Huevos Rancheros

So I decided to cook more dishes and went through the cookbook to find one.

Huevos Rancheros
1 tbsp olive oil 
2 onions finely chopped
2 red peppers cored, deseeded and finely chopped
4 garlic cloves finely chopped
800 g chopped tomatoes
1 tsp chopped oregano
0.5 tsp ground cumin
1 red chilli deseeded and finely chopped
1 tbsp cider vinegar
200 g black beans
4 eggs
2 tbsps chopped coriander
sea salt and black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan, add the onions and cook for 5 minutes. Add the peppers and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, oregano, cumin, chilli and vinegar and bring to boil. Reduce and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir the beans and when they are warmed make holes in the mixture and crack a egg into them. Cover to cook the eggs. Sprinkle coriander lastly.
The book (Eat Yourself Thin) showed the dish was suppose to look like:

But my didn't, of course. I only used 2 eggs. Black beans aren't the most tasty, but they weren't that bad. So another dish tried and tested. For next time, I was given the suggestion of cutting the recipe into half.

Chicken Puttanesca with Angel Hair Pasta

My dad wanted me to learn cooking since I am unemployed and since it is a life skill. So I googled recipes and then bought the ingredients with my dad. He said he didn't mind driving me to the market since it was no trouble. So I decided to cooked Chicken Puttanesca with Angel Hair Pasta.

8 ounces angel hair pasta
2 teaspoon olive oil
4 (6 ounces) boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups pasta sauce
1/4 cup kalamata olives
1 teaspoon capers 
1/4 teaspoon red pepper crushed
1/4 (1 ounce) Parmesan cheese
Basil or basil springs

Cook the paste according to the package. Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces. Add chicken to pan, sprinkle evenly with salt. Cook chicken for 5 minutes or until lightly browned and stirring occasionally. Stir in pasta sauce, olives, capers and pepper. Bring to simmer. Cook for 5 minutes or until chicken is done with stirring frequently. Garnish with basil or basil springs and Parmesan cheese.

As an Indian, chicken without masala tasted weird. So my mom suggested we pressure cook the chicken for 1 whistle. Then cut the chicken into pieces and cook the other components. And leave the peppers or cut into smaller pieces.

Since I had cooked so much pasta, there was left over cooked pasta. The next day I cooked tomatoes in butter. Added tiny pieces of pepper (capsicum), salt, water, and of course masalas and let it cook. This version was much better prepared. I am proud that I was able to cook something other than maggi and egggs.

By the way, I found the recipe on the Cooking Light webstie (http://www.cookinglight.com/food/quick-healthy/easy-chicken-recipes/chicken-puttanesca-with-angel-hair-pasta-recipe) and it was suppose to look like this:

But of course it didn't. But they never do, do they. C'est la vie. Let's hope the next recipe turns out better.

Election Day!

So it's election day.

I can finally vote and have my say in who runs the government. I can't figure out who to vote for. I do have the none of above option. Don't know if that will make a difference. At least I can complain with reason about the government when they screw up. 

Life is going along nicely. Still don't what my calling is but working in publishing. I saw this on Facebook today.

I feel so stuck. My brother finally studied the one thing he loves and is good at. Now he is settled in a love. It's admin sales job but is related to food. I wish he could have found a job relating to cooking but it is what it is.

C'est la vie.

Cooking Experiment

So, we had a cooking experiment yesterday.

My father saw his article "The house on Serpentine Street" in The Mint. The author remember recipes of Ramzan from his childhood. The author takes the recipe from Andaleeb Wajid's blog. The post is called This ain’t no pepper fry! The recipe is about Phaal. 

My family and I are big foodies. So my mother decided to have another cooking lesson for me. 

Yipee

I like eating not cooking.

Anyways, she made some changes in the recipe. So the onions, tomatoes and coriander were put in the mixer together. The oil was placed in the pan, then the chicken was placed. Then the garam masala, ginger paste, salt and the entire contents of the mixer. All that in a pressure cooker with five whistles. After the second whistle, the heat was decreased. 

Dinner time came. The gravy was too thin and not enough salt. The less salt didn't bother me but I like thick gravy. The salt wasn't my fault but the thin gravy was my fault. If I had checked on it, I would have found it and cooked it longer for the gravy to thicken and then the less salt wouldn't have been noticeable.

Anyways, today was a good day. I listed all the corrections of a manuscript and I still have more to write tomorrow. Good god. The author wrote so many freaking long sentences. I talking about 7 to 8 lines long.

Overall, it was a nice day. Let's see what happens next in my life. 


P.S. I know you people are reading my blog, please comment. Just a small one