taina

i made garam masala today. it is readily available as a ready-to-use powder in stores, but it's more fun to make it yourself, y'know? and i have all these whole spices that i don't use much – especially black cardamom, nutmeg, and fennel, i'm very happy whenever an occasion presents itself to use those.

also, i'm given to understand that garam masala is one of those things that every household has its own recipe for that they swear by, which just makes it feel very appropriate that i make it myself. i used a recipe, of course, but with a few changes: two spices i don't have and just left out, one inadequate but probably harmless substitution, and slightly increased quantities of spices i particularly like (coriander seed) or have more of than i'm ever likely to need (black cardamom).

the recipe says garam masala is very easy to make at home. it's uncomplicated, sure, but easy it is not, at least if you don't have a spice grinder. i spent four hours pounding spices with my trusty mortar and pestle (which, by the way, has over the years proven to be a way better investment than i imagined when i bought it). four hours pounding two rocks together for just a few teaspoons of powder...

can't wait to make some real nice chole masala!

i saw a recipe for mango coconut curry and i was like "hey didn't i see mangoes on discount? i should do that!" turned out mangoes were not on discount after all, so i made pear curry instead. it's not too bad! it would probably be better with riper pears. peach might also be a good option, with better colour.

latest in food experimentation: i wanted to cook something with orange. i use lime juice often enough and sometimes lemon, so why not orange juice? what i settled on was black beans with cocoa (so far so good), and orange. i expected it to be either Very Good, or the worst bonbon ever, no in between. it actually did turn out in between. mostly okay, a little weird. i could've left out the orange. the cocoa is staying though, next time i make beans.

a genuine diary extract:

Je ne comprends pas la hype des asperges. Ça me semble une obsession bourgeoise d'un légume qui n'a rien d'extraordinaire. Elles sont un produit de luxe parce qu'elles sont chères (est-ce que les asperges sont chères ? vérifier), elles coûtent cher parce que leur culture et récolte sont laborieuses et que la demande est forte, et la demande est créée part leur statut de luxe.

nowadays i try to be mostly vegetarian — or maybe flexitarian is more accurate, because i may eat meat when i'm visiting someone. at home i've been more or less pescetarian, but i'm phasing fish out as well. i'll use up the oyster sauce i still have, because throwing it away would be a waste too, but i find that real oyster sauce is very replaceable; vegetarian oyster sauce does just fine. however, the one thing i don't think i'll ever give up is fish sauce (nước mắm). if i need to make a dish vegetarian or vegan for a dinner guest, it can be replaced with Chinese light soy sauce and the dish will turn out all right, but it's really not the same.

i've previously described how i came in possession of way too much mustard seed. in my attempts to find uses for it, i trying adding some to masala chai. the first attempt was unsatisfying in that it wasn't particularly great, but i couldn't really discern a difference from my usual masala chai. so like, basically it wasn't cursed enough, is what i'm saying. so today i tried it again but with a lot more mustard seed. like a whole teaspoon. the verdict: this is bad and wrong and should not exist. in other words, a successful food crime!

i made Burmese chickpea tofu yesterday! it was pretty easy to make the tofu, but frying it was much more difficult and i never quite figured out the best way to do it. although it did end up tasting great and having a wonderful texture, so i must have done something right!

as a byproduct, i'm left with a load of dry crumbly chickpea matter, which seems like a shame to throw away. i'm thinking i'll try to use it for falafel, although a lot of the Good Chickpea Stuff has been pressed out. we'll see! this is great timing too, because vegan products are on discount in Lidl this week and just yesterday i bought some ready falafel. at least it can be frozen.

i'm definitely also going to try my hand at regular soy tofu at some point.

(oh no, i can't believe i'm reviewing cheeses now, that's so pretentious...)

Lidl had all kinds of cheeses in the limited-time selection so i decided to give Camembert a try. (mostly because it was one of the cheapest ones tbh)

my initial reaction is: it tastes like cabbage, but not in a good way. like it's really amazing just how cabbagey it smells and tastes. is that what Camembert is supposed to taste like? i hope it'll grow on me or at least taste tolerable on bread.

i love the cooking instructions on noodle packaging with their weird overly formal translations, with things like "subsidiary food" (i see that one quite often) and "Extra addition of meat and vegetables are suggested for palatable enhancement"