Recipe Reduction 153..151

 

Black rice porridge with apples
from Elyse Kopecky


Black rice is strange stuff, isn't it? The cooking water came out gray.

It might have been good if I hadn't forgotten to take it to work for breakfast!

(Second day) Remembered it! But not so good. Neither good nor evil, like the Nazgul. No--wait--that was neither alive nor dead.  Which may be a good description of this dish. Delete.


 Sichuan Tofu With Garlic Sauce
from fat-free vegan kitchen

The queen of fat-free cooking has made a valiant effort at doing Szechuan without oil. (Ignoring the cooking spray and 1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil, optional.) Her result was virtuous, but not very much fun.

No, no--that's not fair of me. It had a lot of flavor going on, what with all the vinegar and wine and soy sauce and chili garlic sauce and black pepper that replaced the oil. You could almost say it had too much flavor--and not in a good way. It might work for some people; it didn't for me.

And have I ever mentioned that I hate black pepper? It belongs in exactly two dishes: steak and crawfish etauffee. Anywhere else it's an overpowering bore, like the drunk in a bar who won't stop talking.  Maybe we should become equally obnoxious--in restaurants, when they ask us if we'd like some freshly grated black pepper on our food, we should ask, "Why? Is it rancid and needs something to obliterate the taste?"

Curried Lentil, Tomato, and Coconut Soup
from bon appetit

Even though I used chopped tomatoes instead of crushed and I forgot that I had a garden was full of cilantro until I was too tired to venture outside--good. Lentils, curry powder, coconut milk -- a trio that's tried, trusted and true.

I probably won't make this particular recipe again; it's okay, but I have others. Maybe if this 199-recipe challenge ever completes I'll go back through all the saved ones and try to get them down to twenty or thirty that will constitute my entire repertoire. Eventually I'll have them memorized and be able to do them with an audiobook on.