One of the reasons is that I taste music. And not just one flavour, but a whole dish: the temperature, the texture, the colour ... everything.
I'm not sure if this is full-tilt synesthesia or if it's just a good ol' fashioned quirk, but it's how I roll!
I thought I'd give you guys some recipes and the music that inspires them.
I'm starting with a little Erykah Badu. This is "The Healer".
This song is fried rice. Spicy, tangy and really filling.
The Healer Fried Rice
*** No eggs will make this vegan.
- Prepare 1 cup brown basmati rice with 1 1/2 half cups water. Cook until it's just a little tender.
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons chili flakes
- 2 tablespoons cumin
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper (fresh ground is always, always best)
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, either minced or smushed in a garlic press
- 1/2 red pepper, cut into thin strips
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce (low sodium!)
- Dash of tabasco
~
- Once the rice is cooked, remove it from the heat and set it aside for now.
- With just a little water, combine all of the spices (including the sauces) in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a large - very large - wok or frying pan, pour in the olive oil and begin frying your eggs over a happy medium-low heat. This bit's pretty personal. I looove to have really well-cooked eggs, just brown and crispy in places. Some like them almost runny.
- Toss in your red peppers along with the eggs. The best red peppers will give you that tangy, sharp feeling at the back of your nose when you cook them. At this point, add a few teaspoons of your spice goo.
- In go the green onions! These are like the shy little cousin of the big yellow or white guys. They'll just give you the teeniest hint of that great pungent onion flavour without being all "HEY! WE'RE ONIONS! TASTE US!" They get tender pretty quick. Add some more spice goo.
- Knock that heat dial up to a medium-high heat and toss in your rice. You can go all at once or let it happen gradually. At this point, you'll add the rest of your spice goo. Use a spatula to get every last morsel out, and keep that bad boy for stirring the rice from now on.
- At this point, as you toss the rice on a higher heat, you're welcome to take this recipe and run, run like the wind with it. If you've marinated some chicken pieces, toss 'em in. The nice thing about fried rice is that it's pretty accepting of whatever you put in it. I've been know to use chopped up bits of Italian turkey sausage, bacon left over from breakfast (again, turkey in my case), tofu, veggie ground round, mo' veggies ... pretty much anything. And, add more spices! Taste as you go. The spices I've suggested here are approximations of what I'll put in as a base, and riff from there.
- The trick at this stage is to constantly be stirring the rice. If you need to run away from the stove, get a buddy to be your stirring stand-in, or take it off the heat entirely. It's on higher heat, and we don't want burnage.
- You'll know it's done when you've got some crispy-tender business going on in the rice department and the red pepper is still soft and crunchy at the same time.
Suggestions:
Serve with:
This dish is pretty idependent. It's a meal on its own. If you want to add some fresh veggies and dip, that would be good.
Ooh, maybe some vanilla ice cream for dessert!
To drink, try something non-acidic (preferably no juice) to balance the spice and tang, Plain water, mineral water or some iced tea could do well here.
And of course, listen to the Badu as you make this. After all, we have her (and my nutso brain) to thank for the nom noms.
