I
appreciate that it’s probably not normal per se to ‘love’ plates and cups and
bowls and large serving dishes but, I admit it, I love them. And the retail
emporiums that stock such lovelies, well, I try to steer clear of them most of the time but, every now and then,
well, I can’t help myself. That includes places like Avoca but unfortunately
the nearest one to me is Belfast. On the good side though, I do have a place
near my work which stocks similar lovelies and, today, I made a quick visit en
route home.
On
the subject of dishes, when we moved home three and a half years ago when Dear
Son was one week old (yes, I know – crazy
and not recommended!), I distinctly remember Dear Husband saying that if he
ever had to pack one more plate or one more cup ever again, it would be too
soon. My justification for having so many was that I needed them considering
how many he usually ends up chipping or cracking when he tidies or empties the
dishwasher. For some reason, he has never been too careful when handling my
precious dishware. Anyway, from that
point on, I definitely cut down but, after three and half years, my stores have
become depleted with only the occasional buy here and there. Not today though, I
got plates, a sugar bowl and bowls and not just any kind of plates, sugar bowl
and bowls but the Pip Studio ones which are absolutely gorgeous! Seriously, if
you’re in Derry, you have to go into Interior Dreams at Castle Furnishings on Waterloo Street. It has such lovely stuff that, if I have to go into it, I
have to remain focused on what I went in for; otherwise, I end up becoming
distracted by other lovely stuff such as, well, just about everything. And the
staff, well, Sinead is the owner who also runs it and is so lovely as are all the staff so you’re in
good hands every time you visit. I’m a firm believer that staff make a business
so this one definitely has it made.
Right
so, I think I actually picked tonight’s recipe just so that I could use my
lovely new Pip Studio pasta plate. The recipe was Quick prawn korma. Ok, the name also gives away the other reason
why I picked this recipe. Anyway, I began by crushing cardamom seeds, cloves and fennel
seeds into a powder using my pestle and mortar. In my large frying pan, I sautéed
an onion, chopped garlic and grated ginger for about 10 minutes. I then added
in the freshly ground spices and turned up the heat because I had to add prawns
at that point. It all cooked away for about 3 minutes and then I stirred in
natural yoghurt gradually. After that, I poured in 100ml of water and
dessicated coconut. Once it came up the boil, I let it bubble for about 3
minutes and then served up.
The
verdict…
You
know that cliché about not judging a book by its cover?! Well, never judge a
dish by the picture of it in a cookbook. I have to be honest and admit that
when I saw the picture of it in Rachel’s cookbook, I didn’t exactly think it
was too appetising looking and I would’ve been more inclined to think that Dear
Husband probably wouldn’t like it; however, I needed a quick dish tonight and
it fitted the criteria. Surprisingly though, Dear Husband actually liked this
recipe to the point where he gave it 7 marks out of 10. He actually went back
to the pan for seconds so that was a really good sign. It was a simple recipe to make and I'm sure that I'll make this again as I usually have all the ingredients in stock.
One
of the many unfortunate things about
being vegetarian and cooking for meat eaters is that I never taste the dishes
so I basically end up cooking blind most of the time. That makes it a wee bit
more difficult to perfect dishes. Anyway, I managed ok with this recipe despite
not having an absolute clue as to how it would taste. One thing I did know for
sure though was that it was most certainly going to look good sitting proudly
in my new bowl. For now though, I’m already wondering which new dish to use
tomorrow night and most definitely will have to store them in a different cupboard
to my regular dishes – that’s if, of course, I want to keep them chip free…
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