stuffed eggplant

I’ve prepared eggplant before, mainly sliced into about 1 inch slices and prepared.

A different method this time. Basically sliced lengthwise, scoop out some of the interior leaving a shell (x2).

Prepare your favorite stuffing with the removed eggplant diced.

Sparing the details, such as peeling the eggplant, and salting and draining etc, precook the shells in an oven.

Add the stuffing to the shells and baked again till cooked through and soft.

Not the most appetizing pictures of the finished product but similar to a pizza with an eggplant crust.

the shells before baking

prepped ingredients and stuffing preparation

pre baking the shells

A small amount of cooked rice added with sauteed onion,diced green pepper and celery along with seasoning.Later, (not shown) add tomato sauce, diced, cooked sausage. spoon into shells, top with sliced mozzarella cheese.

The finished meal , Placing one of the shelves at the upper most position results in a broiler effect if you like the eggplant a bit more well done. Oven temp was about 350 degrees F Timing was by eye.

chicken Biryani

While we have many spices and ingredients  available, I though I would try out this packaged mix for Chicken Briyani. Besides as I season usually free hand, I am curious to taste the blend of this mix.

READY ! those red balls are frozen peeled tomatoes from the garden this year, The chicken is frozen.

Simple enough ? I’m substituting peanuts for cashews. No raisins.

Mix the seasonings with the yogurt, sloppily a bit.

Heat oil…

cooking the onions….

Add the rest of the ingredients and water….

mix …

cover….

Simmer 10 minutes

prepare the rice …

chop peanuts

Add rice to chicken mixture…

Melt the butter….

drizzle the butter (or ghee) over the mixture add the nuts.

Cover and cook 15 minutes

SERVE !

I like the flovor, yes, spicy like I would make it . Now I would replicate the spice mixture from what I have on hand.

 

broccoli and mushroom fried rice

Boil some rice like pasta in water, when cooked, drain and rinse with cold water. Saute mushrooms, here shitake and brown beech mushrooms, then saute thiny sliced brocolli . Return the rice to the pan, splash with soy sauce, then sesame oil. , season with salt and pepper, serve. You could also steam the brocolli for softer bite.

 

soups

Several drafts to publish of previous cooking fall under the category of soup so here they are in one posting. A vegetable fresh soup is similar in prep to a salad. Even with the hot weather it seems that a bowl of soup has a cooling effect.

Veggie broth with porcupine meatballs

The porcupine meatballs was from a recipe originally with a sweet tomato sauce.

Not too many ingredients in the meatballs let the flavor of the meat be present.

• 1 lb. meat (I used pork for this recipe).
• 3/4 cup jasmine rice
• 1 egg
• 3 green onion minced
• 1 tsp. fresh garlic
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp celery seed
• 1/2 tsp. coriander seeds

Minced up the meat and additives in a food processor, I gave the rice a quick buzz to break into smaller pieces. Jasmine rice not available. The minced meatball mix  was refrigerated as I prepare some vegetable broth.

Using a scooper, it’s easy to make the meatballs.

Broth to the simmer, with the meatballs till cooked

Plate up hot broth, meatballs, thin cut veggies and noodle.

Minced chicken soup

 

Another recipe using rice flour noodle

Chicken Gizzard Soup

Whats good with soup, my daughters recipe for Zaatar Twists, just use puff pastry

Goan Sannas recipe with yeast

From a recipe here on wordpress.

Goan Sannas

At one time I did steam a caken an Insta pot, this recipe intrigued me because no wheat based  flour is involved and fermented rice is used. A coconut from the superstore was also on hand.

Ingredients ready the coconut juice will be used in place of water. the cooked rice is a brown variety

grinding the mixture

the fermentation

Steam punk cooking, stove top !

Full steam ahead

Of course it’s a very moist cake

A good excersise in steam cooking and using rice with coconut to make a cake.

Or is it a sweet rice bread?

Nice crumb and tasty cake

Quick meal

Having ingredients on hand makes it easy to prepare a quick meal, a bowl of soup is nourishing in the fact that it  provides you with some liquid supplement instead of drinking just plain water along with the ingredients.

broth

shredded carrot

diced precooked duck meat

chopped spinach

ginger garlic paste

rice, (cooked previously)

chopped onion

smoked dried jalapeño peppers (Optional per bowl)

 

 

 

 

Sweet lemon Chicken and rice

Here’s a quick meal that I made with  the previous smoke roasted chicken.

Measured by eye, corn , peas, fish sauce, lemon sauce, soy sauce. Prepared rice  added , add a slight amount of broth steam, covered for several minutes serve.

Beer marinated smoke roasted chicken half

Back to the grille,   Tandoor oven

 1/2 of a chicken

Beer marinated smoked chicken….

 1 , 12 oz can beer, light American ale

Measured by eye

Rice wine,

rice vinegar

Parsley

Red peppercorns

Black peppercorns

Ginger garlic paste

Chopped onions

Water to top off

Place chicken in 1 gallon bag or suitable container.

Let rest several hours refrigerated.

Mesquite smoke pellets added periodically as necessary to charcoal embers some pellets soaked with water depending on smoker temperature. About 350-400 Fahrenheit 55 minutes.

The next day leg and thigh served with rice, shredded broccoli and Brussels sprouts.

with BBQ sauce.

green peppers stuffed with broccoli and rice.

Usually stuffed peppers contain some sort of meat, this time a cheesy rice with broccoli filling was used.

Other stuffed pepper recipes:

https://pmetro.wordpress.com/2012/03/25/stuffed-peppers/

https://pmetro.wordpress.com/2013/04/19/stuffed-peppers-2/

Prep the broccoli (and garlic ! of course)

I chose to steam instead of saute.

I usually zap the peppers in the microwave a bit to soften them up.

cut off the top and remove the seeds and ribs (but you knew that!)

as you would prepare some rice, use stock instead water for a kick of flavor.

Prepare a bechamel sauce (butter and flour with milk or for a rich sauce evaporated milk), seasoned as you would prefer.

add the broccoli mixture to the sauce.

mix in the rice

Add some grated cheese, in this case Parmesan to complete the stuffing.

in a baking dish big enough for the peppers, fill the peppers carefully and put them in the dish.

need some bread crumbs ? I chopped up some pretzels for the topping

Into the oven they go ….

run up the broiler after the peppers are hot and bubbly to get the brown crunchy top.

Curry chicken

Adapted from Chatelaine.com

The original recipe calls for chicken thighs , I have some small chicken breast pieces available.

As I have accumulated some canned coconut milk, I found a recipe that used ingredients that I had on hand.

Sauté onions in skillet with oil and a good amount of curry powder.

Add the chicken and stir to coat. Salt as necessary.

Add coconut milk, potatoes, carrots. Cover and simmer a while. Uncover and finish cooking till the sauce reduces to your liking, add the peas and seasonings.

Warm through.

Serve over rice.

A good technic for cooking ,utilizing coconut milk , a tasty dish.