Rohini's Recipe Blog

Tonight's dinner. It was quick and easy to make, given my very specific pantry. I'm posting this because It worked well and I believe it will adapt well. This post is less of a recipe than a post-mortem.  We had in the fridge: a couple of tablespoons of tomato sauce , and the last of a bottle of rosé. We also a some farmer's market tomatoes, and fresh pasta. We always have heavy cream at hand. "Recipe" I mixed in a bowl 1. the two tablespoons of tomato sauce 2. a glug or so of the rosé 3. a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream 4. two teaspoons of fish sauce 5. a teaspoon of sugar  6. One medium tomato, diced 7. a tablespoon or so of butter (I did not bother to melt/mix this in) Rob cooked the fresh pasta (tagliatelle --- I forgot to salt the water, alas! So annoyed at myself), drained when it was not quite tender enough, then set it back in the pot it was boiled in. I put pasta and pot back on the heat, added the contents of the bowl, and cooked over high heat unt

 We make this often during late summer/early fall. Recipe (two small servings) Cut into medium dice --- one medium good ripe tomato Add to bowl and add --- one small clove garlic, minced finely or put through a garlic press --- ~1/4 teaspoon salt --- ~1/2 teaspoon sugar --- ~2 teaspoon vinegar, wine or cider --- ~1 tablespoon good olive oil --- one leaf slivered basil (optional) --- (freshly if possible) ground black pepper (optional) Allow to sit for a few minutes. Toast  --- ~2 medium-sized slices bread (I used stale-ish white sourdough)  Break into pieces and add to salad. Toss and serve immediately. 

 Coat with flour and shallow-fry --- can be done in minutes if shrimp comes peeled and de-veined. Our dinner tonight was a half-pound of this shrimp, tomato salad, and steamed corn.  When frying, I always begin eating the first batch while frying the second. I don't often fry for company :-) Recipe Toss in a large-enough bowl --- shrimp, peeled and de-veined --- enough flour to coat well Heat in a wide-bottomed pan, over medium-high heat --- Olive oil, 1/2-1 cm deep When oil is hot enough (a little flour sprinkled on sizzles immediately but dies not brown very quickly), add shrimp, in batches if necessary. Do not crowd pan: shrimp should be single-layer, with a little wiggle room between neighbors. After a minute, turn over each shrimp using a pair of tongs or a pair of forks. After another minute, remove onto plate, salt generously, and grind over some black pepper. Serve with a wedge of lemon. 

 Crispy-spicy-sweet-tangy. We eat this with roti when Rob is inspired to make roti, and with rice otherwise.  Recipe  Cut, crosswise, into ~3/4 cm slices --- bhindi/okra, enough to yield ~4 cups when chopped In a large non-stick pan, heat --- neutral oil, ~4 tablespoons Add the chopped bhindi, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring every 2-3 minutes, until crisp. This could take 20-30 minutes. As the water evaporates and the bhindi begins to brown faster, you might want to turn the heat down. Add -- salt, ~1/4 teaspoon halfway through. When the bhindi is cooked through, crisp and slightly browned, add to the pan --- minced green chillies (birds-eye), 6-10 --- pressed (in a garlic pressed) or minced garlic, 4-5 cloves --- 1-2 teaspoons sugar (I use raw sugar, but white sugar will do well) --- 1-2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses (or 1 teaspoon amchur + a little extra sugar) Cook on low heat until the garlic has softened and the extra liquid from the pomegranate molasses has evaporated, a

 This is my go-to comfort dinner. Recipe adapted from Leela Punyaratabandhu's recipe here . Not pretty, but so, so tasty. (I don't usually serve with sliced tomatoes, as pictured here; I had leftover tomato slices from BLT made that afternoon, and thought I might as well add some color to an otherwise monochromatic dish.) Recipe (serves two) Cook --- rice for two (our standard rice is white jasmine) Beat  — 4 eggs  with — 1 tbsp fish sauce — juice of 3/4 lime — lots of minced fresh chillies Heat in wok or frying pan -- oil, ~3 tablespoons add eggs and cook. When nearly set, add  — 1 tbsp butter  And mix to incorporate. Eat over rice.

 Because tomatoes!! Recipe Dry  --- romaine lettuce, 4-5 leaves per sandwich.  Use inner leaves with more crunchy "rib" and less floppy green bits. Trim top and bottom of each leaf.  In a frying pan, over medium-low heat, cook until crisp --- bacon, 2 slices per sandwich    toast --- bread (two slices per sandwich; I like white sourdough for this. I use the toaster if I'm making one sandwich and the broiler if I'm making two or more) Assemble sandwich; in order from the bottom: — One slice toast, spread top/inside with mayo — 2 slices cooked bacon -- 2-3 slices tomatoes;    salt and pepper   the tomatoes as soon as they go on — 4-5 leaves lettuce —  One slice toast, spread bottom/inside with mayo