It's Dahl (/dal/daal/dhal), Darl!

Mmm, dahl. If you're on Weight Watchers and you want to eat Indian, it's the pick for you (but steer clear of the samosas! And best not to have naan... oh how i love naan)

So, this vegetarian dream dish is one of my favourites and it's also cheap and easy to prepare. Here's how I created this one (purists may wish to stop reading here).

Method
1. Fry onions and garlic until browned, set aside.
2. Rinse red lentils (you can of course use yellow ones or brown ones, i believe brown ones should be pre-soaked but red and yellow ones don't?), cover with water and bring to the boil.
3. Simmer, stir, watch until reasonably well cooked (you may need to add more water, don't let it burn!)
4. Add a tin of tomatos, some spinach (always add spinach to everything, is a general rule of thumb), any veggies you like (I added chick peas and eggplant to this one i think). Simmer as long as you feel is necessary.
5. Season to taste (and add back in your onion and garlic) - I just use Garam Masala cos it's all I have here but you might consider tumeric, cumin, paprika... , also salt and pepper.
6. Serve with rice and yoghurt, or as your heart desires.

Stir Fry is Better with Noodles

Just thought I'd share this gem of wisdom. I like Mr Lee's noodles - they come in individual portions and you just add them to the stir fry, no need to precook.

Here's one I prepared earlier.

Method
Fry garlic and onion in oil. Add veggies, tofu, soy sauce and sweet chilli. Et voila - easy!

Note - if you add enough negative calorie foods (green beans, carrots, zucchini, spinach), this meal eats itself!

Oh how i love thee, green curry

Just thinking about curry makes me happy. Here's one i created earlier. Oh, the memories.

Method
Heat oil in pan. Fry up one clove chopped garlic and some onion. Add green curry paste (you didn't think I was going to cook it from scratch did you?), stir for about a minute. Add coconut milk, and vegetables (most cooking time first).
Here I used sweet potato, carrot, baby spinach and chick peas, by the looks of it.
Serve with rice, plain yoghurt, and banana with coconut. Have tissues nearby, it's firey!

Procrastination

1. Tidy room, including cupboards
2. Read every opinion peace in the Sydney Morning Herald
3. Read several other papers online (recommend http://www.newmatilda.com/)
4. Check email. Again.
5. Make a cup of tea
6. Make popcorn!
7. Do readings for next week instead of essay
8. Create blog post in celebration of popcorn.

Popcorn
Apparently a healthy snack, although i believe you're meant to air pop it in the microwave, but as i don't have one i am forced to use olive oil. But that's not a sin, is it? See http://www.popcorn.org/index.cfm for recipes (American site, American measurements, note that some recipes may cause chronic obesity just by looking at them...) Here's my new snack of choice:

Method
Heat oil in pan. Add minced chilli and popcorn. Stir. Once it's bubbling along nicely add some garam masala (add it too soon and it will burn). Continue stirring. When first kernel pops, add lid. Once popping stops, shake the pot and then remove lid. Serve with salt (optional but recommended).

Anyway, I'm off for a walk... (then dinner, then watch the news... maybe test drive some chocolate...)

Why is everything so complicated?

On Sunday night I made a devastating discovery. A HOLE in one of my teeth. A HOLE!! A visible, massive yellow hole in one of my molars. One of my favourite chewing teeth!

So I panicked. It looked like i needed a painful filling in my teeth, until now practically perfect, in every way (ok they're a bit yellow... but no fillings!). I took drastic, immediate action, cutting my morning coffee down from two sugars to one (and resolving to cut it out altogether in stages); but then devoured a fruit and nut chocolate bar to cheer me from my deep depression.

Today I went to the dentist [on Stortingsgaten - I highly recommend if anyone needs a dentist here] and my fears were allayed - it's not a hole, it's erosion, it's not unusual, it's okay. She sealed it up and I'm glad to say, no pain. :D

However now i'm experiencing a secondary panic. We discussed causes and her first guess was softdrink - but really, I hardly ever have softdrinks (I've had it twice since I've been here, and it's only because I've given up alcohol and need a substitute!! [ironically perhaps, beer is low ph and recommended!). So, she suggests acidic fruit.

Oh no. Grapefruit! It's my favourite. I'm devastated. Happily filling free, but devastated. You try to be healthy and eat fruit, and it turns on you and eats your teeth. Oh cruel fate!

So, this is just a food-related community service announcement.

Fruit is NOT YOUR FRIEND!

It's so complicated - get this - clean your teeth ASAP after eating bad things like chocolate (ok, can do), but WAIT AT LEAST AN HOUR before cleaning your teeth after eating acidic things inc fruit! So I've worked out what's killing me - it's my morning OJ - I thought I was getting a vitamin hit but i was eroding my teeth by cleaning them shortly afterwards!

She recommended chewing sugar-free gum after high acid foods to bring your ph back to neutral.

So I just thought I'd share. The good news is that chocolate is not enemy #1 - as long as you clean your teeth after.

Introduction to Australian Culture II: Vegemite

Vegemite will be found in every Australian pantry, and many Aussies won't leave the continent without a handy travel tube of the stuff! It's a black, spreadable substance (a bi-product of beer - how Australian can you get) that is usually applied to toast but can also be used for a variety of recipes. For all the info you need, se http://www.vegemite.com.au/index.cfm.

Until recently I confess I only knew about vegemite on toast or on crispbread; but Sara has opened my eyes to a world of possibilities. Vegemite and butter on PASTA - yum! Highly recommended.

How can you eat vegemite? Let me count the ways:

1. Fusion Vegemite a la Huitsfeldgata - thanks Andrew for the pic.
Vegemite is usually served on toast - thinly spread to taste with butter (usually lots). Note: this is usually a breakfast food and rarely served with beer; but it's always nice to try new things.

2. Vegemite pasta - thanks to Sara and her Grandma
Cook pasta (small pasta works best!) and serve with melted butter and vegemite. Yum!

3. Vegemite 2-minute noodles - again thanks Sara!
As per vegemite pasta (hint: don't use the flavour that comes with the noodles).

4. Vegemite and cheese on Ryvitas
Vegemite goes well with cheese (what doesn't!?)

5. Vegemite on pita bread
I heated the bread in a saucepan and then spread over butter so that it melted and added a generous serve of vegemite. Yum!

Incidentally, I am now officially OUT of Vegemite and am appealing for care packages (the travel packs are cheapest to send!)

Norwegian Culinary Emersion - Risen-Grøt

Risen-Grøt is a favourite dish of Norwegians. I fail to see why. It's basically like rice pudding, not dissimilar to porrige, only in true Norwegian style they like to make it salty AND sweet and then have it for dinner! Christmas dinner if you will! I was a fan of the salty and sweet licorice but this is a bit much.



The real stuff takes hours to make but you can find packet varieties in your local supermarket. I bought the 5 minute variety. It said it should be microwaved but as I didn't have one handy i cooked it on the stove. You basically just add milk and stir til it is thick and the rice is cooked.

The 'serving suggestion' on the packet had an unnamed spice sprinkled on top of it - I assumed it was nutmeg of cinnamon but as I didn't have any of that I just used a dollop of butter. Perhaps too much butter. Also I didn't know until I spoke to a Norwegian source later that you should also sprinkle sugar on top. That might have helped.










Anyway it wasn't actually that bad but it really wasn't that great. Not like Vegemite.

Introduction to Australian Culture: Tim Tam Slam

Tim Tams are an important part of the daily life of most Australians. I am yet to find a Norwegian version but I am looking. Basically a Tim Tam consists of two chocolate biscuits, stuck one atop t'other with chocolate cream, and covered in chocolate.

They are "Australia’s favourite chocolate biscuit. Around 35 million packs are sold each year - that's nearly 400 million biscuits. [...] Tim Tam biscuits first hit supermarket shelves in 1964. They were named after a horse that won the Kentucky Derby in 1958. A member of the Arnott family, Ross Arnott, attended the race day and decided ‘Tim Tam’ was the perfect name for his new biscuit. The chocolate used to make Tim Tam biscuits has been specially developed by Arnott’s to give a slightly caramel taste. The cream flavour is a delicate mixture of vanilla, butter and chocolate that complements the biscuit base and the chocolate. It’s this unique cream which sets Tim Tam apart from any other chocolate biscuit" [source: http://www.arnotts.com.au/products/TimTam.aspx]

The best way to eat a Tim Tam is known as the TimTam Slam as seen demonstrated by Roxane and I in the pictures above.

1. Nibble off two opposite corners of the Tim Tam

2. Use the Tim Tam as a straw to suck up coffee (or tea, or hot chocolate).

3. Timing is crucial here. You need to wait long enough for the Tim Tam to be almost melted; but not so long that it does melt and drops into the bottom of your coffee. Eat Tim Tam.

And there you have it!

Incidentally, I am out of Tim Tams. :-(

In celebration of baby spinach

Hei hei,

For my first post, three meals i have recently cooked using a massive bag of baby spinach i recently purchased from Meny in Ruselokka. A long way for an Anker girl to go for baby spinach, but well worth it. I still have heaps left and will be using the remainder, I expect, in a pasta sauce and a curry. I can't wait.

Incidentally, the brighter food is, the better it is for you. I learnt this on Oprah. Baby spinach is therefore excellent, as are blueberries and dark chocolate. Green leafies are very good especially for vegos [though remember to consume with orange juice! argh! rules!], and after discovering a small caterpillar in a bunch of brocolli for the SECOND time in a year [yes Nicolle, it happened AGAIN!] that is off the menu for me, and i advise you all to stop eating it, especially if you are a vegetarian and don't want to accidentally consume meat.

So enough ranting, I will now experiment with 'uploading' photos to illustrate. Hmm... how to do that... aha! That works well.

1. Tortellini with spinach
Dried tortellini (also from Meny - they should be paying me) - can't remember the brand but it's excellent (although 3-4 servings? Entree sized maybe!). Metlt butter, fry garlic and onion. Mix through cooked pasta, add spinach, cherry tomatos and fetta for good luck

2. Baguette (Meny, 7kr, highly recommended), with cheese, tomato and baby spinach. I also invested in some Dijonaise which really completes the ensemble and was money well spent. Serve with blueberries for extra antioxidants and a more attractive aesthetic quality

3. Warm salad
I never thought salad was particularly good as a main meal, until i discovered you could add oil and cheese. It's now a staple of mine, although usually i would roast sweet potato as per Nicolle's recipe! However without an oven i am forced to fry my vegetables - here i have used eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, with fresh spinach and capsicum and fetta. Serve with a gollop of dressing (i used a low-fat italian dressing, which i recommend).

And that's it for my celebration of baby spinach! I think i'll cook me another baguette for lunch. Stay tuned for upcoming posts - "Introduction to Vegemite for prospective Australian residents"; "An overview of Scandinavian chocolate", "How do do a Tim Tam Slam" and "Experimental Norwegian cooking: Risen-Grot"