You eat pretty spicy, don’t you? You may want to up the amount of curry paste in my cheater recipe- as written you get flavor but not much heat. My tastebuds like the heat, but my stomach disagrees.
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I chopped and froze some eggplant a while ago. Can I thaw it out and make baba ghanoush with it, it will it be gross? All the recipes call for grilling or oven roasting a halved eggplant, not chunks with the skin still on. I was thinking about sautéing it instead. Bad idea?
I guess I could still oven roast the chunks? Not sure for how long though, I would have to watch it closely, I think.
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I have made babaganoush with roasted and then frozen eggplant. I cut off the skin before pureeing.
I froze it raw, though. I guess I should’ve roasted it first.
Can I thaw and then roast? Will that be disgusting? I guess if it’s going to get pureed anyway, it doesn’t matter if it’s mushy?
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If I was cooking from frozen raw chunk, I’d probably thaw, cut off the skin, then cook it in a frying pan. Losing the water content would make me concerned about just putting it into the oven without keeping a close eye on it.
Hmm, if I had frozen raw eggplant, I’d probably switch to a coconut curry. Defrost, cook your onions, garlic & ginger, curry paste. Then add the defrosted eggplant, and when the texture looked ok, add coconut milk, finish with lime, fish sauce and a bit of sugar if it needs it. Maybe some spinach.
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That’s what I originally did with the eggplant - this is from back when we were still getting groceries delivered. I ordered an eggplant and got one literally as big as my head. The curry turned out awful, though. AWFUL. And I only needed like 1/3 of the eggplant, so I chopped and froze the rest as I did not want to eat any more eggplant after choking down that dish.
I used about another 1/3 in a huge batch of ratatouille, but my freezer’s full of that now and I don’t need more.
Hm, maybe I just need a new curry recipe. Did you use red curry paste or green, in yours? I have both. I think the recipe I used just called for curry powder and turmeric and other spices, no paste.
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Sauteeing it is a good idea, especially if you have a cast iron skillet. Traditionally, you cook the eggplant whole over a flame to blacken the skin and then the skin gets partly crumbled on top and mixed into the dip. I think it adds a ton of flavor and I always notice when it’s missing. Since yours is frozen and chopped you probably won’t get that nice sear but you can totally just blend it all up without skinning.
If the eggplant curry turned out really bad you might want to taste the eggplant after sautéing it though. IMO smaller eggplants are usually a lot more delicious and flavorful, especially for baba ghanoush bc bigger eggplants often have a lot more liquid in them. You might just have a gross eggplant.
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Yes, this thing was enormous, so maybe I just got a bad one? Like how zucchini gets kind of gross when you leave it on the plant until it is as big as your leg. Maybe I will try sauteeing it. Worst case, I have to throw out some gross eggplant.
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Yeah exactly! I think a lot of the time smaller veg tastes better but I have no proof or anything to back this up, lol.
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If the curry turned out bad, is it an overripe egg plant? They can get weirdly bitter and tobacco-y if they’re overripe. in that case, compost it.
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That could well be. This is why I am SO glad to be picking out my own produce again and I don’t want to go back to all-delivery because of delta! I suspect this is headed for the compost. I started to thaw it and it got brown and gross and I do not want to consume it.
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Inspired by my post-dentist-visit “hooray, I adulted and get a reward” trip to Trader Joe’s - which also happens to be about 2 blocks from my dentist:
What are everyone’s favorite Trader Joe’s foods?
Among mine:
- mushroom and truffle flatbread
- frozen spinach artichoke dip, eaten with Reduced Guilt pita chips
- Triple gingersnaps
- Vanilla almond granola
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Omg everything.
Sauces-
Chili onion crunch
Ketchup
Mixed nut butter
Habanero hot sauce
Peri peri sauce
Snacks-
Olive tapenade
“Handful of olives”
PB filled pretzels
Pub cheese
When they have it, the multi flavor popcorn. Something spectacular or something?
Plantain chips
Chomps
Frozen-
Their frozen artichoke hearts are the best texture anywhere
Frozen onion and pepper mix
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I think I’ll start posting my meal planning here instead!
Meal planning for next week
I liked my more varied meal plan last week so I’m going to do it again. The ricotta will probably be the most expensive thing on the list.
Aldi
1 jelly
4 cans black beans
4 cans white beans
1 cheddar
2 eggs
1 pack sandwich rolls
1 bag frozen peas
2 cans evaporated milk
2 ricotta
2 mozzarella
Produce
1 bananas
1 apples
1 pear
1 carrot
1 radish (daikon?)
1 cucumber
3 cilantro
1 limes
2 tofu
1 jalapeno
1 tomato
1 celery
1 garlic
2 mushroom
My Breakfast- Toast and Jelly or Egg with Fruit
His Breakfast- Potato Jalapeno Cheddar Frittata
Lunch Monday-Wednesday- Mushroom Sausage Lasagna
Lunch Thursday-Friday- Hawaiian Pizza
Dinner Monday- Tofu Bahn Mi Sandwiches + Air Fries
Dinner Tuesday- Tofu Bahn Mi Sandwiches + Air Fries
Dinner Wed. - Tofu Bahn Mi Sandwiches + Air Fries
Dinner Thursday- Hot Wings + Ranch + Celery and Carrots + Pasta Salad (chickpeas, corn, peas, tomato)
Dinner Friday- Hot Wings + Ranch + Celery and Carrots + Pasta Salad
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Dried mandarin oranges
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Oh man yeah the freeze dried raspberries on top of something like Cheerios? Delicious
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I fear if I name them they will disappear, just like my previous favorites. (Ex: shelf stable palak paneer)
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oh, the mints in the metal boxes. I was very sad.
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We still have the mints, but they don’t have our dark chocolate lovers bars anymore
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PUB CHEESE. I bought some yesterday. OMG. So good.
I have to stay away from the sauces now because sodium. Dammit. I really liked their curries. Ditto for the goat cheese ravioli - I checked the label and it was super high. Especially since the serving size is 1/3 of the package? Hahaha. I gobble the whole thing right down every time and that’s more sodium than I’m allowed in an entire day.
Oh, dammit. I forgot to get their no salt peanut butter which is really good and also hard to find elsewhere here.
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