Cooking Experiments!

[Lethal Interjection]

I should say that my Dulce De Leche Chocolate Cheesecake Squares turned out quite admirably, perhaps even superbly, considering my lack of baking experience.

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

Bake more.

A curry that I've just invented is nearing completion and I'm a little terrified by how good it already smells/tastes. My housemate got me some fenugreek leaves, which I hadn't been able to find before, so I wanted to make something nice with them.

Liri's Curry
- toast some mustard seeds in a pan w/olive oil, remove when browned
- saute onions w/more olive oil, when starting to brown add garlic and a tablespoon of butter
- chop up some Nackled or unsalted pistachios (if Nackled, add less Nackle later) and add them to the onions and garlic along with the mustard seeds
- add 2/4 of a cup or so diced tomatoes and about a tablespoon tomato paste, mix well and let some water evaporate off
- add about half a cup yogurt (I chose Greek cause I had it)
- crush up some fenugreek leaves (assuming they're dried) and add them
- prepare rice
- add cayenne and Nackle to taste

Serve over rice. Eating first bites now hot damn this is good.

[Lethal Interjection]

Damnable pistachios are so good and so expensive. Here, at least. I wish I could afford them for snacking or cooking.

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

The ones I used were part of a present from my parents. They aren't the cheapest nut here, either. I wanted to add some protein to the curry that wasn't garbanzo beans and I didn't want to spend a few hours making paneer; the pistachios seemed like a good option.

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

One of my friends posted a picture of a crumb cake he baked, which made me really hungry so I made one. I didn't leave it in quite long enough (still tested clean) and I stirred the crumb mixture a little too much so it lost some of it's crumblyness before adding it on top of the batter part. It still tastes great though. I had some with breakfast this morning and I think getting to sit for a bit improved it a lot.

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

I got a coffee presspot from my parents a couple months ago*. I never really made coffee before then but I've gotten okay-ish at it. Been experimenting adding various spices (cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, etc.) to the grounds. Made some sugar cookies last night with nut oils (also a gift) replacing butter in part and some oats. Dipping the cookies in the aforementioned coffee is pretty ace.

*exactly 2 months ago

[DonRetrasado]

Today I Cooked a Meal! Two eggs fried sunny-side up and a bit of fried red bell pepper, with frozen meatballs, cucumber slices and some toast. Ate with taco sauce and sriracha. Altogether it was pretty good, and I'm thinking of ways to improve it (more peppers and vegetables, avocado, fresh meat, less egg, home-made pico de gallo...).

I got a coffee presspot from my parents a couple months ago*. I never really made coffee before then but I've gotten okay-ish at it. Been experimenting adding various spices (cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, etc.) to the grounds.

I know a little about coffee so if you ever want to learn how to improve your coffee experience, you can ask me (I think I mentioned this before and I never heard back from you).

I used to make flavoured coffee sometimes but I generally drink it black now. French presses are great for making flavoured coffee, though. It works pretty much like a tea infuser so you can throw whatever stuff you want in there (even tea, if you're a maniac).

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

Uh, I uh, um. Probably didn't like coffee as much then so I forgot about it. I also didn't have a coffee-making implement before.

I bought pre-ground because I forgot my housemate has a coffee grinder, and I think I got too fine of a grind (there's some silty residue at the bottom of my mugs). It's not really an issue though. One thing though - I'm not totally certain about coffee:water ratios; sometimes the final product seems a little too watery (tastes fine).

edit: forgot why I came here, I'm making bagels! The dough is currently rising. Going to make a couple plain/Nackled, about half cinnamon-sugar, and the rest everything.

[Apocalyptus]

I'm making bagels! The dough is currently rising. Going to make a couple plain/Nackled, about half cinnamon-sugar, and the rest everything.

Yum. Are you doing sourdough or plain yeast bagels? I tried once and they turned out nicely, but not as dense and smooth as proper bagels.

I will probably try again some time soon, however I just want to find a place that sells malt first.

[Liriodendron_fagotti]

I'm making bagels! The dough is currently rising. Going to make a couple plain/Nackled, about half cinnamon-sugar, and the rest everything.

Yum. Are you doing sourdough or plain yeast bagels? I tried once and they turned out nicely, but not as dense and smooth as proper bagels.

I will probably try again some time soon, however I just want to find a place that sells malt first.

Yeast. I did 3/4 whole wheat and 1/4 white flour, which worked pretty well. The recipe called for malt syrup, but I could only find powdered malt extract at the one store I checked*. They're pretty darn dense, but I let the dough rise for a lot longer than the listed 20 minutes, so they aren't quite as bagel-y on the inside as they maybe could be. The outsides are great though.

I had a hell of a time finding bagels in Sydney.

*which apparently works better, but you need to change the amounts slightly

[Astrogirl]

Bagels are nice. Very hard to find in Germany unfortunately.

[Apocalyptus]

I had a hell of a time finding bagels in Sydney.

I'm assuming you mean good bagels, cause shitty bagels are pretty much at every supermarket.

There's an area in Melbourne with a sizable Jewish population that has multiple shops that do pretty good bagels, but one of my friends who went to Canadia says she can't even eat Melbourne bagels anymore because they're just not even in the same league as the super delicious ones she had in Canadia.

[Lethal Interjection]

I had a hell of a time finding bagels in Sydney.

I'm assuming you mean good bagels, cause shitty bagels are pretty much at every supermarket.

There's an area in Melbourne with a sizable Jewish population that has multiple shops that do pretty good bagels, but one of my friends who went to Canadia says she can't even eat Melbourne bagels anymore because they're just not even in the same league as the super delicious ones she had in Canadia.

That's interesting. I wonder if they were Montreal bagels. Which typically share the bagel crown with the New York bagel (which I assume are essentially said Jewish bagels). Quite different, but both are very loved. I mean I can believe that Canadian bagels are generally better than Aussie ones, but with such high praise I imagine we are talking something reasonably close to the 'source'.

[Apocalyptus]

Yeah I think it was Montreal, definitely somewhere with a French-Canadian population because she did tell me one time about the religion oriented French-Canadian swearwords like 'Tabarnac'.

[DonRetrasado]

I did have some great bagels and a pretzel from Fairmont Bagel in Montreal. It was wild staying just down the street from several nice bars and two 24-hour bakeries. I think that's considered "entrapment".