The reciepe thread or Eat, drink and be merry!

[fourpawsonthefloor]

This idea was spawned, as many are, in chat. So come and share your favorite food or drink!

I will kick you all off with a simple one - Spinach dip.

You will need:

A large tub of sour cream (low fat doesn't seem to alter the taste much at all)
A package of knorr's soup mix
A package of frozen chopped spinach.
A tin of water chestnuts.
A few cloves of garlic (optional and to taste. I adore garlic.)

Simply take the sour cream, dump in into a big bowl and pour the dry powdered soup mix over it. (as the soup mix takes about an hour to fully rehydrate - make it a bit in advance of serving it or you will have crunchy spinach dip). Chop the water chestnuts into cubes (about 1/4 inch - you don't want to mince them) and squish the extra water out of the spinach and add it (or you will have very runny dip).

Mix that stuff all together, chop up a bagette or other bread (french works good too) and enjoy. If you want to get really fancy pantsy you can scoop out a round loaf and serve the dip in the resulting bread bowl - but remember that you will need extra bread than just the bits that you took out.

So what's your favorites? Share!

Paws

[Nandireya]

What's knorr's soup mix?

[fourpawsonthefloor]

Its just a powdered vegitable soup mix with dehydrated slivers of stuff in it - carrots, onions ect. If you can find another powdered veggie soup mix with dehydrated bitties in it - feel free to substitute. Knorr's is a brand name that rocks - but may not be available in australia .

Paws

[chicory]

Molasses Cookies

A simple recipe but an old one. My mother used to make them with my sister and me. And then they were the first thing I learned to bake by myself, so, by now, I have the recipe memorized. They're very good and very filling, I like to have them on hand because they make a great quick breakfast when I'm running late.

The recipe is supposed to make 4 dozen cookies - but usually I only come up with half that much. So, I often double the recipe.

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortning / 1/2 cup butter
1 cup dark molasses
2 eggs
4 cups sifted flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsps cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
(raisins - optional)

Cream together the sugar and shortning (and butter). Add the molasses and unbeaten eggs. Mix well.

Sift together the dry ingredients and stir in.

(Add raisins, if desired)

Put an amount of sugar in a bowl. Take off parts of the dough and roll until its about the size and shape of a walnut. Dip this in the sugar and roll until all the surfaces are covered.

Place the dollaps on a greased cookie sheet far enough apart so they won't melt together when they spread out.

Baking temp is 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes.

[Crocodile Hunter]

For my favorite drink you need hmm.. a well or waterpipes. Thats it.
The thing i drink the most.

[fourpawsonthefloor]

OK - ready for something a little different, but still easy to make as any other meal? How about tandori chicken and rice?

For the chicken you will need

-Chicken peices, but up into 1 cm chunks. I use breasts, but it doesn't really matter. Just no bones
-Tandori Masala (its this red powdery stuff - you can find it in most major grocery stores now, but the best stuff is from somewhere "authentic" like a specialty spice store, or an indian shop.
-A flavourless vegitable oil such as canola.

In a pot with a lid, dribble a teaspoon or two of oil (or more if you are making a lot of chicken) toss the chicken in and slap the lid on it and cook it on medium, stirring occassionally. As the chicken cooks, it will first ooze out all the liquid, and as it becomes perfectly cooked, it will suck it all up again. You want to catch it at the stage where almost all of the liquid is resucked up - but before the chicken starts to brown on the bottom. (its not the end of the world however if it does). Then you just dump some of the tandori masala on it and stir it all around to coat the chicken chunks. My advise - start with just a little, stir, and then add more till you bring it up to the right "colour" that matches your heat tolerance. If you don't like hot food, just use a tiny bit so that the chicken is just barely pink - then its just flavourful. If you use enough to get the chicken really red - its gonna be HOT.

For the rice:
-Jeera (cumin) seeds (about 1 tsp per 1/2 cup of rice)*
-Basmati Rice
-oil
-salt and pepper
-onion
-frozen peas (optional)

*important tip learned from the MIL. When you use jeera seeds, pour out how much you want on the counter or on a plate and then sift through the suckers with a fingertip - there are a suprising amount of stones and dud plant parts in the package. There seems to be an equal amount of sticks and stones in the good spice shop stuff, and the "supermarket" brand stuff, so pick through!

Soak the rice in water for an hour ahead of time. If you are dumb like me and can't remember to do this, it will still work, but the soaking makes it easier to cook. Pour a dollop of oil into the bottom of the pot. Heat it until when you drop a jeera seed into the bottom, the seed crackles like popcorn (though it doesn't pop up like that). You will only know when it is hot enough by dropping a seed everynow and then into the puddle of oil to see if it just floats in there or it does its thing. Remember that too hot of oil = fire, so you have to kind of stand there staring at these jeera seeds until its ready. So, dump the Jeera in when its warm enough. It will crackle like mad and scare the snot out of you if you aren't ready for the noise. Give it a quick stir and then dump the chopped onion in there, cooking until the onion just softens slightly. Then put the rice and water in (2 parts water for 1 part rice) and boil it on a low boil. If you want to add peas, salt or pepper this is the time to do it. Boil till tender, stirring often. If you find that you run out of water, before the rice is done (because I forget to soak the rice, this does happen to me often) just dump a little bit more in there. The idea is not to have to drain the rice though, cause then all the flavor goes with it.

Eat the chicken with a big forkful of rice, yummy! That is another valuable tip for those who are a little spice shy - rice is a very effective "cooler off". Water just makes it worse. If you are in real agony - go for the dairy, sour cream, milk or whatever - that does the trick the best. As a white girl raised on roast beef and mashed potatoes, I had a sharp learning curve when I married into my husbands family. I loooove it now.

Paws

[Crocodile Hunter]

Anyone wants to try?

A visual recipie for a tasty tarantula shake.

{Changed img tag to url tag. --SK}

[Edited on 8/4/06 by Saint Kurt]

[Slarti]

A world of ew, Croc. But, points for funny, minus one for animal cruelty. :p

I’m gonna try that tandori chicken recipe! I LOVE Indian, and there aren’t many good Indian restaurants around here. The one in my area I liked I wrote a story about them for the paper just so I could hang out there.

Here’s the super easy cheese ball that my husband’s family makes me bring to all family gatherings. This recipe makes two regular balls or one giant one. I generally make two and freeze one.

Four packages of cream cheese (I mix regular with low or no-fat and it tastes the same)
One large package of dried beef
One bunch green onions
One tablespoon garlic powder
One teaspoon Accent (It’s a weird salt-like spice)

I dump the cleaned-up onions and dried beef into the food processor to chop it up, soften the cream cheese, add the spices and mix forever until it’s all combined. Then you just roll it up into a ball, and if you want it to be prettier you can reserve some of the shredded dried beef and coat the ball with it. It’s generally better after a couple days once the flavors blend, and it’s pretty garlicy. Serve with crackers, but we’ve also had it with potato chips or veggies, and that’s yummy too. It also takes to food colorings well. We’ve made it all sorts of interesting and nasty colors for everything from Easter to Halloween parties.

[fourpawsonthefloor]

Well that sounds very yummy slarti! Though I get weird pictures of 'slarti and her blue balls' with that food colouring comment. OR one big giant one!!

When you say dried beef, you mean like jerky right??

Paws

[Crocodile Hunter]

Alkuperäinen postittaja Slarti
A world of ew, Croc. But, points for funny, minus one for animal cruelty. :p

Killing a spider is animal cruelty? O.o

I hate spiders and usually try to step on them.
Except for few cases where the spider-men just hold still and run away not at me.

[Nandireya]

Originally posted by Crocodile Hunter
I hate spiders and usually try to step on them.

We usually catch them and put them outside...we even have a 'Spider Catcher' to do it...unless they're black...those ones'll kill ya...but they don't seem to come inside...it's mostly daddy long legs and Huntsmen...but I'm getting a tad ...I'll have to find some recipies...

[Blue_Demon94]

For spiders?:LOL I'm not a good cook at all, but I had to respond to the tarantula thing (sorry if I bring this topic to the realm of off-topicness as a result).. Spiders in general don't bother me, though if one gets too close to me, I will kill it:shifty But I don't think I could ever do that to a tarantula, considering I'd be too busy vomiting/screaming at the thing..

Kinda on-topic, what exactly is a cheese ball, Slarti? Is it some kind of dip or do you just pick at it (I'm guessing that's what the crackers and such are for)

[chicory]

Nandireya>We always did that too. Every spider and bumblebee that got into our house we trapped in a glass and set free safetly outside. I even blow mosquitoes away instead of trying to slap at them.

Croc>That's just horrible (You don't feel sorry at all for the poor tarantula? I hear they actually make nice pets )

On Topic>I intend to try out that spinach dip recipe - the easy one - (I'm not much of a cook). Getting back to the person who supplied the recipe and telling them how it worked out should be half the fun. So, I'll be sure to do that.

[Crocodile Hunter]

Alkuperäinen postittaja chicory
Croc>That's just horrible (You don't feel sorry at all for the poor tarantula? I hear they actually make nice pets )

I hear they actually kill people.

Why do i kill spiders? You would understand if you would be scared of spiders. And bees outside? Hell no. Bee's are like most annoying flying creatures. If you are 5 meters away from a bee. It can attack you just because it can.

[Tyros]

Another hint for dealing with spicy food is to add something sweet. I love spicy currys but my husband can't really handle spicy food. We discovered that adding some mango chutney is a great way to make the curry edible for him. Not only does the chutney work really well, but it also tastes super yummy.

My simple curry reciepe is to cut up into small pieces and cook some chicken breast, red peppers, a few chilies, grated fresh ginger (though you can use powdered as well) and onions with a little bit of vegetable oil. I then add a can of diced tomatoes and a can of coconut milk. For spices I use a bunch of curry powder, some salt, anf a bit of chili powder. This is really easy to make and very good with rice. Sorry I don't know the exact amounts of everything, but you should be able to taste it and see if it is good. If it is too liquid then let it cook down for a while, if it is not liquid enough then add a bit of water.

[The Drastic Spastic]

I looked for the tandori spice at my usual grocery store and they had nothing. No jeera seeds either. Jeez! I'm guessing that powdered cumin is no good. Trying a different store today. I hope they have it, cause otherwise I have to go to (horror) Superstore. Blech.

And so I'm not just posting to bitch about grocery stores, here's a recipe I stole off the internet ages ago. Yes, I've made it. A better cook than I could keep it from sticking to the pan, I'm sure.

Chicken and Rice

* 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
* 2 tbsp butter or margarine
* 1 onion, chopped
* 2 cups chicken broth
* 1/4 cup (low fat) mayonnaise
* 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
* 1/4 tsp. pepper

Cook onions in butter until translucent. Add rice and sauté for 10 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cover. Simmer for 25 minutes or until almost all the liquid is gone. Turn off heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

I made it with some sort of other broth which I can't remember now (something weird and oriental), and that was good too. Recipe says low fat mayo, but I use full fat and that's fine too. (hehehe )

[Dark Rose Siren]

i have a recipe my mom gave to me
Amaretto Cake if anyone is interested

1 18-25 oz pkg yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1 5.1 oz pkg instant cheesecake (or instant vanilla) pudding mix
1/2 c cold water
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 c sifted confectioners sugar
1/2 amaretto liqueur, plus 2 tb
AMARETTO GLAZE
sift confectioners' sugar & combine with 1/2 c amaretto liqueur
blend until smooth
*if you want you can add more amaretto as disired

preheat oven to 35 degrees. grease & flour a 10-inch bundt cake pan.
in a large bowl, combine CAKE MIX, EGGS, INSTANT PUDDING, WATER,
OIL, ALMOND EXTRACT & 2 TBS AMARETTO: blend well.
pour batter into perpared pan. bake 40-45 mins (or until toothpick
inserted into center comes out clean)

remove cake from oven & while still warm poke holes into surface of
cake. drizzle with about half the glaze, making sure the glaze fills
in the holes. let cake cool for at least 2 hours before removing from
pan. drizzle remaining glaze over the top of the cake

my mom made this for a little party & everyone loved it,
if anyone is interested i also have a recipe for a
bread pudding with kahlua sauce

[Edited on 13/4/06 by Dark Rose Siren]

[Edited on 13/4/06 by Dark Rose Siren]

[fourpawsonthefloor]

Oooh - that looks good! Mind you I think anything that involves liquoir looks good...

But will have to try it!!

Paws

[Slarti]

I don’t know how to describe dried beef…. It’s not jerky, around here only one company makes it, Armour, and it’s thinly sliced pieces of beef. My grandmother called it chipped beef.

And yeah, a cheese ball is an appetizer or snacky thing. I make a lot of them for parties. And, yep, I made a blue one once. I’ve also made them pink and set in a brain mold.

I found the cumin seeds, but haven’t found the tandori masala yet. I think I need to hit some of the bigger markets myself.

That amaretto cake sounds awesome!

[fourpawsonthefloor]

OK...This is a very yummy dish that is kind of like a stewy soup. Nacht had a name for it, but I keep forgetting it - cause my MIL just calls it Chicken or chickpeas...

You need either two cans of chickpeas, or about 7-8 chicken thighs/legs cut apart at the joint. You can halve this too...but it freezes well.

Also:

-one chopped onion
-4-5 cloves chopped garlic
-2 tbsp garahm masala (may have spelt the garahm wrong)
-2 tbsp turmeric
-2 tbsp jeera (cumin)
-can of tomato paste
-salt and pepper to taste
-one of those skinny little green peppers that is so hot that it can fry you with a glance...they are about the size of a green bean, just shorter. And they are hot as hades, so don't rub your eyes after cutting them - wash your hands thourougly. If you have virgin taste buds, only use like 1/4 of one. If you don't like hot food skip the pepper and its still great!

Pour about 2 tbsp of oil into the pan and heat to "jeera popping" temperature. Add jerra, stirring quickly, then add onion and garlic. Let that cook until the onion is translucent and then add tomato paste and spices. As you make it more often, you can decide if you like more or less of a certain spice - it is to taste. Stir all that together, and then if its chicken, dump the thawed pieces in and add just a tiny bit of water so its a slurry. Cook with lid on stirring occassionally for about 1/2 hour, then add about 2 cups of water so that its the consitancy of tomato soup. Cook for another 1/2 hour and enjoy. With chickpeas you can skip the slurry step and just pour them and water in and cook for an hour.

BTW - this stuff stains like crazy - its the tumeric.

This is best eaten with roti - a type of flatbread. I will post how to make that next.

Paws

[NachtcGleiskette]

Canai!!

[fourpawsonthefloor]

Yeah - that was it - now onto the Roti - which are trickier than the canai.

All you need is whole wheat flour (robin hood's is what I use) and water. Oh and butter.

So you take the flour and slowly add water, until it makes a sticky dough that is the consistancy of like a pie crust, so that it is easy to roll. Now everyone knows that flour and water is basically glue, so flour your board and pin well! Grab a chunk of dough - a bit bigger than a golf ball sized lump, roll it in your hand to make a ball, smoosh it flatter and flour it (white flour is fine). Roll it into a fairly thin circle - like 1/4 inch.

The pan that I have always used is cast iron. They make these nice flat round pancake ones with no rims on it - and those work the best. You can use a frying pan, but you'll probabally burn yourself more. A pair of wooden bamboo tongs work the best to flip it over, my MIL uses her fingers but OUCH.

Cook the one side until the upside turns from the damp brown to more dry and lighter. Flip, and cook on that side for about 45 seconds. Then pop it onto a cake cooling rack that is over an element that is set to medium heat. It should puff up like a mylar balloon when you do this, so be careful because the escaping steam can burn you too. Shove it back flat with your wooden tongs. Be careful not to burn anything - its easy to do. You cook it over the element for about 20 seconds per side - being expecially careful around the edges so that any damp brown spots are gone - you can lift the main roti up and angle it to really get at that spot if it helps. Its easy to burn the roti on the element too.

Now that I have scared the stuffing out of you - practice makes perfect. You will burn these suckers, but its not the end of the world. Once they are done, butter one side and put it in a lidded dish that is lined with a dish towel. Stack roti buttered side to buttered side and keep the lid on. They will keep nice and warm in there and soft. If the roti doesn't do the mylar balloon thing, its still edible - just more dense.

To eat the roti with the canai, you rip off a small chunk of it and fold it in half, pinching the one end, so it makes kind of a scoop. Use your spoon to help shove the canai into the scoop and shove canai laden roti chunk into mouth. If its chicken canai - I always take my spoon and use it to tear the chicken off the bone and into more manageable chunks before attempting roti manuvers. And yes - this is messy. Always have a paper towel by your side, and your sleeves rolled up.

I like it with sour cream too - dip roti scoop into a little sour cream, then dip in canai. This is a good trick to use if you find it too hot, as the sour cream with cut the heat.

Paws

[Chlorine]

Hmm, these are simple and I really like them...Banana Wontons.

ingredients you need (there aren't really exact amounts, i dont have a written recipe)...
- As many Wonton skins as you would like to have
- As many bananas as you should need (probably about 1 per every eight skins...this is just a guess.)
- brown sugar (about a 1/2 spoonful per wonton)
- Vegetable oil
- Some water

what you do!...
- slice the banana into small circular slices, like...i guess a little over 1cm in width each. sliced banana. you get the idea. then, cut each slice into four equal (or kinda-equal) bits. lay 5-7 of the little banana chunks in a diagonal line across each wonton skin.
- get a small spoonful of brown sugar and sprinkle it across the banana bits. however much you want. i stick with the "less is more" motto but whatever.
- if you know how to fold wontons, then do it. if not, what you do is dampen the edges of them with a teensy bit of water, fold them over (to make a triangle) and press the edges together to seal it up. you can do extra little edgefold dealies to make sure the wontons are sealed if you want...
- have the vegetable oil in a frying pan. get it hot, because guess what you're going to be doing with this oil and frying pan. frying stuff! so get it hot, and then put your wontons in it, and dont let them get too brown. flip them over with a fork or something. it is good when they are very light brown and look sorta, um...fried.
- take your wontons out and put them on a paper towel to drain them, and then deal with cleaning up or something as they drain (or don't...its not my concern what condition you leave your kitchen in)...
- eat the wontons.

i hope that was clear :o

[Crocodile Hunter]

Alkuperäinen postittaja Chlorine
Wonton

Wonton .... Wonton wonton? What is a wonton?

[Slarti]

Have I mentioned that because of this thread I’m now completely addicted to Indian food? It’s like crack. Swear to God. I need a twelve-step group. It’s all your fault, Paws!