When I go to all of the effort to make molé, it is such a production that I always make enough for more than one meal. When the meal is done, I package up 3 or 4 quart bags of the sauce ready to add to a quick weekday meal. Jan asked for chicken molé for dinner one day this week.
Karl’s Chicken Molé Chili
Filed under Main Dishes, Poultry
I decided that my whole roasted cauliflower would look a bit naked sitting in the middle of a plate. A ring of stir fried cucumbers would make a nice compliment, both in color and texture. This dish would also fit in with Myr’s soft food diet and Chris’ Ketogenic diet.
Karl’s Spicy Stir Fried Cucumbers
(outer edge)
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Adapted from Ethiopian Food
A cool salad is the perfect counter point to all of the spicy stews and is the standard complementary dish for an Ethiopian feast. It may not be “Ethiopian,” but this salad cries out for garlic and just a bit of spice.
Karl’s Timitam Salata
Ethiopian Tomato Salad
(at 1 and 7)
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Some assembly required. Many cultures have a festival dish that is something wrapped in dough that can be stored and then cooked quickly (so the moms can enjoy the festivals). The Hispanic countries have tamales, the Asians have jiaozi (pork dumplings) and the Eastern Europeans have perogi. However the price for this festival freedom is sometimes days of preparation. Making the dough, the filling(s) and assembling the final product are painstaking tasks. Usually this is made easier by making it a group activity. In China we would be treated to jiaozi parties. Our host would bring over the prepared meat and dough and then everyone would pitch in to make (and eat) the jiaozi. For a fun idea of how the Mexican culture does this, I recommend the children’s book Too Many Tamales! (for the hearing impared.)
Jan and I were watching Triple D and one of the featured restaurants was a Mexican place that always has 15 different moles. Jan loves mole and the show expanded my mind on what was possible in the way of mole and how to use it. One of their signature dishes was tamales with mole.
Karl’s Pork Tamales with Mole Poblano
Karl’s Green Mole Rice
Karl’s Refried Beans II
Filed under Main Dishes, Pork
Adapted from Sinful Curry
My son-in-law, Chris, just got back from two weeks in Shanghai, so he wanted anything but Chinese food for this Sunday’s dinner. I decided on Indian and I was trying for 5 dishes: Chicken Dopiaza (Chicken and Onion Curry), Chana Peshawari (Piquant Chickpeas), Split Red Gram (lental) Dal, Saag Paneer, and Pulao Rice. I have never made the first three dishes and they are definitely works in progress to be posted later. Last year I started making my own Palak Paneer. Once you have made fresh palak paneer you will find it hard to go back to any of the commercial imitations that are available.
Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Day Three of the sick girls comfort food meals. Today Jan wanted chili, as something she could actually taste.
Filed under Beef, Main Dishes, Stews
Technique drawn from Mel’s Kitchen Café
I have been trying to make Mexican rice for years with only limited success. Yes, the rice I made usually tasted good, but it was always a bit gummy. It never turn out like the fluffy savory rice you find in almost any Mexican restaurant.
This is one of those ethnic “home cooked” dishes that, if you did not watch your mother making it growing up, you will rarely discover the secret to making it. This technique is really not a secret, it is just considered too obvious to mention by the people who grew up with the dish.
Karl’s Mexican Rice and
Karl’s Refried Beans
Filed under Side Dishes, Starches
For this Sunday I was going to use a recipe I adapted from Chelsie Kenyon, but my local Mexican market did not have the epazote, which is a key ingredient to her dish. Off to the internet.
Most recipes for refried beans I found tended to be very simple. Some used only beans, fat, onions and salt. The main two distinctions between recipes seemed to be: 1) What kind of fat do you use? and 2) Do you add any other ingredients beyond the basic four?
Karl’s Mexican Rice and
Karl’s Refried Beans
Filed under Side Dishes, Starches
karllueck
Miriam
Jabberwocky Stew 