Breath of the Wild #19: Prime Spiced Meat Skewer

Ingredients: Raw Prime Meat, Goron Spice

Description: "The simple preparation of this steak dish belies its complex taste profile.."

So, I was originally going to pick some sort of "intermediate" quality meat for this "prime" quality recipe and use steak for the "gourmet" quality... but then I noticed the description, it clearly says "this steak dish."! Fine, steak it is! I dunno what i'll do for next recipe, lamb i guess?

Last time the spice mix was a bit dry and earthy, so this time i'm tweaking it up for something fancier! I got some plain yogurt, lemon juice, curry powder, cayenne pepper, garam masala, black pepper & coriander seed, cumin seed, and salt.

Mix it all up and itll coat the meat nice and easily! It was looking a little pale so i added an extra pinch of turmeric too actually.

I picked a rump steak because I hoped it would be nice and tender but still meaty.

I think I will have just enough for 2 skewers. Not bad for that price actually!

Yep plenty on there, ready to go in and grill. Let's hope I don't overcook it for once, but at least its fresh beef!

*****

Have I finally done a perfect meat skewer!? after... how many recipes?? I managed to get the meat medium-well I think, keeping it properly grilled but still tender and juicy. The sour yogurt and lemon juice is just what the earthy curry spice needed to give it a more complex flavour. We've set the bar a bit high now, it might be downhill for the gourmet meat. Still, this is the one to do again. And maybe that satay one, that was pretty good.

Delicious in Dungeon #30: "Memories of the Fifth Floor" Pilaf

 There's something lurking in the corridor.. tricking us into using up our leftovers..

So... unlike some of the previous grouped up meals, I really want to split these next 3 recipes up. They just seem complex and standalone enough to do each one justice.

I've got some leftover rice (its sushi rice actually with a little seasoning already), some grated mandrake and chopped mushrooms from the freezer, and cockatrice - but wait, its not breast meat this time, its from the snake part! I can't get snakemeat but I got tuna steak.

I guess i'm allowed to do what I want with the spices. I wanna do something that says "pilaf" but not just curry rice... I'm following my heart and using star anise, cardamom, dried coriander, salt & pepper. And some butter to cook it all in. No garlic!? That's right, no garlic or onion, I want to try letting these other flavours shine instead.

Once the cockatrice snake (tuna) is starting to cook I'll add the veg. I think I was too hasty though, I should have defrosted the tuna  and cooked it patiently as its actually taking a while to cook and im just stabbing it into pieces with my spatula instead of letting it flake naturally, while my frozen veg are cooking fast.

Oh I just had a thought!? I've not added any heat really. I don't want it to be "a spicy dish" so ill just dump in some mild chilli powder, ive got loads of this stuff.

I'm adding warm water occasionally as its browning a little too well on the outside, we need the tuna to be fully cooked and then we can add the rice at the end.

As you can see, the rice is picking up all the spices well. My arm is getting tired from stirring it around!

*****

It's so comforting, spicy and woody. I went and selected flavours based on what I was craving that day, and it really hit the spot! I'm not normally a fan of mushrooms but even though they made a big impact on the flavour, the way they paired with the anise and coriander and tuna just really worked.

Stardew Valley #79: Tropical Curry

Ingredients: Coconut, Pineapple, Hot Pepper

Item Description: An exotic, fragrant curry served in a pineapple bowl.

Soo, this is the recipe I'm most excited for on this entire list. I love a thai style curry, I love sweet and sour, and I love the aesthetics of fruit. I've got a pineapple (which I got free with a voucher!), some massaman curry paste, coconut milk, hot pepper, bell pepper, spring onion, bamboo shoot, prawns, coriander, and jasmine rice.

I had to figure out how to get into this sewn up cloth bag lol... shove some rice in the steamer while we make everything else.

I already had some chopped vegetables from my freezer but I wanted to chop these up a bit more. And the chilli too.

Thats the spring onion, bell pepper, hot pepper and bamboo shoots. I want to try and get this to brown a bit in the pan before we fill it with sauce.

Now!!! Intimidating part... I've never cut a pineapple before, especially not into a bowl shape! It smells nice and ripe so that's a good start.

Whoa... that actually went well. I just cut around the insides and dug under it with a spoon, and then scraped out the rest. Just like a pumpkin, maybe even easier? Is this going to be watertight enough?

I read somewhere that you cut out the hard middle part, so I did that. slice up the soft bits and im just going to put some of it, about 1/3 of 1/2 of the pineapple in with those veggies I was browning.

I don't think these will ever get that crispy but they are looking nicely cooked, and just BEHOLD how tropical this already looks. 

Time to put in half the jar of curry and the whole can of coconut milk... and TRY NOT TO SPILL ANY OF IT DOWN THE SIDE WHICH YOULL HAVE TO CLEAN UP LATER WHEN THE HOB IS COOLED DOWN AND ITS COOKED ONTO THE SURFACE

The prawns are pre-cooked so we can put these in near the end after letting the curry stew for a little while.

And the chopped coriander too, and cook till its heated up again after dumping in all those frozen prawns.

I wasn't sure how to present the rice, but... there's actually quite a lot of space in this pineapple, so we can totally just line the bottom with it, might help keep it watertight as well.

Fruity curry is looking done, time to grab the ladle.

*****

It's divine! It was everything I hoped it would be. Fun to prepare and easier than I expected. Sweet and tangy but not overpoweringly pineapple-y, a good kick of heat but you could also taste the hints of clove and cardamom from the curry sauce. "Exotic and fragrant" for sure. 

Super Paper Mario: Saffron & Dyllis Super Show #78: Koopa Pilaf

 Koopa Pilaf is made from TURTLEY LEAF and HORSETAIL

For the horsetail we've got some more asparagus, and then for the leaf I want to make it a focal point again, so I though an indian style mint rice! I found a nice recipe online to work with so we've got fresh mint, coriander, green chilli, garlic, ginger, and pistacio nuts! And forgot to picture but also some grated coconut (i had desiccated coconut in my cupboard) and lemon juice. Oh and the rocket and tomatoes are just for garnish at the end!

Oh and gotta raid the spice boxes for a ton of spices!

Yeah im reasonably well kitted out for this. Got curry leaves, cloves, cumin seed, star anise and cardamom. Starting it in the proper indian style by frying the spices a bit first.

meanwhile ive roughly chopped the paste ingredients to get them started and then ill blend them: the green chilli, desiccated coconut,  ginger, garlic, coriander and mint

Yeah this looks pasted enough! And the asparagus and pistachio nuts can get in the pan next to brown.

if ur wondering why im using my tamagoyaki pan the answer is... idk its just really nice isnt it

Now we add the mint paste and let me tell you this smells and looks fuckin incredible! since i didnt have any whole cinnamon ive added a pinch of powder at the end and a squeeze of lemon juice.

now we measure out a decent batch of rice, add everything from the pan and some water so now it looks like SLUUUDGE (but it still smells incredible)

And after 25 mins in the steamer and a toss around with a fork its done!

*****

Soo aromatic and with a ton of depth to the flavour! It is still ultimately more of a side dish, so its a little dry and doesn't pack a punch, though the pistachio and asparagus pairs really well with a nice burst of flavour. But I would recommend rather than a rocket garnish maybe pair it with a rich curry, some smoky lamb meatballs or even just some more finely diced tomatoes.

Cooking Mama's Cooking Challenge #27: Curried Pilaf

I'll have to make my best guess about what kind of rice preparation as that's not included in the recipe. I'll be using steamed basmati (long grain) rice with no extra seasoning.

Slice an onion!

No time to do rice cooking but we got the 3 stages of onion dicing once again.

Slice!

once again im doing 2 onions cause they're smallish and like, there's no other veg.

Chop up!

not even peas!!! curry pilaf without peas...

Peel the shrimp!

i aint need to peel no shrimp i got my frozen legion of micropeens

Chop up!

these dont need to be any smaller imo STRAIGHT IN THERE

Saute!

I'm cooking these in a bit of butter tbh, i dont really like to go in that dry when frying onions and rice. Plus butter is more indian style than sesame oil or whatever.

Saute!

When the onion and prawns are looking appetising we throw in the rice, salt and pepper and a generous helping of curry powder.

Finish!

****

Bit dry mate. Nah its pretty nice though. Would make more sense to cook the rice in stock with a bayleaf and some turmeric and cardamom if have thought, but this is still really delicious just as is. You could punch it up a bit with some sliced apple, or almonds and raisins.