Icarus's blog: "Hope- by any other name."

Tomorrow will be a full frontal assault of indian food.

I'll be serving my chickpea and tomato curry pure' with lamb
and MANGO RICE!
and fennel naan.

*scratches his head*

What? It won't be that bad.

I've got the mangos, I've got the...

Alright here's our three parter, and you should feel priveleged for hearing about my curry mix, its very standard.

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Curry in a hurry.

First and foremost you will require a 2:1 ratio of cooked reconstituted chickpeas/garbonzos whatever the hell you call them, to a 1 part ratio of your favorite tomatoe sauce. I- use newman's own sackarooni... because I always have it on hand and because... why kids?

It's my favorite.
I've had good results with fra diavoli, fire roasted garlic, and even hunts'. But that's not the point.

Boil your chickpeas while you've got your cubed lamb stew meat (mine comes from the leg) saute'ing in a pan of olive oil, you could throw in some onions and garlic, but that's up to you.

Now if you're one of those people that can dicern the flavor of roasted cumin seeds and ... cumin seeds blended in a sauce, by all means roast your cumin seeds with your lamb, if not- when your chickpeas are finished boiling (they're done when you can stick a fork in em easilly and they don't taste... chalky) drain em, you should have a little over a cup put em back in the pot, ladle in your tomato, add about

1/4 tbls tumeric
1/2 tbls cumin seed
1 star anise leg (if it were a starfish it'd be a leg >>)
2 heavy pinches of ground coriander
salt pepper to taste

and ah... my favorite variable of all
the one I'm still playing with
the spice factor.

This is where tastes vary THE most I find in ethnic food. Do you want to hurt your fellow diners, or yourself? then grab your dried cerrano chiles, 3 pods, chop em up real fine toss em into the sauce
Personally... I LOVE habanero in my curry but do not
I repeat

DO NOT

handle or chop without a proper hand condom.
You rub your eyes, nose or face after you've handled a cut habanero even hours later and you had better call the emergency room for an eye flush
I'm serious.

How much hab? About a quarter of a mature one for the batch. Mince it fine and stir it in while it's still hot.
You'll be surprised at what a complexly sweet and toasty sensation it brings.

I use chinese chili paste, mexican red pepper, diced chiles, fresh chiles, dried chiles,

It is here that I encourage you to venture out on your own.
And experiment, regularly.

My favorite though, is the hab. My second favorite is about a teaspoon of the chinese chili paste and a sprinkle of red chili powder.

Now, toss in 2 cloves of garlic and either pour this into a blender, or grab your hand mixers and beat until its smooth and creamy
like neon orange organic peanut butter.

When you're done playing with this... seriously the lamb should be done... pour the sauce over your lamb, I find this curry to be best with white long grain rice.

but what were you doing with the back burners?

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Mango rice.

Combine in your rice maker... screw you get a rice maker...
Cubed mango yielded from one mango about 1/2-1 inch chunks
1/4 tbl spoon tumeric
salt (not enough to wager a measure)
and 2 red chile pods

and follow your instructions per 1 cup of rice.

When your rice cooker thunks "done"
it's done.

Add salt to taste
and lime juice if you have it.
And cilantro leaves...
and a spoon of yogurt if you want >>

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Naan

I'm messing with this one a bit, alright, recipe I've got

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoons salt
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)
1/4 cup butter, melted

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

... I'm of course fucking with it just a smidge.
For one
I don't have bread flour. Sucks to be me I'll try AP
second, lard is 1/3 the price of butter and I like it in flat breads. Everything from tortilla to pita.
Thirdly, I'm gonna toast some fennel seeds and throw them in the dough.
Fourthly... might throw in more garlic.
This will not be a kosher bread.

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Fifth. I need a job and a good shooter game.
Actually I know what I'd be playing RIGHT now.
Bioshock PS3
FEAR 2 PS3
and Final Fantasy Tactics PSP (the single most replayed game other than members of the MGS persuasion in my library, yes, more than way of the samurai 2 which REQUIRES dozens of playthroughs, and yes this game takes 100's of hours to complete, you could say its "my faves")

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Now with this divine trio in hand, what do I intend to do?

I intend to mix mash match and nosh as I please.
The rice can go on the naan, the naan can scoop the curry, the curry can go on the rice, or all three.
Play with your food.
Enjoy the flavor combinations.

And pay me so I can continue to shoot, eat, and live.