We already know that Byron loves cheese bretzels. It should also be noted that he is a connoisseur of ham croissants, and is well known by all shops selling them in the area. He’s also very vocal and impatient if it doesn’t get in his bellah quickly enough.
[recipe] butter chicken
760g chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
150g yogurt
2.5 tsp (6g) chili powder
1 tsp (2g) turmeric
2 tsp (10g) lemon juice
1 tsp (2g) ground cumin
1 tbsp (7g) Garam masala
2 tsp (10g) sea salt
2-inch knob ginger grated
Curry Sauce:
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp (2g) Garam masala
1 tsp (2g) chili powder
1/2 tsp (1g) turmeric
1/2 tsp (1g) fenugreek powder
1 tbsp (13g) sugar
2 tbsp (28g) ghee
1 tbsp (15g) grated ginger
Salt to taste
400g crushed tomatoes
180ml heavy cream
30g unsalted butter
Fresh coriander for garnish
Marinade:
Place your chicken thighs in a bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly, ensuring the chicken gets completely coated with the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and reserve.
Curry Sauce:
Heat a 12” nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, add ghee; once melted, add your marinated chicken pieces and sear them on all sides until golden brown. Remove your chicken, place it on a baking sheet, and reserve.
Add your onions, season with salt, add ginger, and cook until softened in the same pan, stirring often, followed by Garam Masala, chili powder, turmeric, fenugreek powder, and sugar.
Add in your crushed tomatoes and reduce for 2 minutes. Place the onion mix in the blender and blend until smooth.
Place the sauce back in the pan, add your chicken, cover with a lid and simmer for seven minutes; add heavy cream and simmer till thickened.
Cut the heat, stir in butter, and season with salt to taste.
Serve your chicken over rice, optionally garnished with cilantro.
[recipe] Gazpacho
[recipe] Pork undumpling soup
Ingredients
60ml soy sauce
2 tbsp chili oil
3 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
4 green onions
15 square dumpling wrappers
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
500g ground pork
1 tsp salt
1 1″ piece ginger, peeled, finely grated
2 tbsp mirin
1l vegetable broth
1/2 small head of Napa cabbage, sliced about 1cm thick
Separate dark green parts from 4 green onions and thinly slice; set aside for serving. Thinly slice white and pale green parts; set aside separately. Cut 15 square dumpling wrappers into eighths by cutting on a diagonal from corner to corner to make an X, then cutting each triangle in half through the long side; set aside.
Heat sesame oil in a medium dutch oven. Add ground pork and salt and cook, stirring to combine and breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, 1 minute. Work pork into an even layer and cook, undisturbed, until a brown crust forms underneath, about 5 minutes. Add ginger and reserved white and pale green scallion parts and cook, stirring often and breaking up meat into smaller pieces, until combined and pork is cooked through, about 2 minutes. Add mirin and cook, scraping up any browned bits, 1 minute.
Add vegetable broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar and chili oil to pot, increase heat to high, and bring to a boil. Add reserved dumpling wrappers and cook until tender, about 2 minutes. Add cabbage and cook, stirring, just to wilt, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
Ladle soup into bowls; top with reserved onion greens.
[recipe] Chicken and dumpling soup
4 chicken legs and thighs
2 leeks
1 onion
1 stalk celery
1 carrot
1″ knob of ginger
1.5L of water
Handful of whole peppercorns
2 tsp salt
Simmer for 1h. Remove chicken pieces and shred meat off the bones. Strain and keep chicken stock.
180 g all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
180ml milk
2 tbsp freshly chopped chives
Salt & pepper
Mix together until just combined.
2 leeks, chopped in rounds
3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
1/2 small cabbage, sliced thinly
Saute veg to soften, 10m. Add stock and chicken meat. Bring to a simmer. Adjust seasoning as needed. Add quenelles of dumpling mix using 2 spoons. Simmer 20m.
Serve immediately.
Making pasta
Today has been a bubba-cuddle day
Given the election news from last night/this morning, I’ve been needing lots of Byron cuddles today.
Sometimes fear triumphs over hope.
Donald Trump has been elected the 47th president of the United States in a win that sent shockwaves through America and around the world. His victory in the 2016 US presidential election was described as a leap into the political unknown. This time there is no excuse.
Trump becomes the first convicted felon to win the presidency. He is also the oldest person ever elected to the office, and put aside his boasts of being a stable genius, recent campaign gaffes indicate otherwise. He was impeached. Twice. America knew that he was a criminal, serial liar and racist demagogue who four years ago attempted to overthrow the government. It voted for him anyway.
The result will sound alarm bells in foreign capitals given Trump’s chaotic leadership style and overtures to authoritarians such Putin of Russia and Kim Jong-un and Orban. He was branded a threat to democracy and even a fascist by his opponent and some of his own former White House officials. Those bells are now also ringing closer to home, with Trump having made campaign promises of mass deportation of immigrants, repeal of LGBTQ rights, female fertility autonomy rights, climate change policy u-turns, and revenge attacks against his political foes and the press.
Clingy, smoosh-faced dog