Foray into Indian cuisine

I find cooking to be incredibly therapeutic. Even though I prefer cooking for more people than just for myself, sometimes I like to take the extra time to make something tasty.

I love paneer mutter, with the peas and gingery, tomatoey curry, but it's like 40 kuai at the Himalayan restaurant...so I decided to experiment today. I googled for recipes, and like usual, didn't actually follow any of them and improvised instead. Both the paneer and curry turned out surprisingly beautifully--but I totally scorched the rice and may have damaged my pot beyond repair...Rice and I have a long history of incompatibility.

Everything took me maybe 1.5 hours, including making the paneer earlier during the day. Definitely worth it. There is no reason for me to go back to the Himalayan restaurant now.


Since I had no rice, I just ate it with toast.

Next on my list is to use the can of coconut milk I bought awhile ago but forgot about...Thai curry?

Christmas

I never am in the "holiday spirit", no matter which holiday it is, but I do like getting together with family and friends. We had a potluck at my place last night.

I made eggnog, garlic soy sauce chicken, and ratatouille, all of which I was very satisfied with. Everyone else brought good food, though most of it was Chinese. I meant to take pictures of everything, but it wasn't until we ate everything on the table that I remembered my camera.

We just all sat around in the living/dining room and talked while drinking wine, beer, or mint-jasmine-green tea. It wasn't a very Christmas-y night, but I think everyone had fun.



I think it's funny how Chinese people have adopted Christmas here as purely a commercial event. Me, Miles, Andre, and Tiffany were at Fu Zi Miao on the 24th and saw Christmas sales and decorations everywhere. No Salvation Army Santas though.

Eating habits here

I don’t cook as much as I’d like here. Part of the reason is my kitchen is tiny and freezing cold and I really don’t like washing up with icy water. I also haven’t had time to go to the grocery store lately, as I leave school after the vegetable markets and supermarkets close. I eat out quite a bit, and recently, Korean food has been my staple.

Often right after class, a bunch of us head to food street to get some Korean for lunch. We’ve already figured out the good places to go. Squid fried rice student special on Tuesdays, other days spicy, steaming tofu soup with sticky rice. If I’m around the architecture building, stone bowl bibimbap for just 10 kuai. And banchan—kimchee, quail eggs, candied potatoes, pickled radish… Really, I could eat Korean for every meal. It’s pricier than Chinese food, but much cheaper than Himalayan/Indian food. I recently found out the Himalayan restaurant is just a 5 minute walk from my place, but unfortunately I do not have 60 kuai to spend on a meal all the time. But maybe that’s a good thing, because I suspect the paneer mutter curry is quite fattening.

I do make vegetarian "pasta" a lot. Basically I just chop up whatever is in my fridge (last week it was onions, mushrooms, eggplant, and green peppers), sautee with tons of garlic, and then stew it into a chunky sauce I pour over Chinese noodles. Highly unorthodox, and I think both Chinese and Italians would throw a fit, but it's a good way to cook several healthy meals for less than 15 kuai.

My mealtimes have also become highly irregular due to my schedule. My dad would be so angry...