Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Sidetracked


Some time in March during a Sunday frantically cording hanji, I heard this interview about a new vegetarian cookbook. I was totally fascinated by the science behind things and though I never buy cookbooks, I knew I wanted it right away. My beau got it for me that day (the only other cookbook I had was given to me by a friend, and it was for vegan food! I learned a lot from that one, over 15 years ago). I've been bored by my cooking at home and thought that if I got a better grip on making things tastier, I'd be happier and a better host. I still haven't gotten through the whole book but already have some favorites. I've been doing two to three new recipes each week. Last week I finally got around to napa cabbage and white mushroom potstickers.
This was one of the very first recipes I saw and knew I wanted to do: samosas! I made the first batch for Yuko, and even though the filling and dipping sauce were perfect, I messed up the rolling out and stuffing of the dough, as well as the final frying, so I was disappointed (but gladly ate up the rest of the filling sans skin). I told Mimi about my samosa adventures and she was curious, so I told her I'd try a new batch to feed her lunch today! I made the filling on Sunday night, the dough on Monday night, and spent the morning Tuesday (today) rolling out dough and stuffing smaller versions of the first attempt.
I also decided to bake them, which was what I wanted to do the first time, but ran out of time. So these are shiny and brown from egg whites on top before they went into the oven. A bunch split open, but because the filling is fairly dry, it didn't make a mess. DELICIOUS. Mimi and I were very happy. In case you're wondering why I seem to only feed my Japanese friends, it's because I don't have a dining set so I am limited to guests who are comfortable sitting on the floor.

Though my relationship with food is not always healthy and this is a distraction to keep me from other work at hand, it's terribly satisfying. I'm still obsessed with paper—saw an interesting piece about spirit paper in Hong Kong, updated for contemporary times! Let's see if I can edit this report on Japanese papermaking on a jolly full stomach.

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