What's for dinner tonight?

I love Samosas. Yes, I mean I have an romantic attachment to them. My favorites are Matar Aloo, potato and green peas.

The basic samosa is made with flour and water, with or without a little salt added to the dough. I was never successful with the "hand patting" to form the raw chapati, so I roll them out on waxed paper, about 6" to 8" in diameter. For those not familiar with chapatis, it is nothing but a flour tortilla but with white and whole wheat flour mixed. I make the chapatis while the matar aloo masala is cooking and spread them out on waxed paper on the table. (I am in a wheel chair so I use the kitchen table instead of counter.)

Filling:

In Ghee (clarified butter) I saute 2 tsps corriandar, 1 tsp tumeric, 1 tsp cumin seed, 2 clove buds with salt and coarse black pepper to taste, then add 2 cups chopped onions, 2 cups chopped green pepper and 1 tbs chopped garlic in a dutch oven until it is fully cooked. With a hand potato masher I mash it all together and add about 1 cup water, or broth, add 2 cups bite sized chunks of potato (aloo) and cook until done, adding a little liquid if it cooks out. When the potatoes are done I add 1 cup cooked/canned green peas. Occasionally I add ghobi (small florets of cauliflower or shredded cabbage) about 10 minutes before potatoes are cooked. When the filling is cooled enough to handle I spoon the filling onto the raw chapatis. Be careful not to put too much filling to insure that when folded over the edges can be sealed well. In the old days I would then deep fry them until chapati was golden brown, but now adays I take the easy way out and bake them on an un-greased cookie sheet until done, about 25 minutes at 350. The fried are better but the baked have fewer calories.

If I have chapatis left over I bake them in a cast iron skillet on a hot burner until starting to puff in places. If I have aloo matar masala left over I use it as a side dish for dinner.

Samosas are best hot out of the grease/oven but I always make too many so they are a good snack in the evening with cold beer while watching a football game.

 

What is the difference between Indian Samosas and Mexican Empenadas? Seasoning; though I don't think I have ever eaten an Empenada which did not have meat. My preference is pulled pork cooked twice in chili powder, cumin and oregano along with sauteed onions and jalapeno or green chili peppers to desired piquante.

Using a Boston Butt roast, seasoned with garlic, salt and pepper cooked in a slow cooker, after which the meat is shredded, stir fried with the other ingredients in the recipe. For every pound of shredded meat I use 1 cup of chopped onions and 1 or 2 chopped jalapeno peppers, with salt and pepper to taste.

The same recipe for a tortilla as a chapati above. Use wheat flour (can be white, whole wheat or a mixture of the two) and water, with or without a little salt added to the dough. I was never successful with the "hand patting" to form the raw tortilla, so I roll them out on waxed paper, about 6" to 8" in diameter. I make the tortillas while the shredded meat is cooking with the onions and pepper, and spread them out on waxed paper on the table.

When the filling is cooled enough to handle I spoon the filling onto the raw tortillas. Be careful not to put too much filling to insure that when folded over the edges can be sealed well. In the old days I would then deep fry them until empenada was golden brown, but now adays I take the easy way out and bake them on an un-greased cookie sheet until done, about 25 minutes at 350. The fried are better but the baked have fewer calories. I like them hot served with a chili rellano, and Mexican fried rice and/or refritos frijoles.

Mexican Rice:

In a casserole I melt 1 tbs butter and brown the raw rice until golden, about 3 to 5 minutes, Add 1/2 cup chopped onion, 1/2 chopped green pepper, 1tbs chili powder and 1/2 tsp each cumin seed and salt. I add cayenne to my preferred piquante, 1/2 cup chunky salsa and 1.5 cups water or broth to the rice, mix well, reduce heat and cook on very low until rice is cooked. When I don't have a lot to time to tend the cooking I cover the casserole and put it in the oven at 350 until done.

 

Does anyone on this thread like "Cajun" Cooking? "Creole" Cooking?

BTW, I didn't know this for many years before we moved to Spain in 1976, but "Creole" Cooking is more Spanish than French. My first real taste of Spanish Cuisine was Congrejo Salsa Piquante. Congrejo is crawfish. Because most of the world had polluted their streams in the first half of the 20th century live red Louisiana Swamp crawfish were exported to reseed those streams and ponds. As it turned out over the years the native crawfish in Scandinavia cross bred (I'm not sure if it was purposeful or accidental) such that the Scandinavian now have crawfish they like. According to them the LA Red had too strong a flavor for their taste. Now China produces more LA Red crawfish than does LA.

 

I love to eat...lol. Leaning toward vegetarian, Indian cuisine is esp appealing, but now and then, a seafood gumbo or some crawfish etoufee is a must.

 

Oh Lord.. me too.............

 

Love it. I learned how to properly make Gumbo and Jambalaya in New Orleans. It was good before, just better after. My favorite is crawfish etoufeee but tonight it is Mexican pork.

 

Mama and Papa went to LSU with Justin Wilson back in the '20s. Contrary to popular belief he was not Cajun. He was a Yankee from Shreveport area. He did turn into a fair to middling cook but it was his method of talking about cooking that got him famous.

Some of his recipes start off with, "first you make a roux." For you non Cajun readers that is what gave him away. A real Cajun would say, "first you catch some crawfish." The roux comes second. So now that we have that straight, on with the recipe. I have broken it down to a small recipe to save time.

1 lb crawfish tails w/fat (that orange stuff just inside the head shell.)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 to 2 tablespoons chopped garlic (to taste)
salt and pepper to taste.

In dutch oven (I take a little heat here because some purists insist on drawn butter but even Cajuns worry about Cholesterol) heat 2 tbs canola oil and saute all but the crawfish.. Towards the end of that process add 1 peeled and mashed tomato (2-3 tbs chunky salsa). Here comes the preferential issue, some folks like a roux. If you prefer your sauce thick add 2 tbs flour while sauteing the veges and continue to stir while browning. Mr. Wilson would now add a heaping tbs red wine, but 1/4 cup will do just fine. Simmer until 20 minutes before serving then add crawfish, continuing to simmer until ready to eat. Serve over rice. You may note I do not put cayenne or red pepper in the mix. Mama never ever put in the red pepper while cooking and like most Cajun families it is always on the table so each can choose the burn one likes.

Now, just for you Mr/s Hoosier, New Orleans people don't really know how to make gumbo They make (and the qualification is important) NEW ORLEANS STYLE gumbo. I'll discuss the significance of that qualification later, but basically it is the difference between Cajun and Creole cuisine.

 

Best gumbo ever was by a church lady from MS, after we had breakfast bars for 2 weeks straight helping out right after Katrina. My mouth is still watering.

 

There are basically two kinds of Gumbo; New Orleans style which tends to be seafood Gumbo, and what is referred to in Cajun country as File' Gumbo. The two most obvious differences are the roux and okra. I like them both, but my favorite is File' Gumbo which can be seafood but can use virtually any kind of fowl, particularly wild, or game like squirrel or rabbit.

First shoot a duck, a rabbit or some squirrels.

2 lbs wild meat cut into pieces
2 cups onion
1 cup green pepper
2 tbs garlic
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup drawn butter or vegetable oil.
salt and pepper to taste.
file' to taste

In a dutch oven heat butter or oil to medium temperature and add flour. Using a spatula (flat end) gently stir until a rich brown color is attained. I prefer a dark roux, almost as dark as a Hershey bar. Turn off burner and add onions, pepper and garlic stirring for about 3 to 4 minutes. Add 2 to 3 quarts water and bring to simmer (quantity of water depends of whether you like a thick or thin gumbo). DO NOT LET IT COME TO A ROLLING BOIL. Let simmer for about 2 hours. I use a "flame tamer" on a gas burner. In a separate heavy skillet with just a little oil, brown meat. Depending on the kind of meat, it should be added to the Gumbo at various times. For shrimp add about 10 minutes before serving. Crawfish about 20 minutes. Duck, rabbit, squirrel or chicken about 1 hour before serving. Serve with just a little rice added to the bowl. Each individual should then add file' to taste.

For New Orleans style Gumbo:

1lb shrimp
1lb crawfish
1 lb raw crab claws
1/2 lb slices of pork sausage
2 cups onion
1 cup small sliced okra
1 cup green pepper
2 tbs garlic
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup drawn butter or vegetable oil.
salt and pepper to taste.

In a dutch oven heat butter or oil to medium temperature and add flour. Using a spatula (flat end) gently stir until a rich brown color is attained. I prefer a dark roux, almost as dark as a Hershey bar. Turn off burner and add onions, pepper and garlic stirring for about 3 to 4 minutes. Add 2 to 3 quarts water and bring to simmer (quantity of water depends of whether you like a thick or thin gumbo). DO NOT LET IT COME TO A ROLLING BOIL. Let simmer for about 2 hours. I use a "flame tamer" on a gas burner. Add okra, crab claws and sausage. For shrimp add about 10 minutes before serving. Crawfish about 20 minutes. Serve with rice.

 

Here is my gumbo recipe:

First step, make the roux

Easy, no-burn Baked Roux

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups flour

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the vegetable oil and flour into a 5 to 6-quart cast iron Dutch oven and whisk together to combine. Place on the middle shelf of the oven, uncovered, and bake for 1 1/2 hours, whisking 2 to 3 times throughout the cooking process.

Then, build the gumbo,

Ingredients
• 1 1/2 cups Medium Dark Roux
• 2 cups diced onions
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 cup diced green bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
• 2 quarts shrimp, crab or chicken stock
• 1 small can tomato paste
• 1 pound andouille sausage, sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds, browned in a skillet, and drained on paper towels
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• Dash hot sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash
• 1/2 pound crabmeat, or imitation crabmeat
• 1/3 cup green onion tops, chopped
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped parsley leaves
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup file powder, or to taste
• Steamed White Rice, for serving
Directions
Add the roux into the stockpot, turn up heat to low simmer, add the onions, celery and bell pepper. Stir mixture until onions begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook for 1 minute. Slowly pour in stock, whisking constantly to prevent lumps from forming. Add the browned sausage, bay leaves, Worcestershire, hot sauce, cayenne,tomato paste, salt, and pepper.
Bring gumbo to a boil, reduce heat to medium and simmer until gumbo is slightly reduced, about 50 minutes. (Gumbo should cook long enough for the roux flavor to mellow and for any floury taste to dissipate.)

. Stir in the seasoned shrimp, crabmeat, green onions, parsley, thyme and basil. Cook until shrimp are cooked through, about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary (cayenne). Sprinkle in file powder and cook, stirring, 2 minutes more, or pass file at the table for guests to thicken as desired. Remove bay leaves before serving.
Serve in warmed soup bowls over steamed white rice.


FYI,
I JUST finished a bowl of this, and it is well worth the work.

 

Sounds like good gumbo, but as you said a lot of work. I do like the green onions and fresh parsley added before serving as well. I am not an andouille sausage fan so I use pork sausage.

 

Do you make your own pork sausage?

 

Sometimes, but mostly I buy a local brand with sage. When I make my own I make like small meat balls and bake them before putting them in gumbo. My favorite is from wild boar, but it is so lean I add bacon fat to the meat as I grind it. I used to really sweat over cooking, lots of work involved, but since I retired from the Army my life has gotten so busy I have short cut many recipes to the bare essentials. The strange part is, there seems to be very little difference in the end result. Try this one:

I just noticed an article on Yahoo about slow cookers. One of my favorite slow cooker meals is Creole Chicken. Easy and delicious. Like many other recipes I have used over the years I have looked to simplification for those with a busy life style. This one is like that.

Chicken Salsa Piquante

2 lbs chicken (skin off cut into pieces)
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped green pepper
1 cup chopped celery
2 cups diced tomato
2 tbs chopped garlic
3 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup chopped green onions
1 cup sliced mushrooms

Put every thing but green onions and mushrooms in slow cooker on low before going to work in the morning. Add green onions and mushrooms as soon as you get home, cook the rice and get ready to eat.

 

Sounds yummy.
I have an issue with cleanliness, and if I don't know who made the sausage or what is in it, i won't eat it. I have a tendency to sniff out local butcher stores and don't mind one bit to look behind the curtain.

 

When we lived in El Paso, TX we used to shop at a meat market in Zaragosa, Mexico. We only bought solid meats, no sausage and no ground or chopped meat, even though the Ft Bliss inspectors checked it out at least once a week. Since I always cook sausage it is likely not a problem, but I am like you, I want to know what I am eating.

 

BTW, if you like shrimp creole make it the same way except don't put the shrimp in until you put in the green onions and mushrooms. And taste for acidity, and if too tarte add a spoon of sugar to tone it down.

 

I have in the not so distant past used a product branded PicSweet seasoning blend. Our Walmart has it in the frozen vegetable locker. It contains chopped onions, sweet pepper, celery and a little parsley, combined in good ratio for most things. I have even gone so far as do my own chopping and made two pots of the same thing and no one can tell the difference. Some recipes need a little different ration so I keep storage bags of the individual ingredient freeze dried such that I can uses what ever quantity I want from any different ingredient I want.

 

I am curious if you have a favorite Saag Paneer recipe. I have the paneer part down (8 cups whole milk to 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice) , but am interested what spices you use for the spinach.

Thank you

 

One of my very favorite foods is Crawfish Bisque. Depending on availability of crawfish, shrimp or lobster or even any of several kinds of fish can be substituted, but the very best is crawfish.

3 lbs crawfish tails

Bisque ingredients:

1 cup flour
1 cup solid vegetable oil (Or 1 cup drawn butter)
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped sweet pepper
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped green onion
1/2 cup chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste

Boule' ingredients:
1 lb tails
1/2 cup green onions
1/4 cup parsley
1 cups the white inner part of a french bread
salt and pepper to taste.

In grinder add a small handful of crawfish meat; a little green onions, parsley and bread and grind together. Repeat until all of that 1 lb of crawfish is used. Add salt and pepper and remix thoroughly. If it is too dry, mix in one raw egg. Make small meat balls from the mixture. Bake or fry to set.

To make the roux, in dutch oven, heat oil, add flour and make a roux by slowly stirring flour into heated oil until the desired brown. I like a dark roux which is almost the color of a Hershey bar. Be careful not to scorch. (Earlier someone suggested putting the flour and oil mixture into a dutch oven and cooking it in the oven stirring occasionally. That works too) Add all of the vegetables and clear cook the vegetables. Salt and pepper to taste. Add 2 to 3 quarts of water and bring to a light boil slowly. Simmer only as a heavy boil can separate the roux.

Grind 1 of the 2 lbs left of the crawfish tails and add to the gumbo when it comes to a simmer. About a half hour before serving as the last lb of crawfish tails and the meat balls. Serve with a little rice.

 

I don't always measure other than just by the look like. I use a mixture of 1 part cumin seed, 2 parts Corriandar, 1 part turmeric, 1 part ginger and cayenne to taste.

Our cook used fenugreek mixed with the spinach but it isn't readily available where I live in small town USA.

In my opinion the most important part of the spices is frying them in drawn butter (ghee) before adding them to the spinach. I also add some yogurt to the mixture of spices and spinach. Sour cream will do well also.

About once a month when I run out of my combined spices I make about a pint of the above mixture. Sometimes I add some ground clove and somethings whole pepper corns or coarse ground black pepper. Since I cook Indian frequently I find it simpler just to use a pre mixed masala blend. If I am looking for a change I may add cardamom. I also don't use as much cayenne as I like when I cook so I make a cup of cayenne paste by adding cayenne to canola oil and cooking it for a while before putting it into a jar for cooking. I raise my own hot peppers as well and sometimes instead of the cayenne paste I put the whole dried peppers in the spice mix. The cooked result does not put as much pepper heat in the sauce and one can eat or not eat the peppers depending on taste.

 

I also like gosht saag wala. for one pound of lamb, cubed to bite size, use 1 cup onion, 1 tbs garlic. Fry about 2 tbs of the spice mixture as in the last post, add the lamb and brown then add onions and garlic. Add 3 cups raw spinach and stir fry for a while slowly adding yogurt and liquid and heat to simmer. If you have everything in your fridge but the fresh spinach canned will do, you just have to add the spinach while cooking to get the right mix of spinach, spices, lamb then salt and pepper to taste. I tend to use whole dried peppers instead of ground cayenne in this because my wife doesn't like it too hot and eating the peppers is hot enough for me. I usually eat this with pulao (rice cooked with spices) on the side. When I make pulao, I stir fry 1 cup raw rice in ghee, then add meat or shrimp to the rice during the and stir fry of the rice, then mix 1/2 cup chunky salsa with 1.5 cups of water or broth and using a flame tamer slowly cook rice until done. If I get lazy and don't want to watch the rice too closely I cook it in an oven proof pot with a cover and cook it in the oven while making everything else.

 

I am trying something new today. Not new as a food, but new as to cooking it at home. I melted 2 tbs butter, added 1 tsp ground cayenne, 1/2 cup very finely chopped onion, 1/2 cup sweet pepper (or green chilies) and 2 tsps garlic. (I usually zip the onion and garlic and peppers in an electric chopper/blender). I add a small can of tomato paste and a little salt and stir fry it all for about 5 minutes. I am boiling the shells of 1 lb of shrimp in just a little water and will reduce the liquid to about 1/2 cup. Shortly before I serve it I will fry the shrimp in butter, add the shrimp to the tomato mixture and add the reduced liquid slowly stirring it in until I get the thickness I want in the sauce. I plan to serve it on white rice with hot flour tortillas and a guacamole salad.

 

I melted 2 tbs butter, added 1 rounded tsp ground cayenne, 1/2 cup very finely chopped onion, 1/2 cup sweet pepper (or green chilies) and 2 tsps garlic. (I usually zip the onion and garlic and peppers in an electric chopper/blender). I add a small can of tomato paste and a little salt and stir fry it all for about 5 minutes. I tried to do too many things at the same time and burned my shrimp shells. Shortly before I serve it I will fry the shrimp in butter, add the shrimp to the tomato mixture and add 1 tbs lime juice and water slowly stirring it in until I get the thickness I want in the sauce. I plan to serve it on white rice with hot flour tortillas and a guacamole salad. It should be a relatively thick sauce.

The sauce came out really good, and the shrimp were delicious. The result was not quite as hot as some I have eaten but way to hot for my wife; so I just added shrimp and olive oil to the butter and garlic and made her scampi and a baked potato.

 

I am no fan of seafood with tomato. Not sure why, but that's the way it is. Fish/shellfish is best as pure and simple as possible.
But I might try it with chicken perhaps.

 

It is a Mexican dish called Shrimp a la the devil. I also like shrimp creole which is cooked with tomatoes and green peppers, It would be good with chicken. I think I would add a little chicken broth to thin the sauce more, but that is only my personal taste.