Thursday, March 31, 2011

GREEN Chicken Curry

I figure a good first post is the first dish I made in our new house where we actually sat at the table and used our new dishes.  It made me feel like we were "home."  I made this dish again night before last (with a few minor changes - that's the beauty of making do with what you have, it's a little different every time!) so it is fresh on my mind.


The first time I made Green Chicken Curry


The title of this post is the title of the recipe I followed (kinda) for the above dish.  I feel like the words should be rearranged; it sounds like the chicken is green.  Don't get me wrong green is an awesome color (my absolute favorite), but chicken should not be green; but they didn't ask me.  Oh well, the food still tasted awesome.  Here is the link to the recipe.  The main difference is I didn't use fish sauce (which apparently is made by adding some salt to fish and letting them ferment for 12 to 18 months... gross).  I read somewhere that you can substitute a mix of worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and lime juice for fish sauce.  The first time I made it I used soy sauce and little bit of juice from an orange... I figured orange is citrus like lime, better than nothing, and that's what I had.  The second time I used equal parts soy sauce and worcestershire sauce and a little bit of lemon juice, again, it's what I had.

Ingredients for the sauce the second time around (not pictured: green curry paste)


I also used "lite" coconut milk (pictured above) instead of regular, because my husband and I are trying to fight the newly wed weight gain.  It's like the freshman 15 in college, it just happens if you don't actively fight against it.  I was nervous about the bamboo shoots, but we both really liked them.  It was a relatively quick meal, I let mine simmer longer than the recipe says (out of necessity because my husband wasn't home yet) but, I think it made the bamboo shoots a little softer and the flavors meld together a little better... which we liked.

here it is melding together (it tastes WAY better than it looks)

The first time I put it over brown rice.  I cannot cook rice well.  I just haven't figured it out... I feel like it shouldn't be this hard.  I even used a rice cooker this time, I mean, it's supposed to just do it for you!  Nope, not for me... while it was probably the best rice I've ever cooked, it still was not quite right.  I did exactly what it told me and didn't open it until it was finished.  Freddie told me the directions aren't right, you have to open it and stir it twice... so I'll try that next time, I'm determined to conquer rice one day.  As for the second time, I just used whole wheat pasta instead.  I mainly used pasta instead of rice because it cooks WAY faster, and I was busy doing other things (like writing our first blog post with Freddie and trying to put together these bar stools) when I got home, and didn't put the rice on in time (my rice cooker takes about 105 minutes to cook brown rice).

The second time I made Green Chicken Curry

I feel like we should have some kind of rating system for our meals so we can know whether or not we want to try each others' dishes.  So, check out this page for the rating scale.

Here are my scores:
E:  9
A:  8 (because I'm weird like that - when I use the last can of coconut milk I add it to the grocery list)
T:  7 (only because of the rice)

HH: 8 - this is a guess... he says he really liked it, but he's never told me he really didn't like something (maybe I'm just that good, only time will tell).

Doesn't he look happy to you?

What are you cooking for dinner?  Let us know if you try this and how it goes!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

FOODIE FREDDIE FRENZY

What are you cooking for dinner?  That's the question the Freddies ask each other everyday.  We love to talk about awesome recipes we've found and what we did to make them more awesome.  So, we're starting this blog to document our dinner disasters and delights.  We want to share what makes our husbands happy (in the KITCHEN... for you dirty minded folk) and what makes us go to Newks.   Hopefully this will become a go to place for recipe swapping, sharing funny cooking stories, and learning something along the way.  So, you better feel free to comment and contribute your words of wisdom.  We want to learn from your successes and failures too, so please share.

Disclaimer:  Neither one of us is an expert.  We've never been (nor will we ever go) to culinary school.  Read and reproduce these recipes at your own risk.

What are you cooking for dinner?