Been having cravings for meaty type stuff, so I finally tried this. I really miss the seitan at Strawberry Fields, but I think this was a good approximation.

Looked for a bunch of recipes and settled on this:
( recipe )

I think the texture was perfect, just what I expected. I don't know how much pepper I used, but this recipe could use more. I do like that you don't use an egg for the liquid dredging mix—I'd rather eat my eggs directly. :) These go really well with bbq or buffalo wing sauce. Next I'd like to experiment with baking instead of frying; I don't like frying in the house too often.

Not much to look at, but uploading it for documentation purposes. This is my first saag paneer made from scratch, including the homemade paneer from last week.

Overall the texture and look seemed about right; it could have used a lot more seasoning. I think our curry powder and garam masala are old. Definitely making this again, though I'll go without making the ghee first to see if that affects the taste significantly. I mashed up a few recipes, but (ugh) I ended up doing something mostly close to this Tyler Florence recipe (I don't like the guy but often end up using all or part of his recipes for stuff).

Saw this made on America's test kitchen the other day and tried cooking it last night. Very easy and very tasty. Topped with a dollop of sour cream and pt's awesome homemade salsa.

Recipe:
3 ears of corn
3T each flour & cornmeal
2T heavy cream
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 egg
some minced shallot
1/4 cup oil for frying

Cut the corn off two of the cobs. Grate the corn off the third cob and use the back of a knife to scrape the remaining pulp off. Mix with the remaining ingredients. The combination of cut and grated corn kernels gives the fritters a nice texture.

Drop large spoonfuls of the mixture into the frying pan and fry over medium heat for about 1 minute each side. That's it!

*I used chipotle chili powder instead of cayenne and Vidalia onion instead of shallots. The sweetness of the Vidalia works really well in these fritters, though I think regular onion would be too strong.

Inspired by these two recipes, I made bagels yesterday. It's been a while since I've made dough by hand and I realized how much I like doing it. It's incredibly satisfying to turn all the raw ingredients into something tasty to eat. I think the cold weather is also making we want to bake.

Making them yourself means you get to customize the toppings. I tried black sesame seed and think it's pretty good. I also used regular sesame seeds but will used the pre-toasted ones next time. I thought these would toast along with the bagel, but they didn't.

These are actually pretty easy to make.

1/4 lb. raw shrimp
1/4 lb. ground pork (I used Morningstar Veggie Crumbles)
1/2 cup (Napa) cabbage, finely shredded
1/8 cup green onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp. dry white wine
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cornstarch
dash of pepper
Gyoza wrappers, I found them at Schnuck's. A package of 30-40 wrappers is just a couple bucks.

( how to put it all together )