Rendang Chicken

This is my first proper curry from scratch.  I spent my Saturday evening making the curry paste, frying it in the pan, watching it reduce with the coconut milk and then leaving it to stew for two hours, stirring every now and then. And that was one of the best Saturday evenings I've had in a while.

Mattar Tofu

I'm so envious of people who can just wing it when it comes to spices.  With spices, especially in Indian cooking, I need to follow the recipe like a robot. I'm scared of making adjustments, because I'd mess up the harmonious balance of flavors.  Indian cooking's difficult and I'd argue that it's one of the most difficult cuisines to cook.  Using 7 different spices in a dish and creating the perfect symphony of flavors where all of them sing individually and together is a skill I yearn to have.  I have a very well stocked cupboard with all the lovely spices but I'm just lazy to cook Indian food because I hate following recipes so strictly.  Well, we all have to start somewhere.

Zingy Butternut Squash

I've missed eating homecooked meals.  I hadn't in a long time as I had been working two jobs in Edinburgh.  I was hostessing at restaurant A and I was waitressing at restaurant B, both jobs were making me slightly miserable (perhaps A more so than B), but they were both just to get some money and last Saturday I was fired from both.  So now I have all the time in the world to cook for myself.   Look at how beautiful this butternut squash dish is.  It's got all these wonderful things like spring onions and lime and ginger and just look at the colors.  I really can only describe it as full of "zing". It's like a more summery/springy take on this winter root veg.

*Sigh*.  Ok, here's how I actually got fired from both jobs because it's quite entertaining.

Indian-Spiced Potato Pie

I'm not very good with spices.  We didn't spice a lot in our household - being Italian and Northern Chinese.  However, I've been watching Masterchef and there have been these challenges where John Torode (the presenter) makes some complex dish - like last time some Indian potato cakes and chickpeas - and then asks the contestants to recreate it. That made me nervous and sad, because I wouldn't be able to do it.  So then I looked up a bunch of Indian recipes and eventually tried making this filo Indian-spiced pie.

I can't believe I'm updating Happy Belly so often.  I have four essays and two exams left this semester and it's just not happening.  It's just one more month.  I don't even know, I feel kind of guilty for not doing work but at the same time strangely enough I don't really care.  Maybe I'm just exhausted.  Three and a half years of studying something I have no interest in and I can't get over the last hurdle.  This is when I give up. Hah. 

Tomato and Egg Stir-Fry (西红柿炒鸡蛋）

After a long, dreadful, sleepless journey, I'm back in Beijing.

The thing is I just can't sleep on planes.  You know what it is? Babies. Stupid babies.  I've developed an ugly hatred for babies on planes.  To be fair, I don't actually blame them.  It must be painful with the air pressure, and I used to be one of those screaming babies on planes myself.  I blame the parents for bringing them. 

I see a simple solution to the problem -- charge extra for babies.  Babies fly for free -- they're essentially an extra carry-on.  They're crying hand luggage.  Yes, they don't take up any space, but they cause so much negative externality to the other passengers on the plane, that in order for your other customers to have a pleasant journey, you must reduce the number of crying babies on planes.  And the best way to change behavior involves money -- so by charging extra, people will think twice about bringing their 5-month-old's to the next holiday.

Eggplant and Chickpea Curry

I am really enjoying this vegan thing, I like challenging myself when I cook, and this has proven to be quite..challenging.  It's fun looking for vegan recipes and discovering all these new ingredients and foods, i'm almost tempted to extend this two-week challenge to a whole month!  It could be completely psychological, but I feel great, my body feels great.  I feel healthy and full of energy, though that could be largely due to the fact that there has been a surprising amount of sunshine here in Scotland in the past few days.  There are so many recipes I want to try, and I know I don't have to be vegan to try them, but I like the fact that I have self-control, which I had thought that I didn't have at all when it came to food.  I like setting limits and challenges and having to look for new recipes all the time. I love it.

Thai-Spiced Mushroom and Tofu Stir-Fry

So.  Two things are currently on my mind.  A.  I miss Asian food.  B. My computer's throwing a tantrum, my trackpad no longer works.  Currently using my flatmate's computer as I feel like updating my blog is the only thing that can keep my mind off of my computer.  Poor Macky.  Maybe he'll be ok in a couple of hours.

So.  I'm going to focus on A, Asian food.  The basis of many Thai dishes is the combination of garlic, ginger, lemongrass and chili. Then you can probably make it into a creamy curry by pouring in some wonderfully silky coconut cream.

Ingredients
1 stalk lemongrass, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1cm piece ginger, finely chopped
1/2 red eyed chili, finely chopped
300g firm tofu, drained and patted dry, and cut into cubes
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
a small bunch coriander

Method
Fry the lemongrass, garlic, ginger and chili in plenty of oil for a couple of minutes.  When fragrant, add the tofu and the mushrooms, be careful as to not scramble the tofu.  Season with fish sauce, and finish off with some chopped coriander.  

Cauliflower, Pea and Paneer Curry

I used to be terrified of curries.  I've always loved them, but the idea of making my own curry seemed beyond impossible.  Growing up in an Italian household meant that my spice drawer only had like oregano, and seeing these curry recipes with 2 dozen spices was incredibly overwhelming.

But then eventually I had the urge to make my own curry.  It's because when going to Indian restaurants, I only know how to order the creamy stuff, and if I were feeling the need to be healthy, I'd have to be an ignorant foreigner and ask the waiter  if there's anything...dry.  And I hate being the ignorant foreigner in a restaurant.

I'll keep this short and sweet because I have to go back to Maths.  The thing is once you've read a couple of curry recipes online, you'll understand the harmonious relationships between all the spices, and you can create your own!  The following spices are pretty prevalent in most curries, so it may be a good idea to stock up your spice drawer with these (it's only like 69p each) so you can have a curry fest whenever you want.