Ching Ohana Home Cooking Journal

Tonight was butter chicken again. The recipe called for saving half the sauce for something else. Last time I left it in the fridge and never used it. This time I poured a can of corn into the leftover sauce. My wife and kids enjoyed this option. Other options apparently are tofu, vegetables, paneer. I like the idea of making something different with the same sauce. 

Leftover lamb went into saag tonight. This recipe called for less tomato paste than the last lamb one. I didn't have half and half but whole milk seemed to be ok. The recipe only called for 20 minutes cooking with natural pressure release but the meat was still stew-soft at the end. Came out delicious!

I was in the mood for a lamb curry so I got a leg of lamb from Costco and cut it up. The recipe was for lamb rogan josh from the Indian Instant Pot cookbook. The recipe was just enough for me and my two kids (1 lb meat only). The tomato paste gave it an intense tomato flavor. Meat was perfectly cooked at 20 minutes plus the natural pressure release. My picky daughter said she would eat it again. That's good enough for me to make it again seeing as I have 3.5 lbs more cubed up lamb!

For this recipe, I followed the Serious Eats guide to sous vide salmon . I used steelhead trout from Costco instead of salmon. I cut the fish into portions, salted them and bagged them with some olive oil. They dry brined in the fridge for 30 minutes. The brined salmon went into a sous vide bath at 115 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes. No additional browning. We ate them as filets and as sushi with Korean seaweed and white rice. The texture was definitely softer than traditional cooking, but it did flake apart. My son liked it but my wife thought it needed to be browned. 

Tonight I made the beef curry out of the Indian Instant Pot cookbook. I used canned tomatoes instead of fresh. It could have cooked for 30 minutes rather than 20 because it was a little chewy at the end. It's definitely a tomato curry rather than a Japanese or tikka masala type curry, but I still liked it. I'd be on the fence about making it again though. It's just beef and the sauce. Maybe if I added some vegetables I'd like it better.

I finally got a chance to use the Easter ham bone to make split pea soup. Recipe from here . My son liked it. There wasn't much meat left on the ham bone but it came out delicious and filling.

We had some leftover lasagna noodles and pasta sauce from a while back so my wife made this ricotta stuffed shells. I made the warm spinach salad after this recipe from Alton Brown. Leftover Easter eggs for the toppings!

Lunch was Japanese ground beef curry in the Instant Pot. Just throw everything in the pot and set it for 15 minutes. We used House Vermont curry instead of our usual Golden curry brick. Came out smooth and delicious!

For breakfast I made one of my favorite recipes from David Ludwig's Always Hungry book. Tofu hash. It's so simple. Just saute some garlic, add diced extra firm tofu, chili powder, cumin, and salt. Cook for 2 minutes then add one can of black beans. Serve with sour cream. It goes great with a fried egg on top too!

Rainy days call for soup. This time I made shabu shabu on the stove and plated the results. It was a lot easier. Kombu dashi, udon, pork belly, kamaboko, napa cabbage. Onolicious!