Food! [The thread that started this section]

Made byriani (or is it "a byriani"?) for the first time, all from scratch. It's specifically a Hyderabadi style byriani, apparently.

Had to buy lots of spices, and it took me forever.

It's chicken thighs
basmati rice
Crispy fried onions
Cilantro
Mint
Saffron-infused milk
Ghee (OK, I cheated and just made extra toasty clarified butter)
Thai chillies
Garlic ginger
Then a laundry list of spices*

Topped with raita and dahi chutney.

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*including, but not limited to:
Black cardamom pods
Green cardamom pods
Star anise
Cinnamon sticks
Whole cloves
Corriander seeds
Fennel seeds
Ground mace
Nutmeg
Ground cumin
Ground cardamom
Ground turmeric
Chile (not chili) powder
Smoked paprika
Black peppercorns
Bay leaves


This may have to be my phone wallpaper for a while, I think.

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That is one of those dishes that I enjoy a lot, but unless the local spice shop has a "byriani mix" I can't be bothered mixing it from scratch.
 
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Signs of autumn. Harvest is on at the pretty much only Finnish chili farm selling stuff on bigger scale. And it's good I waited for a bit, as my favourite, Aji Mango was very late to arrive to selection and I was about to drop that and order something else.

Also, once again I shall try making Aji Panca paste, while they're fresh.
 
Made potato Rösti in the waffle iron today… and hot damn, never making them another way again. Super crunchy, with close to zero fat (in a pan they tend to drown in it), extremely easy (dump in and forget for 6-8 min), nice!
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edit: leftovers can be revived in the toaster very nicely
 
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I need descriptions
 
Redliner said:
I need descriptions
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bottom right: Kung Pao chicken (yes, not really Chinese, but it’s delicious and that’s what counts)

bottom left: fried eggs and tomatoes

in the steamer: thin Asian eggplant with fried garlic and onion in soy and oyster sauces

above that: edamame with green bell peppers, garlic, salt and chilli

glass bowl: squashed cucumbers with (naturally) garlic, salt, rice vinegar and sesame oil
 
Thank you
 
Grandma's zucchini bread. Haven't made it in quite a while, and got a sudden craving for it this morning. The source of, I think, the only time I ever heard grandma swear: "Oh, shit!" when she realized she forgot to add the zucchini. As a kid/teen, this was hilarious.😅

Start with:
1 cup neutral oil
1.5 cups sugar
3 eggs

Mix thoroughly .

Then add:
2 cups flour
2 cups grated zucchini (no need to peel it)
1 cup raisins (I prefer golden raisins)
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla

Then split between two buttered loaf pans, and bake at 350°F for 1 hour.

This is the way I've always had it, and when served cold (or warm) goes great with a bit of butter. While sweet, it somehow comes across more like a "bread" than carrot cake does.

This time, we gave one a sprinkling of some white sugar on the top right before baking, and it created a nice flakey sweet crust on the top of the one in the glass pan. It really makes it more like a sweet muffin bread sort of thing, and I don't think it would really benefit as much from butter. An interesting, and worthwhile experiment, ha!

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american: bakes a cake with a bunch of sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, oil and eggs. calls it bread.
german: nervous twitching :|

:hammer:

i don't quite understand what the zucchini is doing in there, if i'm being honest :D apart from the zucchini it feels like a perfectly fine cake to me... and i do get carrot cake - but then carrot is inherently sweet itself and very solid (so it adds to the texture). does the zucchini actually hold up and survive the mixing and baking and whatnot?
 
eizbaer said:
american: bakes a cake with a bunch of sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, oil and eggs. calls it bread.
german: nervous twitching :|
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Ha! Fair enough. There's quite a few dessert "breads" out there, like the banana bread you mentioned. It's nearly identical in sweetness and consistency. It's generally treated like a sweet treat though, for sure, like a muffin or a loaf made from muffin batter. Nobody's using it to make a roast beef and horseradish sandwich. 😅


i don't quite understand what the zucchini is doing in there, if i'm being honest :D apart from the zucchini it feels like a perfectly fine cake to me... and i do get carrot cake - but then carrot is inherently sweet itself and very solid (so it adds to the texture). does the zucchini actually hold up and survive the mixing and baking and whatnot?
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You know, I've not made that many desserts. I suspect the zucchini brings a certain moisture that couldn't be achieved by just adding water or oil. Like it's held in suspension and probably steams to keep it from being too dense. It's quite moist. Despite using dried raisins, they end up plump and juicy despot not being reconstituted first. There is no discernable zucchini flavor or texture.
 
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CraigB said:
I think it's because, with a home garden, there's often more zucchini than one can eat, so you've got to find something to do with them.
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A valid point. My grandparents had a garden, and we rarely left a visit with anything less than a 5 gallon cooler full of summer squash. 🤣
 
ANOVA is having a sale.
Must resist the urge to buy a circulator, a container, a vacuum sealer and some bags.
 
Roasted 3-mushroom pasta with crisp chickpeas, tuscan kale, and burrata cheese

Could have used less oil, double the kale, more pasta water, and way more salt (but that last one is easy to add at the end). My better half said maybe some white wine, sherry, or Marsala wine. I don't really care much for wine in food, but it does seem like it would fit this dish for those who do.

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Just making a breakfast.

Scram Eggs, Rösti, and the worlds thinnest bacon.
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