Smothered Pork Chops with Potatoes

We have a game in my family that my mother instigated.  (And now you’ll know what a food obsessed family I come from.)  It began as a way to pass time on road trips but now and again it comes up in different settings or if a new person wants to join the discussion.  It’s a simple question:  If you knew you were dying, let’s say you are on death row, what would your final meal request be?  The rules are few.  1.  Money is no object.  2.  It doesn’t have to be a full meal.  You want to eat just ice cream?  No problem.  And  3.  You can order whatever you want, in whatever quantities, as long as you don’t list everything you’ve ever liked.  Try to narrow it down in the interest of discussion.

The rest of us change our minds regularly but my mother always has the same answer:  Potatoes.  Creamed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, hash browns, baked potatoes, baby new potatoes with butter and green onions, home fries, you get the picture.  The woman likes potatoes.  The funny thing is, whenever I am home or she is visiting, she doesn’t ask for potatoes.  She asks me to make smothered pork chops.  I made these a while back, unfortunately when my mom wasn’t with me, but I thought of her the whole time.  Smothered pork chops?  Check.  POTATOES?  Check.  I think she’d love this.  Maybe even for a final meal.

As it happens, right now, I am on a two-week holiday with my lovely mother.  And since today is Mothers’ Day, I thought this would be an appropriate time to post this dish.

What would your mother choose for her final meal?  What would you choose?  Discuss.

Ingredients for two people – you and Mom?  Or this is easily doubled or trebled.
2 thick pork chops (and if you are cooking for my mother, the fat around the rim is essential)
Olive oil
Sea salt
Black pepper
1 large onion
5-6 medium new potatoes

Method
If your pork chops have the rim of fat with skin on the outside, cut through this in several places to stop the chops from curling up as you cook them.  It’s really hard to brown a curled chop evenly.

Sprinkle your chops liberally with salt and pepper.

Drizzle a little olive oil in your very hot pan and brown the chops well on each side.  According to my photo details, that took about four minutes for each side.

Meanwhile, peel and slice your onion thinly.

After the chops are browned on both sides, cover them with the sliced onions and add in just enough water to come up the sides of the chops.

Cover and cook for about 45- 50 minutes, checking and turning occasionally and adding a little bit more water if the pan looks like it's drying out.

Pork chops are funny.  You can either cook them till they are just done and they’ll be moist.  Or you can cook the bejezus out of them and they will be moist.  Anything in between and you will need a lot of gravy because the meat will be dry.  Smothering falls under method number two.  I thought it was a common term and way of cooking but I just looked it up and several sites, including Wikipedia,  say it is a Cajun or Creole method.  So I come by it honestly.  I thought everyone’s grandmother smothered everything. Who knew?

Now you can slice your potatoes (about 1/4 inch or 1/2 centimeter thick) and add them to the pan in an even layer.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper and put the lid back on.

Cook until the potatoes are fork tender and the pork chops get a little sticky underneath but be careful not to let them burn.  You can add a little more water if you need to.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve along side some steamed vegetables or salad.

Enjoy!

And Happy Mothers’ Day to you and/or your mother!

If I don’t answer comments right away, please know that I am still delighted when you leave them and will respond as soon as I have internet access again.

Tarka Dal or Curry Lentils

This tarka dal (or curry lentils) is a warm bowl of spicy comfort that is cheap but satisfyingly delicious.

Today Sunday Supper’s theme is budget dishes. In other words, delicious recipes that won’t break the bank. I considered giving you a recipe for my old college standby of tuna casserole with cream cheese (which sometimes didn’t even have tuna if the month was longer than my money) but I settled on something really tasty that we love to eat, even when money isn’t an issue. And that is when you know it’s good!

When we lived in Malaysia, we picked up the habit of eating dal and roti canai for breakfast since the school canteen served a tasty bowl and the little shop not far from our house was great on weekends. But there were many times when I would make my own dal long before that. From the time I got my first Madhur Jaffery cookbook and spice box, in fact, circa 1996-97, this recipe for spicy yellow lentils, cooked down until they become a sauce, has been a favorite. You can thin them with more water and call them soup. Or you can leave them thick and scoop them up with flatbread or serve over rice.

The original recipe doesn’t include potatoes or carrots or green beans, but coffee shops in Malaysia often add them so I do too. The vegetables make this spicy dish even more of a meal. And, best of all, dal is a great, cheap source of easily digestible protein and nutrients. Perfect for this week’s Sunday Supper! You can even make your own naan to go with. It’s easy!

Oh, and a quick word on the title: Dal means split so any split pea or bean is dal but it is also the name of the cooked dish. Tarka refers to the spices that are fried in a little oil and added at the end to season the dish. For more information on lentil varieties, have a look here. And for lentil nutrition, this is a good link.

Ingredients
1 cup or 225g moong dal or split mung beans
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium potato
1 medium carrot
Good handful green beans
1/3 teaspoon asafoetida (optional but good – I couldn’t find any!)
1 teaspoon whole cumin
1/2 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
2 small red chilies plus more for garnish, if desired
Good handful curry leaves (optional but good)
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
Salt to taste

Method
Wash the lentils well in a big bowl of water, making sure that there aren’t any stones or hard bits of mud, and then drain and tip into a large pan. 

Pour in 26 oz or 750ml water. Bring to the boil, and use a slotted spoon to remove the grey-white scum that rises to the surface. As you can see, I missed this step so I skimmed after adding the turmeric. It's all good in the end.

Stir in the turmeric, and turn the stove to simmer. 

 

Skim scum now if you forgot to. 

Put on the lid, but leave it partially ajar, to prevent the pot from boiling over. Check it every once in a while and give it a stir. Add a little more water if necessary. My simmer is hotter than it should be so I did add some water part the way through to make sure the lentils didn’t go dry.

Meanwhile, cut the ends off of your green beans and then cut them into smaller lengths. Peel and chop your carrot and potato.

After about 20 minutes of lentil cooking time, add in the vegetables. Keep simmering for about another 20 minutes, as which point your lentils and vegetables will both be cooked.

If you want to use a couple of red chilies for garnish, slice them finely holding the stem end with a sharp knife and pop them in a glass of ice water. Ideally, they should curl, if you have cut the strands thin enough. Set aside till needed. 

Now on to the tarka for seasoning.

Slice your onion and your garlic very finely. 

 

Heat the oil and add the asafetida (if using), cumin, mustard seeds, whole chilies and curry leaves. And stir! 

When the mustard seeds start popping, which happens quite quickly, add the sliced onion and cook until golden.

Add in the garlic and stir quickly. You don’t want the garlic to burn because it turns bitter. 

Pour the mixture into the dal and give the whole thing a good stir. Add salt to taste and pop the lid on. 

 

Enjoy! As mentioned above, you can serve this over rice or with a flatbread. It is delicious, comforting and affordable!

Adapted from Tarka Dal from Madhur Jaffery

Have a look at all the wonderful budget dishes the #SundaySupper group have for you this week! We are going to eat well and cheaply for the next few weeks on these recipes! Our hosts this week are Lane from Supper for a Steal and Pam from Blueberries and Blessings. Thanks for hosting, ladies!

Starters, Soups, and Salads

• Lentil Soup {Linsensuppe} from The Not So Cheesy Kitchen
• Gado-gado from The Urban Mrs.
• Ramping Up Instant Ramen from girlichef

Main

• Salmon Lasagna from Blueberries and Blessings
• Kadun Pika from The Foodie Army Wife
• Mushroom and Artichoke Quiche with Red Pepper Puree from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Pasta Carbonara from The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen
• San Francisco Special Breakfast Burritos from Gourmet Drizzles
• Chicken Divan from Simply Gourmet
• Chicken and Brown Rice with Veggies and Mushrooms from Daily Dish Recipes
• The Cod Puffs War {Duelo de Buñuelos de Bacalao} from My Cute Bride
• From the Pantry Peanut Noodles from Supper for a Steal
• Pasta Puttanesca from Juanita’s Cocina
• Hawaiian Grilled Cheese from Home Cooking Memories
• Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas from I Run For Wine
• Browned Butter Pasta with Collards from Momma’s Meals
• Turkey and Acini Di Pepe Skillet from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Golden State Gourmet from Crazy Foodie Stunts
• Buffalo Chicken Dip Quesadillas from Chocolate Moosey
• Tonkatsu {Pork Cutlet} from Damn Delicious
• Kung Pao Tofu from Ninja Baking
• Roasted Honey Mustard Chicken from Mama’s Blissful Bites
• Four-Cheese Risotto with Turkey Italian Sausage from The Weekend Gourmet
• Chicken with Sauteed Asparagus and Lemons from The Lovely Pantry
• Salvage-Your-Vegetables Frittata from Daddy Knows Less

Sides

• English Baked Beans from Small Wallet, Big Appetite
• Southern-style Black-eyed Peas from Magnolia Days
• Classic Macaroni and Cheese from The Skinny Chick Can Bake!!!
• Baked Beans from What Smells So Good?
• Hearts of Palm Mix Rice from Basic N Delicious

Drinks and Desserts

• Skinny Cinnamon Dolce Frappe from Peanut Butter and Peppers
• Portuguese Rice Pudding {Arroz Doce} from Family Foodie

Prawn Patia for #RandomRecipeChallenge

I am either very brave or rather reckless.  The other night, I invited folks over for dinner to try out a whole new randomly chosen recipe, one I had never made before.  Granted, they were mostly college students and two of them were my daughters so it wasn’t a tough crowd.  But time was getting short (again!) for participating in +belleau kitchen's Random Recipe Challenge where, according to this month’s rules, we were supposed to make a recipe we had clipped and saved from a magazine or newspaper and this was the clipping I had chosen for this month.

It has been among my recipe clippings for a very long time but I had yet to try it.  I have no idea of its provenance so I can’t give credit where due.  But I looked up Prawn Patia on the ever-helpful internet to discover that it is originally a Persian dish that made its way to India with the Parsees.  Who knew?  All I can tell you is that it was roundly acclaimed delicious and I am sorry it took me so long to get around to cooking it.  If you have cookbooks you are under-using or clippings that have been neglected, you might want to start accepting the Random Recipe Challenge as well!

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs or 600g raw prawns or shrimp (peeled and deveined)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon turmeric (I screwed up and used ground cumin instead – didn’t miss it, still delicious.  If you are a fan of cumin, you might want to do the same.)
1 teaspoon cayenne
3 onions
3 large tomatoes or 5 Roma tomatoes
Olive oil
1 large bunch cilantro or fresh coriander
1-2 green chilies or jalapeños
3 cloves garlic
2 inches or 5cm piece fresh ginger
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 heaped teaspoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (As you can see, the original recipe called for tamarind but I couldn’t find any here in Providence.)

Method
Put your prawns in a large bowl and sprinkle on the salt, cayenne and turmeric (or cumin - see note above in Ingredients.)  Give the whole thing a good stir and set aside.

Slice your onions finely then chop your tomatoes.

Sauté the onions, with a good couple of glugs of olive oil, in a large pot that is big enough for all of your ingredients.

Meanwhile, peel and mince the ginger and garlic.  Finely chop your fresh pepper/s.

Wash the cilantro and chop the stem end of the bunch.  Add the chopped stems to the prawns and stir.  Chop the rest of the cilantro roughly and set aside.

Yeah, there are some leaves in there too.  Don't sweat the small stuff. 

Cook the onions down until they are completely soft and possibly a little golden in color.  Add the garlic, ginger and peppers to the pot and cook briefly before adding in the tomatoes.

Cook until the onions and tomatoes have melted into a sauce.  Add in the cumin and stir well.

Add the prawns and half of the chopped cilantro. and cook until the prawns are done, which shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes.  Taste for salt and add a little more, if necessary.

Add in your fresh lime juice and brown sugar.  Stir well and serve.

Use the balance of the chopped cilantro for garnish.  I served this on top of coconut rice that my younger daughter made with this recipe except we skipped the extra grated coconut.  The coconut flavor made a lovely addition to the dish.  In fact next time, I might just add the coconut milk to the prawns and serve this over normal white rice.

Enjoy!

Head on over to Dom’s blog and have a look at all the lovely Random Recipes my fellow bloggers have posted this month.