Fishinnards

I've been making socca for several years, using Ana Sortun's book Spice. Here's the recipe. Go to "look inside the book" type "chickpea crepes" in the search box and click forward to page 8.

I've used besan flour from the Indian grocery, and when I haven't had any in the house, I've made flour with dried chickpeas in my VitaMix blender's grain grinding jar. Both worked equally well. I often serve them with carrot puree and dukkah, from the same book, look for page 6 inside the book.

I clicked the link to see Zora's recipe and then realized I already have that book.

Anyway, in Gujarat they make a similar chickpea flour bread/pancake thing called Pudla. The recipe I have calls for onion, garlic, ginger, green chillies, ajwain seeds, salt and hot pepper powder added to the batter. I have made these numerous times and they are really good.

wat? 

Yum pla kapong is canned fish salad, usually canned mackerel in tomato sauce. I decided to try it with canned kippers. I used cabbage, sliced shallots, sliced lemongrass (using up the lemongrass from the garden this weekend), cilantro. The dressing was lime juice, chili sauce (fresh chillies, vinegar, garlic), fish sauce and roasted ground rice powder. Garnished with sliced red prik ee nu chillies. I would use green onions in this as well, but I was out of them.

Saturday, à¹à¸à¸‡à¸›à¹ˆà¸²à¹„à¸à¹ˆ (gaeng ba gai) jungle curry with chicken, pumpkin (potimarron), long beans, and the last of the holy basil from the garden ,  ผัดà¸à¸°à¸«à¸¥à¹ˆà¸³à¸”อภ(pad kalam dok) stir fried cauliflower, ไข่เจียว (kai jiew) Thai omelet, ยำปลาà¸à¸°à¸žà¸‡ (yum pla kabong) smoked herring salad, vegetables, and jasmine rice.

Sunday, Debel Kari Ayam, Malaysian Portuguese Devil Curry with chicken, Acar Rampai, mixed pickle with cauliflower, long beans, and cucumbers. Jasmine rice.

I'm not really into wine, but I love Sella and Mosca Cannonau di Sardegna and would drink it for breakfast.

It is possible that I am very stupid this morning.

But I find it bizarre that I cannot easily find the 2013 Dining Guide on the Washington Post website.  In fact, I can't find it at all, in the time I am willing to allot to the project.  I find a link on the "Food" page to the 2012 guide.  I find links to the article about places that barely missed the list.  But the Guide itself has entered the dustbin of online history within a week.  Strange.  Unless I am very stupid this morning.

You can always follow the above link from this thread. I too hate the post website.

BarredInDC.com has announced that Japonè (2032 P St.), Cafe Japonè, and its lounge, Sango Sho, have closed - the two-story operation has been open since 1986 - (congratulations, by the way, on a 27-year run).

Of the three Japanese restaurants on the south side of P Street in West Dupont, only the more traditional Sakana (2026 P St.) remains, asUni (2122 P St.) also closed within the past year.

I used to DJ in the lounge (Sango Sho) in ancient times. That place was a trip. I will always remember it and Kenji (the owner) was cool (to me).

This is one of my favorite South Asian cooking techniques. It makes cooking South Asian food fun and dramatic and the smells make you the envy of the neighborhood (or you get shunned, depending on where you live). Whole spices are fried in hot fat (oil or ghee) either before adding a wet masala at the beginning of cooking a dish, or the hot fat and spices are poured into a finished dish (usually dahl) and then covered to trap the aromas. I really enjoy using the garam spices at the beginning of a meat dish. Garam spices are the "hot" spices, in that they are believed to increase body heat, but some are considered "sweet" spices in western cooking. The smell of whole cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, bay leaves, black cardamom etc. frying in hot fat is an amazing botanical aroma. South Indian cooks often use black mustard seeds that pop in the oil and take on a lovely nutty taste, and sometimes urad dahl and channa dahl are used as spices, as well as the ubiquitous whole cumin seeds and fresh curry leaves that pop and sizzle and add a distinctive taste. Speaking of distinctive tastes, hing (asafoetida) either lump or powdered, is a resin that has an onion like flavor and a disreputable odor that is often used with this technique. In the East, Bengalis fry a whole spice mixture call panch phoran (5 spice) that consists of equal parts mustard seeds (or radhuni if you can get it), cumin seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, and nigella seeds. Here's how the technique is described in one of my many Indian cookbooks:

"Baghar, Tarhka, Chhonkna or Tempering: Hot oil has an extraordinary ability to extract and retain the essence, aroma and flavour of spices and herbs. This process is performed either at the beginning of cooking a dish (the whole garam masala is tempered before the rice is fried, when making Pulao) or after (cumin and asafoetida are tempered and then added to the lentil, when making dal). The salient features of baghar:

* The ghee or the oil is brought to smoking point and then the heat is reduced

* No water is ever added

* The ingredients are usually added in rapid succession, rarely together.

* The crackling of the spice or spices or a change in their colour indicates that the process is complete, unless fresh herbs and vegetables are also being used.

* The prepared tempering is poured sizzling hot over the cooked dish, except when the dish requires pre-tempering"

Now I will go read the NPR article. From the quote it sounds like they also have this cookbook.

ETA The NPR article is by local food writer (and DR member?) Monica Bhide and is very good.

More of the same, leftover Gaeng Kari Gai à¹à¸à¸‡à¸à¸°à¸«à¸£à¸µà¹ˆà¹„à¸à¹ˆ (Indian style Thai Chicken Curry), Achat (Cucumber Pickle) อาจาด, Neua Kae Pad Bai Kaphrao (Lamb Stir-Fried with Holy Basil) เนื้อà¹à¸à¸°à¸œà¸±à¸”ใบà¸à¸°à¹€à¸žà¸£à¸², Pad Pak Nam Pla ผัดผัà¸à¸™à¹‰à¸³à¸›à¸¥à¸² (Stir Fried Vegetables With Fish Sauce), Khai jiao (Omelet) ไข่เจียว, vegetables and jasmine rice. Piraat ale.

Last night was very yellow. Gaeng Kari Gai à¹à¸à¸‡à¸à¸°à¸«à¸£à¸µà¹ˆà¹„à¸à¹ˆ (Indian style Thai Chicken Curry aka "curry" curry), Ajat (Cucumber Pickle) อาจาด, Gai Pad Bai Kaphrao (Chicken Stir-Fried with Holy Basil from the garden) ไà¸à¹ˆà¸œà¸±à¸”ใบà¸à¸°à¹€à¸žà¸£à¸², Khai jiao (Omelet) ไข่เจียว, ผัภ(vegetables), ข้าวหอมมะลิ (jasmine rice).

Had a disastrous failure for dinner the other night - we used pin rice noodles and a new kind of Asian green (round leaves and firm, not-too-thick stalks) instead of our usual gai lan veg and wide-flat or ovalette noodles.  The greens were oddly slimy once cut (or bit into) and quite bitter

Maybe you had Malabar Spinach? It has an earthy taste and an unexpected sliminess (not unlike okra). I learned that my wife does not care for it earlier this summer when I bought a large bag from Great Wall. I had to eat it all myself.

This week featured two meals of rice, dal, papads, and ghobi aloo (cauliflower and potatoes), then two meals of tomatoes and basil (tomatoes with mozzarella and fresh basil, capers, olive oil etc. with crostini and pasta with tomatoes, basil, olives, capers, roasted red pepper, garlic, olive oil, and chili). This was probably the last week of Italian basil from the garden.

Yesterday, à¹à¸à¸‡à¹€à¸œà¹‡à¸”เนื้อใส่ผัà¸à¸—อง (gaeng ped nuea sai fak tong, red curry with beef and pumpkin) เนื้อผัดใบà¸à¸°à¹€à¸žà¸£à¸² (nuea pad bai grapao, beef with holy basil) ไข่เจียว (omelet) rice and vegetables. ใบà¸à¸°à¹€à¸žà¸£à¸² ใบโหระพา (holy basil and "Thai" basil) from the garden are still going strong. Treated myself to a bottle of Oude Gueuze, a fantastic beer.

à¹à¸žà¸™à¸‡à¹„à¸à¹ˆ panang gai (panang curry with chicken), ไà¸à¹ˆà¸œà¸±à¸”ใบà¸à¸°à¹€à¸žà¸£à¸² gai pad bai grapao (chicken stir fried with holy basil), ยำมะม่วง yum mamuang (green mango salad), ไข่เจียว kai jiew (omlette), à¹à¸„บไà¸à¹ˆ (fried chicken skin), ผัภ(vegetables), jasmine rice.

Cut up a whole chicken. Rendering the fat from the skin and fatty bits. Breast meat chopped up for laap and pad grapao. Carcass frozen for stock. Simmering the legs, thighs and wings with lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, a piece of galanga, a few white peppercorns, a whole shallot, some coriander roots, garlic, a cardamom pod and a piece of pandan leaf. Will use the meat and stock in panang curry tonight and some other things later in the week (maybe tom yum, tom kha etc.)

And for all but the last 50, those billions did manual labor 6-7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day. Regardless of our diet, sitting on our asses in front of a computer is what is making us fat.

Sitting in front of computers reading and posting on websites about food 

Ohhhhh. A billion or so Indians would strongly disagree with you Eric. I am not one of them. I eat the wonderful foods of my childhood while my Mom is here in the Summer to cook for me. Add homemade fresh rotis to the mix and it is deadly. And despite being almost 95% vegetarian during that time, I invariably gain weight. Yeeesh! 

I was being somewhat sarcastic. Most (all) of the world eats a grain based diet and has for at least 3000, if not 10,000 years (or longer). The fact that there are over 6 billion people in the world now shows that evolution has favored this diet. Only in the wealthiest of nations could a diet eschewing grains even be possible. An all meat and vegetable diet is the emperor's diet.

Mixed Dal (moong, masoor, urad with ghee, cumin seeds. ginger, garlic, onion, chillies and tomatoes), braised okra with tomatoes (peanut oil, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, fenugreek seeds, dried chillies, coriander seeds and greens, turmeric), cucumber, tomato and onion with lime juice and salt. Pickles and lots of brown jasmine rice. Delicious, but so "unhealthy", these traditional diets with all those grains and little or no meat. Here's the requisite photo:

Does it really matter if the meat is processed here or in China? Our government is working hard to duplicate the "success" of meat inspection programs in other countries. From today's paper: USDA pilot program fails to stop contaminated meat
 

Dinner for one. สปาเà¸à¹‡à¸•à¸•à¸µà¹‰à¸‚ี้เมาหมู kee mao! spaghetti for drunks (paste of white pepper, garlic, cilantro roots, salt and Thai bird chillies fried in rendered pork fat made with with Szechuan peppercorns and star anise, stir fried with chopped pork, oyster sauce, sugar, golden mountain sauce. light soy, dark soy, fish sauce, etc., cherry tomatoes, green onion, jalapeno, holy basil, pickled green peppercorns, and spaghetti. Drunk instagram:

Here is a spicy Thai watermelon rind salad (video with English subtitles). The recipe is here, towards the bottom of the page.

May I ask how many people this meal fed? You refer to "a" friend; your description and the lovely picture would indicate six to eight people sat down to dinner.

There were four of us, my wife and I and our friend and her boyfriend. But yes, I made enough for 6-8 people. We have leftovers for at least two more meals .

Had a Thai friend over last night so I made some favorites. Sticky rice (ข้าวเหนียว) Green Papaya Salad (ส้มตำ) mixed vegetable curry/soup with lemon basil (à¹à¸à¸‡à¹€à¸¥à¸µà¸¢à¸‡) Grilled beef "waterfall" salad (ยำเนื้อน้ำตà¸) Beef stir fried with holy basil (เนื้อผัดใบà¸à¸°à¹€à¸žà¸£à¸²) Grilled Chicken (ไà¸à¹ˆà¸¢à¹ˆà¸²à¸‡) Omelet with shark siracha (ไข่เจียว) vegetables and jasmine rice.

Desert was Chocolate Coconut Macaroon Custard from the Dairy Godmother.

Mixed Dal (moong dal, masoor dal, toovar dal, urad dal, channa dal, shallots, garlic, ginger, salt, cinnamon stick, bay leaves, cumin seeds, turmeric, asafetida, tomatoes, ghee, green chillies, cilantro)

Okra with tomatoes (and onions, ginger, garlic, coriander, cumin, turmeric, hot pepper, black pepper, lime juice, salt)

Cucumber with shallots, tomato, lime juice, green chillies and salt.

Brown jasmine rice.

Almost all my spices probably come from India. But aside from black pepper on European food, I can't think of any other instance where I use spices raw. I too may be toasting my peppercorns before they go into the pepper mill.

In Arlington there is European Foods Import Export Inc at 2700 N. Pershing Drive "¢ Arlington, Virginia 22201 website:

http://www.brazilianportuguesefood.com/ They carry Brazilian stuff so they may have palm oil.

Also in Alexandria (West End near Duke and 395) there is Sierra International Foods 145 Duke St Ste C
Alexandria, VA 22304. I think this is an African grocery so they may also have palm oil.

I can't verify if either place actually carries palm oil, but maybe worth checking.