Cultural Leftovers' Intermixing

My day began at 5:00 am being woken up by cats angry about an intruder in jardin.

The standoff lasted a while, and despite it was still 6:00 am, my list of chores and work items is as long as Canada is wide. Plus I wanted to sneak in a nap.

So what does this all have with food? It is a preface to say no time for grocery shopping or real fancy cooking. So leftovers it is.

To follow the story better, you may want to check the Pakistani Chaat I made last Saturday (click here to read), my picnic with Palki (click here to read) and my Mehshi Kousa wa Batenjén (click here to read). 

My lamb vindaloo from Palki was disappointing and was frozen for the past month waiting for inspiration.

The inspiration came tonight. The vindaloo was thawed and put in a pot.

Potatoes were chunked, fried and added to the pot. A chilli pepper, some fresh masala, a bit of yogurt and all were left to simmer, hoping for the best.

Just in case this remained disappointing, another project started.

I had lots of leftover Pakistani chaat. Rich with beans, vegetables and spices, it needed a bit of balance.

Leftover mehshi stuffing in the fridge (ground beef with rice, uncooked) and leftover tomato garlic mehshi sauce seemed to be the right balance.

Everything was thrown in a pot and left to simmer, hoping for the best.

 

The two dishes turned out a success. The rice and meat nicely absorbed the chaat spices and a Pakistani-Lebanese rice pilaf was served.

The vindaloo-turned-curry was much nicer than the original.

Home made Raitaa was produced and the first jardin radish was pulled out to join the cultural leftovers' intermixing meal.

Wonderful results, thank you cats for waking me up early.

Thai Feasting For Lunch

Almost two hours of heavy brain work ending at 12:30 necessitated replenishing brain cells.

In Yaletown and bored of all the regular places; Urban Thai Bistro stood out as the most appealing option.

Too hungry to settle for lunch specials, combined with a very interesting full menu, landed us on a decision to eat family style.

Three people = three dishes + rice + two appetizers. Let the Thai feasting begin.

Peeg Gai Yaad Sal is an appetizer to order. Boneless chicken wings stuffed with noodles and Thai herbs mix that feels like a quiche. 

They come in 2, feed 4; but that didn't stop us enjoying lots of egg rolls.

Nok Gra Jok Thet is exotica at its best - ostrich meat in green curry sauce with eggplants, peas, lychees and coconut.

The taste was as exotic and interesting as the dish description itself.

Not as exotic, but definitely a nice choice is the Pra Lunm Long Shong Goong. 

Those are prawns with peanut sauce over spinach. The peanut sauce was not overwhelming, the spinach perfectly done. Good choice.

The plate I personally chose to throw in the mix - Gai Pad Bai Grapeau - was less interesting. 

A boneless chicken fry with peppers, green beans, basil and Thai chilli peppers.

Urban Thai Bistro

1119 Hamilton Street

Vancouver, BC

www.thaihouse.com/urban

 

The Seven Orange Blossom Water Sins

Orange blossoms are one of nature's most beautiful creation.

When I was a kid, dad would take us for a drive through orange groves. We'd roll down the windows and indulge in the most sensational smell.

Orange blossom water is made, if it is authentic, from the blossoms themselves. The best ones are bought home-made and a bottle can run up to $50. 

The commercial stuff, specially the ones we find in Canada, are either water-downed or made out of the tree's leaves, not the blossoms. That is why you can buy those bottles for under $10 for some brands.

Orange blossom water is very versatile and commonly used in Lebanon. It is sinfully interesting and perfumed that the best way to describe its uses is by listing, what I'm calling, the seven orange blossom water sins.

1. Lust your desserts

An authentic Lebanese dessert rarely skips inclusion of orange blossom water. For example, the Atayef will have orange blossom water in the stuffing, in the dough, and in the syrup. But beware, if you overdo it, it can turn into a harsh taste.

 

 2. Glutton you up

Quater is a thick syrup that is made from pure sugar and goes in and on most Lebanese sweets. A 1/2 cup water will take 2 cups sugar to turn into Quater, so imagine the calorie count.The final touch in making Quater is a sprinkle of orange blossom water.

3. Greed up your rice

Lebanese rice pudding (click for recipe) has a special unique taste versus any other culture's rice pudding. That is coming directly from the generous amount of orange blossom water that goes into it.

 

4. Sloth you to sleep

Café blanc, a Lebanese authentic, is simply hot water with a bit of sugar and orange blossom water. A naturally safe solution to insomnia than Ambien can ever be.

 

5. Wrath you up from a nice faint

What you see in the picture is a typical orange blossom or rose water silver sprinkler. One of the most fascinating uses of orange blossom water is to wake up someone who faints. Yes, if someone around you faints, sprinkle their face with orange blossom water and see them rise.

 

6. Envy your milk

Your boring glass of milk for breakfast will turn green with envy once it sees this typical Lebanese breakfast drink - Sahlab. This is hot milk thickened with salep flour and, what else, orange blossom water.

7. Pride your lassi

Many regular readers know how much I love my mango lassi. And nothing enhances a mango lassi better than a drop of orange blossom water.

 
I wonder if it was an orange blossom, not an apple, that kicked Adam and Eve out of heaven. Think about it...

I Love You Tatsu

I just love you Tatsu. 

I think you recall my first date with you (if not, read it here).

But all the charm of a first date can melt away if the second date does not have that same sizzle.

My second date with you was just wonderful and I am looking forward to visiting you again soon my dear Tatsu. 

There are so many things about you Tatsu that made me fall in love with you; I'm not able to focus on what it was.

It may very well be those beautifully tantalizing drizzles of spicy blackberry over this perfectly made and presented Salmon Tataki Roll. The memories of them on my tongue make me shiver.

Or could it be your beautiful, friendly and efficient maidens that recommended this delicious teriyaki? Packed with meat and covered with fresh and interesting vegetables including my favourite sexy brussel sprouts.

Is it your open generosity with those salmon nigiris that have twice as much salmon as they do rice? And the salmon is always fresh, wild and melts on the tongue. I am going to sneak in one mid-day and just gorge on those. 

And I need a full blog to talk about all that is cool about you.

The cool open air bistro look and feel that never feels crowded and looks like it flew in from Mars.

The cool hip upbeat music that is played at just the right volume - it simply puts a smile on my face and we all know smiling eaters digest their food better.

The cool art hanging all over your walls, specially with all the love themed paintings that keep love in the air.

And the cool air is even cooler with this most interesting limited edition discovery behind the men's room door.


You have not seen the end of me Tatsu, I will be back for more.

 

 Tatsu Japanese Bistro

1441 Commercial Street

Vancouver, BC

www.tatsubistro.com

  

Mehshi Kousa Wa Batenjén

Do a search for the word 'Mehshi' on the blog and you'd see it featured over and over again.

'Mehshi' means stuffed and what you stuff ends up to be the name of the meal like this 
Mehshi Kousa wa Batenjén (stuffed zucchini and eggplants). A great meal for this season that is abundant with fresh local vegetables.

I found those perfect sized zucchinis and eggplants for 'Mehshi' at my favourite produce store 910 Supermarket (4355 Main Street). My buddy there also had those lovely looking green peppers so they were also added to the mix.

The recipe is easy. You empty the insides of those vegetables but keep the shell intact. You then stuff them with a mixture of ground beef and rice, seasoned with salt and pepper.

Cover them with tomato sauce or watered down tomato paste. Throw 3 to 4 peeled garlic cloves in. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 40 minutes until the rice is well cooked inside the vegetables.


Delicious indeed, specially those stuffed peppers.

Cooking on a Mushy Brain

After using one's brain for 12 hours straight, it is difficult to focus on making a meal.

But hunger takes over and pasta package seems to be the answer. The question, though, is what to eat it with.

Brain too mushed to figure it out so Replacement Chef comes to the rescue with a simple 3 steps solution.


Step 1: Invade jardin bounty for fresh oregano and parsley.

Step 2: Explore what's in the fridge's drawers to find some greens.

Step 3: Select some condiments that go well with pasta - parmesan cheese, yogurt, pepper, salt, lemon.

And a beautiful tasty healthy no fuss dinner was served to reboot the brain.

Sunday Vegetarian Steak Dinner

I got so excited about this recipe from Bon Appetit  - a vegetarian steak (where big 1 inch thick slices of cauliflower become the 'steak'); served with roasted potatoes, perfect for Sunday dinner.

And no, nothing wrong with my camera - those are purple cauliflowers I found around (wonder if those are natural or 100% genetically modified).

But I regress... Anyways, the production began nicely.

I prepared the mix of olives, chopped cauliflower and sun dried tomatoes, fried the cauliflower "steaks", prepared a tomato garlic sauce.

Then the recipe had gaps - no idea what to do with the veggies.

Improvising came to the rescue - I cooked all the ingredients other than the 'steaks' together, covered the 'steaks' with this veggie sauce and resumed the baking part as per the recipe.



The result was a delicious healthy vegetarian steak dinner, served with somerville kitchen's roasted potatoes.