Thursday, February 11, 2010

Finally time to relax!

It's the weekend! Hooray! It's nice to have time to eat and sleep:)

For a day anyway.

SO! I thought I'd let the um... four or five of you guys know that I tried the beef vindaloo on Monday night, and it's delicious! I have to try someone else's first before I make it again though. It tastes good, but I have to admit I don't know what real beef vindaloo tastes like. I'd never had it before. If I DO cook it again, I'll just call it beef curry and nobody will be the wiser.


I used the spice mix from the original recipe, though I have to admit the paste it made was only half of what I needed. You can see here that it's not nearly enough for two pounds of beef. Having run out of a few of the spices, I just threw in more turmeric and coriander at random until there was enough to incorporate all of the vinegar.

I suppose at this point I should mention that for the procedure, I used a new recipe. It was actually one of the first ones that came up in a google search, so it isn't hard to find:

http://www.recipezaar.com/Beef-Vindaloo-the-Real-Thing-207043


Actually, I just noticed it's the FIRST one that comes up in the google search. I'd like to think I had a small part in that!




The instructions in this recipe were so well organized, I could really prepare the way I wanted. I even had time to take some pictures of the preparation! I had forgotten to cut up the serrano peppers though, and while I did that I burned the garlic a bit. You can tell in the final flavour, but it's actually not unpleasant.




As for the beef, the recipe says to "fry the meat till just brown." Now that sounded vague to me. However, I have some experience with making beef stews, and figured instead of cooking the meat just a little bit, I could sear it. The stew I usually make is a quick stew, so the beef needs to be seared before hand at a very high heat. It's a very scary process and I had to keep curious roommates from looking into the pot. I was halfway across the kitchen and still getting oil spluttered in my face. It worked though; the beef was NOT transformed into tough little leather cubes.

In all, it was a success.



Tasty, juicy, and gone in a matter of minutes!

No rules for next week, and a guest challenger! Exciting!

--Sophia

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