April 2009
5 posts
2 tags
Lamb chops and fresh spinach
Won’t pretend this one was easy for me. I don’t eat red meat often and I usually give up watching when Mother tries to teach me. It always seems to require too much attention, and I am an impatient cook.
Found myself ringing her today whilst at the halal butchers. Much to my embarrassment, the Pakistani butcher understood every word I said, and was probably wondering how it was...
4 tags
Vegetable curry for dummies
I’ve struggled with cooking vegetable curries for some time. They were either undercooked or overcooked.
During a long phone call to Mother over the weekend (prompted by her asking what I was having for my tea), she delivered the perfect quick vegetable curry recipe.
The remains of the result are below. I don’t know how appetising it looks, but it tasted great. I have yet to try it...
3 tags
Pilau rice, variation on a theme
Pilau rice is bad for you. FACT. I cooked this in Malaysia for the first time in forever and was suprised I still remembered the basics.
You’ll notice that the colour of my pilau rice is brown. Not white, with funny food colourings, or even yellow. Brown. That’s the colour of Pakistani pilau rice.
The other thing you should know is that everyone’s pilau rice tastes different -...
2 tags
Whole Garam Masala
I’ll do a spice pot post when I can, but this is what you’ll need for a basic garam masala mix. Buy the following dried spices. Readily available from any Pakistani or Indian grocery shop:
- coriander seeds - cumin seeds - black peppercorns - cardamoms - whole cloves - cinnamon sticks - bay leaves
Once mixed, it should vaguely resemble this.
6 tags
A simple raita
Not for the lactose-intolerant amongst you, I’m afraid.
On sabbatical I cooked quite regularly, chanelling my Mother’s recipes. I even attempted home-made chappatis after the maid nagged me to make them for her - that’s for another post.
Most dishes were accompanied with raita. It was a hit with my godson who, given the choice, would eat yoghurt all day. I’m sure the...
October 2007
2 posts
“this is just to say
i have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox
and...”
– william carlos williams
No, Fuck You
From David Benioff’s 25th hour
[Monty walks into the bathroom. He looks in the mirror. In the bottom corner, someone’s written ‘Fuck You!’]
Monty: Yeah, fuck you, too. Monty’s Reflection: Fuck me? Fuck you! Fuck you and this whole city and everyone in it. Fuck the panhandlers, grubbing for money, and smiling at me behind my back. Fuck squeegee men dirtying up the...