple....

wear gloves, remove stems from the peppers, wash and dry.
In a blender.... preferably one that you won't be using for daquiris or anything sweet... (it will smell for a while)
Blend pepper and salt, while adding vinegar to get a liquidy consistency.
Jar it up, store in the fridge indefinitely, just be sure to shake it up or stir up once or so every week.

easy..and hot!!!



[edit on 11-21-2007 by worldwatcher]

Oh boy it's 7 AM on Thanksgiving, time to get dinner started.

As we say in my family, Happy Turkey Everybody!

You would think I don't cook at since I haven't update this thread in sooo long. I promise to eventually get to everyones previous requests, but it's not too easy to coordinate the family food choices, and the time needed to do these photo recipes. But.. have patience with me, I'll get a few more recipes up soon enough.

The long awaited "Fish Curry Recipe"

For this recipe I used red snapper (widely available), but any fish can be used. Have your fishmonger clean, scale and cut the fishes in 3 to 4 pieces depending of the size of the individual fish. Wash your fish with lemon juice and salt, rinse thoroughly.

You'll need one or two large tomatoes cut into thick slices and our basic curry paste recipe which can be found in detail on page 2 of this thread



In a hot pan, saute the curry paste until it slightly thickens


Add fish allowing it to cook briefly on one side, turn and coat well with the curry paste.
Add the tomatoes, cover and cook for a few minutes on medium heat.



Add about 1/2 cup hot water or enough to just barely cover the amount of fish you cooking. Stir and cover, bringing to boil. Check for taste, add any additional salt or pepper now.


Turn off heat and remove cover. Allow fish to sit for about 5 minutes then serve over hot rice or with roti.



**Notes** Tomatoes add a tangy taste to the fish. If available you can add green mangoes instead of the tomatoes for an even more delicious flavor.

Also different varieties of fish will lend their own flavor to the curry sauce, so with the same ingredients, try curry salmon or kingfish for a variation.


[edit on 5-16-2008 by worldwatcher]

reply to post by worldwatcher

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WW, yup, I have a special for the weekend!!

That looks amazing.My fish guy has a special on trout this weekend also( I think he may have caught them himself ). I'm looking forward to trying this.