Wow, I didn't expect this goal to go so quickly and easily, whereas some of the others I thought would be good fits with my life have sort of languished. Not like I can't make progress on them before the end of the year, but I thought I'd be farther along. But the new meals one has gone really well
Last week we got another eggplant from the CSA. I'm so not a fan of eggplant. But there is one eggplant dish I like in an Indian ready-meal pouch called baingan bharta. So I tried to make my own. I had to roast the eggplant on an open burner flame on my stove, no pan or foil or anything, just eggplant over flame.
It was a mixed result. The eggplant didn't fully cook through and get mushy (it was really big, and after a point the skin was just burning off, so I had to stop roasting it). And I was disappointed at the level of smoky flavor, which is a big part of baingan bharta. With the lovely smoky smell that was going through the house while I was roasting, I thought I'd nailed it, but I don't really taste the smokiness.
On the other hand, the spiciness and flavor are great. I've been eating it with rice, and this crunchy snack NT brought back from England that's probably best described as Indian Chex mix. It helps me get over that texture thing of the undercooked eggplant.
Then, last night I tried tofu in garlic sauce with a side of bok choi and rice. The tofu was baked on parchment paper until chewy (no fat on it, which I was amazed by) and the sauce made on the stove, then I tossed the tofu in it. I'd probably add more flavor next time (some crushed chilis and a bit more sugar) but overall it was great. Baking the tofu was awesome; I've never really done that and thanks to the new meals challenge, this is the second time (slightly different techniques and results) and they've both turned out really well. Definitely going to look into baking my tofu vs. frying it occasionally from now on!
Then tonight I put together a 12-spice kind of BBQ rub from a recipe a friend sent to me. I made a batch of my homemade seitan (wheat meat, mock duck, goes by several names) and coated it in the rub before frying in a cast iron skillet. It was really tasty! Which is good, because I have a lot of spice rub left over. I served it with mashed potatoes and oven roasted cauliflower and carrots.
So that is, unbelievably, 49 meals down and just 1 to go in order to reach my goal! I can't believe it!!
Three more new meals tried!
September 25th, 2017 at 06:18 am
September 25th, 2017 at 01:08 pm 1506341328
September 25th, 2017 at 09:05 pm 1506369924
September 25th, 2017 at 10:49 pm 1506376158
October 1st, 2017 at 09:46 pm 1506890796