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My Secret for Great Veggie Vindaloo
In a recent comment, Chino Blanco suggested that posts by obvious trolls be treated as open threads. I'd just like to say that I think this is a brilliant idea, and it's great fun as well. Let's share family recipes, movie reviews, favorite jokes, limericks, haiku, stories about your grandma--whatever. Dominickdickhead has provided a few excellent opportunities recently via his/her inane Lyndon LaDouche posts. I'm sure there will be many new opportunities as the election approaches and the Republican hordes invade sites like TPM. Why not join get started with the post you're reading now?
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Comments (50)
And that last line should read, of course: "Why not join in the fun, starting with the post you're reading now?"
June 14, 2008 11:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Here's an excellent example of what can be accomplished:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/06/the-banking-crisis-is-back-in.php
June 14, 2008 12:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
So was it DOA "ripped you off?"
June 14, 2008 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ripping off the name of a band called DOA would be like ripping off the name of a band called Velvet Elvis. How many of those were there? One in every town in America? Get creative, Billy.
June 14, 2008 5:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Are you HIM? Man, deathcore... are there even any popular deathcore bands?
June 14, 2008 6:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't even know who "him" is. Is there one particular band called DOA that's more popular or more famous than the other hundred thousand garage bands called DOA?
June 14, 2008 6:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sure, man. They practically created punk. So that's got nothing to do with you. I didn't think it did. I give up. Guess you're just another phoney. Back to iggy. This time for good.
June 14, 2008 9:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Aww man, DOA were 2nd wave punk. You should know that much if you're into Iggy!
June 15, 2008 12:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Um, where's the vindaloo? Seriously - love to see your suggestions. And I'll have to search through my personal archives for some good recipes.
June 14, 2008 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can make a pretty good Thai style curry. The secret is lots of dried coarse red chilis and, of course, cumin.
June 14, 2008 12:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
A Thai friend taught me a great vegetarian trick recently. If you're vegetarian, you can substitute Thai soy sauce for Nam Pla. It's gotta be Thai soy sauce, though. I've tried Japanese and Chinese soy sauce before, and neither of them worked very well. But Thai soy sauce is a great substitute, even for a dish that really depends on the flavor, like Pad Thai. You want to use the thin kind, not the thick one. The brand I'm using these days is "Healthy Boy," but I'm sure they're all pretty much the same.
http://www.shopthai.eu/public/images/prodotti/healthy300.jpg
And by the way, my friend is the owner of one of the best Thai restaurants in America. It ain't much to look at, but if you're ever in Everett, Washington, do yourself a huge favor and check out Supee's Thai Kitchen.
June 14, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
By the way, my secret for great veggie vindaloo is sweet potatoes. I tried every meat substitute I could think of: seitan, tempeh, agedofu--nothing made the cut, because nothing provided the right richness and depth. Then it hit me: SPUDS! So I tried making it with about 3 regular potatoes and 1 sweet potato, and it was just what I was looking for. I like to start by parboiling the regular potatoes, cubing them, and then frying them in butter or ghee. While they're frying, I sprinkle them with a little salt and pepper and a lot of turmeric, and fry them until they're a bit crusty. Make your masala, cook whatever veggies you like (along with the sweet potato), and add the cooked potatoes about 15 minutes or so from when you serve it. It's Indian, so don't worry too much--if you're familiar with Indian food, you know it's hard to screw it up. You've got to cut down on the vinegar and the garlic a little bit because veggies can't stand up to it like pork or chicken can. Otherwise, any good vindaloo recipe should suffice. I serve it with dal, raita, savage hot onion chutney, maybe another few chutneys, some pooris, naan or paratha, and basmati (lately I've been throwing a few fennel seeds in the rice cooker).
It tastes great, and it will stink up your whole house for weeks.
June 14, 2008 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, and you don't need sugar like you would with a regular vindaloo.
June 14, 2008 12:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds great - I'll pass it along to my sister, who's an Indian food goddess. BTW, you might want to try pumpkin. One of the local Thai places makes an excellent pumpkin curry. Just be sure to use the sweet pumpkin, and not the commercial jack-o-lantern kind.
June 14, 2008 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll give pumpkin a try. I hear it's supposed to be one of the healthiest things you can eat. It's on that 14 perfect foods diet, or whatever it's called.
June 14, 2008 12:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Believe me, after the local Thai place gets done with it, it's not healthy. Mmm - coconut milk. So good, and so bad for you!
June 14, 2008 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Coconut milk is good for the arteries. Hardens 'em right up.
June 14, 2008 5:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
The alternative people seem to think it's good for you. The claim is that it has mostly medium chain triglycerides that are burned preferentially for fuel. I'm vegan and use it in my coffee when I don't have any soymilk made, and in other things for a treat- but as for the health claim, the cholesterol deposit over my left eye says otherwise.
June 15, 2008 2:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
Gourd shaped squash (peeled) added to that is also really good. Add it later in the cooking porcess so that it does not melt.
What ingredients do you use to make your masala?
Who knew? BunKitty cooks good deshi food. ;-)Alors là, tu m'as vraiment surpris!
June 14, 2008 12:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I never make it exactly the same, but generally I use the following ingredients in the following approximate measurements:
5 or 6 dried red chilies
1-1/2 tsp or so black peppercorns (the chilies add the high end fire and the black pepper takes care of the lower midrange rich hotness, so adjust to the taste you prefer)
1/2 - 1 tsp cardamom seeds
1 Tablespoon coriander seeds
1 - 2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 - 1/2 tsp whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
Normally, you'd add turmeric as well, but since I'm cooking the potatoes in it, I just add it at that stage instead. I change the measurements depending on what I'm in the mood for. Sometimes I want it a little more aromatic, so I'll add more cardamom and cloves. Other times I'm into the heat. If that's the case, I just cut back on the aromatics.
This is the only masala I know of where you don't want to roast the spices. Just throw them raw into a coffee grinder and grind them into a powder (and then never use the grinder for coffee again).
Slice a large onion into very thin slices and brown-fry it in plenty of peanut oil (or mustard oil if you can find some that you know is very high quality--the cheap stuff can kill you). The onion should be reddish-brown when it's done. Watch it carefully toward the end so it doesn't burn. While the onion is cooking, mince a tablespoon or so of fresh ginger root and 4 or 5 cloves of garlic. Throw the spices and everything else into a food processor and grind it to a paste.
Fry the veggies (including sweet potato) in a pan for a bit, add the masala, a little salt, 1/4 - 1/2 cup of cider vinegar, and let it stew. Add the potatoes (from the comment above) a little before you want to serve the dish. Adjust the taste with brown sugar, salt, vinegar or whatever think it needs right before you serve it.
I'm typing this from memory, which is a lot harder than remembering it when you're actually doing it, but I don't think I've left anything out.
Have fun!
June 14, 2008 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks, I'll try it this evening.
June 14, 2008 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'll bring the beer. What time is dinner? *:o)
June 14, 2008 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
PS: Thanks for the squash idea. I've been eating a lot of it lately. I'm trying to come up with some cool stuff to do with spaghetti squash. Take it from me, veggie carbonara is not a cool thing to do with spaghetti squash. It sounded like such a great idea at the time... *:o)
June 14, 2008 6:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are welcome.
I made it per your recipe. It was much sought after by my peeps. Thanks. ;-)
June 15, 2008 12:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, you made it? Cool. And now your whole house smells like an Indian market, right? :)
June 15, 2008 9:50 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think this is a terrible idea. It attacks the readers not the troll. If there are people here who desire to discuss a post it is their right to do so. Your opinion that the poster is a troll should not be a determining factor in another's choice. If there are people who desire to view the comments on those threads they should not be forced to scroll through pages of spam to see other's comments.
While I agree that LaRouche is a nut case I wonder who your group of verbal thugs will decide to target next. While I don't care about LaRouche it may be that I care about whoever it is you decide to spam next.
Its a childish technique that has gained prominence in the internet age. A means of censorship chosen by people who lack the self control to curb their impulse to respond to trolls or wish to control the behavior of their peers.
If you can't handle free and open discussion of opposing views go back to your play pen until you grow up.
June 14, 2008 12:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
I gotta say, I'm goin' with oceankat on this one. This post sucks. As such ...
____________________________________________________________
THIS IS AN EXCELLENT TIME!! FOR AN OPEN THREAD!!!
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June 14, 2008 12:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Your fuckin' stupid idea. Now what are you going to do?
June 14, 2008 12:52 PM | Reply | Permalink
Give me some fuckin' credit, OK? Barring that, at least give me 5 minutes to qualify my snark at oceankat's expense. Deal?
June 14, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hell yeah. Rock on, dude.
June 14, 2008 1:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
On the other hand, the reality is that we thugs can comment to our hearts content here without inconveniencing anyone. The same does not hold true for those who feel it's OK to post drivel 2-3 times per day. Front page recent reader post space is finite. That their shenanigans make it harder for me to notice and rec the latest articleman post is already enough to piss me off.
The dickhead that hrebendorf refers to in his post is contributing to a tragedy of the commons and represents a breach of etiquette that's in no way equivalent to whatever our band of merry pranksters might be bringing to the comments section. What's your worry? That we're gonna run out of space in the comments section? Unless I'm missing something, that's just one less thing any of us need to be worrying about, unless you know something I don't about how this all works.
Did this latest screed of mine rob anyone of the opportunity to opine on whatever's on their mind?
If it did, I'm truly sorry. If it didn't, well, then I gotta wonder what's your point?
June 14, 2008 1:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
You owe the entire universe an apology, dick.
June 14, 2008 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
Now you're just tryin' to start shit. And in the comments section of your own post no less.
Draw the blinds, pull down your shop's rolling door, and brace for the worst. Is that it?
I walked the streets of downtown NY when the shit was goin' down in LA. Blinds drawn, doors rolled down, and then ... nuthin'.
Why? Because for folks who share the same sidewalk every day, indiscriminate brick-throwin' is a hell of a stretch.
Which is just my roundabout way of sayin', I'm guessin' most of these dead-enders don't live too far from Santa Monica.
June 14, 2008 2:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
:o)
June 14, 2008 2:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Fair enough, now I actually do owe somebody an apology, but it's gonna take more than your ascii funny-face thingamajig to pry it from me.
June 14, 2008 3:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
What's your worry? That we're gonna run out of space in the comments section?
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I've long ago given up on the idea that you would take the time to read the post you're responding to so I don't mind cutting and pasting for you. "If there are people who desire to view the comments on those threads they should not be forced to scroll through pages of spam to see other's comments."
What do you think you're actually accomplishing? All I see you doing is filling up the comment section of a post with so much spam that other readers will abandon it. As I said, your attack is on your peers not the troll.
June 14, 2008 1:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey now! I just posted an awesome vindaloo recipe. You might want to try it before you complain.
June 14, 2008 1:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
By the way, oceankat, I see what you're doing here. This is your attempt at recursive humor, right? See "Recursion":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recursion#Recursive_humor
June 14, 2008 1:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
You might want to consider taking your own advice.
June 14, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, scientific's thread got trolled because the header said that he was voting Republican. Or, I think that's why it got trolled. It was snark and really good one too. Someone dropped a full founding document in his thread. People need to read the post to determine whether it is in fact a trollable thread before they go ahead. We all know scientific’s an Obama supporter.
June 14, 2008 1:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Agreed but how do you defin a trollable thread? That last sentence makes it sound like not eing a non-Obama supporter makes you a troll.
June 14, 2008 1:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
The last line of my post was to emphasize the disconnect that was between scientific's header and scientific's politics.
June 14, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
And your last sentence makes it sound like being a non-Obama supporter still makes you intriguing. It doesn't.
June 14, 2008 1:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's a huge difference between posting something thoughtful and provocative and posting something that's only designed to prove what a clueless dumbshit you are. Posting links to a Lyndon LaRouche website is a sure clue that your hat is made of ass. I'd say you're in no danger of being troll-rated. Me? Perhaps...
June 14, 2008 1:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Punk Troill.
June 14, 2008 3:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's French, right? I don't speak the language.
June 23, 2008 9:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
If we're going to share recipes, we might as well share other cooking-related things. I really can't suggest the website Rouxbe enough. It's a pay site, but it's free to register for 30 days and you can reregister when it expires.
Basically, it's how-to videos for gourmet recipes. Super easy to follow, and the picture quality makes watching one like watching food porn. There are also shorter videos called 'Drill downs' that go into detail about a specific technique or information about an ingredient/spice, whether it's the 5 part series on knife skills, how to properly dice an onion, or all about squash, it's all top notch.
The post above about making Thai curry is what prompted this ... the recipe they have for panaeng paste is freakin' beautiful to watch.
June 14, 2008 5:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for the tip--I'll definitely check that site out. I recently discovered that there are a bunch of great cooking videos on YouTube as well. Go there and type in the name of any recipe, and you'll find a bunch of them. I was looking for a good jigae recipe one day, and I found a great one on YouTube.
June 14, 2008 6:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
It seems to me that it's pretty easy to tell the difference between a reasonable post presenting a differing opinion and a troll. And I love recipes, especially South Asian and Middle Eastern vegetarian ones!
But where are the good trolls lately? Most of the ones I've been seeing have been cut-and-paste versions of email smears.
June 15, 2008 2:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
In linking this question to some of the food discussion going on, I am in the middle of reading the book Good Calories, Bad Calories.
Quite an eye opener that questions some of the given dietary assumptions in a very thorough way. No kooky theories and well researched. I graduated with a degree in nutrition and adhered to the conventional wisdom. This book has opened my eyes, much like Obama is an eye opener to the potential positives of practicing politics.
An especially good read for those advocating hi-carb, low fat comsumption for healthy living.
June 15, 2008 9:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
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