Curry and Cabbage

The description of the Butternut Squash and Green Beans in a Coconut-Milk Curry in 5 Spices, 50 Dishes suggests using the leftover butternut squash in a raita, which is a lot like a salad or relish, and is meant to be an accompaniment to an entree in keeping with Ayurvedic cooking practices.

So I flipped to the appropriate chapter in the book, just to take a peak, and I noticed the Tangy Shredded Cabbage Salad. I still had some purple cabbage left over, so I figured it would be a nice side.

I figured right. The salad lives up to its name, and would be a surprising substitute for coleslaw at a family picnic. It was particularly nice next to the rich Butternut Squash and Green Beans in a Coconut-Milk Curry. I love curries as it is, and I think making this recipe has taught me a better way to do it. It's also the first dish from this book that gave me a flood of ideas for altering it. Not because it was bad, but because it seems so versatile. I'd particularly like to add tofu or tempeh in the future.

The author, Ruta Kahate, suggests serving with steamed Jasmine rice, but I didn't have any. Instead, I went the other direction, and prepared a rugged wild rice blend. It worked perfectly, but next time, I'll prepare my rice with cinnamon. I think it'll do a lot to compliment the coconut milk and spice.

These are just two more winners from this book. I still have a dish or two to make, but I'll be tapping some of those other books this week. Eventually though, I'll return to 5/50 so that I can work on my veganizing skills.

Even More 5/50

No grease fire is going to derail my Indian cuisine kick. I didn't really mean to start off my cookbook exploration by focusing so heavily on one book, but I got carried away meal planning last week. Plus, 5 Spices, 50 Dishes has proven to be so user-friendly, and has yielded such tremendously delicious results that it's been hard to put it down. In fact, the super quick and easy recipes have been for breakfast most times.

I most recently made three lovely dishes.

Sweet Potato with Ginger and Lemon

Sautéed Beets with Mustard and Lemon Juice

Corn with Mustard Seeds

I really like the whole five spices shtick because everything goes with everything. I have used more mustard seeds in the past two weeks than I have in my entire life, and they're awesome every time.

One thing I learned in making the sweet potatoes is that Ruta Kahate knows what she's talking about, and that I don't need to reduce the spices or the salt. Usually I do that when using Indian food books, but she really hit the sweet spot for an American who likes spicy enough to break a head sweat, but not spicy enough to cry.

Now I haven't strayed from the vegetables section - I haven't even crept in daals, which is weird for me, but I'd say the book is worth it already. I still want to make some of the non-vegan dishes (obviously altered to be acceptable), and will get to it, but I also want to jump into some of my other books.

I still have a few recipes to make, since I've already bought the groceries, so for now, I'll just keep eating these spicy, tasty veggie dishes and telling you how great they are.

Simple Cabbage Stir-Fry

I love a spicy breakfast, and I had what I needed to make some more food from 5 Spices, 50 Dishes. The Simple Cabbage Stir-Fry lived up to its name and description. The author said that as a child, she loved this dish even though it was too spicy for her, but assured her readers that it wasn't that spicy.

She was wrong. I found this pretty hot, but I enjoyed it. It paired well with the also easy to make Railway Potatoes. In fact they used the same set of spices. This made for a sweat-inducing breakfast.

The only change I made was that I used purple cabbage over green.

Brutally Delicious Potatoes and Cauliflower

I am off to a good post-MoFo start! At last week's farmer's market, the man and I netted two heads of cauliflower to take advantage of a sale. The cheddar cauliflower ended up split between a very loaded Mac and Cheese-style casserole and a dragon bowl, but I hadn't made any plans for the cool, fractal-looking green cauliflower.

I had to work late one night, and when I got home, I grabbed two of my chosen books to find a way to use it up before it started growing some fractal mold.

I tried 5 Spices 50 Dishes first, but nothing grabbed me except for the insanely simple Railway Potatoes. I had all of the very common ingredients on hand, particularly a bag of potatoes that was beginning to wear out its welcome. Great! But I still wanted to use up the cauliflower.

I decided to give Vegan Fire and Spice a try since many of Robertson’s recipes are easy to make in a not-so-fully-stocked kitchen. For a moment, I was torn between the Vegetable Pakoras and the Cauliflower and Mustard Dill Sauce. The latter won out though because by a stroke of luck, I had every ingredient needed, even vegan sour cream, which I don't usually have on hand. I could have adjusted the pakoras, but I do like to make things to the letter the first time through if I can. As it was, I was already adjusting by using the green cauliflower instead of the white.

Making these dishes at the same time was easy. I only had to chop some potatoes and an onion, which I did as I steamed the head of cauliflower whole. From beginning to end, I would say I spent 20 minutes in the kitchen on the two of these together.

When we sat down to eat, I immediately hopped back up to get pictures. Usually, I wait until the next morning, and then I fix a plate of leftovers for breakfast, and snap a quick picture of that in the gorgeous morning light of my otherwise shabby apartment. At first bite, I knew that there would be no such opportunities.

The potatoes were just spicy hot, and I dare say buttery. They, along with the onions, just melted as we ate them. The dill sauce complimented the cauliflower in a surprisingly decadent way. And as it turns out, there is no way to write about tasting food that isn't just a little gross.

However, that won't stop me. In fact, a large part of why I've decided to focus on a handful of books is to get well-acquainted enough to write competent reviews for them. I've expressed my annoyance with reviewers in the past, but that was only a scratch on the surface of my seething hatred for the jerk-ass review.

One particularly grievous sin is to review a book from which you've tried few or (worse) NO recipes. Nothing looked good to you? For real? OK fine, maybe nothing piqued your interest, but that means that you are basically the worst person to be writing a review for it. Baseball has never looked interesting to me, but you'll notice I'm not commenting on games, players' performances, or field goals.

Kidding, I know those are part of one of the other sports that I mostly ignore.

Anyway, I'm not going to be that person. Even though I want to go running to Amazon.com right now to sing the praises of these two books for that time I ate every last bite of dinner, I'll wait. I figure that once you've made 20% of the recipes, plus read the introduction and any other vital information, then you have the experience you need to form and share a solid opinion. It should certainly be enough to know the layout, quality of instructions, and general tastiness of the recipes.

One thing you won't catch me doing is gushing about mouthfeel. Can you even imagine?