Pages

Thursday, November 3, 2011

silk road spices, cozy dinner


Hello friends! A post tonight in the photo-documentary style of Arudhi of the amazing A Box of Kitchen blog, to share an intuitive approach to a satisfying autumn meal. This is my (mutable and adaptable) version of a simple ground meat and black bean dish, given a Silk Road twist with the addition of fresh ginger and rich spices like turmeric, Aleppo pepper, coriander and cinnamon-laced Vietnamese curry powder.

Jamison prepped the onion and garlic (one large white onion, about five plump garlic cloves):


With the addition of a half inch of fresh sliced ginger, I sauteed the onion and garlic in olive oil with a couple of thin slices of butter (which keeps everything mellow and friendly in the pan...)



As the onions turned tender and golden, in went salt, turmeric, a pinch of Vietnamese curry powder, grindings of black pepper (big fan of Trader Joe's mixed peppercorn blend), fragrant cardamom, sweet coriander (a magic scent!) and a few pinches of Aleppo pepper. How much, you ask? Hard to say, I used intuition, a felt sense of what worked with this proportion and combination of ingredients. Your senses will know.


Sliced yellow peppers and autumn-gold baby tomatoes added for sweet flavor, juiciness and because yellow is such a favorite color! Once they were lightly caramelized, I added organic ground beef (about a pound) and several sliced scallions and adjusted the seasonings and spices with good deal more black pepper, additional coriander and turmeric...


Finally, shiny dark black beans joined the pan... did you know that they are amazingly nutritious?


A bit more cooking to blend the flavors and dinner was ready to serve with the addition of scallion accented Greek yogurt (and beautiful brown rice pilaf with butter and mushroom bouillon--thanks, Jamison!)





What was for dinner at your house, friends? Wishing you all a relaxing and peaceful weekend...






12 comments:

Bobo said...

wow, that looks appetizing.. I would like to try some..:)

The Church Cook said...

This looks Yummy!!!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Bentobird said...

Thanks, Bobo! I'd be honored if you tried this :D

Bentobird said...

Hi Kay, so nice to have you visit...hope all is well!

cafenoHut said...

It looks delicious. This evening we will go to my parents for holiday (Eid ul-Adha) and I am planing to eat a lot of delicious foods...
Have a nice weekend...

Arudhi said...

You`re too kind, Jenn! Thank you! What a lovely adventurous dish you two made there! I love the scent of coriander too. And you`re absolutely right about using the spices. It`s all about our intuition :)

Susan B. said...

that is beautiful and looks so nutritious and filling for a fall evening. I may give it a try one of these days. I want to expand my use of spices and this would be a great start!

Bentobird said...

hello cafenoHut! Have a beautiful Eid ul-Adha celebration with loved ones :)

Bentobird said...

hello Arudhi, thanks for your comments and the inspiration of your ongoing cooking experiments--they are awesome!

Bentobird said...

thank you Susan B.! Spices add scent, mystery and complex healing benefits to our food, hope you'll enjoying their special qualities with delight...happy cooking this weekend!

tinyskillet said...

What a warming post you have here. I can smell all those wonderful spices. We have a Penzey's that opened up in Sarasota at the end of August. I love checking out their blends. I like to use Tzar Dust Memories in with my roasts, just a touch though you don't want it too salty. I will have to check out the Vietnamese curry soon!

My husband was in Orlando so I just popped some turkey breast in a slow cooker with Maggi CurrysoBe (and a few other spices) it's like a curry gravy. I couldn't read the label I think it is in German :)