[nicneufeld]

I also cook my dal until it can be easily blended...undercooked toor dal can be gritty and not smooth, and the wife prefers it smooth.  Generally the dal is somewhere between a thick soup and thin refried beans in consistency, and being highly seasoned we use it to dip bread, mix with rice, etc.  Chana masala I believe are whole chickpeas.  As I recall:

chana:  chickpeas
toor/toovar: yellow pigeon peas
masoor: red lentils
moong:  mung beans
urud: gram beans
There are others but these are what I have in stock.

Never heard of chicken josh....rogan josh applied to chicken I suppose! 

[Pawtucket Patriot]

Never heard of chicken josh....rogan josh applied to chicken I suppose! 

Yes, that was my impression.

[nicneufeld]

No pictures, but another Indian meal a couple days back...all the usual carbs, basmati rice, naan bread.  I had some chicken thighs so I deboned them and used the bones to make a rich, aromatic Indian broth (yakhni).  The thigh meat was diced up, coated in batter of besan (chickpea flour) with crushed panch phoron (Bengal 5 spice mix, varies a bit based on recipe) as well as some ajwain, red pepper, lemon juice, and garlic.  I used the broth as a base to cook the dal (1 dry cup of chana dal), and used the chicken fat skimmed off the top to sautee diced onions and garlic to add later to the dal.  Also diced up several small sweet peppers for the dal, and a huge list of spices I could not possibly remember were added, as well as some leftover fresh spinach and coriander leaves.  Then I heated up the oil and fried the kheema samosas I had prepped and then the chickpea battered chicken pakoras.  The pakora batter was a winner...I added the panch phoron on a whim but it hit the spot!

[nicneufeld]

I am not really knowledgeable about Italian food past the popular Italian American foods you see on the menu at Fazolis (I know, I know...) and a dozen episodes of "Lidia's Italy" but I'm doing a lasagna tonight, along with garlic bread and fried ravioli and a salad.  Watching "The Godfather", so I figured it would be appropriate!    Maybe a bottle of marsala to sip at after, nice Sicilian wine, that.

[capozzoli]

You know what I love about the godfather? That most of the people that are playing Italians are Jewish. Awesome. And the guy that play Waltz, ya know the Jewish movie producer, the actor is Italian.

Italin food sounds good nic,

Speaking of Jewish, another one of my favorites is Jewish food. I especially love all of the sandwiches. Italian sandwiches are great but they got nothin on the Jews IMO.

More innards...Chopped liver.

Real easy, If you make chicken soup in advance, always a good idea with Jewish food. Make a rich chicken broth. Put in frdge to cool down. Skim the hardened fat off of the top and set asside, this is called schmaltz. Then make a few hard boiled eggs and set assie to cool.

Then in a pan over med. high heat render the chilled schmaltz. Put in a large onion chopped, a clove of garlic, salt and pepper, pinch of celery seed, and marjoram, a few sprinkles of paprika. Then toss in a pound or so of chicken livers and saute till cooked through.



After they are cooked let them cool just a little, warm is ok when you put them into the food processor. Give this a fe pullses till starting to become like paste. Now add a few table spoons of chicken broth, Then add the peeled hard boiled eggs chopped a little. Pulse again a few times till the eggs are chopped small and fully incorporated.



  בתאבון

[bluesman]

Capp...that is 2 kool. 

[beerocd]

  בתאבון

Bon appetit. You know, I've had to look up a bunch of your @#$ .... like capsicums the other day.

[capozzoli]

Thats what they call em in New Zealand.

[nicneufeld]

Wasn't there a kiwi in our epic thread over at NB that made mention of it?  Forget his username, sadly one who seems not to have joined us on our exodus...

[capozzoli]

Yep, Coldaz, I told him we were over here talkin cookin and brewin, guess he never came to check it out.

I always call them capsicums now. Mostly to hear people say "what?".

Cold is definitely an experienced ethnic cook. I think at any given time he has about twelve exchange students from any given country living in his house. He makes it a point to cook their native food for them. He also has 6 kids of his own (or something crazy like that) all living at home. This may explain his infrequent posts, maybe he will stop by one day.

[capozzoli]

Heres some interesting stuff.

Frogs legs Pescatore style. Basically cooked in a marinara sauce with lots of garlic, fresh basil and white wine and green beans.










Served on, what else but pasta.


I got them at the Chinese grocery store they were frozen at $3 per lb.I wanted to get fresh but they were out of them.Fresh meaning they are there live and they kill them and clean them for you. They are better this way. When you get them home and dump them out into a bowl after rinsing they are still moving a little.Sprinkle them with salt and they move around a lot.

I was hoping to post a video of that, maybe the next time I go there they will have the live frogs.

[tygo]

Fresh meaning they are there live and they kill them and clean them for you. They are better this way. When you get them home and dump them out into a bowl after rinsing they are still moving a little.Sprinkle them with salt and they move around a lot.

Just like when my granny used to hack the heads off some chickens and they'd run around for a minute or so headless.  Then she'd cackle and say, "See, chickens are so stupid they don't even need their heads to live!"

[beerocd]

So, Cap....
your kid eats all these dishes you put on this forum? Or are there fishsticks, chicken strips, and Ore-Ida fries in the background somewhere? Or do you shred everything for the kid and cover it in ketchup?  

[capozzoli]

At just about two she is a pretty good eater. Hasnt eaten meat yet, doesnt seem to want it at all, she makes that face.

She ate the pasta in frog flavored marinara no problem.

One fun thing is she likes spicy hot stuff. She loves Ethiopian food. And she shares with me these various different types of spicy crunchy Indian snacks. Some of them really spicy.

The wife freaks out thinking it is unhealthy somehow for the kids stomach.

[nicneufeld]

So what is frog meat like, texture and flavor wise?  Seems like it would land somewhere between chicken and fish or something...

Doing an Italian meal tonight....sausages and peppers, with some fettuccine and fried ravioli.  Got Godfather Part II queued up!  Have a cheap pinot noir on hand, will pretend its something Italian...not that I could tell anyway!