Category: Dinner

I was, of course, fretting about not having enough food at George’s Sri Lankan feast, so Roshani came to the rescue — she donated a beef curry for me to freeze and take down to Santa Fe, and then *she* was worried that there wasn’t enough of it, so we decided we’d reheat it with a little extra liquid and cook down some chopped potatoes in it when I got there. Worked great!

And really, it’d just be weird to have one person contributing all the dishes for a Sri Lankan feast. When my mom cooked for a big party, generally lots of the aunties and family friends brought a dish to share.

I volunteered to cook Boxing Day dinner for the family, and it went reasonably well, but I made two frustrating mistakes — cooking in someone else’s kitchen is a little stressful, trying to figure out where everything is and how to use unfamiliar appliances, and I guess I don’t always think so clearly in those circumstances.

• carrot sticks and sliced bell pepper, with ranch dip

• sautéed broccolini

• mango fluff

The two mistakes I made? Well, one was a simple error with the mango fluff — I forgot that fresh pineapple will keep the gelatin from setting; usually I remember and use canned, but they had fresh on hand and I just didn’t think about it. Sigh. So it was more mango dessert soup? Still tasty, but a little frustrating.

The bigger mistake was with the chicken marbella. I haven’t actually made it before, and while it’s a simple enough recipe (marinate together: garlic, green olives, prunes, capers, red wine vinegar, oregano, bay leaves, salt, pepper, brown sugar, and white wine with chicken pieces; bake; sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve), the timing was off.

I’m honestly not sure why, but we brought it to the table and served it, and some of the chicken on the bone was still pink near the bone. Argh. We put it back in the oven to finish cooking, and it was totally fine the next day, but frustrating.

Lessons:

• don’t try an unfamiliar recipe for the first time for a big party!

Oh well. Everyone ate well anyway, because I made too much food per usual, and we had enough for leftovers the next day, and it’s all fine. Just a little irritating!

Crumble cornbread into the seasoned sausage, onion, & peppers, add some chicken broth, and you’re done. Bake it a bit if you’d like a crispy top.

*****

(30 minutes (plus 30 minutes for making the cornbread), serves

1 c. chicken broth

1. Make cornbread according to box directions.

2. Sauté (on medium-high) the onions in the oil until golden.

3. Add the sausage and sauté until cooked through and browned. De-glaze pan with wine.

4. Add the bell pepper and sauté until soft.

5. Add the chipotles in sauce, salt and pepper and stir well.

6. Break up and stir in cornbread.

7. Stir in broth.

Bell peppers, chipotle. It’s the chipotle that takes it over the top.

Two boxes of Jiffy, with a bag of frozen corn and chopped green chilies mixed in. Easy, delicious.

Well, this was a failure. I bought some Chicken-of-the-Woods mushrooms, and was excited to experiment with them, but I tried cooking them three different ways, and didn’t like any of them.

I chopped them small and sauteed them in butter (dry, no mushroom flavor), I tossed them in olive oil, salt and pepper and grilled them (very dry, pretty much flavorless), and I curried them — Jed and I agree that everything else in the curry is tasty, but not the mushrooms.

I suppose if you’re looking for chicken texture, they sort of have that, but other than that, I’m afraid I’m unimpressed. I think there are a lot of better vegetarian options for texture. Did I do something wildly wrong with the preparation of these? Any of you really love the taste?

Perfect dish for chilly autumn days — Sri Lankan Black Pork Curry. It’s not really black, but the tamarind does make it quite dark. Dark and delicious.

Locals, I picked up this pork shoulder from Carnivore Oak Park — it makes a sumptuous pork curry!

*****

Black Pork Curry (1.5 hrs — serves 6-8)

This traditional tangy, peppery dish gets its dark color from the combination of dark roasted curry powder, tamarind paste, and lots of ground black pepper. Tamarind paste is typically fairly easy to find in Mexican and Indian markets, or you can order it online; it keeps well in the pantry for a long time, even after opening.

I keep a little jar of ground black pepper on hand for dishes like this; I buy strongly-flavored Tellicherry peppercorns from Penzey’s online, grind them in a coffee grinder I keep dedicated for spices (although you can use a regular coffee grinder if you clean it out thoroughly), and grind up a jar’s worth as needed. The flavor is much better than you’d get from the pre-ground black pepper at the grocery store.

Typically, you’d leave a good portion of the fat on the pork pieces; it soaks up a ton of flavor, and is truly delectable, balancing the meat, which can otherwise be a bit dry after long cooking. But you can trim all the fat off if you’d really prefer.

1/2 c. white vinegar

1. In a large pot, sauté onions, ginger, garlic, and curry leaves in oil on medium with mustard seed and cumin seeds until onions are golden/translucent (not brown), stirring as needed.

2. Add curry powder, salt, pepper, stirring to combine, then turn heat to high, add pork, and sear, stirring occasionally, for a few minutes, to bring out the flavor of the meat.

3. Add tamarind paste and white vinegar; stir well, turn heat to medium, and cover. Cook one hour, stirring occasionally. Serve hot, with rice or bread.