Monday, January 31, 2011

Recipe: Potato Carrot Yellow Curry

Though I love my meat, I can always go for a super tasty vegetarian dish. I made this simple and delicious curry over the weekend and posted it on my Facebook. My friend, Xyla, saw it and requested the recipe. I don't really have a recipe (as usual) but here's how you do it. Remember you can always add more or less of the flavors you like and especially the chili to get the amount of spice you like.


Curry might seem like an exotic dish to many people, but it's super simple. It's a Pan-Asian stew like dish popular in India, Thailand and Japan among other countries. There are many variations of curry and it's hard to put a thumb on what makes a curry. There are curry leaves used for spice as well as many forms of curry pastes and powders in many wonderful colors. This curry I'm making is more of a Thai variation of yellow curry.

You probably have everything you need except for a few ingredients that you can find at your local supermarket or speciality Asian market. You will need a can of coconut milk and yellow curry powder. Other unique spices you can add are turmeric and coriander.

Ingredients:

1 White Onion
3-4 Medium Size Carrots
6 medium size Red Potatoes (any potatoes will work)
3-4 cloves of garlic
1-2 Thai bird chilies (you can use any type of pepper, jalapeño works fine too)
1 can coconut milk (look by Asian food, Thai brand, low fat is cool too)
3 tbsp Yellow Curry Powder
2 tbsp Tomato Paste
1 cup stock (vegetable or chicken)
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper
squeeze of lemon or lime
add more salt to taste

Optional Ingredients, if you want to add some more twists:

1 Tomato cut into wedges
Add some Mushrooms
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin


Directions:

Over medium heat, add butter and olive oil in med sauce pan until butter in melted. Add onions chopped in large pieces. I usually cut onion in half first, then cut into sixths. Saute onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook for about a minute, until you can smell it. Add carrot, potatoes chopped in large 1 inch pieces. Also add chilies. Saute for about 4-5 minutes. Add stock and stir tomato paste until dissolved. Add coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Stir in curry, salt, pepper, paprika and any other spices. Add squeeze of lime. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 35-45 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Enjoy alone or serve over rice. Trader Joe's also sells a great naan bread you can find in the frozen food section. You heat for a minute in the oven. It's great to sop up the curry.


Saturday, January 22, 2011

Cuts like a Knife


Check out this great knife holder that was in my friend's kitchen in San Francisco.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Kids and Cocktails at Casita del Campo!

If you have kids and wanna get them tipsy bring them to Casita del Campo in Silverlake. This kitschy pink mexican restaurant recently ran this ad in the local neighborhood paper the "Los Feliz Ledger". I am very surprised the designer of this ad, nor the editor of the paper picked up on this hilarious read.

Funny ad for Casita del Campo
The ad reads:

Kid's Menu
Happy Hour Special 3pm-7pm Everyday
$2.00 Off Cocktails
$1.00 Off Beer & Wine
$2.00 Off Appetizers

Oh, to be a kid again...

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Recipe: Mandarin Ginger Roasted Beets

Mandarin Ginger Roasted Beets

I grew up eating beets but they were usually pickled. One day after seeing them at the farmers' market regularly, I decided to buy some and make a beet dish. Here is the recipe for Mandarin Ginger Roasted Beets I created:

MANDARIN GINGER ROASTED BEETS
Recipe by Larimie Garcia for GrowlerEats.com

Ingredients:

3 Medium Beets, Washed, Peeled and Cut into quarters/sixths
½ Red Onion, Chopped into small pieces
1 Mandarin Orange (can substitute any type of orange or tangerine)
1 Tsp Ginger, Fresh is preffered. Chopped very fine.
1 Tsp Butter, Softened
½ Tsp Chile Powder
2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
1-2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
Salt, to taste
Fresh Cracked Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Set Mandarin Orange aside.

2. Wash, peel, chop Beets into quarters/sixths depending on how large your beets are. Dice Onion into small pieces. Chop Fresh Ginger very fine. Mix with remaining ingredients in large bowl.

3. Add zest of 1/2 madarin orange. Now peel orange and squeeze all the juice out of the flesh and add remaining flesh to bowl. Mix in.

4. Put all ingredients in small, shallow roasting pan.

5. Cook at 350 for 40-60 min. Stirring and basting beets in juice every 10-15 minutes.

Served as vegetarian course or side dish with beef, duck or pork.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Christmas from Japan

My friend just returned from Japan yesterday. He brought me a wonderful Christmas gift. Of course, it's for cooking and very designer. The best part is I can use it with my whisky. There was a silicon orb and small box in a stamped muslin bag. They both are for making drinks cold.

Round Ice Cube maker and Whisky Stones from Japan
The orb is for making spherical ice cubes. The top has a small hole in it you fill with water. When you get it out of the freezer, it easily splits in half to give you a round ice cube. The small box contained eight small square stones, sometimes called whisky stones. You freeze the dark soapstone and use them in your drinks. They keep your drinks ice cold with out watering them down.

The Hakushu Single Malt Whisky from Japan


Later we enjoyed some whisky from Japan from The Hakushu Distillery. I got to use the round ice cube!

Round Ice Cube lonely and waiting for some whisky to keep him company.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Recipe: Salsa Fresca for one

Salsa Fresca makes a great topping for tacos, great for dipping chips
and goes good on eggs for breakfast too.

Making fresh salsa is easy. This salsa fresca is more of a pico de gallo. There's no real recipe, just basic ingredients mixed to your liking. I was making taquitos but needed something fresh to compliment the deep fried crunch. I made this salsa in less than 10 minutes.

Salsa Fresca

Servings: This is a good way to make it for one or two people for a meal or appetizer without having a surplus of salsa leftover.

Ingredients:

1 Tomato - Chopped 1/4 - 1/2 inch
1/4 White Onion - Chopped 1/4 - 1/2 inch  (Red Onion can also be used)
1/2 Jalapeño - Finely Diced  (Use more of less depending on how spicy you like it)
2 Tbsp Cilantro - Chopped
1/2 Lime
1 Tsp. Olive Oil
Salt to taste

Mix Tomato, Onion, Jalapeño, Cilantro in bowl. Drizzle with Olive Oil. A a little squeeze of lime (or lemon). Salt to taste. Toss and refrigerate for at least half and hour so flavors can blend.

Enjoy with mexican food or on your eggs at breakfast.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Color: Pink

Dragon Fruit, Silvelake Farmers' Market

The color of the Dragonfruit is rich and vivid. The flesh inside is a blend of bright pink, fuchsia and megenta peppered with black speckles. The skin has a pink tone that turns a yellow-green at the edge of it's scales. This Dragonfruit is from the Farmers' Market in Silverlake, Los Angeles, California.