A couple of recipes

Because my posting rate has been so slow this year, I've overlooked this blog's function of recording useful recipes I've tried.

 First one - lamb shoulder cooked at low temperature for hours is something I had never got around to before, but I recently followed this recipe which featured a side of white bean puree.   (I see the recipe calls it a roast - but there was lots of liquid involved, so surely it was a braise?)   The most pleasant surprise was how nice the white bean puree was - another thing I never got around to making before.

Second one, as a counter to all the meat in the first:  chick pea curry, using dried chickpeas.   Of course I've used canned chickpeas many times, but the online cooks (especially vegan ones) all suggest that cooking your own dried pulses gives a much nicer result, so I bought a kilo of chickpeas and gave it a try.

I soaked them for 8 hours, changing the water a couple of times as someone somewhere recommended.  Then boiled them for about an hour.  The texture was still slightly firmer than canned, but that was fine by me.   And as for using them in a curry - there are dozens of examples on line and it seems you can use virtually any curry base (dried spices, or jar paste - I used leftover Thai red curry paste), fry an onion first, add the paste or dry spices, a can of tomatoes (and maybe some fresh ones like I did), the chickpeas and a can of coconut milk.   It comes out fine.  (I added some spinach at the end, for colour as well as a fresh contribution.)

And I can tell you, two cups of dried chickpeas, which should cost at most about $2, together with these other ingredients (total cost maybe $4- $5 extra?) made enough for 6 very large servings.

Honestly, this experience has led me to believe that government support for the poor must include a push to getting them to learn how to cook dried beans and chickpeas.   Even allowing for the cost of the electricity or gas (which may be the same for cooking a meat curry too) protein derived from this source is incredibly cheap compared to meat.   And it was pretty tasty and filling.