Angel In Blue Jeans

In case you didn't realise (okay, you probably didn't), most of my posts this year have been titled after RPM tracks. It's a bore having to think of titles, having decided that I would do it for ease of linking, and the songs are usually playing in my head at some point anyway. Train's Angel In Blue Jeans is the first track from RPM 66, which I quite like. But the song is totally unrelated to this post, which is about ideals. Would you have read it if I had titled it "Ideals"? (I wouldn't, if I were you. Thought Catalog much.)

As I was saying.

In an ideal world, I would blog regularly, especially about all the cooking I've been doing. Which, for the record, is the most cooking I've done since I took that four month break after leaving practice. I must say that I think I have improved tremendously since then (self praise is no praise, but someone's gotta do it). 

In an ideal world, I would have enough energy and inspiration every week night to cook delicious, healthy meals for Jon and myself, at a fraction of what they would cost at Cedele or some other "healthier choice" eatery. Every single meal I cooked, whether or not I had gone through the cooking method and seasonings in my mind before I started cooking it, would turn out well. It wouldn't have to look pretty, as we've already established from previous posts that I'm not too concerned about that aspect, but it would taste good.

Alas, Tuesday's dinner, which I cobbled together at the last minute because Jon and I simply couldn't face the dinner of baked karaage chicken (Not Quite Nigella's excellent recipe) I had originally planned, was a Major and Epic Fail. I have not had such a kitchen disaster since we first got married (potato chips which refused to crisp in the oven, saba wrapped bacon etc. On that note, saba is evidently not the same as the mackerel used in mackerel-wrapped bacon. Saba wrapped bacon equals a terrible salty aftertaste on your tongue which even the fact that you ate bacon cannot cure).  

I blame Tuesday's dinner fail on one HST, who insisted we order Hansang's latest fried chicken offering* at dinner on Monday, which meant that as the two most greedy people at dinner, Jon and I had to finish said chicken because everyone else was stuffed. When we got home I looked at the chicken I had planned on marinating and decided to defrost some salmon belly instead - which was the only fish we had in the freezer. 

*It's not half bad, you should try it.

I'd originally planned to use said salmon belly in a salmon belly miso soup reprise, which would have been perfect in yesterday's thunderstorm, but as I couldn't muster the willpower to hot foot it to NTUC to purchase salmon bones and white radish - yes, I know it's not strictly necessary to make a fish stock first, seeing as the miso and sake provide more than enough flavour, but I just felt like staying true to the spirit of the dish, you know? Since I have time (as if) - I decided to bake the salmon belly instead. So I cut it into strips the length of my finger and used some kitchen paper to soak up the excess moisture - I left the strips covered in kitchen paper for about 2 hours in the fridge - and then laid them skin side up on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

So far so good. 

The time then came to season the salmon belly. Now, right before doing so, I'd been watching The Kitchen on Food Network. I know that kosher salt is usually used on these shows, and the hosts season everything they cook very liberally - all that salt whooshing down on the food makes for pretty television, and there's something so professional about picking up salt with one's thumb and forefinger and sprinkling it over food. 

Anyhow, inspired by said TV show and against my better judgment - I use kosher salt in my cooking, and truth be told I've never found that I needed much of it to season a dish, although it's supposed to be less salty - I proceeded to have a good time raining salt down on the salmon belly strips, feeling professional in my very own kitchen.

I'm sharing my cooking process because it actually cooked up really well. I gave the salmon belly a further sprinkling of lemon pepper, drizzled three scant teaspoons of olive oil over the lot, and stuck it in a 140C oven for about 10 minutes. I then cranked the broiler up really high - about 220C on my oven, and broiled the salmon belly until the skin turned brown and blistered. I took them out a bit earlier than I would've liked, but if you don't have a fidgety seven and a half month old you're trying to feed at the same time, you'll probably get a better finish because you can watch the oven more closely.

To his credit, Jon finished his portion and kept assuring me that it tasted all right... But he then made us go for ice cream even though it was a cold and rainy night and I NEVER eat ice cream when it's cold and rainy because what's the point?! Desperate times call for desperate measures though, and we both had headaches and felt funny in the tummy despite having drunk copious amounts of water. A cup of strong tea without sugar at 11pm finally did the trick for me. FYI, in case you ever have a too much salt mishap.  

***

I feel better now after telling you about last night's dinner in too many words. I suppose I could have just said that last night's dinner was a Fail because I over salted the baked salmon belly, but the point of a blog is that you can go on and on and even if no one reads it it doesn't matter.

I hear FBC stirring from his pre-dinner nap and I would like to feed him before he gets too hangry to eat his dinner properly, so I can't share in too much detail about a recipe which I felt was a win. 

Here is a picture of a curry I made about a week and a half ago:

I think it's probably some variation on a shakshuka, sans eggs, and it was so good! I also had no choice but to make a curry because my mother foisted a small bag of curry leaves from her garden on me.

Chicken Curry

From my imagination. No link to that, sorry.

Although my mother said otherwise, I decided to do an oven braise because the chicken was not at a fall off the bone tender stage when I realised that the bottom of the curry was starting to burn. Maybe my stove top skills are lacking; if yours aren't, go ahead and finish it on the stove top.

Ingredients

• Four chicken legs about 200g each (i.e. thighs with drumsticks attached. You can use a mix of drumsticks and thighs)
• One 410g can of tomato puree (Leggo's had an offer)
• About half a cup of minced onion
• About two tbsp minced garlic
• About three heaping tbsps of curry powder - I made my own blend, as follows: 2 tbsp ground coriander, 1 tbsp ground tumeric, 1 tbsp yellow mustard powder, 1 tbsp ground chili, 2 tsp cayenne pepper, 2 tsp ground cumin, 1/4 tsp cardamom powder, 1/2 tsp ground ginger and 2 tsp ground black pepper. You could of course Google and find another blend, most recipes I found included cinnamon, cloves and fenugreek but I wasn't keen on those flavours - especially fenugreek. Ugh. And I still have an almost full bottle of fenugreek capsules. 
• A large handful of curry leaves (optional)
• Oil for frying
• Touch of salt (to your taste!)
• About three large potatoes, cubed into large cubes (if there was a more elegant way of saying that, let me know). I used Russets.

Method

1. Make sure your child, if you have one, is sleeping soundly. This is necessary if you would like to sear your meat and like me cannot abide having an oily stove and work-top from the resulting oil spatter. 
2. Decide if you would like to sear your meat. If you would, and your child if you have one is sleeping, heat up the oil in a large Dutch oven until it shimmers. Sear your meat, and remove from pan. If you decide not to sear your meat, just start the recipe from the step which follows.
3. Fry the onions and garlic in the remaining oil and drippings until fragrant and brown. Add three heaping tablespoons curry powder, stir around until toasty. Add curry leaves and give them a fry around too. 
4. Add the can of tomato puree. Bring mixture to a boil, then add the chicken. You may have to add about a can of water (use the tomato puree can to measure) so that about two-thirds of the chicken is covered.
5. Let it all cook for about 20 minutes or so on the stove top (I let mine go for about 40 minutes, whereupon a slight burny smell emanated from the kitchen and told me that my initial oven braise instincts were right), then transfer to a 170C oven and let it cook for an hour to an hour and a half, adding the potatoes only when there's about 30-40 minutes of cooking time left. The chicken should fall off the bones when you're done.

Edited to add: If you seared the chicken, wipe up the oil spatter carefully after sticking your Dutch oven in the oven.

*** 

I've done this yoga video twice now, and although I can't do ALL of it, the interval training parts and the sheer number of vinyasas you have to do make for a good workout on the days one is disinclined to leave the house but needs to exercise due to having eaten too much fried chicken. 

I am going to go ahead and make Not Quite Nigella's chicken for dinner tomorrow. Try it, it's easy and delicious and if you don't already have the ingredients (except the chicken wings) in your pantry, get thee to NTUC NOW!