All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.
-- Oscar Wilde
I'm not working hard right now. I'm listening to To the Best of Our Knowledge
online, reading
Oscar Wilde quotes, and sipping chamomile mint tea. It doesn't seem such a bad way to spend Sunday
night.
The following recipes have seen recent use.
- Beef (I used about a quarter pound -- tofu would probably work, too)
- Small onion
- Mushrooms (ordinary cut)
- Garlic (2-4 cloves)
- Ginger (perhaps half as much as the garlic)
- Soy sauce
- Black bean sauce (half a spoon)
- Red bell pepper (one)
- Hot peppers (I used two serrano)
- Baby corn (half a can)
- Vegetable oil (a couple teaspoons -- I use olive oil)
- Sesame oil (maybe half a teaspoon)
Cut up the beef (or tofu) into a bowl. Dice or grate the ginger; crush and dice the garlic. Mix the ginger, garlic, and black bean sauce with the meat, then douse liberally with soy sauce. Put the bowl aside to blend for a little while.
Dice the onion, bell pepper, and hot peppers. Heat the olive oil and sesame oil in the pan, then start the onions. When it smells ready, throw everything else in -- the meat, the peppers, and the baby corn. Let it cook until it smells done.
- Green beans
- Peanuts
- Garlic cloves
- Soy sauce
- A little oil
Put a little oil in the pan. Dice up some garlic and throw it in, too. Cut up the green beans. Put in peanuts -- I use a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio of peanuts to green beans (by volumes). Cook on the stove on high, seasoning with soy sauce to taste.
- Red cabbage (half a head or a whole head)
- Plenty of vinegar (white vinegar, cider vinegar, rice vinegar, balsamic, or some combination thereof)
- Salt, pepper, and garlic to taste.
Drop everything in the pan. Heat until the red cabbage is flexible and the vinegar is bright purple with the cabbage juice. Don't skimp on the vinegar. Add salt and pepper as you cook, tasting frequently to make sure it still tastes right.
- Plain yogurt
- Diced fruit
- Honey
- Cinnamon
Mix honey into the yogurt to taste. I use perhaps a teaspoon of honey per half cup of yogurt, but I like the yogurt tart; the ratio also depends on the type of yogurt you use. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top, enough so that you can see distinct swirls when you stir things up. Put the yogurt over top of the fruit or mix the fruit into the yogurt, whichever way seems most appealing.
- Two cans of black beans
- One large can of tomatoes (use fresh tomatoes in season)
- One large onion
- Garlic (2-4 cloves)
- Salt
- Lime juice (or a lime)
- Cumin
- Chili powder
- Hot peppers to taste
Saute the onion and garlic. Add the black beans and tomatoes and squirt in a generous amount of lime juice, or just cut a lime in quarters, squeeze the majority of the juice over the beans, and then toss what remains of the fruit into the pot. Sprinkle the top of the mix with equal parts cumin and chili powder, enough to get a film over the top of the entire pot. Add salt to taste. Throw in a bay leaf or two if you fancy it, simmer until your hungry or you're finished with other dishes, and eat. Goes great with rice. You might want to fish out the limes before you eat, though.
All recipes go well with a half cup of adaptation before and a cup of tea after.
- Currently drinking: Chamomile and mint