Recipe(s) For Disaster

Oh boy. The family wasn't happy about the dinner Christian and I had prepared last night. The menu for the evening consisted of Sesame Broccoli, Vegetarian Curry, and Roast Duck (prepared by my dad). It was our first time attempting a curry dish, and given that we had no idea what was required for a delicious curry, we didn't give a second thought to our shady recipe that didn't include milk or water in the ingredients. First of all, we added way too much curry powder (1 tsp rather than the 2 tbsp would have been more reasonable) so it just tasted like spiciness. Our curry had to cook for almost an hour and even after all that time, some potatos and carrots remained a bit raw, and the veggies didn't absorb a lot of flavour. We only realized that our curry wasn't going to turn creamy without adding any liquid so my mom suggested pouring in some coconut milk and then some sugar to reduce the spiciness. Either way, the dish still turned out very very hot- I thought I could have breathed out fire.

While making the curry dish, my dad had the duck cooking on the stove. I didn't have any more space on the stove to make my broccoli, so my dad took off the duck a bit early, thinking that it was all ready. Cooking up the broccoli was a cinch, but it turned out either too sesame-ish or vinegar-y for everyone's taste (although I thought it wasn't too bad). So with the broccoli dish a miss and the vegetable curry (aka fire in a dish) gone wrong, we were looking forward to the roast duck to save the day. But right before dinner was ready to serve, we realized that the duck was still not fully cooked, resulting in a vegetarian dinner. My family ended up waiting until 9pm for dinner only to be presented with a couple of pitiful dishes. They opened a can of chunky stew to go along with the meal, and my youngest sister just settled on leftover "choi fan" that my mom made the night before.

Vegetable Curry

1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
2 large carrots, sliced
2 tablespoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 head cauliflower, broken into small florets
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
salt and ground black pepper to taste

1. Heat the butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and carrots; cook and stir until tender. Season with curry powder, turmeric, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

2. Add the cauliflower and potatoes to the pan, and stir to coat with spices. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Stir occasionally.

Makes 4 servings.

Sesame Broccoli

1 tsp vinegar (rice, white or cider)
2 tsp Asian sesame oil
1/4 tsp chili flakes
1/4 tsp salt
1 bunch broccoli (about 1 lb/450 g)

1. In small bowl, whisk together vinegar, oil, chili flakes and salt.

2. Cut broccoli head into florets. Peel large stems; cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices. Steam or boil over or in medium saucepan of boiling water until crip-tender, about 5 minutes; drain.

3. Toss broccoli with dressing. Serve wamr or at room temperature.

Makes 4 servings.