May 26-29 Aloo Jeera

May 26    some chicken chili from the freezer eaten with whole grain tortilla chips
May 27    aloo jeera, raita, flat bread and salad
May 28    Shack's birthday dinner out
May 29    Grilled Pork Chops with marinated vegetable couscous



I am working hard to find things to be exited about, as far as months of cooking for two goes. One of the things I like about cooking just for me and The Kid is that I can make side dishes like this and it can serve as our entree. Again, Shack would love this as a side but if I tried to tell him that this potatoes and chickpea bowl was all the dinner he was getting, he would have the pizza speed dial going so fast it would make your head spin. We had this aloo jeera with some raita and flat bread and a bit of salad and we were satisfied with that. I left out the heat but if you want it spicy, the way it is meant to be, just add a seeded, chopped hot chili pepper when you add the tomatoes (or more if you are really hard core).

We had a great birthday dinner out at Lolita's Lust on Saturday with friends and then Sunday, thanks to the siren son of Jen's delicious looking chops, we grilled pork chops that I marinated in olive oil, rosemary wine syrup and grainy mustard.





Aloo Jeera
adapted from Street Food by Tom Kine

2 tbls veg oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbls grated ginger
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 lb potatoes, skin on, chopped into 1/2" dice
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tbls black mustard seed
1 tbls ground coriander
1 tbls ground cumin
2 cardamom pods
3 big plum tomatoes, chopped
1 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp kosher salt
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped
freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a heavy sauced pan over medium high heat. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a couple of minutes until it's really fragrant. Add the onion and potato and cook, stirring and tossing, for about 4 minutes until the onion has softened.
Stir in the turmeric, mustard seeds, ground coriander, cumin and cardamom and cook for a minute until the spices are really fragrant. Add the tomato and the chickpeas and then add 1/4 cup of water, season with the salt and pepper and cover the pan. Cook over medium  heat for about 12 to 15 minutes until the potatoes are tender.
To finish the dish, squeeze in the lemon juice and add the cilantro and taste it. Add more seasoning if you think it needs it.