Each week, I pick an entree, and the Chief Taster picks an entree. I'm willing to cook just about anything, but neither of us wants to choose dinner all the time. This is the best system we've devised, and it really doesn't work that well. Some weeks I'll have five or six great ideas and won't ask her for any. Some weeks, she keeps putting off deciding, and I have to resort to a fallback position of lasagna, tuna casserole, or reuben soup. I feel curiously unsatisfied with those first two options, not because I don't think they're tasty, but because I've made them both so often that I don't really need the recipe much anymore, and it feels like a cop-out. I can't say anything negative about reuben soup.
Given her reticence to choose, I was intrigued when she pulled cookbooks one morning before she left for work. She may not have known exactly what she wanted, but she had regional flavors in mind; she grabbed the Indian and Mediterranean cookbooks from the shelf. She stuck to the first volume, and indicated two choices each for entree and vegetable dishes. I wanted to try the Bengali-Style Mustard Fish, but I don't think fish make good leftovers, so we shelved that one for later. I'd already made the Spinach, Red Pepper, and Chickpea Bhaji, and wanted to try something new, so our options were thus narrowed to Pork Kheema with Peas (below) and Minted Rice with Tomato and Sprouted Beans (next week. Maybe when I get ambitious, I'll start posting more often, but that time is not now).
It must have been a successful gambit, even though the kheema recipe recommended serving with flatbread or plain rice, because her reaction when she saw the food (and to a greater extent when she started eating it) was what I would expect if she came home and learned I'd bought her a dream home. I am now even more convinced that my next long-from work should be the cookbook titled How To Please A Woman.
Pork Kheema with Peas
1 T sunflower oil (or vegetable oil. Or canola. Whatever's handy)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
1 t ground coriander
1 lb. ground pork
2.5 C fresh or frozen peas (the book says frozen peas are more nutritious. I find them more handy)
3 T medium curry paste (I used hot, because the grocery didn't have medium)
3 T tomato puree (what the hell is that? I used tomato sauce, and put the rest of the can in the fridge for later use in pasta sauce)
2 tomatoes, finely chopped
1 t raw sugar (I don't have raw sugar. I used granulated. I don't think it matters)
1 C boiling water
2 T plain yogurt
large handful chopped cilantro (the Chief Taster is rabid for cilantro, so I bought a 3/4 oz clamshell of it and used the whole thing)
salt
- heat the oil in a big skillet. Add the jalapeno, garlic, coriander, and meat. Stir-fry until meat is lightly browned.
- Add the peas, paste, puree, tomatoes, and sugar. Stir and cook 3-4 minutes, then add the water. Bring the whole mess to a boil, then cover it and reduce heat to let it simmer 8-10 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the yogurt, salt, and cilantro.
She got home while the skillet was covered, offered to stir the rice, and used the opportunity to sneak a peek at the pork. Then she made various happy noises and professed her undying love, but I was chopping cilantro at the time, so she might have been talking to the greens. My only beef with this pork is that the water never cooked out, leaving the dish a little soupy, and I wonder whether that weakened the flavor of the curry. I might try it with less water, or none at all. The tomatoes were pretty juicy, and that might be enough.
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