Vegetable Curry

Our recipe for today is meatless. Yay! It's good to go meatless even once a week. So, I am serving you an all-vegetable recipe today (brocolli, sugar snap peas, carrots, okra or lady's finger, and taro). Just to add a little kick to the dish I will be adding curry sauce mix (powder and water).

Curry is a generic description used throughout Western culture to describe a variety of dishes, especially from Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Thai or other South and Southeast Asian cuisines. -Wikipedia

Ingredients

brocolli, broken into florets

sugar snap peas, cleaned (both ends cut or removed)

carrots, sliced

okra, sliced into bite-size pieces

taro, sliced

curry sauce mix - follow package instructions and consistency should be dependent on you

onion, sliced

garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

This is an easy-to cook recipe and an interesting dish to try. In a little vegetable oil, fry the onion gently for about 5 minutes in a large pan then add the remaining vegetables and stir together. Remember: Add the hard vegetables first (in this order: taro, carrots, okra, brocolli, sugar snap peas). Add the curry base sauce and simmer gently for around 10 to 15 minutes, taking care not to overcook the vegetables. If the sauce becomes too thick, add a little water to give you the desired consistency.

This is a very colorful dish and something that would really tickle your palate too. You can serve it with basmati rice or some naan bread (to go with the Indian theme for today). You can also eat this dish just as it is like I did.

If you will try to cook this dish, let me know how it goes...

Chicken Adobo

Oh happy Tuesday!!!

I did not go to work last night because I am on a split off this week so when Uncle Don said he will be cooking adobo I volunteered to do it instead. He bought chicken and other ingredients from the grocery near the apartment. I asked him to boil the 1/4 lb chicken in water with a dash of salt while I sliced the onions. I then removed the chicken from heat and poured 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a pan then added the onions. I let the chicken join the onion in the pan and added 10 tablespoons of the chicken stock and quartered potato.

I then added half a cup of vinegar, half a cup of soy sauce and all the juice in a can of pineapple. After about 3 minutes, I added the pineapple and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Oh the smell of what's cooking in the pan was heavenly.

After about 5 minutes I added black pepper. I skipped adding a bay leaf as I ran out of it and I didn't have time to go and buy some. Et voila!

This is just one of the many versions of my adobo. What's your version of adobo?

Let's Eat Some Smørrebrød

Smørrebrød (originally smør og brød; Danish for "butter and bread") usually consists of a piece of buttered rye bread (rugbrød), a dense, dark brown bread. Pålæg (literally "on-lay"), the topping, then among others can refer to commercial or homemade cold cuts, pieces of meat or fish, cheese or spreads. This daily practice is the base on which the art of the famous Danish open sandwich, smørrebrød is created: A slice or two of pålæg is placed on the buttered bread, and then pyntet (decorated) with the right accompaniments, to create a tasty and visually appealing food item. - Wikipedia

In layman's term, a smørrebrød is an "open sandwich".

A typical smørrebrød would look like this:

PHOTO CREDIT

I however managed to try to create my own version of smørrebrød in my own kitchen. The ingredients I used are not hard to find. I just went to the grocery in the ground floor of my office before I went home. I bought the following:

Wholegrain bread from Le Coeur de France

Red cabbage

Bacon sandwich spread

Cooked ham

Tomato

Sugar snap peas

Iceberg lettuce

White onion

Avocado

Egg (use hard boiled egg for this recipe)

Tip #1: When cooked, red cabbage will normally turn blue. To retain the red colour it is necessary to add vinegar or acidic fruit to the pot. (I did not do this though, maybe next time I will).

Tip #2: The perfect hard boiled egg can be had 10 minutes after the water starts to boil. Remove from heat and immediately place eggs under ice cold water or in a bowl of iced water to chill promptly to help yolks stay bright yellow.

I wiped about a teaspoon and a half of bacon sandwich spread over the wholegrain bread and then the red cabbage, iceberg lettuce, cooked ham, sugar snap peas, tomato, avocado, white onion and egg in layers. If you want to make your own open sandwich, feel free to be creative and come up with your own design.

Have you tried any variant of this dish?